The Secret Is Surrender

Proofread Broadcast Transcript

We're glad you're here. We're glad you're here. Fellowship is sweeter, knowing you're near.

It's so good to see you. We hope that it's clear. Everyone loves you.

We're glad you're here. Reading from Mark chapter 8, verses 34 and 35, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.

That was Mark chapter 8, verses 34 and 35. O magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt His name together. It's Monday, August 31, 2026.

Welcome to Mark & Friends. Last week we heard Peter make that great confession about Jesus, You are the Christ. Today, Pastor Jason Epperson of CU Church continues in Mark chapter 8 and asks what happens when believing who Jesus is begins changing how we actually live.

And listening friend, it comes down to one word, surrender. Here's Pastor Jason Epperson. It's interesting, all week long, when you think about how am I going to start this sermon, and you have no idea.

Like all week long, I'm like, I don't know how to start this. I can do this. Like, I could just do this.

And the whole week, I literally told Evan as I walked up and sat down beside him, I'm like, bro, my head's a mess on how I'm supposed to start this sermon. And then we watched this beautiful couple get on stage, and they live in Japan, and they started planting churches there, I think they said 16 years ago. And it instantly hit me like, oh, that's why you didn't give me the intro, because I need to confess to the room about my stupidity.

So here you go. This is how I'm starting the sermon. 17 years ago, two people named Megan and Seth, Megan was in our youth ministry, and I love her like a daughter.

And they showed up, they went to four years of Bible college, and both of their stories were incredible. And they showed up in Champaign, Illinois, and I was working as a youth pastor way back then. And they said, hey, Jason, this is what we want to do.

They talked to a missions board, and everyone just thought, you guys are crazy. You're too young. You know nothing.

Why are you doing this? And they said, hey, Jason, they trust you. Go tell them. And so I remember literally driving with them in my car, and we're driving in my car.

We're in the Target parking lot on North Prospect, which you should avoid for the next month. But I was driving in the car with them, and we're talking to Megan and Seth, and I loved them both. I loved Megan way more than Seth at that point, because I didn't know Seth that well.

But I remember having this conversation, and the whole time, in my mind, I was like, hey, guys, why don't you do this first? Why don't you do this? Why don't you gain some experience? If you're going to go there, don't focus on planting 20 churches. Focus on planting one church and see what happens. I was giving them all the right practical, physical advice.

And then at the end of it, I said, but if you feel called to this, you should do it. And they just kept saying, we feel called, we feel called, we feel called. And I remember thinking, like, I hope so.

I hope so. I hope so. And really, I would say, and I mean this with like, like usually when I tell this story, I get kind of emotional.

But I was like, in that moment, I was just viewing the world through the physical lens of how I should strategize and prepare something. And those two had the courage and the boldness, along with these guys, along with a couple other couples in their 20s, to move to a country that is like one of the most unreached countries in the world. And missionaries were constantly not finding people to follow Jesus.

And they went there, and they've planted so many churches. And God has done incredible things. And what this time I tell you is, in my own life, even though I love Jesus, sometimes my brain operates in the physical versus the spiritual.

That's the sermon of the day. That's not a warm me up, make you laugh intro, but it's true. And now in my life, there's moments as I help serve and love you guys as a church, or I'm serving on a local leadership team, that I know something to be true in my spirit.

And I'll share it in my spirit, and I'll watch a room look in the physical and think in the physical, and I know that it's my job to be patient for God to reveal the spiritual. It happens to me all the time. It happens to them all the time.

It happens. Today, as we look at this passage, I just want you to know, this is literally Jesus saying this. This passage is so cool.

It is literally Jesus saying, Hey, who does the world say that I am? Like, who do your buddies, who do people say that I am? Matt talked about that last week. And they say Elijah, they say a prophet, they say all these different things. Okay, that's what they say.

Who do you say that I am? So the first question is, who are you surrounding around you? And what do they say about Jesus? The next question is, who do you say that I am? And then what does Peter say? You are the Christ. He answers correctly. You're God in the flesh, and you've come to save the world.

You are the Messiah. And then in the next moment, this is what he says. He goes, don't tell anyone.

And the next verse, it says these words. And he began to teach them. It was like, okay, you've now opened this door.

And now I'm going to tell you the secrets of the kingdom. Lots of you in this room, you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Like, you believe it.

Some of you in this room don't believe that quite yet. And I'm here to tell you today, I'm so glad you're here. Because you're going to find out a lot about it today.

But there's an acknowledgement of, yes, I believe this. Matt talked about it last week. I read in a couple different books that Matt's illustration last week on marriage was great.

The day you say, I do, you think you understand love. And Matt was way more sensitive. He's way more sensitive and kind than me.

Actually, I don't know if he's more sensitive. He's kinder than me, for sure. But the reality is when couples are like, oh, we love each other so much.

And I believe them. I know they do. But 24 years into marriage, you recognize love is different than I thought.

It's actually not a Disney movie. I'm not going to find a slipper. She might find my underwear on the floor, but she ain't finding no slipper.

But the reality is, guys, you're with me. You recognize the longer you love someone, love shifts. It's even with your kids.

When this child comes into this world, you're holding this child. You never thought you could love something so much until they grow. It's like, I love them more.

And guys, that's Jesus. And so many, if, ooh, I should have said that. If you keep following him.

But if you just say yes to Jesus in that moment. And you just get the bread of life. And it's the best, freshest bread you've ever had.

It's like, oh, this is so good. But then the rest of your life, you turn and eat the things of the world that feed your flesh. I'm preaching now.

That feed your emotions, that feed your carnal desires. You still love him. But your love hasn't really grown as much as you just appreciate.

I just appreciate the relationship we have because you take care of this and I take care of this. Versus going to him daily for bread. And then your relationship is, ooh, let me tell you about love.

And the reason why everyone in the room right now is thinking, yeah, that's what I'm missing. Is because when you say yes to Jesus, Satan has lost an ultimate battle. But Satan wants to win all the little battles so you don't find wholeness and fulfillment on earth.

And he actually wins a lot of those battles. Today in this passage, I want you to think about two different lenses. One, the physical.

One, the spiritual. Or two different meals if you're a foodie like me. It's like, it's the things I deeply desire or the things that really fuel me.

It's like, in your life, is the greatest spiritual moment your moment of conversion? Or daily are you eating from this fresh bread that he makes you? It goes on and says it this way. And he began to teach them. And the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed.

And after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. So he says, do you believe? And you say, yes, we believe.

And he's like, okay, guys, bring it in. I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. See, you think in the physical, you think, man, Rome needs to go away and we need to rule and reign.

And Rome needs to stop oppressing and we need to stop paying taxes. Let's just think about all the physical things that are broken in our society. Jesus, please heal these things.

I say the same thing to him. I want those things to change. I do.

And that's what they were wanting. And Jesus is like, hey, this is what I'm going to do. I'm actually going to go and I'm going to be rejected by the people you want me to be accepted by.

I'm going to suffer and die and you want me to rule and reign. But then here's the good news. I'm going to conquer death so you don't have to experience death and you don't have to like sin is going to be taken away.

And so their answer to this is they're thinking in the physical. He's thinking the spiritual. When Peter said you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, it is a spiritual moment.

It's completely like this is God. And then the next moment, Peter's like, yeah, I think I think you're wrong. Like, I just need you to think about this for a second now.

In one moment, you say, Jesus, you're God. And the next one say, I think you got that one wrong. What? But I think I just want you to think about in your brain for a second.

Jesus, you're God. But then he says, you know, it happened to my wife. I'm going to share the story.

She told me I could. So my wife and my son, Abe, my oldest boy, Abe, is going to be a sophomore at the U of I. He's traveled with me a lot. He wants to be a part of, like, he doesn't want to stand on a stage and preach, but he wants to be a part of kingdom work.

So he's a pre-med neuroscience major at the University of Illinois. That means he's got his mom's brains, not the dude you listen to every week. And so he is studying.

And this summer, he just spent two, he was going to go for two weeks and going to be in East Africa on the Tanzania border in the Mar, basically staying in the bush. And he was going to be working at a medical hospital. So my wife also has never been to East Africa.

And it's a place that I've been 20 or 30. I mean, you guys know I've been to Africa like 20 or 30 times. I'm part of an NGO there that we give tons of resources to.

And so Lacey flew over there to meet with some of the people that lead the NGO, also to see her son, like her son in that setting. And then she left. And then she was leaving.

She said, literally, as I was grabbing my bags and walking away, all I could picture is I'm leaving my Auburn beautiful little baby boy. Like all she could picture was Abe saying his first words, taking his first steps. The first time he fell in the water and hated water in his eyes.

She pictured him not liking this kind of food and liking this kind of food. And she thought to herself, I can't leave him in a place where literally no one knows him. He doesn't speak the native language of people.

He has to lock his door with four locks every single night. There's baboons that will sneak into his room. There's cheetahs around the corner.

And there's people that don't necessarily want him. How can I leave my son there? And this is literally what my wife said as she picked up her bags. I'm just telling you what she told me.

She said, literally, Jesus said to me, get behind me, Satan. No, we've created this young man to run and not grow tired and to walk and not grow weary. We have raised him to rise.

And so she jumped on a plane and flew for 20-some hours and she came home. And he spent a week there learning and loving and serving and growing. Even with our kids, mom, dad, grandpa, grandma.

Do we view them in the spiritual versus the physical? This week, my son played a football game. He did pretty well. And everyone's like, man, this is so great.

And listen to me. Y'all know I love football. I love hoops.

I love sports. But after the game, I'm walking out and a dad comes up to me. And he says, man, I need to tell you that when my son joined the team, his son is a really small kid.

He's like one of those freshmen that hasn't even become a man yet. And he's playing a grown man game. You with me? And he said, Bo came up to my son and gave him a hug and told him how glad he was he was there.

And he's made my son. And my son loves it. I don't know if my son likes football.

He doesn't like getting hit. But he loves being around the guys. I tell Bo, thank you so much for loving my kid.

And I thought that was the highlight of my night. Because in the spiritual, that young man matters more than all the rushing yards and all the tackles and all the touchdowns. In the spiritual.

In the physical, man, it's fun to walk around your chest puffed up because your boy did good. What bread are you eating, family? It goes on and says these words. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But turning and seeing the disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, get behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on things above, but on the things of man. He's like, Peter's like, no, you can't do this. And Jesus is like, this is what I came to do.

Then it goes on and says these words. Get behind me, Satan, for you're not setting your mind on things above, but things of man. Guys, do we live our lives, when you walk into a meeting, it's how can I get what I want? Or man, Lord, how can I represent you best? That's what it means to trust.

Do we really? And this is really what it comes down to. Do you really believe he's God? Do you really believe he hung the stars in the sky? Because if we really believe he's God. Okay, I'm going to trust you with the way I should interact with these people.

Versus trust myself and just try to get what I want or get what the business needs. That's what it says. It goes on and says these words.

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Is on a daily basis, are we turning to the Lord? Do your feet hit the ground in the morning and it's like, Lord, what do you have for me today? Or is it your feet hit the ground, say, okay, God, this is what I'm doing today, help me. It's different.

Is it during your day, are you looking for the things that please your physical nature? Are you looking for the like, whatever you feed? If you feed the, if I feed the old man, the old man grows, obviously. But if I feed the spiritual man, the spiritual man grows. I need to starve one and fuel the other.

In your life, is it, am I checking the right boxes? Or is it, am I allowing God to direct my life? Because I'm not saying these things. This is like, I'm literally talking about, hey guys, here's the secret. That's what we're doing right now.

It's Jesus looking at someone that loves him and saying, hey, I know you believe now. We're good. But do you want to know what it's really like to live? Do you want to give up the anxieties? Do you want to give up the fears? Do you want to give up the false expectations? Do you want to give up the false disappointments? Do you want to give up like the, do you want to, it's not that you're going to give up suffering, obviously, because I'm about to suffer.

You're not going to give up rejection because I'm about to be rejected. But do you want to really experience this thing called life? Like in the book of John, how does John say it? We've said it every single week for a year. I stood literally right here and I asked you the question.

John tells you the truth. And if you're willing to surrender to that truth, you're willing to turn to that truth, repent of what you think. Like if you'll eat the good bread, if you'll turn to John, then you find the life and life abundantly.

Kingdom of heaven coming to this earth is when you and I trust Jesus versus trust self. If your family needs to be transformed, your relationships need to be transformed, your business, your sports team, your whatever, the way we find transformation in this world is by bringing God to earth. And the only way to do that is to kill the old brother that's trying to take over.

And that's me. I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. Not I, but Christ lives in me.

And I'm a hard dude to kill now. For what does it profit a man? For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? I guess here's the first question. I'm going to act the first.

I've asked a lot of questions. Here's another question. Who knows best? Let's just, I know what you're feeling right now because I feel it too.

But I'm just asking, who knows best? Okay. You can nod, at least nod. Give me something.

Who knows best? You know. So he knows best. We know that.

The second question is on this earth. This earth is described as a mist in comparison to the timeline of heaven. So if he knows best, he knows what's best for the kingdom of God.

He knows what's best for me in my life. He knows the best way for me to find wholeness and fulfillment. He knows the best way for me to be a husband, to be a father, to be a pastor, to be a coach.

He knows what's best for you to be a player. He knows what's best to be a lawyer. He knows what's best to be a carpenter.

He knows what's best. The second part is, is even if this is hard and he knows what's best, it is literally on a timeline of mist because eternity is in front of us. But if he knows what's best, why do I always challenge what he wants? I feel that way too sometimes.

It's like, Lord, no! He goes on and says this. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? Then it says this in verse 36. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man gain in return for his soul? All over the world.

I want to make a, I'm going to give everyone in the room an excuse that most of you have never seen, but I'm going to tell you so you're without excuse. Is that all right? But it's still different to experience it. In my 20s was the first time I walked into places that are called the underground church.

It's working with people that are being killed, being persecuted for their faith. They literally risk their lives to open up the books that we open up every single day. There's millions of Christians that live under persecution.

There's millions of Christians that live under oppression. And I've had the incredible opportunity to get to know lots of those people. Lots of those people are people that when you put your money in those black offering bins, that's where it goes.

Like we're serving people all over the world all the time. But here's the crazy thing. I remember in my 20s, that age in your life when it's like, I need to like be successful.

Like that's the thought, right? It's okay. Like that's what they tell you. Like you take the test and Jason, you should be a vacuum cleaner salesman because you'll be successful.

Or Jason, you should be a doctor. Just joking. They didn't say that.

And so, but it's like, but they tell you all these things that you're going to find success in. And then the Lord's like, no, you shouldn't go play football even though you've been doing it forever. No, you, you shouldn't go into sports broadcasting.

You need to be a pastor. I'm like, I don't even like talking in front of people. Am I going to think in the spiritual? Am I going to think in the physical? And now because of the spiritual, everyone's like, would you, Jason, you shouldn't do anything.

What else? But in this same conversation, what, what is he asking? If this is it, when I meet with the underground church leaders in my twenties and I was on this road and this path, I'm speaking at conferences and it's cool to see these large churches and they start calling and you start thinking about it. And the next thing you know, it's like all about bigger and better and all these kinds of things, even though that's not the kingdom of God, even though it has been the church. And then I started meeting these people that had so much joy, so much wholeness, so much fulfillment.

They didn't walk in anxiety. They didn't walk in the same fears I walked in. They didn't measure their day based on their product.

They measure their day based on the fruitfulness of relationship. And I remember being with these people that literally like I'm teaching in a room in India and I'm walking and I'm in the room and people are missing hands or missing arms because they've been cut off or they're mourning the death of their loved ones. Or I'm in the horn of Africa on the border of Somalia and I'm talking with people that have been in prison, have been beaten.

And I'm talking to people that used to be a part of a terrorist group called El Shabab. And the joy, listen to me, listen, I'm like, I'm, I don't know how to say this. The joy they had was so much more remarkable than the joy that I have experienced, that I had experienced.

And then I hear Christians saying, well, it's because they don't have all the concerns of wealth. What in the peep are you thinking? Like it is way easier to have money than not have money. Don't be dumb.

Let's just be honest. Like, like, oh, it's such a burden for me to get over yourself. Why do they find wholeness? Why do they find peace? Why do they, because they've actually trusted the Lord.

Like they've actually like put their hope in him because they had no other place to put. This is what they've done in their life. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

The next morning, no matter what the oppression or what the opposition, they believed it. And they kept believing it. And they keep seeking it.

And they're eating of the bread of life. And they're drinking from the water that never makes them thirsty. And they walk in wholeness and fulfillment and joy in the midst of real hardship.

You've seen it in this world around you. You know people around you think, man, that person has so much joy. They have so much light.

They have so much life. Like I want whatever they got. What they have is death to themselves and life in Jesus.

What they have is not, man, their life's worked out perfect. Every single person in this room, every single one of you understands what it is to suffer. You might not tweet it.

You might not Snapchat it, Facebook it, or Insta whatever it. I get it. I don't either.

But I know this room is suffering. But in the midst of suffering, you still find joy and wholeness and life and peace. It's because you're suffering in the midst of holding the hands of Jesus.

Family. He's like giving us the key. He's giving you the secrets here, ladies.

And the secret is surrender. But you're not surrendering to worse. You're surrendering to what you're created to be.

He is literally reshaping you into what He created you to be. Isn't it interesting today in culture, it tells us in Scripture the only thing we should boast in, the only thing we should be proud of is Him. Where is my pride found? It's found in Jesus.

Yes, listening friend, the secret is surrender. And we're not surrendering to something worse. We're surrendering to Jesus and allowing Him to reshape us into the people He created us to be.

You've been hearing a message by Pastor Jason Epperson of CU Church challenging us to stop looking only through the physical lens, what I want, what I feel, what makes me successful, and begin seeing our lives through the spiritual. Jesus knows best, so let's learn to deny ourselves, take up our cross, follow Him, and as the Scriptures remind us, boast in Him alone. And continue growing with us under the Mark & Friends tab at greatnewsradio.org or wluj.org. There you can hear today's broadcast again, read the transcript, explore the Scriptures, key takeaways and practical applications, consider today's challenge, and find additional resources to help you grow deeper in your walk with Jesus.

Find more resources under the Mark & Friends tab at greatnewsradio.org or wluj.org. Thanks for listening. Thanks for being a part of our radio listening family. This is Mark Burns with the Ministry of Great News Media.

God bless you and have a great day and night.