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Good Morning, this is Michael De Rosa from the Mountainside Community Church and today we are looking at submission to Pastoral Authority.
My text is a portion of Hebrews 13:17, which. reads
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account.
Submitting to our Pastors becomes problematic whenever we begin to act upon our thoughts that our way of doing things is better, at which point we are stepping outside of God’s mercy and grace.
And taking such authority into our own hands is akin to determining that you will move your car by stepping on the brakes!
That car was designed by the manufacturer to move forward by stepping on the gas just as much as a church is designed to move forwards by heeding God’s oversight, which he has given to the pastor.
May I suggest to you that one huge reason that we don’t follow our pastors is because of our poor insight of the spiritual battles for our souls.
Now our pastor will be held accountable for how well he provides spiritual care for us, but we can help him in this, as well as experience spiritual growth by praying for his leadership