7/19 CRC Sunday | Reset

Devotional

Day 1: Yielding Wills Like a Team Under One Coach

Submission isn’t about losing identity but aligning under a shared mission. Just as athletes surrender personal strategies to follow their coach’s playbook, believers are called to yield their plans to God’s design. Unity thrives when individual wills harmonize under divine authority. This requires trust in the Coach’s vision over our limited perspective. Resistance fractures teams, but submission strengthens the whole. The triune God models this: Jesus yielded to the Father’s will, securing redemption through surrender. [43:00]

“Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. ‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’”
(Mark 14:35-36, NIV)

Reflection: Where do you instinctively resist yielding your plans to God’s structure? How might embracing His “playbook” deepen your trust in His ultimate goal?

Day 2: Flawed Leaders, Unflawed Grace

God’s grace flows through imperfect authority structures. Jacob thrived under Laban’s deceitful leadership because God’s blessing transcended human flaws. Submission isn’t about trusting individuals but trusting the God who governs all positions. When we fixate on leaders’ weaknesses, we miss the stability of the structure itself. Divine grace isn’t hindered by broken vessels—it redeems them. [49:31]

“So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.”
(Genesis 29:20, NIV)

Reflection: Which authority figure’s flaws most tempt you to rebel? How might God’s grace still work through them if you yielded to His design?

Day 3: Isolation’s Illusion of Clarity

Seeking God alone often distorts His voice into our own echoes. The enemy isolates us to amplify self-deception, making personal desires sound like divine whispers. True discernment comes through the filtering of community and structure. Just as France’s disconnected soccer players faltered, isolated believers lose spiritual momentum. God designed us to hear Him collectively. [58:24]

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
(Jeremiah 29:13, NIV)

Reflection: When have you insisted on “just me and God” decisions? How might inviting structural accountability clarify His actual voice?

Day 4: The Trinity’s Dance of Surrender

The Godhead models perfect submission: distinct wills united in purpose. Jesus’ “not my will” in Gethsemane didn’t diminish His divinity but revealed the strength of surrendered unity. Our call isn’t to erase individuality but to align it with the Father’s redemptive rhythm. Resistance fractures; submission empowers. [43:45]

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.”
(Philippians 2:5-7, NIV)

Reflection: What part of your life still shouts “my kingdom” instead of “Thy kingdom”? How might Christ’s example reframe your view of surrender?

Day 5: Confirmation’s Echo Through the Structure

God confirms His will through multiple witnesses in His body. Josh’s counsel, Nigel’s input, and Kevin’s guidance aligned only when the pastor fully yielded. Isolation breeds uncertainty, but structural submission brings clarity—even when it costs comfort. Divine confirmation often arrives through unexpected voices in God’s chain of command. [01:06:54]

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
(Hebrews 11:6, NIV)

Reflection: When has God used an unlikely person in His structure to redirect you? How might you posture yourself to hear Him through others today?

Sermon Summary

Submission gets a bad rap, but submission is not a dirty word. The command is not servitude, not losing identity, and not becoming an appendage to somebody else’s dream. Submission is a functional word inside a structure, and that structure makes unity possible. The biblical discipline is not just for wives, even though that part is in there. The discipline is for everybody because God gives it to keep believers from the danger of spiritual isolation.

The triune God existed in eternity past in unity and structure. God created humanity to join that unity, but the fall turned the heart toward the kingdom of self. The kingdom of self says, “I call the shots. It’s about me.” The enemy’s old lie still sounds the same: a person knows what is best and is better off on their own. The kingdom of God is unity, and the kingdom of self is isolation.

The discipline of submission ushers a person out of isolation and into the kingdom of God. Submission means yielding one will to the will of another for the sake of unity. The soccer team image makes the point plain: separate wills can run parallel for a while, but a team only plays as a unit when it unites under a single will. Strength comes through ordered unity, not everybody doing what seems right in their own eyes.

The Son in Gethsemane shows perfect submission inside the Godhead. Jesus prays, “not my will but your will,” and the Son aligns himself to the Father for the shared goal of reconciliation. Perfect submission does not erase the Son. Perfect submission reveals how unity works when distinct wills are yielded in love.

The complication comes when believers say yes to God but resist the structure God set up. Submission is not mainly personal. Submission is structural. Authority belongs to the position, not the individual. Jacob and Laban make that clear because Laban was flawed and manipulative, but God still blessed Jacob through the structure. No individual in a position has the authority to ruin God’s will.

Romans 13 names the deeper issue: all authority comes from God. The biblical structure includes parents, husbands, elders, governments, bosses, and other real-life authorities. Names in those boxes make submission harder because flaws become obvious, and flaws make rebellion feel easy to justify. But grace flows through the structure God holds.

Isolation makes a calling feel heavy because a person was not designed to carry it alone. God does not hide his will in some dark corner. God confirms his will through the whole counsel when a yielded heart truly wants his will instead of affirmation of its own will. Peace, clarity, and boldness come when submission lets God speak through the structure he has set up.

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Key Takeaways

1. Submission is structural, not servile Submission does not mean erasing a person’s identity or becoming somebody else’s tool. Biblical submission yields to God’s order because unity needs structure to function. The heart resists this because flawed people occupy real positions, but the call is to trust God through the position rather than idolize or fear the person. [47:19]
2. Isolation distorts discernment Isolation makes God’s voice start to sound suspiciously like a person’s own desires. A sincere heart can still seek God from the wrong place if it refuses the structure God gave for confirmation. Discernment deepens when desire is willing to be tested by the whole counsel, not merely echoed back as affirmation. [58:24]
3. Grace flows through flawed structures Jacob’s blessing under Laban shows that a corrupt person cannot block the grace God intends to give. God holds the structure, and God knows how to bless his servant even when the authority figure is manipulative or shortsighted. Submission is not confidence in human perfection, but confidence that God can work through what he established. [49:31]
4. God confirms what God commands God is not whispering obscurities from some dark corner, making his will impossible to find. A yielded heart can seek him wholeheartedly because he rewards those who earnestly seek him. True surrender does not demand secret certainty while avoiding accountability, but waits for God to bring clarity through the means he has provided. [60:49]
5. Peace can outlast ugly obedience God’s will does not always make obedience easy, clean, or painless. The “bomb” may still go off, and the consequences may still be ugly, but clarity gives a boldness isolation cannot touch. Peace comes from knowing the step was taken under God’s confirmed direction, not from controlling the outcome.

## [69:12]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[33:29] - Opening and Setup
[34:18] - Submission Gets a Bad Rap
[35:39] - Submission Is for Everybody
[37:15] - Starting in Eternity Past
[38:49] - The Enemy’s Lie of Isolation
[40:39] - Defining Biblical Submission
[42:44] - Gethsemane and Perfect Submission
[45:41] - Trusting God Through Structure
[48:24] - Jacob, Laban, and Grace
[50:13] - Romans 13 and Authority
[55:39] - Structure Is Not Confinement
[58:04] - Discernment Outside Isolation
[61:47] - Josh, Counsel, and Confirmation
[69:12] - Peace After Obedience
[70:19] - Closing Prayer

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Romans 13:1-2
“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” [50:27]

Mark 14:36
“‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’” [44:32]

Ephesians 5:22
“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.”

Hebrews 11:6
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” [01:00:49]

Isaiah 45:19
“I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.” [01:01:03]

Observation questions

In Mark 14:36, what two desires are heard in Jesus’ prayer, and what choice does he finally make? [44:32]
According to Romans 13:1-2, where does authority come from, and what does Paul say rebellion against authority is really rebellion against? [50:27]
What definition of submission is given here, and what picture from team sports helps explain it? [40:39]
What repeated contrast is drawn between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self? [39:40]

Interpretation questions

If Jesus says, “not what I will, but what you will,” what does that show about submission? How does that help guard against the idea that submission means losing identity or personhood? [43:41]
Romans 13 says authority comes from God. How should that shape the way a believer thinks about flawed people in real positions of authority? [48:24]
If God is not speaking “in secret” and does not tell his people to seek him in vain, why do so many people still feel unclear about his will? How might isolation be part of that confusion? [58:24]
If grace can still flow through a broken structure, as seen in Jacob’s story with Laban, what does that suggest about God’s ability to bless someone even when leadership over them is imperfect? [49:31]

Application questions

Where is the pull toward the kingdom of self strongest right now? Is it at home, at work, in marriage, in church life, or somewhere else? What usually rises up in the heart there: fear, mistrust, pride, or the need to stay in control? [38:20]
Has God’s voice ever started to sound a lot like personal preference? What is one area where there may be more desire for affirmation of a personal plan than real openness to God’s will? [59:50]
Is there a decision being carried in isolation right now? Who are the trusted people in the structure around that situation that could help test and confirm what God is saying? [59:16]
Which authority figure is hardest to trust God through right now? Without excusing real wrong, what would it look like to honor the position while still being honest about the struggle? [47:19]
Has obedience ever felt ugly, costly, or disruptive, but still brought peace? What helped make it clear that the step was taken in God’s will and not just on impulse? [01:09:12]
Where does life feel especially heavy right now? Could some of that weight be coming from trying to carry a calling alone instead of within the support and stability God provides through structure? [50:02]
What is one practical step of yieldedness that could be taken this week—not to become passive, but to seek God humbly within the relationships and responsibilities he has already put in place? [58:04]

Sermon Clips

61s

“```It's not just you and God over here in this isolated bubble. It's like sometimes we we like God. Okay. Well, hold on before I get there. It's The structure is not about confinement. It's not. And oftentimes, we see it as confinement. Any structure is confinement. It's not. It's not. If you have that idea, your your idea of freedom is kind of skewed. The structure is not confinement. The structure is a source of stability. It's a it's a source of strength for those who find refuge in it. It's a protection. Right? So many are anxious and burdened because they're carrying the weight of the world in isolation. But if I'm functioning within the structure, I carry only my portion. If you're seeking God's will for your life and you can't find clarity, it may be that you're seeking him in isolation.”

90s

“Laban is a very flawed individual. He's a very flawed individual. Every turn, he is trying to take advantage of Jacob who is under his authority. Every turn, he's trying to take advantage of him. And yet, God intended to bless Jacob. So you know what happened? God blessed Jacob and there's nothing that Laban could do about it. He changed his wages 10 times. And if he said, oh, what you get is the stripes sheep. Guess what? Who's in charge of how sheep get born? God is. Grace flew through the structure, all the sheep are striped. He said, no no no, now the spotted ones. Guess what? They're all spotted. Right? Because no authority I'm sorry. No individual in a position has the authority to ruin God's will for your life. God holds the structure and he fills it with his grace. And when you are functioning within that structure, you're a recipient of that grace. When you are working in isolation, you're doing it on your own. And there's a reason why that feels like such a burden. There's a reason why that feels so heavy because you were not designed to carry the weight of your calling in this life in isolation.”

82s

“if it's truly god's will, can't I trust him to confirm it through the structure that he set up? Or do I believe that he told me a secret that we're supposed to keep from the rest of the body and it's just between us? Now, I'm not saying he couldn't do that. I'm just saying that's not the norm. Right? They don't make decisions for us. However, when you're seeking God, he confirms it through the whole council. Right? If you've got something on your heart and everybody in a position of authority that has God given responsibility for you around is like, you might wanna rethink that. You might wanna rethink that. Right? When we're Sometimes we ignore the structure on purpose because we believe that they won't agree with what we believe God has already told us. And that's one reason why we don't. I'm If I'm seeking him in isolation, need to ask myself, do I just want affirmation of my own will or do I truly want God's will no matter what it means for me?”

64s

“Did it blow your mind to understand that within the godhead, there's multiple wills? Yeah. We don't have time to unpack that. the son's will is distinct from the father's. So how were they won? Perfect submission. Perfect submission. He says, never the will nevertheless, not my will but your will. I'm going to align myself to you because we share a common goal, reconciliation for the fall of mankind. And this is the way that we're going to accomplish it. Right? There's a unity in their method. There's a unity in their in the end state, in the end goal of the mission. There's a unity relationally as they function through that. Right? Unity is this all encompassing thing that is only made possible if there's multiple entities through submission.”

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7/19 CRC Sunday | Reset - Submission