The Result of Being Filled with the Spirit causes Submission to One Another!

I would like to remind you all to “be careful how you listen” (The Parable of the Sower). How did the word transform you today?

 A timely message on serving one another was wrought in my heart this morning. I began to evaluate my heart to see if indeed I had been “subject to one another in the fear of Christ” (Eph. 5:21). I found some disturbing things in my heart. As of late, I have thought far more of myself than I ought. To clarify what I mean, here is an example: I have just finished a hard semester in seminary. I felt as though I deserved a break. I had decided to coast this summer and spend time with the family before the next semester started. This is not the ideal summer for a servant of Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, the summer should give way to multiple opportunities to serve the church. So, why not? I praise my Father in heaven for having such mercy on me this morning. He exposed my plans and changed my heart. This does not mean I am going to abandon my family. It just means I am not going to treat them as an object of worship. They will be part of my worship to Christ as I spend time teaching them and encouraging them and loving them this summer. But, they will not occupy the entire summer. Let me transition to another sermon that reflect that of a servant’s heart.

Hear and see this quotation.

The context of the message was an exhortation to “soon to be pastors.” Here is what he encouraged the pastors to say as they interviewed with a church, “I am coming with a message that could cost you your life. I am here to make you happy. So happy in Jesus you don’t need to be alive. You don’t need that house. You don’t need that car. You don’t need this family, if they all die HE is still alive! I am coming to make you so glad in God, revealed in Christ, that you will sing, ‘Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also, the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still, satisfying my heart no matter what.’ I count everything as loss for the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ.”

Has the gospel changed our lives in such a way that we have this type of message to bring to the church? Is the gospel that radical? May we look deeply into our hearts to see where our satisfaction lies. We will be subject to one another if the attitude of our heart is like that of the above quotation which is a result of being filled with the Spirit.