From the sermon preached on July 7, 2025
What Does It Actually Mean to Surrender Control to God?
Most of us are working hard toward something right now: a career, a reputation, a version of life that finally feels stable. There’s nothing wrong with ambition. But what happens when the things we build start to own us?
The Book of Acts wrestles with exactly this question. In Acts 6 and 7, it gets personal — through the life of a man named Stephen, not an apostle, not a pastor, just someone willing to lay everything down. His story has something urgent to say to anyone carrying the weight of trying to control what only God can hold.
What Happens When the Church Has Real Problems — and Chooses Real Solutions?
The early church in Jerusalem was growing fast, and like every growing community, tension followed. Two groups were in conflict: the Hellenistic Jews, who had grown up outside of Judea and adopted Greek language and culture, and the Hebraic Jews, who had remained near Jerusalem and preserved traditional Jewish customs. The widows of the Hellenistic group were being overlooked in the daily food distribution — it wasn’t just a logistics problem, it was ethnic injustice inside a Spirit-filled church.
The twelve apostles responded by doing something that still feels radical: rather than scrambling to patch a hole, they said, “Choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them” (Acts 6:3, NIV). They appointed Spirit-led people to lead Spirit-led work.
The first name on the list was Stephen — chosen not to preach on a platform, but to serve tables and distribute food to widows. That tells us something important: surrendering control to God doesn’t mean opting out of the hard work. It means showing up fully, even in the roles that go unnoticed. Stephen didn’t wait for a more impressive assignment before giving his best. Faithfulness in the small things is what shapes you for the moments that actually matter.
What If You're Building Something God Never Asked You to Build?
This is where Stephen’s message gets uncomfortable. When he was arrested and brought before the religious leaders of Israel, he did something stunning: instead of defending himself, he preached. He walked through the entire history of Israel and pointed to a pattern that kept repeating — the people kept building things God never asked for.
The clearest example he cited was the golden calf. While Moses was on the mountain meeting with God, the people grew impatient. They couldn’t wait, so they built a god they could see and control, and then they worshiped it. Stephen then turned to the temple — the most sacred structure in all of Jewish life — and reminded his accusers that “the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands” (Acts 7:48, NIV).
You can build something beautiful, pour your whole life into it, and God still might not be in it. That’s a thought worth sitting with. We build careers, identities, platforms, and plans — things we can manage, measure, and protect. We pour our best energy into those things while quietly wondering why we still feel empty. The problem isn’t ambition. The problem is when we start to worship what we’ve built instead of the God who made us.
How Do You Stay Bold When Following God Costs You Something?
Stephen didn’t just preach a great sermon — he paid for it with his life. As the religious leaders rushed at him in rage, Acts 7:55 describes something that happens nowhere else in Scripture: Stephen looked up and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. Everywhere else, Jesus is described as seated. But in this moment, he was standing — because Jesus stands for the one who takes a stand for him.
As the stones flew, Stephen said two things: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:59–60, NIV). Forgiveness on his lips. Peace in his eyes. He died like the one he followed.
Angel Terrero, who shared this message, once took two believers from Egypt and one from Syria on a drive through Miami. These men wore solid orange lanyards at a Youth for Christ international conference — a warning sign meaning they came from countries where their faith made them targets. At the end of the night, they told him they wished they had something to give him. He knew exactly what they could gift him: their prayers. Angel wanted these men to pray for boldness, the kind that they carried. That story raises the same question for all of us — could we ask for the same thing?
Most of us won’t face physical danger for our faith. But boldness for Christ still has a cost — it costs you when your family thinks faith is naive, when coworkers see it as a weakness, when living differently means being misunderstood. The early believers were bold not because they were fearless, but because they were resurrection-convinced. Because Jesus rose from the dead, nothing in this life — not rejection, not loss, not ridicule — had the final word. That same conviction is available to you.
What's the Difference Between a Life Built on You vs. a Life Built on God?
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Built by Human Hands |
Built by God’s Spirit |
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Driven by control |
Driven by calling |
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Worships outcomes |
Worships the One who holds outcomes |
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Emptiness at the summit |
Fullness in the journey |
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Suffers like a victim |
Suffers like a witness |
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Fades when opposition comes |
Grows through opposition |
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Needs applause to keep going |
Fueled by purpose, not platform |
How to Apply This to Your Life This Week
Ask the honest question. Set aside five minutes and ask: “God, what am I building right now that you never asked me to build?” You don’t need to have an answer immediately — just be willing to ask it honestly.
Show up in the small thing. Whatever role in your life feels thankless or overlooked right now, bring your full self to it this week. Stephen served tables before he changed history. Faithfulness in small things is never wasted.
Reframe your suffering. Instead of asking “Why is this happening to me?” try asking “What can I witness to because of this?” That small shift changes how you move through hard seasons — from victim to witness.
Let someone pray with you. Surrendering control was never meant to be a solo exercise. If you’re carrying something heavy, let someone in this week. That’s not weakness — it’s wisdom.
Your Story Isn't Over — It's Just Beginning
How to surrender control to God is one of the hardest lessons a person can learn, but Stephen’s story shows us what’s waiting on the other side. He wasn’t famous. He wasn’t an apostle. He served tables — and then, when the moment came, heaven itself stood in his honor.
The life that looks like loss to the world is the one that gains everything. If that question is stirring something in you today, we’d love to walk alongside you. Submit a prayer request or come visit us at Generation Church in Miami — you don’t have to have it all figured out to walk through the door.
Real change happens in community. If this message stirred something in you, a Generation Church small group might be your next step. Explore Small Groups
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to surrender control to God?
Surrendering control to God means releasing your need to manage every outcome and trusting that his purpose for your life is greater than the plan you’ve built on your own. It’s an active, daily choice — not passive resignation. In Acts 6, the early church modeled this by appointing Spirit-led people to serve even in unglamorous roles and trusting God with the results.
What is the story of Stephen in Acts 6 and 7?
Stephen was one of seven men appointed in Acts 6 to serve the early church by distributing food to widows — an ordinary role with no platform. Filled with the Holy Spirit, he also became a bold witness for the gospel and was eventually arrested on false charges. He preached the longest recorded sermon in the Book of Acts before becoming the first Christian martyr, dying with forgiveness on his lips in a way that mirrored Jesus on the cross.
What does it mean to die to yourself as a Christian?
Dying to yourself means choosing to surrender your personal ambitions, comfort, and control to God’s purposes rather than your own. It doesn’t mean erasing your personality — it means no longer being ruled by your need for control, applause, or security. Stephen demonstrates this in Acts 7 by refusing to compromise his witness even when it cost him everything, and in doing so, his life produced a ripple effect far beyond what self-protection ever could.
How can I be bold for Jesus when I'm afraid of rejection?
Boldness in faith isn’t the absence of fear — it’s choosing to act on what you believe even when the cost is real. The early believers in Acts weren’t fearless; they were resurrection-convinced, trusting that because Jesus rose from the dead, nothing in this life — not rejection, not loss, not ridicule — had the final word. That conviction is what made them bold, and it’s still available today.
What does "suffering like a witness, not a victim" mean?
It means your hard circumstances don’t have to define or defeat you — they can become the very platform from which you point others toward hope. A victim is trapped by what happened to them; a witness uses that same experience to testify to something greater. The Book of Acts shows ordinary people doing exactly this, with persecution becoming the catalyst that spread the gospel further than comfort ever would have.
