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C O M M I T M E N T T O C H R I S T

Community Picnic Featuring Ham & Eggs on Saturday at 6 PM. C O M M I T M E N T T O C H R I S T. The story goes that a. and a . were walking down a country road together when they saw a sign advertising a…. A discussion ensued concerning what they could contribute…. Tony Denton, 2/07.

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C O M M I T M E N T T O C H R I S T

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  1. Community Picnic Featuring Ham&Eggs on Saturdayat6PM C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T The story goes that a and a were walking down a country road together when they sawa sign advertising a… A discussion ensued concerning what they could contribute… Tony Denton, 2/07.

  2. “I know: I’ll donate a dozen eggs, and you can donate a ham.” “Eeeeek! For you that IS a contribution; but for me, it’s a complete sacrifice!” C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T This illustration makes me think of the many Christians who’d rather donate a few mo-ments of their time or a few dollars of their finances than todeny themselvesandbecru-cified with Christ. Community Picnic Featuring Ham&Eggs on Saturdayat6PM

  3. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T After writing about how our oldmaniscrucifiedwithChrist in baptism and how we’re raised in newness of life in Romans 6:3-6, Paul went on to write about how we’re tobe living sacrifices in 12:1-2.

  4. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T Instead of squealing like the pig, Paul … with joyfulness … wrote, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal. 2:20).

  5. Commitment means… Two examples are… C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T …to set one’s mind on a purpose or goal and to not allow his attention or energy to be swayed from it. 1.Joshua (Joshua 24:14-15), and… 2.Jesus (Luke 9:51 & Matthew 26:36-45).

  6. We Will Serve The Lord! C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T Joshua once said to the idolatrous Israel-ites, Fear the Lord. Serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods your fathers served…. Serve the Lord! But if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your fath-ers … or the gods of the Amorites.… But as for me and my family…

  7. Commitment is 1making a decision and 2taking a stand. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T Joshua was of the mind that he’d be committed to Godin spite of the ma-jority or peer pressure. So we could say that… Similar to Joshua, Peter said to some Jewish leaders, We must obey [follow] God rather than men (Acts 5:29).

  8. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T Jesus is the One of whom Luke wrote, When the time had come for Him to be received up, He steadfastly set His faceto go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51).

  9. Commitment is to do God’s will no matter what. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T Jesus knew he’d meet His demise in Jerusalem. So we could also say that… Paul imitated Jesus: Luke recorded for us that he and others pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, … “I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord.” … He would not be persuaded (Acts 21:12-14).

  10. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T Let’s returnto Jesus inordertofindanex-ampleof whatthe greatest test of com-mitmentis. Let’s read Matthew 26:36-45. From this incident we can see that the greatest test of commitment doesn’t in-volve outside factors so much as the sub-mission of our will to God’s will. Just goback sometime and focuson the contrast betweenJesus and His disciples inthis garden of prayer.

  11. Commitment is like…a horse with blinders on. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T

  12. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T The purpose of blinders is to produce tunnel vision: a horse with blinders on can’t see anything except the row in front of him; that way he’s not tempted to deviate from his course. When we’re committed to anything, we’re just like that horse: we have tun-nel vision–we’re blinded to anything which doesn’t point to our goal. Now that we know what commitment is, let’s apply it.

  13. Commitment to Christ means to put Jesus at the center of our focus, desire, and purpose. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 1. Commitment to Christ means that our goal is to become like Jesus. Peter and John are great illustrations ofhowJesusshinesthruinthe eyes of the world: When they theysawtheboldnessofPeter &John…theyrealizedtheyhad been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).

  14. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 2. Commitment to Christ means that Jesus’ purpose becomes our purpose. To those desiring high positions, Jesus said,The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve (Mat. 20:28).

  15. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 2. Commitment to Christ means that Jesus’ purpose becomes our purpose. To His disciples when they were wor- ried about physical food for Him, Je- sus said, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me (John 4:34); then later to the Father He said, I have finished the work You gave Me to do (John 17:4).

  16. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 3. Commitment to Christ means that our desire is to obey Him. A.His commands give our lives a strong foundation: Jesus said, Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who builthishouseonarock (Mat. 7:24).

  17. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 3. Commitment to Christ means that our desire is to obey Him. B.We become His brothers and sisters: Jesus said, Whoever does the Will of My Father in Heaven is My brother and sister (Mat. 12:50). C.We show Jesus that we love Him: Jesus said, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word (John 14:23).

  18. Why should we becommitted to Christ? C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 1. We should be committed to Christ because it will make us better peo- ple than we are. A.Look at Peter: he was changed from an uneducated, fickle fisher- manintoa devoted Chris- tian & dynamic evangelist.

  19. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 1. We should be committed to Christ because it will make us better peo- ple than we are. B.Look at Paul: he was changed from a miserable Jew who mur- dered Christians into a Christian preacher who could have peace in any circumstance (Php. 4:11). Anyone who was committed to Jesus has ended up better because of it; that’s because Jesus makes us all we can be and all we were meant to be.

  20. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 2. We should be committed to Christ because we’ll leave the world a bet- ter place than when we came. A.Dorcas did:Read Acts 9:36-41. B.Paul did:LukerecordedthatWhenhe had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all (the Ephesian elders). Then they all wept freely and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all ….that they would see his face no more (Acts 20:36-38).

  21. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 4. We should be committed to Christ because we simply won’t be saved without it. A.Consider the one talent man:be- cause he wasn’t committed enough to make use of his talent for the Lord, he was rejected(Mat. 25:14ff). B.Consider Judas: because he was morecommittedtohimself thanto Christ, he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple … and went and hanged himself (Mat. 27:5).

  22. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 4. We should be committed to Christ because we simply won’t be saved without it. C.Consider Ananias and Sapphira: becausetheyalsoweremorecom- mitted to themselves than to their Lord, they ended up being slain by the Lord probably to set an early example that God was very seri- ous about who would have part in His eternal kingdom (Acts 5:1ff).

  23. How do we put this commitment into practice? C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 1. We must destroy any double- mindedness. A.Jesus said,No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other(Luke 16:13).

  24. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 1. We must destroy any double- mindedness. B.James wrote that the double- minded man is unstable in every way (Jas. 1:8). And being unstable, he’ll fall right on his face!

  25. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 1. We must destroy any double- mindedness. B.James wrote that the double- minded man is unstable in every way (Jas. 1:8). And being unstable, he’ll fall right on his face!

  26. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 2. We must destroy the past. Luke wrote concerning some Ephesi-ans, Many who believed came confes- sing and telling their deeds. Also many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them; it totaled 50,000 pieces of silver (Acts 19:18-19). (It’s believed that it took 4 of these pieces of silver to equal 1 Greek drachma or 1 Roman denarius [each worth a day’s wage at the time], so if we compare that to a day’s wage today of [let’s say] $160, then these books were worth upwards of $2,000,000 [cf. Clarke].)

  27. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 3. We must set our focus on Jesus. A.Set our focus on His commitment, which (as stated before) was to do God’s will no matter what: Paul wrote,Look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who … endured the cross … and sat down at God’s right hand(Heb. 12:2).

  28. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 3. We must set our focus on Jesus. B.Study His life to understand and imitate Him. Peter once exhorted, Grow in the … knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18). Paul wrote, I count all things loss for the excellence of the know- ledge of Jesus Christ; … I … count all things … as rubbish that I may gain Christ (Php. 4:8).

  29. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 4. We must stand fast no matter what. A.We must not allow false doctrine to move us. Paul demanded the Corinthian Christians to be steadfast [and] immovable (1 Cor. 15:58). The false doctrine at Corinth con- cerned the resurrection, and the admonition was to stand fast!

  30. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 4. We must stand fast no matter what. A.We must not allow false doctrine to move us. Paul demanded the GalatianChris- tians to stand fast in the liberty by whichChristhasmadeusfree,and donotbeentangledagainwiththe yoke of bondage (Gal. 5:1). The false doctrine was to obey the Law of Moses, and the admonition was to stand fast!

  31. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 4. We must stand fast no matter what. B.We must not allow persecution to move us. We should imitate the attitude of Paul when he was stoned and left for dead: Read Acts 14:19-22.

  32. C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T 4. We must stand fast no matter what. A.We must not allow persecution to move us. We should also imitate the atti- tude of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: to the king who put them in the fiery furnace, they said that even if the Lord would not deliver them, they would still not serve his gods or worship the gold image he had set up (Dan. 3:18). So…   

  33. In Summary C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T Commitment to Christ means putting Jesus at the very center of our lives. He becomes everything to us. When we’re really committed to our relation-ship with Christ, we won’t allow any-thing to hinder us from following Him completely!

  34. In Summary C O M M I T M E N TT OC H R I S T When we’re committed, we’ll be better people and we’ll leave the world a bet-ter place. We commit ourselves by destroying double-mindedness and the past, set-ting our focus on Jesus, and standing fast no matter what may happen, whether persecution or even death!

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