I may be prejudiced, but when it comes to keeping in step I don’t think you’ll find a finer example of military precision than the United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon. Watching these 24 men effortlessly spinning and tossing their hand-polished 10.5 pounds M1 Garand rifles with fixed bayonets as they march across a field without a word will take your breath away.
And it’s a great example of how we should keep in step, too.
Welcome to “Mornings with Bishop Robert,” I appreciate you joining me here this morning. My goal is to introduce people to the Jesus they never knew, and help them get to know Him and His word personally – and better ! If our time together today moves your spirit, then let me invite you to like, subscribe and share it with a friend!
Today’s verse says SINCE WE LIVE BY THE SPIRIT, LET US KEEP IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT.
“SINCE WE” is a great place to begin. The verse assumes that we are living by the Spirit. But it’s worth you and I taking a minute to examine our lives and make sure that we are. I’m not kidding. Everyone reading this should pause for a moment, and examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Really – test yourselves. Can you see the internal evidence that Jesus Christ is in you? You should be clearly aware of His presence in you— unless you actually fail the test.
But if His life – His Spirit – is in us, then we need to develop the skill and discipline to keep in step with His Spirit. Like the Silent Drill Platoon, this takes determination, dedication and persistence. Living by the Spirit requires greater and greater steps of faith. It’s a process that requires replacing “self” and our selfish desires with the Holy Spirit; and then learning to listen and follow.
Getting the “self” out of ourselves is akin to trying to get air out of a glass. An empty glass sitting on a counter is going to be full of air, and getting all the air out of the glass is a tough challenge. You can’t suck it out, it would create a vacuum that would shatter the glass. The only way to get all the air out of the glass is to fill it with something else. If you fill the glass with oil, there will be no air left. Learning to keep in step with the Spirit isn’t a matter of “sucking out” a sin here and there. If we fill our lives with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, His power and presence will replace our tendency to sin.
SINCE WE LIVE BY THE SPIRIT, LET US KEEP IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT
God will speak to those who listen for His voice. Jesus said that whoever is of God hears the words of God. Have you heard from God lately? He hasn’t stopped speaking, you know. But we have to learn to listen, and that takes practice.
In a way, it is almost like hyper sonic sound technology, which is highly-focused directional audio that can travel for great distances but can only be heard within a particular angle. It actually allows sounds to be heard by a person in a particular place, but not by those immediately around them. You can clearly hear specific instructions while those standing next to you are left in total silence.
When we put ourselves in the right place, God can speak to us clearly. But if we walk away from His voice, we’ll find ourselves unable to hear what He’s saying. We need to be where He calls us to be so we can hear what He intends us to hear. And to to that well, we need to keep moving! We have to keep in step with the Spirit; and the Spirit is moving. That’s why Jesus said to follow Him.
Some years ago a father and son arrived in a small western town looking for an uncle whom they had never seen. Suddenly, the father, pointing across the square to a man who was walking away from them, exclaimed, “There goes my uncle!”
His son asked, “How do you know when you have not seen him before?”
“Son, I know him because he walks exactly like my father.”
If we walk in the Spirit, the world should know us by our walk.
SINCE WE LIVE BY THE SPIRIT, LET US KEEP IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT
