This document summarizes a sermon about the importance of submitting to God. It discusses how submission to God brings life and victory. It provides examples from the Bible of people who failed to submit to God and faced negative consequences, as well as examples of people who submitted fully to God and experienced success. The key message is that we must obey God and do his will in order to experience abundant life and victory over sin and Satan.

1. ‘Tis The Season
To Submit
Adapted from a
Steve Shepherd sermon
http://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?Con
tributorID=&SermonID=152466

2. One day a police officer stopped a driver.
The police officer said, ―Since you were
wearing your seat belt, you win $5000, what
are you going to do with the money?‖
The man said, ―I’m going to get me a
driver’s license.‖

3. The lady next to him said, ―Don’t listen to
him officer, he always talks crazy when he’s
drunk!‖
The loud talking woke the guy in the back
seat. When he saw the police he said, ―I
knew we wouldn’t get far with this stolen
car!‖

4. Then the police heard a voice from the
trunk and in Spanish, the voice said, ―Are
we over the border yet?‖
What about this seat belt business?
Do you wear yours? Some people just don’t
want to be bothered even though the law
requires us to buckle up.
―Click it or ticket.‖

5. A New Zealander named Ivan Segedin took
it to an extreme. The police ticketed him 32
times over five years for failing to use his
seat belt. Even though this was costing him
big money, he refused to buckle up. Finally,
instead of obeying the law, the man decided
to rely on deception.

6. He made a fake seat belt that would hang
over his shoulder and make it appear that
he was wearing a seat belt when he was
not.
His trick worked for a while. Then, he had a
head-on collision. He was thrown forward
onto the steering wheel and killed.

7. That man’s disobedience caused his death,
but disobedience to God can cause even
more trouble and a worse death!
The person who lives in sin and for sin does
not and will not submit to God and will
eventually pay the penalty for that lack of
submission.

8. Romans 8:6 NET For the outlook of the
flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is
life and peace, 7 because the outlook of the
flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit
to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.
Romans 6:23 NET For the payoff of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.

9. What about Christian people?
Must we submit to God in obedience?
WELL, WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Matthew 7:21 NET "Not everyone who says
to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the
kingdom of heaven — only the one who
does the will of my Father in heaven.

10. Many people are quick to call Jesus ―The
Lord,‖ but they don’t want to do anything
His Word tells them to do. Jesus is clear
that accepting Him as Lord means that we
must be obedient and do God’s will.
Luke 6:46 NET "Why do you call me 'Lord,
Lord,' and don't do what I tell you?

11. Obeying the Lord Jesus is probably one of
the hardest things we will learn to do in life,
if indeed, we ever learn this lesson.
Why is obedience hard to learn? Because
our natural tendency is to do our own thing.
It’s called our sin nature, our dark side. We
don’t like to think about it, talk about it or
own up to it, but it’s true and we all have it!

12. Luke 11:28 NET But he replied, "Blessed
rather are those who hear the word of God
and obey it!"
John 14:15 NET "If you love me, you will
obey my commandments.

13. John 14:23 NET Jesus replied, "If anyone
loves me, he will obey my word, and my
Father will love him, and we will come to
him and take up residence with him.
Do we want Jesus to be at home with us?
Do we want Him to dwell in us always or
just at certain times, like when we pray or
when we go to church?

14. Thomas a Kempis wrote:
Instant obedience is the only kind of
obedience there is;
delayed obedience is disobedience.
Whoever strives to withdraw from
obedience, withdraws from Grace.
POWERFUL!

15. Since this is the time of the year when more
people are thinking about
God, Christ, eternal life, etc. I think we all
need to be reminded that God is
management and we are in sales and we
must do as He says! Sometimes Christians
get the idea that God is simply our great
Giver and that He is only here to please us!

16. We can play, have fun, go our merry way,
do anything we want but we don’t have to
do what the Bible says. God is here only for
our good, not us for His good or His glory!
NOT SO!
Since God is God and He gives us every
good gift and the ultimate promise of eternal
life, He still requires that we submit to Him,
that we obey Him!
‘Tis the season to submit to God!

17. Ephesians 5:24 NET But as the church
submits to Christ, so also wives should
submit to their husbands in everything.
As the church submits to Christ. THAT’S
YOU AND ME!
Are we submissive to Christ?
If so, how so?

18. Let’s see how important it is to submit to
God and what happens when we do.
Submission to God brings life
Submission to God gives victory

19. Submission To God Brings Life
Hebrews 12:9 NET Besides, we have
experienced discipline from our earthly
fathers and we respected them; shall we
not submit ourselves all the more to the
Father of spirits and receive life?

20. Submitting to God who is the Father of our
human spirit brings life. He gives us life and
a better life when we submit to Him!
Did your daddy discipline you?
Did you respect him for his discipline?
When you submitted to him didn’t life go
better for you?

21. You perhaps steered clear of many things
in life because you were taught better and
disciplined when you went in the wrong
direction.

22. Ephesians 6:1 NET Children, obey your
parents in the Lord for this is right. 2 “Honor
your father and mother," which is the first
commandment accompanied by a promise,
namely, 3 "that it may go well with you
and that you will live a long time on the
earth."
(Deu 5:16)

23. There it is! When children submit to their
parents and obey them things may go well
with them and they will live a long time
on the earth. Whereas if kids disobey mom
and dad they are asking for trouble!
Think about the worst punishment you got
for disobedience?

24. The same principle applies to our Heavenly
Father. When we obey Him and submit to
Him, life is going to be better for us!
But if we don’t, watch out!

25. Hebrews 12:5 NET And have you forgotten
the exhortation addressed to you as sons?
"My son, do not scorn the Lord's
discipline or give up when he corrects
you. 6 “For the Lord disciplines the one
he loves and chastises every son he
accepts."
(Pro 3:11-12)

26. Have you ever been disciplined by God for
your disobedience to Him? Chances are,
you have, even though you may not be able
to pinpoint that discipline.
It could have been anything; a lost job, a
catastrophe at home or at work, a series of
financial losses, health problems, the lists
could go on & on.

27. It could be any number of things or perhaps
a combination of bad things. I think
sometimes God disciplines us by allowing
bad things to happen to us. He doesn’t
necessarily cause them, however.

28. A preacher was having a conversation with
an older preacher friend at a convention
some years ago. The younger preacher told
the older how he used to enjoy running and
was doing so well and then suddenly he
had to stop running completely because his
doctor said he had almost completely worn
out his hip joint.

29. The older preacher friend laughed and
said, ―Ah ha, God got you, didn’t he?‖ Did
he mean that God caused the hip to wear
out because he was doing something he
shouldn’t have been doing or was he not
obeying God in life like he should? That
may have been what the older preacher
was thinking but that was not what the
younger preacher was thinking.

30. He was trying to do the will of God in his life
and ministry. He thought the hip wore out
simply because he ran too much! He wasn’t
particularly doing anything wrong and
wasn’t neglecting his ministry.

31. But there are times when God disciplines us
because He knows that we’re going down
the wrong path. He disciplines us for our
good. He’s not trying to hurt us, but rather
help us by trying to get us to wake up and
look up! God is trying to bless us with the
abundant life here on earth & the next life!
And to do this, there are times when He has
to shake us to wake us!

32. At a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian
Athletes, Bobby Richardson, former New
York Yankee second baseman (1955-1966),
offered the Catholic Church's St. Ignatius
(1491– July 31, 1556) prayer that is a classic
in brevity: ―Dear God, Your will, nothing
more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen.‖

33. Someone wrote:
The best way to know God’s will is to say ―I
will‖ to God.
Saying ―I will‖ to God is the best thing any of
us can do.
Saying ―I will‖ or ―I submit‖ brings life to our
lives!

34. Submission To God Gives Victory
James 4:7 NET So submit to God. But
resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Guess what happens if we don’t submit to
God? If we don’t submit to God we’ll submit
to someone else and perhaps without
knowing it!

35. I’m sure you’ve seen a cartoon that showed
an angel on the shoulder of a person and
on the other shoulder was the devil? Each
one kept whispering in the ear of the
person, bidding them to come their way.

36. WELL, THERE MAY BE SOME TRUTH TO
THIS IDEA!
I do believe that the devil is constantly
tempting us to do evil although he may not
verbally whisper in our ears!
The evil one is the tempter, not God. Don’t
ever blame God for evil.
James 1:13 NET Let no one say when he is
tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God
cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself
tempts no one.

37. The devil is evil and He is the one who is
behind all evil in this world.
We see plainly who the tempter is when
Jesus is tempted.

38. Matthew 4:3 NET The tempter came and
said to him, “If you are the Son of God,
command these stones to become
bread.”…5 Then the devil took him to the
holy city, had him stand on the highest point
of the temple,…10 Then Jesus said to him,
“Go away, Satan! For it is written: „You are
to worship the Lord your God and serve
only him.‟” (Deu_6:13)
THE DEVIL, SATAN
IS THE TEMPTER!

39. Ephesians 2:1 NET And although you were
dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in
which you formerly lived according to this
world's present path, according to the ruler
of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the
spirit that is now energizing the sons of
disobedience,

40. 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived
out our lives in the cravings of our flesh,
indulging the desires of the flesh and the
mind, and were by nature children of wrath
even as the rest…
Who is behind all this?
SATAN!

41. Many people are duped by the devil and
they don’t even know it. They are following
him and have no idea they are doing it. Of
course, many folks don’t believe in Satan in
the first place. They think he is figment of
someone’s imagination.
WRONG!

42. A Christian slave in America was overheard
by his master. The black man was
groaning, weeping and praying to the Lord
for deliverance from the devil. His master
said, ―You seem to have a good deal of
trouble with the devil and he never bothers
me at all. And yet you are a good, praying
Christian and I am not a Christian. Why
doesn’t he bother me?‖

43. The black man replied, ―Master, I will
explain this. When you are out shooting
ducks, which do you send the dog after first,
the ones that fall dead or the ones that
wounded and are trying to get away?‖
The man replied, ―Well, of course, I send
the dog after the wounded ones. The dead
ones we are sure of and can pick them up
later.‖

44. The black man said, ―And so it is with
Satan. He already has those who are not
born again, fast and sure. But those that
know the Lord are the ones that he sets his
dogs after. He knows he can pick up the
others later.‖

45. If someone doesn’t know the Lord then, in a
sense, Satan already has them in his grasp
and he doesn’t have to work too hard to
keep them there. But Satan wants to
deceive everybody and if someone is
already a Christian then he has to work very
hard to trip them up! But believe me, He is
working on us! He is a tireless worker who
never lets up!

46. It is said that even though we have days off
and holidays off, the devil never takes a
holiday!
―There is no neutral ground in the universe;
every square inch, every split second, is
claimed by God and counter-claimed by
Satan.‖
(C. S. Lewis )

47. Look at the broken heroes in the Bible.
Adam and Eve were tempted and sinned.
Cain killed Abel in a jealous rage. Moses
killed the Egyptian. Abraham lied about
Sarah being his wife. King Saul was
destroyed by pride. David committed
adultery and murder. King Herod was
brought down by jealousy and fear.

48. Ananias and Sapphira was devoured by
greed.
Judas was destroyed by materialism.
Why did these things happen? It was
because of failing to submit to God. When
we fail to submit to God we will not
experience victory in life. We experience
defeat, failure, misery, etc.

49. But if we submit to God’s will and do what
we know He wants, we will be blessed with
victory over Satan and a certain amount of
success in life!

50. George Ferdinand Müller (September 27,
1805 – March 10, 1898), a Christian
evangelist and Director of the Ashley Down
orphanage in Bristol, England, cared for
10,024 orphans in his life. He also
established 117 schools which offered
Christian education to over 120,000
children, many of them being orphans.

51. Müller had only two shillings to his name
when he began the orphanage work, but
over the next sixty years God sent more
than $7,500,000 to supply their needs. New
buildings were built or purchased, staff was
hired, and the hundreds of children never
missed a meal. Many times prayers were
said over empty plates only to have food
arrive at the last moment.

52. Müller prayed about everything and
expected each prayer to be answered.
What was the secret to George Müller’s
success in the Christian life?
To one who asked him the secret of his
service, George Müller said: ―There was a
day when I died, utterly died;‖ —―died to
George Müller, his opinions, preferences,
tastes, and will—

53. died to the world, its approval or censure—
died to the approval or blame even of my
brethren and friends—and since then I have
studied only to show myself approved unto
God.‖
Submission to God brings victory in life.
Victory over sin, victory over life’s problems
and victory over Satan.

54. Next to the person who does not pay his
bill, the doctor’s most annoying patient is
the one who refuses to follow orders. It has
been estimated that up to 90 percent of all
patients leave half-empty pill bottles, cheat
on diets, continue to smoke, or never return
for checkups despite careful prescriptions
and cautious advice.

55. Failing to follow your doctor’s advice could
get a person into trouble or cause them to
lose their health or worse, but failing to
listen to the Great Physician and obey Him
will bring on worse problems!
I say,
‘Tis the season to submit to God.