11 January 2026 // STRENGTHEN THE SPIRIT // The Surrender // Joel Bryan Mohan

Hi there, you are listening to a message recorded by High Point Life. To listen to more messages and to find out more about our church, head over to our website at HighpointLife.com. Today's topic is a continuation. In fact, this entire month is a continuation of the theme on strengthen the spirit. And today's topic is the surrender. No, I don't know about you, but if you think about surrender, and I think I shared one of the exhortations during worships before. Evening of the word surrender, the world has a very negative connotation of the word surrender, right? Because surrender usually means that you are losing out on something or losing something. Now, I just want you to watch this video. Because this video really has stuck in my mind ever since I watched it. I just want you to watch it. The best lessons that stuck with me that my mom told me was, she always taught me to share, and I hated her words. Because as a kid, you know, sometimes I would have food or I'd have some sweets. And remember, one day there was a little homeless kid on the side of the road and he was begging, and all I had was my sweets, and I was holding them in my hand. And he came up to the window of our car, and my mom gave him money, and she gave him money, and then she said, "Don't you want to give him something?" And I was like, "Oh no, you handled it, you." And then I was like, "I don't have money." And she said, "Yeah, but you've got some sweets. Share the sweets." And I looked at the kid, and I looked at her, and I was like, "Yeah, but that's my sweets." And she said, "Give him the sweets." And you know, I looked at it, and I was like, "But it's my sweets." And then she did the most amazing thing. She reached into her purse, and my mom loved licorice and a bunch of sweets, and she pulled out a handful, like a giant handful of sweets. And she said to me, "Here, you can have these sweets." And now I was sitting there, and I'm like holding my sweets, and then she said, "Yeah." And I couldn't grab, my hand wasn't big enough to take from her hand, and I was like, "I can't." And then she said, "You can't take the sweets." And I said, "No, wait." And then she said, "If you had two hands, you could take the sweets." And I said, "Yes." And then she said, "So how would you have two hands?" And I looked at the kid, and then I realized, and I gave him the sweets, and then I had my hands, and what my mom tricked me into realizing was, when you give, you know, when you give, you have more room to get. A simple illustration on surrendering Noah. This is a stand-up comedian from South Africa, for South African friends. Stand-up comedians, Trevor Noah. And he shares of this story, okay, where he had to give up one handful of sweets to receive a bunch of sweets, a bigger bunch of sweets from his mom. And even as a child, it was so difficult to grasp that concept of giving up something to gain something. But that's what surrender is for a Christian. A surrender to us is not a recognition of defeat, but a step towards victory. That's why there is this topic in the bigger theme of strengthened the spirit. To strengthen the spirit, we need to surrender. Surrender to the Christian is an exchange of something for something better that unlocks the life we will always meant to have in Jesus. But we will take our text from Romans 12 verse 1. And God's Word is so rich that even with two verses, there's just so much to talk about. Verse 1 and 2. Romans 12 verse 1 and 2. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world. But we transform by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good, pleasing and perfect will. So today's message is going to be broken down into these things. How do we strengthen the spirit? So four things today, we're going to talk about. Four things that surrender prepares us for. Sometimes when we think of this white flag, and this white flag was used in the war times, olden days, war times, and that to signify surrender. But our war in surrendering prepares us for something greater. And here we go. First one, surrender prepares us to live authentically. Surrender prepares us to live authentically. Romans 12 verse 1, I reread this verse again. It says, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. You see, there are two parts here that are very important. The first part is offering your bodies. In fact, some virgin says, offer yourselves. So this is a voluntary choice. It's a voluntary act where you are offering your bodies. But the second part is an oxymoron. Living sacrifice or living sacrifices. If it is a sacrifice, it shouldn't be living. You understand what I'm saying? It's an oxymoron. It goes against each other. A living sacrifice. But a living sacrifice just basically tells us that although it's voluntary, it needs to be an ongoing process. They mean every day, as often as possible, we choose to offer ourselves our bodies as living sacrifices. As living sacrifices. Now, I've grown up in the church for 35 years. And the phrase that always this passage is used for is the phrase, worship is not just on Sundays, it is A. Anybody can lifestyle. See, that's the cliché in the church. See, everybody knows. Okay? Worship is a lifestyle. Our bodies become our real life, not some religious performance. That's why I love it when churches call the team that is up here on the platform, leading in praise and worship, what we call praise and worship, when we call the team the music team. Because this is actually not the worship team. This is the worship team. This entire hall is the worship team. What's up here is just the music team. They're leading us in song. And so we are following their leading. But we are all the worship team. We worship not just up on the platform. We don't worship just in the foyer or in the seats. We worship everywhere we go. The musicians who know this, if you go into that room, there are a few phrases and statements pasted on the wall. And one of these statements is this. My worship in public, in private, and on the platform are all equally sacred. It's pasted in that room before the musicians come up after they go down. My worship in public, in private, and on the platform are equally sacred. That means wherever we go, we worship. If I can only worship on the stage, but when I'm down there, I cannot seem to worship God. There is something wrong with my worship. If I can worship down there, but I cannot worship if I'm put up here, and I'm so self conscious up here, then there is a problem with my worship. If I can worship in the church, but I can't worship in private in my home, or in the office, or wherever I go in the car, that is also a problem. Worship is who we are. It is what we are supposed to do. It's what we were designed to do. High point. Our culture, responsibility. Number two, being a part of this, not just worshiping, not just singing, but being a part of this, serving God together, is my calling, not a chore. Being a part of this is my calling, not a chore. Now, when I was young, young means, I'm still young, but young means maybe when I was a teenager, there was a band called BC Talk, a Christian band called BC Talk, and they had a number one song on the Christian Billboard charts, and the name of the song was called Jesus Freak. And basically, the song was like, you know, people will call me a Jesus Freak, but if I know it's true, I will continue being a Jesus Freak. And so, the Jesus Freak movement became such a huge thing when I was a teenager. I think anyone between the ages of 32 to 40 should and grew up in church should know this song, right? The Jesus Freak song. And it became such a huge movement that they came up with so many different books. And the Jesus Freak movement basically put to the forefront of my generation the worries of all the martyrs, people who died for their faith, people who gave up, basically gave up their entire lives, okay? So, not just more modern ones like Jim Elliott, sometimes we would hear of Jim Elliott or William Kerry, but really even the older ones. Yeah, even the ones that were stories that were dug up of people that were thrown into the lines then in the collision, you know, of the gladiator's ring of just because they were Christians, because they decided to profess their faith. And I have this book, okay? The leaf like a Jesus Freak book and it's written by DC Talk, written there. But when I read this book, man, I just want to read. Anybody knows this next character? The penguin, okay? This one a bit older. Came out when I was two years old this movie. Danny DeVito, okay? So, this is from Batman. I want to say Batman begins DC. Yeah, DC Comics. Fans, you might know. But the penguin, he was the villain in the Batman movie. Also already, it says here, the Batman Returns, okay? From Batman Returns 1992. So, he was the villain. And he had this quote that is written in the front of this book before even the first chapter. He tells Batman, "You're just jealous because I'm a real freak, but you have to wear a mask." "You're just jealous because I'm a real freak." Penguin tells Batman, "But you wear a mask." Sometimes we can look like heroes on the outside, but we are all wearing masks. But the Jesus freak is a freak inside and out. Surrender frees us from pretending. Surrender allows us to live our faith all in and sold out. All in and sold out. If Christians don't claim authenticity, the devil will. But Christians, Jesus offers us the real freedom. He offers us the freedom to live our lives authentically because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But even though Jesus offers us this freedom, we sometimes box him up and contain him and tell him, "Jesus, you can only be a master in this particular area. You can only be a master in the church. You can only be a master in my ministry. You can only be a master in my family. But in the office, it might be different in the school or university. It might be different. Even in our marriage, we tell God sometimes, "No, this is my decision." I remember the Samaritan woman. I remember Zacchaeus. Jesus told them who they were, not they found out who they were, or they suddenly identified as another thing on their own. Jesus told them who they were. They were sinners and yet Jesus loved them so much that they themselves found the freedom to go out into their village, their towns, and tell the villagers, the Samaritan woman said, "He told me everything I have done. From someone who was hiding at noon, going to take water to telling the entire town what she has done." So, church, today's takeaway for this point is this, make Jesus the point of your life. Is Jesus a part of your life, or is Jesus the point of your life? Is he only contained in certain areas of your life, only on Sundays, only in the church, only in ministry? Or is he the point of your entire life? The second thing surrender prepares us for is to stand firm in adversity. To stand firm in adversity. Romans 12, verse 2, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. He's good, pleasing and perfect will." To stand in adversity requires two things. The first thing is to live counter-culturally. To live against the culture that we live in. Being different, shining a light in a workplace, in our schools, in our universities. How do we conform to the way the world talks? The way the world acts. The way the world thinks. Do we tolerate cussing? Do we tolerate dirty jokes? We tolerate lies in the office, in the universities. When you do group projects with your friends. How do we conform to the way the world thinks? That's a small thing only lah. It's okay lah, no one will see. It's only the way the whole world is working. So just do it. It's the way the working world is like. Just do it. How do we live counter-cultural to the world's values? On social media, you know many people say that who you are in this life is the real you. I will say that generationally, I have seen having been worked in this area as well. I have seen that more and more in today's generation, their real self is actually on the digital platforms, not in real life. Who they are and what they're talking about on social media, becomes their real life. That's why I always encourage the youth here or the young people here. Every opportunity that you have to share about Jesus, take it. I know many people who don't want to profess their faith on social media because it precious them to walk the talk. Many people don't want to talk about Jesus on their social media because it will pressure them. Hey, there's this person, you know, following me. There's this person that is a friend of me on Facebook or following me on Instagram. If I say anything about Jesus, I will have to live up to it. So I'm saddened and disappointed when people share big milestones, Christians who share big milestones in life, are wedding, a graduation, a new job, big milestones in life, but give zero credit to God when they have long posts on social media. Do we not know who provided those jobs? Do we not know who gave us the strength to complete our studies? Don't compromise. Don't conform. Even in our daily routines, how do we treat people in society that, society might see that beneath us, when I share with the young people in schools, the Christian fellowships in schools, the committees, the leaders, I will always say this, it is not how you treat your friends that other friends will take notice. It is how you treat the canteen lady, it is how you treat the janitor that is washing the toilets. It is how you treat the outcasts in your classrooms that everyone else is gossiping about behind their back. It is how you treat those people that your non-believing friends will take notice. Even when you go to restaurants, church, how you treat the waiters, how you treat the waiters. So important, because it shows you who you are, to live counter-culturally. Joey Banifasio, author and a Christian author from Philippine says this, Christians have a false notion that everything is about heart, what inside? Then they become complacent about how the world sees if our walk matches our talk, what's on the outside. Sometimes Christians, we can be so in our own bubble that we say, "Oh, it's only what's in the heart. God only sees the heart. God only sees the heart." Yes, God sees the heart. That's absolutely true. But as you know, in God's word it says, God sees the heart, but man sees the outside, the external expression, right? So how we treat people, how we are on social media, who we are in the workplace schools or universities, standing firm is not stubbornness. Let me clarify. Standing firm is not being stubborn. It's rootedness. When a tree is firm, it knows what it's for, right? It's going to be a source of life. That's what it is. When your standing firm is not being stubborn, it's about rootedness. The second way we stand firm is to be transformed for God's purpose. Romans 12 used a phrase, a renewed mind, renewing our mind. A renewed mind means there should be a shift, not just to be different against the world, not just to be different, but towards the image God wanted humans to reflect him when they were created. How does that look like? Our decision-making. Where we work, what we do at our work, even how we say yes to different opportunities. The way we make our decisions does God even factor into our decision-making. Does what God said, does what obeying God in any way factor into our decision-making? Next, what about our motivations? What causes that action? What drives us for our pursuits? The values that we have must be very different from the world. That's why when we share in scripture union, when we do BGR talks, we BGR means boy girl relationship. When we do BGR talks, we tell our youth, we tell the teens, we tell the students, a Christian should never date a non-believer, because you are both pursuing very different things. You can be very close now. In the high school, maybe you share about each other's feelings, maybe you can share about each other's families, you can share about your thoughts and your dreams and your hopes, because you have been put in a close proximity, maybe in school or in a class. But when one person is pursuing Jesus, and another person is pursuing a good family, another person is pursuing a good job, a lot of money. Eventually, over years, I will be hating that way to pursue Jesus, and another person will be hating that way. And we are going to grow further apart, because our values are different. When you date someone, when you court someone, that pursue the same things as you, you move in the same direction. In today's world, how does the world see issues like abortion? Homosexuality, marriage. How does the world see forgiveness? How does the world see happiness over holiness? Most of you will know this next show. I want to say it was the number two show, most of the seasons that it was on, but it took the world by storm. The name of the show is very good. Friends. Friends came out in 1994. How many of you were born already alive in 1994? I feel old. So it doesn't seem that long ago to most of us. In the first episode of Friends, after the first episode aired, there was a huge uproar in the United States. Because people were putting in complaints to Warner Brothers, I think the TV company that put out this show, right? There were so many complaints to the point that after the first episode, Friends almost was canceled. Do you know why there was a big uproar? Because of one thing that happened in the first episode. Because one of the characters, Monica, not the one in the dress, the one who is holding the girl in the wedding dress, Monica, slept with the guy on the first date. Because of that, that was a huge uproar in the United States to the point that they almost canceled the show. Because too many complaints. Today, it's almost normal. It is normal. For these kind of values to be in almost every show, you cannot watch a Hollywood show without one gay or homosexual couple. Now, the next show is a show that I love. But every time I watch this show, it urges me. Every time there is some value that goes against God's word. Modern family, brilliantly written. If anyone wants to learn comedic scripts, I will say this is the show to watch. One of the best shows to watch in terms of script writing for comedy. But the values in these shows should hurt us as Christians. It should make us cringe as Christians. And if it doesn't, we need to question how we have compromised. Let's take away this. Profes your faith. That means be loud about it. Be expressive about it. Profes your faith. But reassess, also reassess your values. What values do you carry? Has it compromised with the world? The third thing that surrender prepares us for is this. To serve passionately. Romans 12 again from our passage says this. For just as each of us has one body with many members, so in Christ, though many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Verse 11. Never be lacking in zeal. That means in passion, in strong passion. But keep your spiritual forever serving the Lord. Keep your spiritual forever serving the Lord. You see, because surrender realigns us to God, and also realigns us to the design of the bigger body. Why the church? What does God have in mind when He created, when He implemented, when He inducted the church? We will all ask to contribute. We will all ask to add value. We will all ask to be a part of a much bigger picture. So when we are asked to do something in service to the Lord, what's our attitude like? Do we actually serve passionately? Or do we just pick and choose what we like, have our own agendas, church? When we are Jesus to come into our lives, we don't just invite Him in as our Savior. We invite Him as our Lord. That means our Master. And if someone is a Master over us, we are servants. We are servants. Imagine some of us may have grown up or had, in some time of our life, a domestic helper in the home. Or older days we would call them a maid. I would just call them a domestic helper. But some of us might have grown up with it. Some of us might have had it in some point of our life. Can you imagine if you had a domestic helper at home and she tells you, I will do the cleaning the dishes and I will sweep the floor. But don't ask me to change the bed and fold the clothes. You tell her, go get lost. We are servants. We belong not just to Christ, but to each other. And sometimes we put on ourselves labels and excuses so that we can be the Master of our own choices to serve or not to serve. Excuses that rob us from the blessing God has for us. Some of us might say, I'm too old. These are excuses that rob. I'm too old. Some of us might say, I'm not a blank. I'm an extrovert, so I cannot be in hospitality. I'm an introvert, you know. I cannot stand up here and share a testimony. I'm an introvert. I'm a woman. I can't drive the van. I can't fix anything. Don't ask me to help build anything. I'm a man. I can't just go up to a lady and ask them to pray for them. I'm too busy. I'm too weak. I'm too much commitment. In my notes, I have listed somebody that exemplifies reversing that label. Just a few weeks ago, very quickly, it's not even in my notes. Just a few weeks ago, my wife and I were just walking out of here and my wife just made a comment. My wife said, we need more Uncle Ling Boon's in our church. The point is this, right? My dear Uncle Ling Boon is he would admit it. So I'm not saying a secret. It's not that young. But I have been with Uncle Ling Boon in a church for at least 20 years. I have never heard Uncle Ling Boon give an excuse to serve the Lord. When we remove labels over us, we demonstrate two things, church. The first thing we demonstrate is that it is not what we do that matters. It is who we serve. It is not what we do that matters. It is who we serve. The second thing we demonstrate is this. That it is God's Word. That's what surrender is. It is God's Word. Not ours. So don't rob yourself of the opportunity and the blessing that follows, serving him even in the little things. Even in the things you do not like to do. Many people say no without realizing the consequence of that no. Very easy for us to say, no, I can't do this. I can't give ourselves all those excuses, all those labels. But when we say no, understand, recognize that there will be consequence to that no. Service should not give us a sense of purpose. But the master who gives us purpose is worth serving, anytime, anything. It is not for us to gain any following or any influence. It is not our work. I love this little passage in John chapter 1. John chapter 1 talks about John the Baptist in the later part of it. It says this, the next day, John the Baptist was there again with two of his disciples. John the Baptist disciples. When John the Baptist saw Jesus passing by, he said, look, the Lamb of God. When the two disciples heard John the Baptist say this, they followed Jesus. That's what we do with our service church. It is not our work. When John the Baptist says, look, the Lamb of God, that's what our service does. It points to Jesus so that others will follow Jesus, not follow us. So, third takeaway is this, you don't need to like a ministry for you to be blessed by the opportunity to serve the Lord in it. You don't need to like the ministry for you to be blessed by the opportunity to serve. Again, that is counter-cultural as well, because we live in a world that is so self-absorbed, so self-centered, so self-entitled. Everything for our own convenience. But when we serve even in a ministry, we don't like, we show the world who we serve, not just what we do. Finally, the fourth thing that surrender prepares us for is to love freely. And Romans chapter 12 ends with loving, loving boldly. It says this, let me just read it out. Love must be sincere, hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Verse 12 says, be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer, share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. So, I just want to share three things on how you can love freely, and so this is your take home. So, part four got three different take homes, okay? Part one, part two, part three got one take home. Part four, three take homes. How we love freely, number one, we assume the best of each other. Verse 26 is the year, high point, when you feel like you are in conflict, when you feel like someone may have hurt you, when you feel like someone has discouraged you, assume the best of that person. Why did the person say this? Was it for, I'm sure it was for my own good. But I want to hear why it was for my own good. Try to think of why, and ask why the person would do something or say something if it wasn't to hurt you. Assume the best of each other. And even if they are trying to hurt you, Romans 12, verse 17, and 18 says, do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Second take home, to love freely is this. To forgive easily. Christians, we should understand forgiveness, like it's the back of our hand. Again, I will repeat, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. If there's anyone in the world who understands true forgiveness, it should be us Christians. And yet sometimes we can be the hardest, most bitter people towards each other. Romans 12, verse 19 says, do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath. For it is written, it is mine to avenge, I will repay, say the Lord. The third way, to love freely is this, to express your love. Express your love, Stephen Fertig, famous preacher from the US, he says this, what is consistently taken for granted will eventually be taken away. What is consistently taken for granted will eventually be taken away. If you take for granted the kindness of your fellow brothers and sisters, don't be surprised, don't be shocked that that kindness might fade away. Pastor Jeff posted this on Instagram some years ago and I saved it. And he, Pastor Jeff, is our sister church, Metro Church senior pastor. And he writes this, love must be expressed. Love, unexpress, quickly dies. So church, enclosing. The world and the Christian, we are very different, we are very, very different. The world sees, the world glorifies self-promotion. A Christian is asked to deny yourself, self-denial. For the world, we need to be self-sufficient. For the Christian, Jesus is the source. For the world, everything I do is for my own pleasure, self-pleasure. For the Christian, the pleasure comes in enjoying God's presence, with freedom in Jesus. Matthew chapter 16, verse 24, 26 says this, Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world? You can gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul. Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? When I was young, there was an elder in our church, some of you from Glangospohol would know, Mr. Co. He would give this illustration when he talks about surrender. And again, I was very young, but yet you see what seeds have been so into young lives. That's why we pray for the kids, right? Mr. Co will tell us this, you can give to God with a close fist or an open hand. It is your choice. If you give God with an open hand, you can offer Him your dreams, your goals, your job, your family, your marriage, your studies, your grades, your friends. These are all areas in our lives. You can give it to Him with an open hand and He can just easily take it and use it for His glory. But if it is God's will to take it and you are giving it, offering it up to Him in a close fist, you better be prepared for some pain. Because God will have to pry those fingers open to take it. And sometimes God has to do that with some of us because held on so tightly. God hears, I am offering up to you, hears my marriage or hears my job. That's not really an open hand for God to take, isn't it? But we have a choice to give God with a close fist or an open hand. Galatians chapter 2 verse 20 says this, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." "The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." You see, church, the word faith there, I have highlighted, "I live by faith in the Son of God." I live by faith. And sometimes, again, in the church, the church is just lit by faith, not by sight. Anything, you must have faith there, but what does faith actually mean? The opposite of faith, church, is not doubt. The opposite of faith is control. When we want to control our lives, when we want to be the master of different areas and pick and choose where we contain God to be in our lives, that's what faith doesn't look like. The opposite of faith is not doubt, it is control. But it's so hard as Christians to give up control, when we are living in this world that tells us control is what we need. You see, church, the only way we can give up control is if we know who we are giving up control to. The more you know someone, the more you know someone, the more you can put your faith in them. That's what faith is. That's why Trevor Noah, when he gave up that first bunch of sweets to the boy at the window, he knew he was getting another bunch of bigger sweets coming at him. Why? Not because the stranger was sitting next to him, offering him the sweets, but because his own mother was. And he knew he could trust his mum, when his mum says, "If you let go of this sweet, you will have to be able to get all these sweets in my hands." And sometimes that's the problem, church. Sadly, many of us don't want to give up control because we don't know who we are giving up control to. And that is the challenge today, to have a personal relationship with God, to go back to having Jesus as our Savior and our Master. He won't fail. Putting your trust in Jesus, putting your faith in Jesus is the surest thing you can do. You know, sometimes when we say, when we sing that song, "Make Room," he can have that connotation like, "I'm just making room, you know, like at the back seat, if someone's coming to your car, you just want to make room for them. Just push the push-ins or push whatever is at the back seat, the side." But church, when we say, "Make Room," the next line of that song says, "To do whatever you want to." That means Jesus needs not just to sit in the back seat, he needs to be your driver. You can only let Jesus be your driver if you know Jesus. Let me tell you about Jesus. He is merciful, He is gracious, He is faithful, He is true, He is loving, He is the source of life, He is a provider, He is a healer, He is all powerful, He is just, He forgives, He gives us chance after chance. He is not a distant God, He is a personal God, and some of us might need to get back to that personal relationship with Him today. He is ever-present, He is unchanging, He is as we just sang, He is unfailing.