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Eph. 5:25 KJV Session 20 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” Though its a familiar statement, there is more here than we might have considered. First, “husbands…” Inherent in the order of this address is divine intent. The husband, says God is the responsible head of the home. Had the wife been considered the head, she, not the husband would have been mentioned first. Though equal in value to God, the wife is not co-leader of the home. She has her God given domain, and it is rightfully hers. The husband ought not meddle there. It is not wise or beneficial for him to trespass into that which God has given the wife in the marriage relationship and in the home. A husband who is what God has called him to be, will be such that a godly wife will gladly defer to him in the God ordained manner. “Husbands, love your wives…” For many years this command seemed somewhat strange. Of course, a husband will love his wife. But yet again, what the Holy Spirit intends is more, and yes, deeper than it appears at first glance. Particularly in western Europe, the US and a lot of other places west if Asia and the Middle East, love is understood to begin with sexual attraction. We are drawn by physical appearance and what is often referred to as chemistry which is more often than not nothing more than raging hormones. Biblically love is not sexually derived. It is not even a chemical attraction. Love in the biblical sense is a volitional act of one’s will. It is determining to love another person. Love driven by sexual and/or chemical attraction is at its root selfish. We encounter a person we desire. We believe this person can benefit us. This mindset is foreign to authentic love. Christians are motivated to love by two great motivators: God is love. God has commanded us to love. Both of these motivations are driven by something greater than self interest. Every person needs love. We need to experience love. We need to experience being loved by another and others. We need to experience giving love to another, and others. We need to experience God's love for us. We need to experience giving God our love. Marriage is the divine means for humanity to experience love as it was meant to be. The intimacy of the husband wife relationship mirrors Jesus’ love relationship with his church. The home mirrors the love relationship God has with his children. Humanity's need to both receive and give love is provided for within the institution of the family unit, and the local church. Husbands who love their wives biblically take upon themselves a lifestyle of loving their wife. Loving one’s wife is part and parcel of everything else a husband does. He works because he loves his wife. He nurtures her because he loves her. He leads her because he loves her. He protects her because he loves her. Western husbands often have separate checking accounts, and private areas of life not shared with his wife. Sadly, many wives do this as well. This is not how God intends marriage to be at all. Love is mutual togetherness. Intimacy. Oneness. Selflessness. But why is it commanded? It's a fact. Men aren't as good at relationships as women are. We men tend to keep to ourselves, or deliberately stay distant and shallow in the relationships we have. It's self defense. Men dread vulnerability. The divine command provides incentive for men to be more intentional in developing at least one deeply intimate, vulnerable relationship. It's a standard joke. Ask a man how his day went. You get either: “fine. Good. Bad. Terrible.” No commentary. No play by play. One word sentences. Ask a woman about her day: sit down. Focus. You are in for a full disclosure of virtually every conversation, circumstance and experience she had, plus her uniquely personal commentary on why those things happened. But that's not nearly all of it. Also, in addition to all of the above, she is going to tell you how she plans to react to all the above tomorrow and beyond. At this point husbands mistakenly believe the wife wants him to fix it. WRONG! This is her life, her story. She only wants you to listen, then side with her on her dastardly plot to even scores. Some actually believe recording angels in Heaven prefer men to women. Why? Men use only a fraction of the words women use in a single day. Love is listening. But, love is also sharing. A husband who won't let his wife inside his heart and his head wounds his wife in ways he doesn't understand. She desperately wants and needs to know not only what happens to him, but how those things affect him, how he feels about them. This is anything but easy for us men. Hence the command. Without the command, many husbands wouldn't even try to love on this level. Real love is not conditional. The traditional marriage vows, almost extinct now in the early 21st Century, emphasizes the unconditional nature of married love. “For better or for worse: In sickness, and in health: for richer and for poorer: as long as we both shall live. Forsaking all others.” On our wedding day, it is impossible to see the dark days which shall surely come eventually. Yet, we vow to remain committed to our spouse in every eventuality life may present. There will be trials, trouble, yes even temptation. Unconditional love undergirds us sufficiently to endure life's most intense adversaries. Marital love, while finite and imperfect, must strive to reach toward the divine standard. God the Holy Spirit will enable, and empower. He will sustain us throughout the course of our earthly journey together as husband and wife. “…as Christ also loved the Church…” The standard in all things pertaining to life and godliness is Christ. This truth eliminates all attempts at human comparisons. Christ is the perfect Standard. Like the divine law, it is an un attainable standard. Yet, it must be that for which we strive. Any lesser standard will surely see us fail in our marriages. “…loved the Church…” This Greek word, implies contented love, or love that is well pleasing. It’s an interesting perspective Paul sets forth here. Jesus is content, well pleased with his Bride. But how can he be, when there remains so many unresolved issues within the body we call the Church? Again, I remind us of the divine perspective: which is quite different from ours currently. Jesus has known us since before the foundation of this world. Hence, Jesus is in a unique position to know the divine Purpose in creating both humanity, and later the Church. Jesus likewise approves of the divine Process used to call the Church out of the human world. Certainly, our Lord is pleased with the Perfecting work of the Spirit within the Church. Finally, since Jesus is both Alpha and Omega, he has already seen the unblemished Purity the Church will have when we stand in his presence one day. This loved, Paul sees, is unqualified, divine satisfaction with the Church. There is nothing more to refine, renovate, or replace. She is perfect for Him! We often marvel that Jesus was willing to endure the sufferings and the shame of the cross for us. But we can only see ourselves, and the Church as we are now. Long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he saw us. He knew us. He beheld the finished product. What Jesus saw, was to Him, the most beautiful being in the universe. This very special being is his eternal bride! “…and gave himself for it.” Death, to Jesus was a worthy price to pay for such a beautiful, perfect being. The Father did not need to persist. The Son readily, eagerly consented to the redemptive plan. Today, we see only our own mess. The mirror of the Scriptures reveals every flaw, every thing out of place. Worse, we often see the image in the mirror from our perspective instead of God’s. Those with self image issues, mental and emotional issues, and physical maladies interpret what they see as insurmountable imperfections. Luke 1:37, reminds us: “With God, nothing shall be impossible.” Someone once said, “If the Bible declares it, that settles it.” What I see in the mirror of the scriptures, indicates where I am today in the journey to Christlikeness. The image in the mirror changes with time, and progress. As certainly as I have already experienced many changes: I can be sure God will continue to “perfect the things concerning me.” One day, I “shall be like him: for I shall see him, as he is.” What joy fills my soul to understand Jesus loves me, and he is pleased and contented in the final product of the man he has created and redeemed me to be.

Eph. 5:23,24 KJV Session 19 23 “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.” In our last session we considered how the marriage relationship came to be as it is stated here in Ephesians 5. Although, created and joined together without divine statement as to order and accountability in the Garden: it seems appropriate to believe God intended all along to use human marriage as a means of modeling the greater relationship Christ has with the New Testament Church. Let's walk through these two important verses and consider them together. “…the husband is the head of the wife.” This is as authoritative as Genesis 1:1. It's not up for debate or discussion. There’s an old southern saying, “Plain language is easily understood.” What we have here is very plain language. Any marriage in which the husband is not serving as the head of the wife, is one existing out of the expressed will of God. Whatever level of joy you might have in such a marriage isn't God's best for you, or your spouse. You can experience better by following the scriptural mandates. “…even as…” This is the vital piece we need in order to understand why God instituted marriage. Marriage is a picture, a model, a mirror, a prototype if you will of something greater, something eternal. The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church. This statement assures us marriage matters immensely. We must get it right, because there is eternal significance attached to it. Marriage isn't merely a state of being where two people choose to live together. It is more than an agreed upon sexual union, or lifestyle choice made for convenience or practical, financial reasons. To God, marriage is sacred, institutional. Therefore, marriage is to be hallowed, revered. From God's perspective, marriage does not permit two people to come together and choose to live together as they see fit to live. Since marriage is a divine institution; there is structure, principle and mandates unto which to adhere. Marriage is two people, one man and one woman coming together in a covenant relationship both predisposed to living together God's way. Marriage is husband and wife pleasing God together. “Christ is the head of the Church…” Paul did not write, Christ is one of the heads, or he is the chief head of the Church. There is only one head of the Church and that head is Jesus! Likewise, there is only one head of the wife. That head is the husband. No, that's not sexist. It's not misogyny. I don't think anyone knows all of the divine reasoning behind this reality. We simply must trust that God knows best and obey him in this matter. “…he is the Savior of the body.” The husband cannot save his wife. Yet, he is to model the person of Christ in the home, and by so doing he influences his wife to rely upon Jesus for both salvation and security. Christ has saved his Church. Therefore he reigns supreme and preeminent in her. To the Church, Christ “is all, in all.” “…As the Church is subject to Christ…” As, is a comparative word. It means in the same way, manner, and relationship as Christ is to the Church. The divine intent then is clear. The husband - wife relationship is to mirror the relationship Christ has with his Church. This is a perfect standard. Just as the divine law is perfect, and yes unattainable: it is nonetheless, the standard which has been set for marriage. Some would abandon the standard merely because it is unattainable. True followers of Christ will embrace it. But why? The standard of Christ is good. We ought to have the highest possible standard of measure and strive determinedly to attain it. Our lives will be enriched seeking the highest standard of measure even without actually attaining perfection. Reality: We all admit, there are no marriages today that reach the standard set here. Perhaps worse, or surely just as tragic, I know of no local churches where Christ is followed and obeyed as the supreme head of the church. Both homes and churches today are reaping the horrible harvest of lowering our standards of living; lowering our expectations of these institutions. A wife cannot, in most cases, will not submit herself willingly to her husband unless she trusts him. Churches today have lost the principle of operating solely upon faith in God. Our lack of trust, dependance, and obedience to Christ is the root cause of the epic declines many local churches and denominations are experiencing today. Marriages are being managed by the unsaved world’s concepts. Local churches are operating on secular business and marketing concepts rather than biblical ones. No wonder many are giving up on both marriage and the local church. “…so let the wives be unto their own husbands in every thing.” Faith is rarely easy. But it is the way God has chosen for us to live in this world. Women who have experienced bad things by submitting to her husband will be extremely reluctant to obey this passage. Local churches operating on a “shoe string” budget and operating paradigm will likewise be reluctant to abandon secular survival protocols in favor of biblical ones. Pastors and church leaders must lead their congregations to a true, faith based ministry model. Husbands can assist their wife greatly by first fully submitting themselves to the authority of the Holy Spirit. Establish and maintain trust. Give your wife good reason to rely upon you. We are about to get to the centerpiece essential for making marriage everything God intended when he brought Adam and EveZ together. Many factors affect marriages. But the next few verses are the real determinators of the fulfillment for which you are searching. Will get to those in the next sessions.

Eph. 5: 22 KJV Session 18 "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." Verse 21 closes with the phrase, "in the fear of God." Someone once said, "To fear God is to never need to fear anyone else." Proverbs declares, "The fear of man bringeth a snare..." (29:25) What does submission and the fear of God have to do with the Holy institution of marriage? Before we enter into our thoughts on the marriage relationship; let's briefly review a couple of truths which will help us get the right mindset about what God designed marriage to do for us. God is sovereign over everyone, and everything, everywhere, all the time. Only God is self existent: therefore, every one of us is existentially dependent upon him. It boggles the human mind to contemplate the infinity of God. Though we have the wonderful, inspired, inerrant Scriptures to reveal God to us; the Bible only reveals what humanity needs to know about him. This means, we actually only know a microscopic fraction of all God actually is. The fact of his infinite attributes ought to provoke deep, profound fear of God within us. We know only what the Bible reveals about God. We understand even less than we know. We each have experienced God working in ways unknown and incomprehensible to us. Only the very naive would claim to really know much about God or his ways. It is wise, to trust his person rather than be very dogmatic and idealistic about what we think we know about God. The Bible commands us to fear the Lord God. I'm convinced the intent is far more than mere reverence and awe. God's ways are not our ways. His ways are infinitely superior and beyond human ways. Redemption alone demonstrates the severity of God's ways. It is wise indeed to fear him. "The fear of the Lord, is the beginning of knowledge." Godly fear, unlike fear of people, things, powers, or experiences is liberating rather than paralyzing or confining. When we fear things and people other than God we feel trapped, besieged, and endangered. Fearing God liberates us to live above and beyond other kinds of fear. It empowers us to leave ourselves under God's watch care and protection. Fearing God allows us to trust God will take care of us when we obey his word. Even when obeying God places us under the authority of others: we can rest in the knowledge God controls those who have power over us. Paul commands the Ephesian believers to submit themselves to one another. In Romans 13, he commands submission to Rome and human government. Here in verse 22, Paul tells Christian wives to submit to their own husbands. Historically, women have lived in subjugation since the fall into sin in the Garden of Eden. Every culture, even until our present time, have considered women to be weak, inferior, and at the mercy of men. In the west, woman seem to have arrived at basic equality with men. Statistically though, women remain in jeopardy of violence, discrimination and face challenges men do not. This sweeping historical mistreatment and devaluation of womanhood has prompted some to believe and even teach, womanhood's place in history is punishment for her sin in the Garden. God's word to Eve was "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow, thou shalt bring forth children. Thy desire shall be to thy husband. And he shall rule over thee." This view probably is stretched beyond God's original intent. Yet its hard to argue with the historical record of sorrow, suffering, subjugation, and servitude women have endured since the garden. Naturally, a woman is, and rightly should be concerned for her own safety and wellbeing. Yet, if history has taught her anything; she alone is not capable of insuring her own safety. In her case especially, God is an able protector. Trusting him is wise. Obeying him bestows his blessings upon her.  Obeying Ephesians 5:22 and similar passages requires faith in God. Without faith, it is unreasonable for a woman to unconditionally submit to any man. Everything God expects of us is based upon the issue of faith. Faith, the kind of faith God honors, is bestowed. It is not humanly manufactured. Biblical faith is not blind trust. Nor, is this faith unrealistic hope or expectation. Biblical faith operates solely upon the fact of the impeccably of the very person of almighty God. His own word is all the evidence necessary for us to throw ourselves upon his promises. "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." Any woman who knows the Lord at all, ought not have the slightest reservations about obeying this command. The God who commands it; stands behind it. God did not command woman to unilaterally submit to every male she encounters. No man has the right to subjugate a woman regardless of either her station in life or his own. Notice, it is not the right of husbands to demand her submission. He ought, as a servant of Christ himself to live in submission to the authority of the Holy Spirit living within him. This command is between God and the wife. Since this is a covenant between God and wives, wives can rest in God's providential care of them; even if the husband is an unbeliever. This is why I brought up divine sovereignty to begin with. God rules over everyone, everywhere, perpetually. Wives can rest in this reality with confidence. But exactly what is, marital submission by the wife? Well, here is what it is not: It is not inferiority  It is not slavery  It is not oppression When we observe God's work in our world; we are immediately struck by the reality of order, design, purpose in what is. God chose to create us incomplete, and requiring interdependence. Essentially, God made us to need one another. Every person brings to the world abilities no one else has. This is because God has intended and designed a specific purpose and role for every one alive today. While humans can and do live alone, and do so without apparent self endangerment, God intends for most people to be joined together in intimate union. Yes, I believe, God does create people with the intent of remaining unmarried and sexually abstinent. However, clearly, the majority of us were created with the need for intimate union. In Genesis, God created life in both male and female genders. This is true of sea life, fowl, and animal life: and of course, human life. The Bible is quite clear and specific. There are only two genders: male, created first in the human species: and female. So universal is this divine gender assignment; DNA is clear and in ambiguous. One is either male, or female. This is true even when there are anatomical abnormalities. No human being is genetically bigender. As best as we can discern from the brief narrative of life prior to the fall into depravity; Adam and Eve were equal without any subordinate role for either of them. Clearly, this is not the case after the fall. God declared the woman's "desire would be unto her husband: and he shall rule over thee." This new reality in their marriage was a part of the "package" of consequences laid upon Eve. But why? Why did God place her under the authority of her husband, when her sin was against God? God created them, brought them together to live as one. Eve's act, violated that        oneness. 2. Eve's sin, while against God, brought adverse consequences upon her husband. 3. With humanity now fallen and depraved, a new provision was required because their       former oneness had been violated. Now oneness must be required rather than        natural and instinctive. 4. In a fallen world, depraved humans needed interdependence to survive. 5. God knew the future of humanity. He knew the future relationship his Son Jesus       would have with humanity. 6. The roles of marriage would serve as a model for God's eternal plan. 7. Marriage would bless humanity with a unique, one of a kind experience and       relationship. Marriage is far more than a license for sexual behavior and procreation. Marriage is unlike all other human relationships. Since God created and established marriage, he alone understands it perfectly. While unsaved people marry, and many of them live a lifetime together in mutual fulfillment and happiness: the unsaved miss the spiritual intimacy God intends in marriage. Unfortunately, being saved, doesn't guarantee couples their marriage will be wonderful, fulfilling or lifelong. I do however believe, when a couple commits themselves to a marriage ordered and operated upon biblical concepts and principles can be guaranteed a lifelong, fulfilling marriage. This kind of marriage takes two, and it takes God being supreme and preeminent in each spouse. It requires full obedience to the word and will of God. The great news is, the perfect marriage doesn't require perfect people. Did I just say perfect marriage? Indeed I did! Wow! That's bold! Is it audacious too? I think not. If we believe in the sovereignty of God, we believe God controls, and actually uses our strengths, weaknesses, and yes our imperfections to bestow good upon us, and glorify him. A perfect marriage isn't one with no pain, no problems and no challenges. Actually, the perfect marriage has all of these and overcomes them together in mutual dependence and trust upon God and one another. Present tears often produce precious memories. Tears shed together become "glue" that cements our love, respect, and dependence upon each other as husband and wife. I cannot recall a single case where a great marriage was problem free. I have never seen a great marriage that didn't encounter setbacks and losses. This brings us back to the subject of submission. In everyday life, structure is required. In business and government there is a chain of command, a leadership structure of some kind. Roles are developed, defined, and responsibilities are designated. Marriage requires this same underpinning. Yes, marriage is quite different from a business or government. But because it is designed to be all inclusive and lifelong; structure is essential. The Leadership or authority chain for marriage: Jesus Christ - The Bridegroom of the New Testament Church and individual Christians Husband - The subordinate to Christ, the accountable head of the wife Wife - The completer of the husband, nurturer, keeper of the home Children - in birth order, each obedient respectful, and honoring of their parents What is marital or domestic submission? 1. It is mutual submission of both husband and wife to the Lord Jesus Christ. 2. It is a wife’s willful, voluntary subordination to her husband in domestic authority. 3. It is children reared in “the fear and admonition of the Lord,” living in willing sub-     mission to the parents. Domestic submission is voluntary subordination. It is not inferiority of either the wife or the children to the husband and father. There is a gross distortion of marital submission propagated by some granting husband's authority and right to discipline their wife. This is a blatant, false teaching. Nowhere in the Bible, either Old or New Testament is there even one passage that grants such a thing. There isn't even a passage where such an action is mentioned. No husband has the right to strike his wife for any reason. No husband has the right to demand submission from his wife. As I stated earlier, this ordinance is between God and the wife. A Christian husband and wife ought to be in complete agreement regarding submission. Though he shouldn't demand it; the husband does have the right to expect it from a Christian wife. What about marriages with an unsaved spouse? The New Testament clearly indicates marriage ought to be between Christian spouses. That is of course, the optimum scenario. However, there are many cases where one spouse is saved, and the other unsaved. Also, there are cases where one spouse is living in obedience to Christ and the other is full of his/her own fleshly desires. Both Paul and Peter address the issue of a mixed, “unequally yoked” marriage where only one spouse is saved. I Cor. 7:3-27 KJV I Pet. 3:1-7 KJV In both passages, the Apostles hold the believing spouse to the biblical mandates. These Apostles go so far as to indicate the unsaved spouse can be converted through the godly, biblically obedient life of the saved spouse. Earlier, I mentioned God designed the marriage relationship.  He brought Adam and Eve together initially. He mandated the relationship after the fall. He provided instruction regarding expectations and accountability. The purpose of marital submission is often overlooked in our discussions and sermons. Considering God's purpose provides clarity and understanding. No husband has full knowledge and understanding of every domestic matter. Males were divinely created with specific strengths and weaknesses; abilities and challenges. Females were likewise created with specific strengths, weaknesses, abilities and challenges. Both sets of abilities and strengths are essential for marriage to work in accordance with God's will and purpose. Children, the divinely ordained offspring of marriage need both male and female nurture and guidance to develop as God intends. Mutual submission as mandated in verse 21 provides the means to accentuate the strengths and abilities of both spouses to their mutual benefit. Most men know next to nothing about home decor, nutrition and the art of home making. God gifted the ladies with these skills. It would be impractical to require a wife to submit to her husband’s mandates in these areas of domestic life. It is both practical and wise, for the husband to defer these matters to his wife. I don't tell my wife how to buy groceries or home decor. Why? I don't know as much as she does about these areas of our home. I trust her desires, decisions, and doings. She loves me, is loyal to me, and I know she won't do anything detrimental. She has proven herself highly capable over nearly 40 years of life together. Generally, husbands have a God given capacity to see beyond the present. We can cast a vision, chart a course and remain committed and focused for the long term. Wives live in the moment. The are fully engaged in the here and now. We could say our wives are, “locked and loaded” on what is going on right now. Wives are natural nurturers.  Someone has said, “Husbands are the head, wives are the heart of a home.” That’s an accurate assessment of the major roles of husbands and wives. We can categorically say mutual submission works well when we men leave heart issues in the wife’s domain. Wives do well to leave head issues to the husband. This in no way assumes men are smarter or wiser than women. Neither does it assume men are heartless, insensitive beasts. A long time ago, I learned my wife is rarely wrong, even when she disagrees with me. Her perspective is different from mine on many matters, which is a very good thing indeed! Often, in the midst of opposite spousal viewpoints neither one is actually wrong. They merely see the issue at hand from different perspectives or with different objectives. Decision time: Husbands and wives ought to discuss everything together. There are rare, very rare situations when a spouse has good reason to make an arbitrary decision without consulting with his/her spouse. Often, yes, often: even after must discussion, investigation and prayer there might remain very real differences of opinion regarding what is best and wise. Here, the wife has entered into a covenant with God, who knows everything, and is full control to submit to the decision her husband believes is pleasing to God. She can do this without anxiety if she trusts the Lord to take care of her. Does the husband always get it right?  That answer would be a resounding No! Men are sometimes wrong. Sometimes we are really wrong! Western culture today often presents men and particularly husbands as being, egotistical, shallow and seriously flawed. If one watches the entertainment industry, one would get the distinct impression husbands are rarely right, and when they are the wife is the real reason he got it right. This mindset is contrary to biblical teaching, and seriously detrimental to the institution of marriage. Whom ever might be wrong on a domestic decision, both are to come together with love, compassion and forgiveness and work towards a solution to the matter. Abuse is a serious matter: No wife is biblically bound to suffer abuse verbally, physically or sexually from her husband. Pastors, counselors and therapists stand ready to help wives who are victims of spousal abuse. No husband living in submission to the Holy Spirit, and who truly loves his wife will abuse her. Tragically, there are numerous situations where both wives and husbands are deeply wounded by their spouse. Some of these spouses suffer wounds that never fully heal. Lies, dishonesty Infidelity Pornography Addiction Neglect Verbal, emotional abuse These are some of the more common ways spouses wound their mates. In these instances, forgiveness and restoration are extremely difficult to achieve. Is the wife duty bound to live in submission to her husband when he is doing these things to hurt her? God's commandments and mandates are not generally considered conditional. There are very few exception “clauses” found in the Scriptures. In I Corinthians 7, Paul does seem to indicate adultery to be an exception allowing the spouse to divorce and remarry. Caution: Not every scholar agrees on this. Though perhaps allowed, divorce is not mandated. As a former pastor, I have watched spouses choose to divorce and I have watched them choose to stay and reconcile. I have been amazed at the courage, faith, and determination of some spouses to work through incredible issues and restore and later thrive in their marriage. I don't believe there is a “one size fits all,” solution on this issue. Some men and women are so enslaved to their sinful life they refuse to repent and get right with God and their spouse. “…as unto the Lord.” This phrase is actually the key that opens the principle before us. God is, as you might imagine, quite aware of husbands’ flaws. He would not command wives to submit to their husbands if doing so was impossible or detrimental to his will and purpose for the wife. Often I have heard a wife say to me, “Pastor, you don't really know my husband. I can't do what you are asking of me.” My response is always in the form of this question: “Do you think you can submit yourself to Jesus Christ?” I don't ever remember a wife saying, she either would not or could not submit to Jesus. A careful look at this verse reveals, that essentially what is being said is this: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as though your husband is Jesus.” What God commands, he enables. Once God commands, God obligates himself to honor his word and his person. In other words: God won't let you down. In reality when a wife submits to her husband, she us submitting to her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She is submitting to honor Christ first, then her husband. Living in marital submission is an act of service to Christ more than it is an act of service to the spouse. Submission is only one “piece” to the institution of marriage Submission, as taught in the New Testament is vital to a healthy, thriving, mutually fulfilling marriage. But it is only one piece. There are other “pieces” which are also vital to the marriage relationship. Some of those we shall encounter as we move on in our study of the fifth chapter of Ephesians. We will get to those in the next few sessions.

Eph. 5: 21 KJV Session 17 "Submission" Humans are the zenith of God's creation on earth. Only the angelic realm, and God himself is known to be superior. Our lofty station has provoked arrogance, pride, and defiant will in most people. Convincing a person he/she was created to bow, and submit is a formidable undertaking. One is more likely to encounter anger than agreement towards such a notion. Many people had rather die than subordinate themselves. Slavery is humanity's most abhorrent station in life. Even poverty is preferable to slavery. Yet, our very existence demands we face the truth. We did not create ourselves. If there is a Creator, we are subject to this One. Humanity's unwillingness to bow to another is the central reason for atheism and evolution and all other non divine explanations for our existence. Where did this arrogance originate? Why are we so belligerent and stout hearted? Unlike any other living thing in this material world, humans have a the core of our being will. We are volitional beings. This means: We are self conscious  We are self determinant  The problem with our being lies in one element of our reality no human can overcome. We are not self existent. Only God is self existent. Human depravity is the result of satanic deception. The serpent deceived Eve into believing or at least momentarily thinking she could exist independent of her Creator. Long before the encounter in the Garden of Eden, Lucifer deceived himself into believing he could, and should break free from his Creator. Ironically, it was the vast beauty and superiority of Lucifer that provoked him to believe he could be free from God's rule and authority. He vainly thought himself, equal with his Creator. For thousands of years since the encounter with Eve, Satan has been trying to convince people to break free from their Creator. I'll admit, Satan can be very convincing. Billions of people have been enticed, hooked, and destroyed by Satan's enticement to human independence from God. What Satan cannot do, and shall never be able to do, is erase the fact neither, he, nor humanity is self existent. Unless a being is self existent, that being cannot be truly independent and supreme. The basic definition of sin, is desire, and attempts to live independent of God. Sin creates an illusion of independence from God, authority and other restraints. Yet, it cannot grant actual independence. Ironically, sin actually does the opposite. Sin leads to bondage, slavery, and eternal condemnation. Since no one can exist independently of God, everyone and everything is subordinate to him. This is as much fact, as the reality of our lack of self existence. This reality necessitates the human need for relationships. While everyone has some powerful capabilities, no one can live independently of everyone else. Human relationship is the agreement between people to relate to one another in ways mutually needful and beneficial. Many different levels of human relationships exist because of the vast array of human need, as well as vast human deficiency. Relationships create roles, responsibilities and expectations. Unless there are clear parameters in place, relationships cannot work to maximum mutual benefit. Within the context of roles, responsibilities and expectation; exists the reality of mutual submission. We might call this level of submission, "give and take." We ask, and allow others to perform either a role or service we cannot perform ourselves to enhance our life, or provide necessities.  The "allowing" of others to do their job, or fulfill their role is actually submission in its simplest form. Whether saved or unsaved, every person alive today lives in submission to others: generally they live at multiple levels of personal submission. We submit by allowing others to perform specific goods and services. We submit by acknowledging and allowing specific interpersonal roles. We submit by practicing specific family and cultural behaviors. We submit by adherence to various vocational roles. We submit to those who hold brute power and control over us. We submit by obeying laws and ordinances from law enforcement entities. We submit by adherence to various levels of human government. We submit by adherence to known laws of science. We submit to the tenants of religion or philosophy. No rational person will argue against these recognized forms of human submission. There is no protest whatsoever until the issue of subordination to God arises. Why is this? When people accept all other forms of human submission and interdependence, yet rebel and resist God right to rule us inevitably we are declaring our own depravity. Willingness to submit to anyone but God is unadulterated rebellion. There is no other way to explain it. Before anyone can adhere to Ephesians 5:22, one must admit and confess one's absolute dependence upon God to exist and manage life. How can anyone submit to another human being as one ought, without first becoming completely subordinate to God? The matter of submission is systematic, institutional. Having stated these things let's agree submission is a divine mandate incumbent upon every child of God. One cannot be in right fellowship with God while living in a mindset and lifestyle lacking submission. Mutual submission: "submitting yourselves one to another..." Amazing, isn't it? This verse gets ignored so we can rush onto the next verse which promotes marital submission from the wife to the husband. Wifely submission is actually a minor matter to the greater divine perspective. What is mutual submission? It is recognizing and acknowledging one's own insufficiency and need. Today, there are people who have amassed hundreds of billions of dollars in assets and wealth. Yet, even these mega rich individuals are not self existent, nor or they independent. Everyday, these people depend upon others to do what they themselves cannot do. Their billions in wealth would do them no good at all without other people doing what they cannot do for themselves. They will arrogantly declare they are financially independent. In reality, they are just as dependent as a pauper because they cannot do everything they need done by themselves. 2. It is recognizing and acknowledging the means, abilities of others to do what one cannot. Recently, our house sustained roof damage from a hail storm. We needed our roof replaced. Neither my wife or me know how to roof a house. We know better than to even attempt to do that. We hired a roofing company to do what we cannot do. We submitted to the men employed by the roofing company to: Bring their equipment into our yard Climb onto our roof Remove our old, damaged shingles  Install new shingles We did not argue with them about either price, or method. We allowed them to do their job. On the other side was a company representative. He listened to us explain our need and our preferences. He offered suggestions not demands. We chose the color, style, and a price point we were comfortable with. He did not demand to install the color, style or price point he wanted. He submitted to our desires and did the work. It was understood, without even saying it: he and his men worked for us on this project. Yet, we would have been foolish to attempt to dictate to him and his crew how to roof our house. This is basic, mutual submission at work. What does mutual submission look like in the home, the church, and the community? These are important considerations. We must get God's perspective on them. Mutual submission rests upon these premises: God, as our Creator, Redeemer, Master is sovereign over us. We are to submit to him. God has in his infinite wisdom, foreknowledge and providence; made each of us with inherent strengths, weaknesses. These make us mutually interdependent. We, as finite, fallible beings need one another to fulfill our divine purpose for existence. God, in his providence, brings to us those we need to fulfill our divine purpose. God intends to provide for us by using other people and their skills. We exist to address and meet the personal needs of others while serving God. Affirming and allowing others to serve us is God's will for providing for us. Serving others is God's will for providing for others. Each one of us is accountable to God and to one another regarding mutual submission. Together we can accomplish more than any one of us can accomplish alone. Without others, we cannot reach our full potential in service to God. Without me, others cannot reach their full potential in service to God. Before we get into the marriage relationship which Paul does in the majority of the remaining verses in chapter five; let's consider mutual submission in the local church and the community. Two passages help establish the parameters of mutual submission in the church and community. Rom. 12:10 KJV "....preferring one another." I Tim. 5:21 KJV "...preferring one before another..." "Preferring one another," is to ascribe and affirm the value and equality of other people. It is the volitional determination to choose others who will be involved in our life. We choose our spouses. We choose our friends. We choose certain other people in the context of defined relationships. Our choices regarding the people we allow into our lives are crucial to our mission of fulfilling God's purpose for us. Though the choices are ours to make, love and loyalty as well as submission to God must prevail in the qualities and abilities within those with whom we choose to relate and engage. It's saying to others: "I need you in my life so I can please the Lord, and accomplish my mission in his will." "Preferring one before another," is to submit to the service of those who are in the various relationships of our life. We tend to have the mindset, we are the "star" of our own reality show. This perspective is horribly flawed, and dangerous. This might be the most important statement in this Session. Pay attention right here: We are merely supporting cast in God's story. We exist to fulfill a role which involves innumerable other people for the duration of our time on earth. Our mission is to exalt and glorify Christ. At no point are we entitled to have the spotlight focus upon ourself. Throughout life, we move in and out of the lives of other people both saved and unsaved. Others, likewise move both in and out of our life as well. The point is always upon what God is doing. Life is his narrative. He's the Author, Producer, Director. He's also the Financer, and Facilitator. Everything pertains to him. "It's not about you, or me." God has called us to a mission. The mission demands mutual submission to the people God brings into our life. What about those people who turn out to be different than we thought they were? We choose them, but must we still submit to them? Yes! God placed them into our lives on purpose for a purpose. We must adhere to God's precepts regarding them as long as they are in our life. God brought them into our life. He is well able to remove them when he is ready to do do. In the meanwhile we can learn from them. We can learn from anyone, if we put our mind to learn from them. Within the local church, God has established his designed order. This is fixed. It's not negotiable. We don't vote on this divinely established order. We submit to it. Christ, Himself is Head of the Church The pastor is the divinely ordained under shepherd of the assembly. There is only one under shepherd regardless how many serve on the pastoral staff. Deacons, are divinely ordained servant leaders charged not with administration but service. Thus, deacons are NOT a corporate board of directors or governing body. Teachers are the third divinely ordained fixtures within local assemblies. Their role is instruction both biblical doctrine and practical holiness. Spiritual giftedness within an assembly will guide vision, focus, and ministry. Each local church will have the spiritual giftedness necessary to fulfill God's mission for that assembly. Those spiritually gifted persons are to work together in mutual submission within God's will and purpose for themselves, and the local assembly. Faithful servants are what every member of the local assembly must become, and will become when living in submission to God's will and mutually submissive to one another. Mutual submission in the community: This is an ever increasingly difficult arena for fervent Christians to discern and navigate God's will. It cannot be done without consistent, and passionate prayer and Bible study: as well as close communication and counsel from godly Christian leaders. Contrary to militant fundementalism, Christians are not to become proverbial thorns in the sides of our neighbors and community leaders. There is no merit nor virtue in merely being difficult to get along with. There will be enough battles to fight without creating preferential battles. I'm reminded of a landmark SCOTUS case in the 70s where a distinctively Christian university lost its tax exemption status over either real or perceived racial discrimination. Of course there was fiery dialog all around from both non Christians and Christians. The institution in the case, was seen by some to compromise because they accepted the verdict without protest. The university leadership understood mutual submission in the context of community. Tax exemption is a privilege not an inalienable right. They amended their admissions policy. They were able to keep their testimony in the community because they understood mutual submission. Is there a line beyond which we cannot pass in the area of mutual submission within a community, state, or nation? As you might imagine, this very issue has historically been a topic of much debate. There is no universally accepted position on this issue. Worse, the variance of many of the positions is quite wide, and even extreme. The parameters of these extremes are commonly labeled liberal and conservative: though there clearly are extreme positions beyond these widely accepted positions. What does the Bible actually say regarding community and authority? How are God's people to conduct ourselves in community and legal matters? Actually, legal matters are much easier to discern our biblical boundaries. Essentially, the Bible requires us to obey all legal authority and laws unless such laws require of us to expressly disobey God's laws as declared in the Bible. Acts 5:29 KJV Titus 3:1 KJV It must be emphasized there is no exemption provided us if the said human entity is wicked. For most of history, God's people have lived under oppressive regimes. Rome, in power in the days of Christ and the apostles: was ruthless and sought to eradicate Christianity. Yet, Paul, and Peter specifically, addressed the issue of civil obedience. Clearly the intent was toward obedience rather than civil disobedience. Even Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." The premiere situation where civil disobedience is clearly endorsed within the Scriptures is when the human authority demands one to renounce Christ. Hebrews 11: 33-39 "Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:" God clearly approved of those martyred for refusing to renounce their faith. This brings up the matter of submission to community. Often, the tell tale signs of oppression and persecution first manifest themselves in the form of cultural and community norms and values. These are frequently expressed and validated with written ordinances, policies, and local, state, national laws. As we study the book of Acts, it ought to be noted, early on there were no specific written, legal local ordinances against Christian evangelism. Although the local leaders opposed the apostles and new converts to Christ, all they legally could do was ask them to refrain from speaking publicly about Jesus. We see this played out in Acts 3. Soon, the community had armed itself with legal ordinances forbidding evangelistic activity. Now the apostles were arrested, flogged for violating community ordinances. Eventually, Herod arrests James and Peter. He executes James. His crime, now a capital offense was preaching Jesus. Herod intended to execute Peter as well, but God sent an angel to release Peter from prison. Let's go back and examine the progression of events as they occurred. While, in those days, passing community ordinances was not a ballot casting by citizens: in many cases it is today, in our culture. Civic officials opposed followers of Christ. They saw a problem. Civic officials had no power of intervention initially. Civic officials created problematic scenarios to justify their opposition to Christianity. Civic officials wrote, enacted local ordinances restricting and legislating Christianity. Civic officials manipulated public opinion and response to Christianity. Civic officials staged unrest and opposition to Christianity. Civic officials petitioned Rome to intervene. (community petitions federal intervention) Christianity is outlawed and prohibited throughout the empire. Every one of these steps occurred in the book of Acts. Satan has used this same format now for nearly two millennia to oppress and persecute Christians. His clear intent is to eradicate biblical Christianity from this world. The apostles and early Christians probably had very little capacity to influence either civic leaders or the community politically. They were clearly influencing the community spiritually. Otherwise there would have been no official opposition to them. What if it had been different? Suppose the apostles and early believers had understood what was happening and they had the capability to influence the politics of their time? Would they have done things differently? Should they have intervened if they could have? These are hypothetical questions. However, in our time, these are very real issues. We know we can influence the politics of our day. The question is, should we? If yes is our answer: how? How much influence? Can we go too far? Will political activism detract from our primary mission of the Great Commission? Suddenly, we find ourselves in the deep end of the pool. There are a lot of people weighing in on this issue. Literally hundreds of books have been in the last half century presenting their case for and against Christian, political activism and either support or opposition to the idea of civil disobedience. It's quite tempting to delve into this hot button issue of our time. There are two specific reasons I choose to refrain: There are incredibly great authors far more capable than me who have addressed        these issues already. 2. My instructions from the Lord are to focus upon the text and offer commentary and        applications. I'll close this portion with one summary observation. In the words of Jesus I quoted earlier, "Render unto Caesar..." I believe there is cause to believe God intends us to use all of the provisions of our government at its various levels to influence those outside the body of Christ in ways that glorify Christ, and advance his Kingdom. The portion of our Lord's statement I did not quote provides the crucial balance we must achieve so as not to abandon and damage our primary mission of the Great Commission. Jesus finished his thoughts by saying, "...(render) unto God, the things that are God's." I understand this to mean, "keep the main thing, the main thing." When our attention is diverted to politics at the expense of ministry and mission, we have trespassed the boundary. I vote. I stay informed. I speak out with what I believe to be a biblical perspective of current issues and concerns. I support, or choose not to support community events, businesses, etc. based upon my biblically based convictions. I admit here, I have too often crossed the line as to consumption of time, and emotionally charged responses. I have regretted it when I have done so. I have apologized on occasions for not exercising biblical restraint in opposition to issues or persons promoting what I have perceived to be violations of biblical standards. Herein lies the danger for us as Christians. We are still very much dealing with our old sin nature. We still have our flaws, and personality issues. Satan will use these things to: Distract us Divert us Divide us Discourage us Damage our Testimony  Defeat our efforts Deceive the lost Destroy our influence Diminish our mobility and freedoms Wow! That's a lot to take in isn't it? Before we wade into the political fray we must determine whether: This is God's will for us. It's clearly not God's will for everyone. Has God gifted and equipped us to be effective in the public and civic arena? Is my engaging the public debate worth the potential adverse consequences? Can I do this without adversely affecting my primary call and mission? Even when God green lights our civic activism, we must be vigilant and cautious. It doesn't guarantee there won't be setbacks, even defeats. It doesn't mean we won't make mistakes along the way. I know some pastors who have chosen to not involve themselves in social media, civic activism. They have some good reasons for their position. Others, do proceed with limited engagement in the community. They also have good reasons for doing so. I know of a few Christians who have left the pastoral ministry to enter politics. Some of them I highly esteem. I don't think I could do that. But that's not my decision to make. Deteriorating conditions will continue: The Bible reveals and thus assures us emphatically, political, cultural, social, and moral conditions will continue to deteriorate until Christ returns for us. I counsel two things at this point: Vigilance  Faithfulness to Christ and the Scriptures  I need other people both saved and unsaved in certain situations. Other people need me. My mission is to serve my Savior and his Kingdom, by serving others he brings into my path. I must ultimately leave the rest in his domain.

Eph. 5: 20 KJV Session 16 "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" The life of a child of God ought to be marked by: Following God 5:1 Loving people 5:2 Walking in light 5:8 Redeeming the time 5:16 Understanding the will of God 5:17 Filled with the Spirit 5:18 Singing, praising God 5:19 Thankful 5:20 Already, we have mentioned the importance of praise, thanksgiving and gratitude in the lifestyle of God's people. We cannot be truly thankful people when we constantly compare ourselves with others. We cannot be thankful as long as we are not content with God's management of our life. The issue is management not provision. No matter who we are, where we live, what we have, or what we accomplish; there will always be those with more than we have in these areas, and also those with less than we have in these areas of life. Humans are equal in value to God, and ought to be equal in value to us. Humans are not equal in status, station, and attainment. Socialism and ultimately communism cultivate a hideous deceptive notion humanity can attain equally in station and status. Reality of such a form of living would bring an end to humanity on earth. Everywhere it has been attempted it has brought poverty, oppression, tyranny and eventually: revolution and war. Capitalism, on the other hand unrestrained, breeds greed, lust for power, and yes oppression of those with less. I have never known a Christian with no personal, material needs. I have known numerous Christians who lived in a state of gratitude and thankfulness in spite of the obvious realities of need. Is there something else? Is there something between the extremes of communism and capitalism? The Bible promotes contentment as the preferable idealism. Contentment is satisfaction not only with God's provision of our needs. It is satisfaction with God's management of our life. Contented Christians believe God is sovereign over every facet of life. We believe, "all things work together for good;" because God manages the details of our life. Contented Christians are thankful God knows better than us regarding provision, protection, and providence. Our lives are lived praising, and glorifying Christ. We feel safe. We feel nurtured. We feel protected. What more could we hope for than what God is providing? Thankfulness, I believe is not bestowed, it's learned. It's developed over time and experiences. "...always..." I'm not here yet. I can't say I'm always thankful. Often, I'm ashamed of how I react to circumstances that involve loss, or setbacks, or physical pain. I can say, God is very patient with me, and continues to teach me his perspective of my experiences. Eventually, I generally do come around to being at least somewhat thankful as I begin to see the wisdom and perfection of his care of me. "...in all things..." Nope. That's not my default response either. Have you heard someone say after a prayer is answered in the affirmative: "God is so good! He is blessing me right now!" Is God not good when he says no? Does he fail to bless when he calls us to suffer loss, setbacks, or pain? You know this: "GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME. AND ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD." We ought to be thankful as Paul says, "Always, and in all things..." "...unto God, and the Father..." Here, Paul clearly the indicates Jesus is God. He says, "unto God, and the Father..." Throughout the Pauline writings, as also is found in the other New Testament authors: The triune Godhead is revealed in synchronized operation. God initiates, the Son facilitates, the Spirit distributes. The Father does everything he does for us, through Jesus his Son. The Spirit serves these divine provisions to us personally, and individually. Thus the Trinity is involved in every one of our lives everyday. "...in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Putting this in terms we can easily understand today, Paul is saying, all divine bestowment to us ward is written on the name of Jesus. He's the authorized signature releasing the blessings of God unto us. Yes, our Lord "finances" our personal, spiritual renovation. He pays for everything. But there is much more to this verse than the costs and payments of our renovation. Paul is declaring that Christ has already signed off full authorization for every need we shall ever encounter even long after our renovation is complete. Our thankfulness is more than gratitude over costs covered. We should be thankful our Lord has covered all of the costs for the duration of our life on earth. Thus we can be content, and rest in his perfect management of our entire journey in this world from the moment of our salvation to the moment we step into eternal bliss in heaven. Contentment is a vital achievement in the process towards spiritual maturity.  We become content with his promises. We become content with his sovereignty. We become content with his provision. We become content with his management of our life. This state of Contentment produces a new, vital level of trust in him. Now that we are content, we are ready and willing to submit our will, our spirit, and our body to his authority. In our next session, we are going to take up the issue of submission. Submission is generally an issue unpleasant topic. Perhaps the reason we are so uncomfortable and reluctant with submission is because we haven't considered the matter from God's perspective. That's just ahead of us in verse 21.

Eph. 5:19 KJV Session 15 The Role of Music in Spirit filled Christians' Life: "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;" The first mention of musical instruments is Genesis 4:21. (Harp, organ) The words sing, or song are found 176 times in the KJV. The book of Psalms is essentially a jewish hymnal. Music was a part of every Old Testament celebration, and act if worship. Music is one thing on earth that will be in Heaven also. Music matters. Someone said, "Music is a universal language." It's found in every culture, of every people group in human history. For us humans, music is magical. Music is a powerful part of the human experience. There are of course, many musical genres. Music is both soothing, and stimulating. It can provoke both joy and sadness. Not all music is beneficial. In fact, some music is quite destructive. Obviously, Paul and others consider music to be an important component in our spiritual health and development. This alone is cause enough to study its role in our spirituality. Our preferred music genre, stems from our earliest experiences with music. We remember childhood songs and jingles. We tend to gravitate to the musical preferences we craved as teens. From a spiritual perspective, there are some facts we ought to know: We are "wired" by our Creator to desire, even need music. Music, of itself, is neutral. Lyrics, and other influencers determine whether music is bad or good for us spiritually. Music ought to be selected with intent and purpose. Music naturally alters our emotional temperament. Music prepares the human spirit and soul for worship of someone or something. Given music's capacity to influence, we must choose our music wisely, cautiously. It's probably always been this way, but people tend to believe music is harmless. Therefore, we tend to wade passively into Satan's clutches unconscious of music's potential to trouble us. I know of many, many Christians who listen to both secular and Christian music genres and see no harm or even a need to be cautious and selective regarding what they let in their ear gate. Is it okay for Christians to listen to non-Christian musical genres? I think a better question is, Will secular music adversely affect my fellowship with the Holy Spirit? The Bible has much to say about both our thoughts, mindset, affections, and yes, music! Think about why you listen to music. Here are some of the most common reasons given: I like some sound around me while I drive, work, or relax. Music helps me unwind, relax. Music makes me more productive. I listen to music when I'm unsettled, upset to calm me. Music gets me in a better mood. Music brings back good memories. Music consoles me. Music makes me happy, joyful. Music puts me in the mood to "party." You might have your own, different reasons why music is important to you. Chances are, music does matter to you! Okay, now let's ask why does the Bible say so much about music? Why does music matter to God? What role does or should music have in our spiritual life, and our relationship with Christ? In the Old Testament, music had a major role in celebrations. It still does even today. What do, or what should Christians celebrate? That's going to be quite a list. We celebrate anything we consider good, wonderful, beneficial in our lives. Of course, "every good and perfect gift, cometh down from the Father of light, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." In the Old Testament, music had a major role in worship. Moses sang after God delivered Israel through the Red Sea. The Psalms contain jewish hymns sang in both private and corporate worship. Even heathen nations such as Babylon used music in worship of idols. Today, much of the world's music is actually worship of celebrities, wealth, status, and even Satan. In the Old Testament, music had a major role in mourning. Again, things have not changed much. Music today often is instrumental in how we grieve and mourn. Do Christians celebrate, worship, and mourn? Indeed we do! Yet, we do these things in very different ways, and for very different reasons than our unsaved, worldly counterparts. Therefore, our music ought to be distinctive of who we are, and how we live in this world. Given that music is a powerful force in humanity, we must choose wisely what music we allow to influence us. I cannot bring myself to believe I can listen to just any type of music and it have no detrimental influence upon my fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Who rules your life? The Holy Spirit, or is it your old fleshly nature? Your answer will be evident in the music you choose. In Phil. 4:8 Paul provides a criteria for our thought life. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Hold your music to this standard, and I assure you, the Holy Spirit will not be grieved or uncomfortable in you. Sadly, many Christians feel offended by the mere suggestion of filtering their playlists through Phil. 4:8. "Its just music!" That's a statement made by one more interested in their own gratification than pleasing the Holy Spirit. Have you noticed the best "jingles" in advertising are for beer, and other questionable activities? Secular music's top hits tend to celebrate behaviors and values unbecoming to a Spirit filled Christian. There are reasons for this! Let's turn our attention then, to Paul's admonition to the Ephesian believers and to us. "Speaking, to yourselves..." There is an important insight tucked in this opening phrase. What we say to ourselves affects our outlook, our emotional responses, our decisions and actions. A cartoon I saw recently goes like this: "You talk to yourself?" "Yeah," Replies the other guy. "Sometimes, I need expert advice." Whether we are willing to admit it, or not: people do talk to themselves. Actually, that's a good thing to do, according to the Bible. Many passages in the Bible instruct us on dealing with self. Music, is intensely personal. We not only hear it, we feel it at the deepest levels of our being. Both Satan and God understand this reality. Notice how many songs emphasize the person, the inner self. It's not just Christian music. All genres do this. Singing, humming, playing a radio, or listening to a playlist of songs speaks to us on the inside of our being. The songs we choose, will determine what we say to ourselves. "...in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs..." This is a very interesting choice of words the Apostle Paul uses. Let's remind ourselves, he is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the very person of the Godhead who lives inside every one of us who are saved by the grace of God desires impute into what kind of music we take into our inner being. Paul says... Speak to yourselves in Psalms, (the Scriptures) While most of us do not know the ancient music of the Psalms, many of them have been put to modern music for our benefit. And, I would add, there is absolutely nothing wrong with making up our own melody when we sing a Psalm. I've done this many times.  Other Scriptures lend themselves naturally to music. Study the songs of the saints throughout the Bible. It's a wonderful, insightful study indeed.  "....hymns..." Today, many churches, and far too many Christians are avoiding hymns of the faith in favor of more trending genres. Paul mentions hymns because they matter to our heritage and our faith. Learn them, study them. Research the stories behind their creation. SING THEM! Many traditional hymns focus more upon the person, character, and nature of God, than the believers' experience. This alone makes hymns essential to our spiritual wellbeing. "...spiritual songs..." A lot of Christian music falls into this phrase. Choruses, praise and worship music, contemporary music and other genres fit this description. It is important to key on the word spiritual. Too much modern Christian music incites the flesh instead of ministering to our spiritual needs and desires. Since we each are unique, one of a kind beings; it ought to come as no surprise we won't all enjoy and appreciate the same genre of music. There are numerous factors which play into our preferences. Every Spirit filled person ought to however, hold the same standard as to what our music says to us, and how we allow it to affect us. If music makes provision and stimulates our baser fleshly, physical instincts and desires, it is spiritually detrimental to us. When a song's lyrics entice our former appetites; that song is detrimental to our spiritual life. This doesn't mean, we must exclude all but patently Christian music. In fact, some Christian music so called, is quite detrimental to our spiritual life. What's acceptable in the arena of non-Christian music? Patriotic music Many Folk songs  Songs about the natural world Love songs not promoting immoral relationships  Emotionally and spiritually uplifting music Music that meets Phil. 4:8 standards I have chosen for myself to avoid the typical top hits music. Virtually all of these have questionable emphasis and appeal to the old fleshly nature. My preference is predominately Christian music, and my favorites are hymns. I know other, very committed Christians with different music preferences. Yet, without exception these Christians are quite discerning and intentional in their music selection.  This is the key. Treat music with respect as to its potential to influence your flesh and your spirit. Choose wisely. Focus upon the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Remember, you aren't the only one listening to your music. The Holy Spirit listens also. Your family, friends and fellow believers are attentive to your choices in music. You are affecting their choices more than you might imagine. "...singing, and making melody in your heart..." We all have gotten a song or jingle "stuck" in our head. Like an old, cracked long play record, it just goes on over and over again and again. Some songs we can't seem to stop singing. Singing, is personalizing music. When we sing a song, we make it our song. We probably do not actually sound like the recording artist, or the soloist at church when we sing. But that's never stopped us from singing a song has it? Singing is fun. It's enjoyable. It's therapeutic. It's rejuvenating. "Making melody..." Does this mean our singing must be musically coherent and harmonious? Well, I sure hope it doesn't mean that! My favorite biblical statement on music is, "Make a joyful NOISE..." When I sing... it's bad. I mean, it's really, really bad! My wife prefers I sing only in the shower and only when she's not home. But I love to sing! And, regardless how awful it sounds, I still sing! Why? Because I love music. I enjoy singing. I sing everyday. Often my worship of Christ erupts in song. I cannot help myself. I do have enough discernment to avoid singing solos at church. My fellow worshippers are delighted about that. Corporate worship allows even bad singers to enjoy worshipful music together and sing praises to our Lord. That's a big reason you and I need to be a part of a local assembly of believers in Christ. ...in your heart..." Biblically, the heart refers to our innermost being, not the muscle pumping blood through our body. This reminds us, music touches the human heart. Music moves us deeply.  When singing hymns, and spiritual songs we ought to sing them from the very depths of our being. "...to the Lord" Songs are often sung to other people. Songs are often written for other people. But hymns and spiritual songs ought to be addressed exclusively to our Lord. He alone is worthy. Music, when sung to the Lord, is of itself an act of worship. Everything we do as followers of Christ, is to the Lord. Jesus, is the Reason for everything. The Holy Spirit works relentlessly to move us to a mindset, and heart attitude of Christ centeredness and Christlikeness. Living in a state of fullness of the Holy Spirit will cause us to be solely focused upon doing all we do unto the Lord. Music is one of the few things on earth that will carryover into eternity in Heaven. Several passages, particularly in the book of Revelation indicate there is music in Heaven, and there will continue to be music in Heaven. Songs are mentioned when spontaneous worship erupts in Rev. 5 and other passages. Specifically, it is revealed we shall sing "a new song." (Rev. 5:9; 14:3)  Often, I try to imagine the sound of hundreds of millions, if not billions of beings singing in Heaven. Even when in worship services at our local church, I often close my eyes, stop singing and imagine I'm listening to heavenly voices singing praises to my Lord. Music in Heaven will be unlike anything we have experienced here on earth. Not only will the music be perfect. The music will be sung by perfect voices. It will be heard by perfect ears. And it will happen spontaneously forever and ever! That's a delightful line of thought isn't it? That's part of what awaits us in Heaven. I know music is probably a big part of your life. That's normal. That's human. Does your choices in music aid your spiritual health and development or hinder it? We have a lot of control over what goes into our heart and head through our eyes and ears. We must not be derelict in managing the music content we allow to influence us. Make music a big part of your spiritual regime and routine. It will make a positive difference in your spiritual life. Hopefully, some of you will want to share your own observations and insights in the comments section. I'm looking forward to reading them.

Eph. 5:18 KJV Session 14 Maintaining a Spirit Filled Lfe: We now know what getting empty looks like, and hopefully, we now know what that feels like also. We have learned how to achieve the status of "filled" with the Holy Spirit. As we work and live in a state of yieldedness and obedience, the Holy Spirit produces radical changes within us. New qualities and attributes replace our old life prior to our salvation. Everything we do in this world must be maintained, or else we eventually lose it. For us now, we must learn how to maintain a state of fullness of the Holy Spirit. This grand renovation we are now undergoing demands of us vigilance to maintain all God has wrought in us, and will continue to create in us throughout the remainder of our life on earth. Constructions and renovations are exciting things. Maintaining what has been built however, tends to fall into the category of "chore" rather than privilege. Jesus said, "To whom much is given, much shall be required." In other words when God blesses us, he said expects us to be faithful stewards of those blessings. Maintenance is good stewardship.  In verse 15 of this fifth chapter Paul instructs us to "walk circumspectly." In verse 17 he emphasizes wisdom. From these two verses we clearly get the message maintenance requires vigilance. I Thessalonians 5 commands us to avoid sleepiness. Stay awake!  Again, God has ordered a fresh start every 24 hours. He is well aware of our human weaknesses and challenges. Virtually every human activity must be managed. Schedules, protocols and procedures aid our labor. Companies have long known the wisdom of systematic operations. Why then, have we Christians failed to make these connections with our spiritual life? The maintenance programs in the corporate world insure both the survival and profits of businesses around the world. Let's see what the Bible says about spiritual maintenance and the Spirit filled life. Vigilance ✅ Monitoring our spiritual systems✅ What are our spiritual systems? Our mind (thoughts, intellect, perspective, meditations, imaginations, dreams) Our desires Our attitudes Our motives Our associations (relationships and fellowships) Our time management  Our labor investments Our words (conversations) Monitoring these eight spiritual systems follows a specific intention: do these please the Holy Spirit? (See I Thess. 4:1 and John 8:29) We must not stutter or stammer. The answer is either yes or no. Any no answer to this question demands an adjustment on our part. If we fail to adjust, we begin "leaking" our filling. Feeding our thirst for Christ ✅ Starving our fleshly cravings ✅ If it aids our spiritual enrichment we keep feeding it. If it feeds our baser, fleshly nature we starve it to death. (See Gal. 5:16-24; Rom. 6:10-14) Selfless service ✅ The Spirit filled life is an active life of selfless service. Our Lord modeled this for us everyday of his ministry. But what is the focus of this selfless service? Ironically, it is not a focus upon felt human needs primarily. It is not service intent upon creating or preserving an institution. Even if that institution is a local church. It is a focus upon service that manifests Jesus to others. Our Lord always emphasized his Father, not himself, his sermons, or even his works. It is a focus away from the individual rendering the service. But how does service aid the maintenance of our filling? That's an easy one. No one can long serve selflessly within one's own capacity and stamina. Selfless service demands dependence and full reliance upon the Holy Spirit. Perpetual worship and fellowship with the Spirit ✅ A central commonality among Spirit filled people is spontaneous worship, ongoing communication and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. The more time, effort and passion we put into making time for worship everyday, the more desire we have to maintaining fullness of the Spirit. Spirit filled people talk to God all through the day, every day. They are conscious of his abiding presence. They are attentive to his activity, his comfort, and his enabling. Gentleness and approachability ✅ Has it occurred to you as you read the life of our Lord, that he was always approachable? Likewise, he was gentle in his ministry to others. He was only stern with those who made claims of self righteousness and who were actually hypocrites. Paul tells Timothy, "The servant of the Lord must not strive: but be gentle to all men..." (2 Tim. 2:24) This gentleness is born of meekness and humility which only the Holy Spirit can produce in a person. Compassion ✅ This is sorely lacking in most of our ministries today. Watch our Lord as he encounters people. "He saw...and had compassion..." Our service is cold, and distant, condescending even where there is no compassion for those to whom we minister. Sense of vision and mission ✅ Jesus saw the human condition, and he saw his mission. The Christian life under the fulness of the Holy Spirit cannot be sorted out in little boxes or compartments. The entire life is consumed with the vision of our suffering Savior dying for the sins of humanity, and our mission to herald the divine invitation to come be forgiven and saved. The Spirit filled man and woman is always on mission. There is no vacation, no retirement, no punching out the time card. We go where we are called. We go when we are called. We do what we are sent to do regardless of our personal circumstances or state of being. The Holy Spirit called upon me to witness to an EMT in the back of an ambulance while I was having a heart attack. I knew God had commanded I share Christ. My state of health was not to get in the way of what the Spirit wanted. Amazingly, I felt incredible peace, not the slightest concern for my health but only the eternal destiny of that young latino man. Human beings aren't capable of this within ourselves. Only the Holy Spirit can do these things. Peace, Power, Provision, Protection in Adversity ✅ We all experience adversity. Being filled with the Holy Spirit does not qualify us for exemption status from trouble, pain, sorrow, even loss and death. Being filled with the Holy Spirit does produce indescribable, unexplainable peace, power, provision, and often protection in life's worst moments. Now, it must be pointed out here, that we shall not experience these things unless, and until we find ourselves in the valley of adversity. People tend to avoid signing up for adversity. Jesus made a lot of promises to us. One of them is: "In the world ye shall have trouble." Another one goes like this: "The world hated me. The world shall hate you also." Not what we sign up for is it! We sign up to miss eternal hell and suffering in fire. If you are saved, you already know you cannot take only part of Jesus, the parts you like. We take all of him, or we take none of him. Today, Christians are the most persecuted people group on earth. That's getting worse, not better. It's going to continue to get worse; much, much worse. This reality is a major reason we must get filled with the Holy Spirit and maintain that filling continually whatever it takes to accomplish this. God has never been pleased with nominal Christian living. He calls that "lukewarm," and "sickening." He has warned us repeatedly, the world is going to grow more and more wicked, perverse, and violent. He has warned, we are going to be hated, persecuted, and even martyred for Christ's sake. Living full of the Holy Spirit is not optional. It's never really been optional. Today, Spirit filled living is essential and existential. Attitude of Gratitude and Praise ✅ Finally, every Spirit filled person I have ever known or read about were people who lived in a state of thankfulness, and praise toward God. This only comes through vigorous maintenance of these other qualities. Seeing God's presence, activity, provision and feeling his peace prompts us to rejoice in thankful praise for who he is, and all he has done and is doing in our lives. A person with chronic complaints is not a Spirit filled person. There are many Spirit filled people who have an abundance of reasons to complain but they refuse to do so. Even in their greatest challenges they see God's provision and blessing. They praise him for what they have instead of complaining about what they don't have. We mentioned contentment earlier. Contentment is obtained intentionally. It's believing that if I don't have it, I don't need it either. It's trusting God's wise provision and providence. It's rejoicing in that he cares for us. How is your maintenance operations dear friend? Diligent investigation here will tell us whether we are filled, or empty, or somewhere in between the two. I urge you, as I speak directly to myself as well, to adhere to the voice of the Holy Spirit in these matters. God wants his very best for us. We can have his very best. There must be due diligence on our part where we are called upon to obey the Holy Spirit, and the precious written word of God. Do you enjoy music? That's up next for our consideration. It's a session we all are sure to benefit from, and enjoy.

Eph. 5:18 KJV Session 13 Our previous session focused upon the process involved in the condition of becoming empty, for the express purpose of being filled with the Holy Spirit. I shared with you some of the components an effective emptying must have to achieve a spiritual state where God can fill us with his Spirit and power. How do we accomplish "empty?" Replace our personal perspective with God's perspective Replace human reasoning as our navigation system with faith Live is a perpetual state of repentance over everything the Spirit highlights  Live in a posture of submission and yieldedness to the Holy Spirit Obey immediately, completely the dictates of the Holy Spirit  Replace carnal desires with spiritual desires Hunger and thirst not for more knowledge, but for more fervent experience with God Pursue holiness We learned, "empty" is a stage not the destination. Our desire, our ambition must be to achieve fullness of the Holy Spirit. Inherent is the process to "filling" will be some of the same steps we take to achieve "empty" status; but with a different emphasis. So let's revisit that list and add to it the things necessary to get to "filled" status. Getting empty requires a change of perspective. Getting filled requires living under        the influence and dynamics of the new perspective. This new perspective is God's perspective. Getting filled with the Holy Spirit involves living our life as the Holy Spirit thinks, sees, feels, and reacts. 2. Faith is our new navigation system. It directs us where formerly we relied upon      reasoning to move around in this world. 3. Living in a perpetual state of repentance, leads us to extreme sensitivity to the       comfort zone of the Holy Spirit. We are like a small child with eyes fixed upon the      parent's whereabouts and demeanor.      Being filled, means a continual adjusting to the Spirit. Moving away from things        which make him uncomfortable and towards things which please him. 4. A continual posture of yieldedness, is natural for the Spirit filled person. We have      learned to lean on him, rather than move impulsively. In everything he leads, we      follow. 5. Obedience becomes our desire more than our duty. This subtle change is critical      in the Spirit filled person. A lot of Christians obey the word of God. Yet, the motive is duty rather than desire and fervent love of the Savior. Duty is better than being derelict. But duty pales miserably before desire.  Until we are filled, our focus is upon our duty, the mechanics of the Christian life. We tend to pursue knowledge rather than intimacy. When driven by desire for Christ, we crave intimacy, fellowship with him. This is like riding a bicycle. At first, we're simply trying not to fall or crash. Eventually, the focus and motive is enjoyment from riding. Our focus has changed. So has our experience. 6. On the matter of desire, a replacement process comes full circle. Our old desires      have faded. New desires replaced them.       Children like different foods than adults. They tend to loath vegetables and fruits.        Adults have "outgrown" childish treats. Actually, they have acquired new tastes over       the years between childhood and adulthood.       Spirit filled people "feast" upon the word of God. Scripture has become both         desirable and essential to them. They gravitate to it every opportunity they have.      Here's a short list of the new desirables commonly pursued by Spirit filled people: Worship (daily, spontaneous, passionate) Scripture (We read it. We meditate upon it. We memorize it. We apply it.) Songs, hymns (more on this a bit later) Fellowship (with the Spirit, other believers) Service or ministry (We need to serve, rather than service a need) Love fervent, selfless, unconditional and sacrificial becomes an attribute not merely       an action 7. Spiritual fruitfulness (fruit of the Spirit, seed sowing, witness, exhortation) 8. Advancement of Christ's Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven 9. An intense longing (homesickness) for Heaven our eternal home 10. A growing weariness with this present world 11. Craving to be more and more like Jesus 12. Increased personal investment in intercessory prayer I have never known a Spirit filled person who did not have these twelve desires/attributes. The order here is not significant as such. I think our spiritual giftedness, as well as God's specific will and purpose for us individually probably affects the order of pursuit of these in each of our lives. One might question why I omitted giving of tithes in this list. That was intentional on my part. Sadly, most preaching on giving focuses upon our duty and obligation to support God's work in the world. I believe that's unwise, and probably counterproductive. A Spirit filled Christian will never need to be told to give. In fact, that entire life has become an offering to God. We cannot legislate Spirit filled giving. That's giving on an altogether different plane of life from mere tithing. Should we manage to provoke our people at the local church to pursue staying filled with the Holy Spirit, we would never again have a financial concern go unmet. Mechanical giving is unnatural to a Spirit filled person. We give "first of ourselves" then from our innermost being until the Holy Spirit is pleased, not because we calculated an amount of money based upon some formula. 7. Experiential intimacy now trumps attainment of knowledge. Early in my Christian life, and I'm ashamed to say, for much of my pastoral ministry I lived in pursuit of knowledge. I craved anything I could learn about the Bible, theology, and even practical tips for Christian living. God allowed me to obtain, and retain a lot of factual knowledge and information. But now I know he was grieved that I pursued knowledge rather than pursuing him. As strange as it might seem, knowledge can become a cursed thing. Proverbs states, "Knowledge puffeth up." It makes one arrogant. Knowledge also condemns us. We are commanded to study. We are told to learn. And we must certainly not neglect to do so. Yet, knowledge isn't the prize. Relationship and fellowship is the prize. "That I may know him..."  Our preaching, teaching, discipling must focus upon pursuit of the person of the Holy Spirit, who teaches us all things concerning the Son. When was the last time you experienced intimacy with Christ? If you can't remember the last time, you, precious friend are something other than filled with the Holy Spirit. You must understand. We cannot get filled, merely by doing. There must be in the doing a relentless desire to know him, and experience him. Then when the Spirit moves or speaks you will leap for joy at the thrill of his moving within you. No human experience compares with the awe of God addressing you, comforting you, affirming your service and love for him. A single word, or phrase from God to us will cause praise to erupt not merely from our lips but from the innermost recesses of our being. There simply isn't a human experience like it. When once you experience this, you will crave it for the rest of your life on earth. 8. Live in pursuit of holiness. The Spirit filled person relentlessly pursues getting as close to God as humanly possible. Yet, holiness is not merely proximity to God. Holiness is a separateness from the world, the old nature and life. It's a life reserved solely for God's use alone. The Spirit filled person loathes all sin, especially his/her own, and ruthlessly puts it away from him/her. Just as much so; the Spirit filled person craves every spiritual virtue as it fashions him/her into the very likeness of Christ. The attention, the focus, the passion of life now for the Spirit filled person is Christlikeness and fruitfulness. Yet, long gone are the mechanical "to do" lists checked off as some sort of merit record. No, now the life is driven by love for Christ alone. Paul said, "The love of Christ constrains me..." Beyond these commonalities with getting empty, getting filled manifests certain other qualities also. I offer here a caution. These traits cannot be counterfeited. Nor can we produce them alone without the enablement of the Holy Spirit. The Fruit of the Holy Spirit (See Gal. 5:22-24) Contentment (not resignation fulfillment) Victory ( Capacity to overcome sin, circumstances, experiences, realities, adversity) Durability (Endurance) Spiritual fruit ("works that remain") Godly influence (Salt, Light, Compassionate impact upon others) Persecution Suffering which produces spiritual dividends  Are you surprised by anything on this list? Again, I know of no Spirit filled person who hasn't known these things on a very personal level of experience. Are you there yet? Have you present in your life right now, these qualities which indicate a Spirit filled life?  This is what the "abundant" life Jesus mentioned looks like. It is wonderful indeed. But it will not just happen to you. Its not automatic upon salvation. When you study the life of Jesus in the Gospels, you will discover all of these qualities evident in his life. He came to die for our sins, yes indeed! But he also came to live the life we can have under the authority of the Holy Spirit. He modeled the Spirit filled life. Watchman Nee, a Chinaman, who was martyred for Christ wrote a book, "The Normal Christian Life." He contended, Jesus' earthly life was in fact, a model of the normal life of a Spirit filled Christian. It's an extraordinary read. This book profoundly impacted my life at a critical time for me. I highly recommend it to you. If you cannot honestly say these qualities are currently present and operative in your life, don't despair. Instead, get hungry and thirsty for them. Seek God in prayer for them. Pursue them passionately. Our next session we shall consider maintenance of the Spirit filled life. That's the goal we must pursue. Otherwise our life will resemble the yo yo I mentioned earlier with sudden and extreme highs and lows, and no advancement at all.

Thank you for patiently waiting this next session. I have prayed fervently over this material you are about to read. Should you find it helpful, give praise to our Lord. Should it provoke questions or concerns, please let me know about those. You may also have insights to add to these. I certainly welcome those as well. Eph. 5 :18 KJV Session 12 "...but be filled with the Spirit." In our previous session, we began to assess our personal spiritual status. Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you running on empty, or somewhere in between? If you consider yourself filled with the Holy Spirit, what does that look like? How can you tell whether you are filled, or something less than filled with the Spirit? If you once were filled with the Holy Spirit? What happened to change that status? How does one "leak" the Spirit? First, let's review what we learned and in our last session: One can have the Holy Spirit residing within, and yet not be filled with the Spirit. One can be to some degree other than filled with the Holy Spirit. One can apparent leak out the effects of the Holy Spirit's sovereignty over one's life. The individual is responsible for the Holy Spirit's status within. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is the preferred status standard for us. Before we can consider what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit, let's first own the fact we are accountable before God to be filled with his Sprit. Filled, not something less is the divine standard. Let this reality seep into the innermost recesses of your being. To understand the dynamic of being filled, we must revisit the original working of the Holy Spirit within us after our salvation. We are full of ourselves when the Holy Sprit first arrives. He brings this unacceptable reality to our attention almost immediately upon our conversion. We sense the need for a new, different perspective. We begin to ask the Lord to help us see what he sees, hear his voice, and choose things which please him. Seeking his will initiates an "emptying" process. The Sprit begins to drain our life of things which displease him, hinder our spiritual development and interferes with our service to Christ. The "big," obvious things drain off first. As this process continues, a filtering system is installed. As we grow we move from draining overt sins, to draining things which are just unwise, and unbecoming to a child of God. As we progress, the Spirit continues to change our "filtering system." We now must drain off good things which clog the better and best things God has for us. According to Romans 12:1-3, the filtering becomes so stringent we are draining off everything that is not the perfect will of God for us. Our spiritual development produces godly virtues, but also installs spiritual discernment which we never had before we were saved. Here now, in Ephesians 5 we are instructed to "understand what the will of God is..." To understand is to have grown beyond seeking God's will. Understanding the will of God requires of us submission of our human will to the will of God. This is achieved through draining off the desires of the flesh and of the mind. It requires dethroning our will and installing the will of God in its place. Getting "empty" is no small task. Unless our will cooperates with the Holy Spirit it will require fierce, protracted warfare inside of our being. (See Rom. 7 and Gal. 5:17-24) How do we accomplish "empty?" Replace our personal perspective with God's perspective Replace human reasoning as our navigation system with faith Live is a perpetual state of repentance over everything the Spirit highlights  Live in a posture of submission and yieldedness to the Holy Spirit Obey immediately, completely the dictates of the Holy Spirit  Replace carnal desires with spiritual desires Hunger and thirst not for more knowledge, but for more fervent experience with God Pursue holiness If you have been saved for any length of time, you already know this is not merely a "To Do List" to be checked off. Inherent in these items is a radical transformation process. Accomplishing these involves advances and yes, setbacks.  Getting to "empty" is not the same as being filled with the Spirit either. Jesus related the parable of the demon possessed man who "swept out the demon, but did nothing more. The demon in fact, did leave for a span of time. But he returned, found the man swept, and clean, but empty. This prompted the demon to re-enter the man bringing more demons in with him. Jesus said, the later end of such a man was worse than his beginning. Now, don't misunderstand. A true child of God cannot be demon possessed. EVER. Yet, getting empty of our flesh is not the same thing as being filled with the Holy Spirit. Before we address the dynamics of being filled with the Holy Spirit, we ought to investigate why we struggle so in both becoming filled, and maintaining "fulness." Earlier, I said, "We leak the Holy Spirit." Well, I said it that way to give you a visual. I must add here though, while we do experience a receding of fulness of the Holy Spirit, we cannot lose his presence and residence within us. God crafted us as beings in flux. We are both capable of extraordinary changes, and also require change to progress to our full God ordained purpose. This essentially means, we are never stagnant. 24/7, 365, for the duration of our earthly life at least, and I believe eternally as well, we are undergoing constant alteration. This is a fact, a spiritual, rather an eternal law virtually never mentioned in our pulpits and study groups. We somehow see ourselves as essentially the same person we have always been, and will always be. Yet, human experience alone defies this flawed perspective. One needs only pull out a photo album to see the evidence of change. Certainly, the "before, and after," of our salvation ought to manifest this spiritual law so clearly, we would never forget it. Yet, forget it we do. There is a reason God gives us a fresh start every 24 hours. He understands our constant need for course correction. Correction involves: Honest, factual assessment  Pursuit of proper direction Intentional alterations Constant vigilance and self monitoring  Understanding of both our default strengths and weaknesses Absolute dependence upon God the Holy Spirit Continual deference to his will and comfort over our own Recovering addicts have been taught to do a daily inventory at the conclusion of each day. To begin with they write this out on paper. Eventually, it becomes engrained and a way of life for them. It is just as wise, and useful for non addicted Christians. After all, we are in fact addicted to our own fleshly desires and self will. The old sinful nature remains within us. Unless we intentionally combat it, the flesh will rise up again and again. We "leak" because of the dynamics of change at work within our being. Just as a car owner "checks the fluids" in a car, because of the dynamics of its moving parts: we must do our own personal "checks." We need to understand also leaking is not a flaw in the master design. God intends us to be vigilant and an active participant in our transformation and service to him. Our "leaks" are merely reality we must factor in to our manner of life. Get this, and you are well on your way to spiritual maturity. We are beings with a lot of moving parts, thus the potential for multiple leaks. We leak in our major systems, just like an engine. Our soul leaks. As I said in an earlier session, our soul houses our personal will, intellect, and emotions. Each of these subsystems are very complex. Only when they operate under God's will and purpose do they operate at maximum capacity. Human will is totally depraved, and shall remain so for the entire duration of our earthly, physical life. It is naturally contrary to the will of God, and thus, the authority of the Holy Spirit. The only way to remain filled with the Holy Spirit is to keep the human will subordinate and submitted to the authority of the Holy Spirit. Extreme vigilance is the only way to accomplish this result. Refuse to make occasion or provision for the human will to rise in rebellion  Pay perpetual attention to the comfort zone of the Holy Spirit Be attentive to signs of grieving the Spirit manifested by silence, unrest, non-direction The next subsystem within our soul is the intellect. While this includes the brain, it is far more than the gray matter between our ears. Our intellect possesses vast, and incredible capabilities. With our intellect we think. We gather, sort, and draw from incoming data brought to us through our sensory system, and total being experiences. Here, respective of our need for "filling," we learn we must be stringent guardians of incoming data. Yet, its more than what "facts" we allow in, it also involves the filter through which these facts are processed. This is essentially what Paul intends in Rom. 12:1,2 with his term, "renewing of our minds." He insists we must install new filters through which all incoming data enters our intellect. Christians are often accused of being narrow minded. We are likewise accused of failing to be "well read." This accusation says, we have ignored non-scriptural resources. Great intellectual Christians like Francis Shaffer Sr., Henry Morris Sr, and I could go on and name others got it right. They installed the right filters through which their intellects processed incoming data regardless of the source. Someone once said, "We ought to be open minded, but not so open minded our brains fall out." Narrow mindedness is not a virtue and Christians ought to cease considering it a virtue. The Bible is a vastly open book. No other book on earth touches so many diverse subjects, issues, and human experiences. It only appears narrow because it reveals what has been filtered through the divine perspective.  God is not afraid of humanity's toughest questions. In fact, he invites them. We who are his ambassadors and witnesses on earth, ought not to fear, dread, or avoid the toughest questions either. Let us, "...Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you..." ( 1 Peter 3:12) Our emotions construct the final element within our soul. This arena is vastly misunderstood by most Christians. Admittedly, its the most challenging to grasp from a biblical perspective. Science reveals our physical bodies are complex, chemical producing machines. While there are specific bodily organs and systems which produce the actual chemicals, why the chemicals are produced in the first place remains unknown, and certainly misunderstood even by science. Some of our chemical production stems from prompts from various other parts of our physical body. Insulin is a good example of this type of chemical. Other chemicals are produced because of factors outside the physical body. Adrenaline is a good example of this type of chemical. It is produced when we encounter a provocation to fight or flight due to external threat. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a state wherein, the Holy Spirit, not the physical body, nor external circumstances control our emotions. Fear is a natural human emotion, produced by specific chemicals within us. So is anger, sadness, and happiness are also a natural emotional behavior of every human being. When we are "filled with the Holy Spirit, he produces spiritual alternative emotional states of being. He instills peace, joy, contentment, temperance over our emotional and intellectual responses. James describes the "unstable" person as being one who is "double minded in all his ways." This means, such a person is driven by more than the Spirit's authority and control. Frequently, such a one falls back onto the former defaults of his/her unsaved former life. "Singlemindedness," then is the emotional and intellectual posture of the Spirit filled child of God. Paul counsels us to "bring every thought into captivity to obedience to Christ." This is where our new, spiritual, emotional defaults must kick in. Circumstances, experiences, even realities, are not intended by God to dictate our emotional health. It is true, many great Christians, even Christian leaders have struggled, and do struggle with emotional disorders, and even mental illness. Were not these people filled with the Holy Spirit? Remember, we are constantly in flux. We are changing every minute. As great as some Christians are, they still struggle with remaining filled. Only Jesus maintained the "full" status continuously throughout his life. Also, let's understand, even the Holy Spirit grieves and is quenched. When he is so, we are bound to feel this acutely. Jesus was a man of sorrows. We read of his tears, but never of his laughter. Only sporadically is it recorded of him to have even rejoiced. Was not our Lord filled perpetually with the Spirit? Indeed, he was! This brings up another consideration for us. This life is not divinely intended to be carefree, or without burden. There is godly sorrow over sin in oneself and others. There are legitimate cares of life which beset us. Even Paul "dispaired" of life. Life involves low places for everyone of us. However, we are not to remain in any emotional place perpetually. God is, "the God of all comfort." Jesus is the great Physician, who heals even soul wounds. Our soul leaks. But that's not the full extent of our dilemma. Our flesh is porous.  We remain in "the flesh" both in physical body and nature. Our flesh doesn't merely leak, its porous. It has absolutely no capacity to retain spiritual things. This is why we can hear a great sermon, experience a wonderful worship service and thirty minutes later be in full blown fume at the lunch line at the restaurant, or the driver of the car in front of us on the drive home. Our flesh cannot retain spiritual things. Thus it is essential to our spiritual maturity that we replace the order of dominance within our being. The flesh must be brought into submission, and slavery to the will and authority of the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can retain spiritual things. When we are not filled with the Holy Spirit we are like a yo yo. We cannot hold any position more than momentarily. We're up one moment, and down the next. This is a tell tell sign of a dominate flesh and a silent, grieving Holy Spirit. I feel the need to pause here, and let us absorb what we have learned. I cannot be the Holy Spirit to you. But dear child of God, does any of this ring true of you? Have lights come on in specific areas you ought to address? God wants us filled with his Spirit. What I have shared may have discouraged you with overmuch complexity. That certainly is not my intention. What God wants for us, he is well able to do in us. He has commanded we be filled with his Spirit. This means, we can indeed be filled with the Holy Spirit. We ought to be in relentless pursuit of this. When we experience it, we must doggedly  maintain it. Let us hunger and thirst for it as though we shall perish without it. It is to be had. Therefore, we must have it. Remember Phil. 4:19 God, not us, not the world, only God supplies our need. He supplies ALL our need. I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we must look to God to supply this need in us.