5-19-13 Sermon - Pentecost Sunday "Living in the Supernatural"

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LIVING IN THE SUPERNATURAL                                                  05-19-13 Sermon 

By the power of the Holy Spirit you will be able to see the invisible, hear the inaudible and do the impossible.  Ask him to fill you with his Holy Spirit today.  You come and pray as we sing. 

I am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.  Luke 24:49

Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  Acts 1:4-5

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.  Acts 2:1-4

In the early church Easter was regarded as the beginning of the G________ 50 D______, the season between Easter and Pentecost.

The disciples were to W__________ until they were clothed with power from on high.

Pentecost was M_______________ day for the Holy Spirit. 

The Spirit lives with you and shall be in you.  Jn 14:17

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 1 Cor 3:16

S_____________ and W______________ were to follow those who believed.

 The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. 

Acts 5:12

Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.  Acts 6:8

Simon followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.  Acts 8:13

Paul and Barnabas spend considerable time in Iconium, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.  Acts 14:3

What Jesus did through the D______________ he wants to do through Y__________

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.  Hebrews 13:8

The Holy Spirit needs to change from just being R______________ in your life to being P____________________ in your life. 

Jesus expects us to be doing all the S____________________ T____________ he did.

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  John 14:12 

When we are clothed with God’s power from on high we will be enabled to live in the supernatural and do three things:

1.  We will S__________ the In__________________

We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For want is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  2 Corinthians 4:18

Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  Mark 11:24

Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.  Jn. 20:29 

2. We will H_____________ the In___________________

They, too will listen to my voice.  John 10:16

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  Rev. 2:17

3. We will D__________ the Im________________

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…Nothing will be impossible for you. 

Mt 17:20

What is impossible with men is possible with God. Lk 18:27

Nothing is impossible with God.  Luke 1:37

On the church calendar, today is Pentecost Sunday.  The Sunday that we remember when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to come and fill and empower his people. 

In the worship and liturgy of the early church, Easter was not regarded as an isolated special day that ended Holy Week.  It was not the end of anything.  The church regarded Easter as the beginning of the great Fifty Days, the season between Easter and Pentecost, the season between the resurrection of Jesus and Jesus sending the Holy Spirit upon the believers and giving birth to the church.  Easter and Pentecost were more than two great days in the church year, they became the first and last days of the oldest and most important season of the Christian year.  Christmas was not celebrated in the early church.  The Lenten season was developed later as a time of preparation not for Easter, but for the Great Fifty Days.  The early Christians saw the Great Fifty Days as the most important season of the year.

While we use the term Pentecost to refer only to the fiftieth day of that time period, historically, Pentecost referred to the entire fifty day cycle beginning with Easter as well as the final day of that cycle.  Easter was and is incomplete without Pentecost. 

Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the filling of the Spirit.  Now remember that the disciples already had a 3 year training period with Jesus himself.  They heard his teachings many times.  They observed all kinds of miracles being performed right before their eyes.  The Gospel of John ends by saying “Jesus did many other things as well.  If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. The disciples observed all those other things that John refers to as well.

In addition to observation the disciples had been sent out by Jesus himself on an internship and they ministered to the needs of the people.  They, too, performed miracles.  They healed diseases.  They cast out demons.  Then they witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion, his burial, his resurrection and finally his ascension.  They knew the message.  They knew the methods.  They were ready to go.  But Jesus said Wait.  They needed something more.  They were incomplete having experienced Easter alone.  They were not to go out in their natural strength using just natural skills and talents.  They were to enter a supernatural mode of living and ministry.  They needed a supernatural extreme makeover. 

Luke said that they were to wait until they were clothed with power from on high.  Isn’t that an interesting phrase?  They were to put on a new look, like you would put on a new set of clothes for Easter or some other special occasion.  It would be the look of power.

There were people in the Old Testament who had a look of power.  The prophets Elijah and Elisha were good examples.  They did things like calling fire down from heaven, raising the dead, miraculously multiplying olive oil, and making an iron ax head float on water.  We all remember the miracles Moses did in front of Pharaoh.  In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit resided with people and came upon them from time to time to empower them for specific tasks.  But on the day of Pentecost things changed.

Jesus told his disciples in John 14:17 The Spirit lives with you and shall be in you.  Pentecost was moving day for the Holy Spirit.  On Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to fill the believers with his presence.  Peter quotes the prophet Joel on the day of Pentecost in saying that the Holy Spirit is poured out on ALL flesh.  Old and young, men and women, people of all races.  The Spirit is freely given to all who would receive him. 

That is why in 1 Corinthians 3:16 Paul could say Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 1 Cor 3:16.  The Holy Spirit came to dwell within us and fill us as he did the temple in the Old Testament.  Because the Holy Spirit came to dwell within us and fill us, never again after the day of Pentecost does the bible refer to a physical building as being the house of God.  Instead, the New Testament says that now WE are the house of God, for God the Holy Spirit dwells within us.  So if you hear someone refer to their church building as the house of God, you can tell them, No, if you are a believer, the bible says that YOU are a house of God!

At the end of the Gospel of Mark, before he ascended into heaven, Jesus told the disciples that signs and wonders would follow those that believed.  And as we read through the book of Acts we find that Jesus’ promise came true.  So we read in Acts 5:12 the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people.  And in Acts 6:8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.  And in Acts 8:13 Simon followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.  And in Acts 14:3 Paul and Barnabas spend considerable time in Iconium, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.  Over and over again we see the believers going forth clothed with power from on high and miraculous signs and wonders follow them.  They began to live in the supernatural.  They had an extreme spiritual makeover. 

The book of Acts is an unfinished book.  If you read the last chapter, chapter 28, you come to the end and Paul is in Rome continuing to preach.  But the book really doesn’t have an ending.  There is no conclusion drawn.  It just stops.  I think that is intentional.  For the next chapter, Acts 29, is to be written in our church and in your life.  Hebrews 13:8 tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.  What he did then through the disciples, he wants to do through you today.  Our world needs to see followers of Jesus going forth clothed with power from on high and doing the works of the Father just as much as the people of the first century did. 

Do you have the Holy Spirit within you?  If you have given your life to Christ and asked him to save you from your sins, you do.  But, you know what.  That’s not enough. 

On the evening of the day that Jesus rose from the dead, John 20 tells us that Jesus appeared to his disciples in a locked room and he breathed on them and said Receive the Holy Spirit.  How many of you believe that if Jesus said, Receive the Holy Spirit, the disciples received the Holy Spirit at that point?  The Holy Spirit came to dwell within them on Easter evening.

But that was not enough.  Because that same Jesus who just put the Holy Spirit within them told them to wait in Jerusalem to be clothed with power from on high.  He called it the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  Immersion in the Holy Spirit.  Total soaking in the Holy Spirit to the point where the Holy Spirit just drips off you and leaves evidence of the Holy Spirit behind wherever you go.  That’s what happened on the day of Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit not only was dwelling within them, now he was filling them.

The Holy Spirit needs to change from just being just resident in your life, to being president in your life, the one in charge, the one calling the shots.

If you have been saved, God did not put his Holy Spirit within you so you could attend church regularly and sit in a pew.  The book of Acts does not mention anyone being filled with the Spirit so they could be a good person and sit in a pew.  We don’t read any accounts there of people sitting in church.  If you can sum up your Christian life by saying that Jesus saved me, and now I try to live a good life and go to church, you miss the point.  That is not the Christian lifestyle pictured in the New Testament!  The world was not changed in the book of Acts by non-believers observing the believers living a good moral life and going to church on Sundays.

If you read the book of Acts you will see that almost all of the miraculous signs and wonders that the Holy Spirit did through the believers were done outside the church.  The Holy Spirit wants the world to see you clothed with power from on high.  He wants to demonstrate his power through you to the world.  He wants the world to see you doing the works that Jesus did on their turf, outside the church building.  He wants the world to see your new look.  He wants you to live in the supernatural out in the world.

Living in the supernatural means that you use your own reason, but you are not limited by it.  Living in the supernatural means that you use your talents, abilities and skills, but you are not limited by them.  It means you use your own resources but you are not limited by them.  It means that you are part of a supernatural body of Christ, you are not alone.  It means that you believe that God will act in and through your life in supernatural ways and you trust him to do so. 

Jesus told us a disciple, when he is fully trained, shall be like his master.  So when we are fully trained, we shall be like Jesus, living in the supernatural.  Jesus told his disciples in John 14:12  I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.   Jesus expects us to be doing all the supernatural things that he was doing.  That’s what the man said!  When living in the supernatural we have a new world view.  The Holy Spirit is part of every equation.  He is part of every decision, every opportunity, and every challenge we face. 

When we are clothed with God’s power from on high we will be enabled to live in the supernatural and do three things.  The first of these that we will see the invisible.

We as Christians believe that there is more to our world than what can be seen with the naked eye.  Of course we all believe that there are things too small or too far away to be seen without great magnification.  The Hubble space telescope has opened whole new worlds to us that we never knew existed.  But beyond that, we as Christians believe that there is a world that is part of the visible world, but beyond the visible world, that cannot be seen with any magnification.  Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:18 We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For want is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 

We believe that there is an unseen devil who influences our lives and the visible world.  We believe that the devil has unholy invisible spiritual beings assisting him called demons.  We also believe that there are holy invisible beings that do the work of God like, angels, and cherubs and seraphim.  And we believe that the Holy Spirit continues to move through the world carrying out the will of the Father.  As Christians we believe that as we go through life living in the supernatural we need to take into account not only the visible world but the invisible world.

As the Israelites came to the edge of the Promised Land, what if Joshua and Caleb would have believed only what they had seen, like the other 10 spies did when they went in and checked out this new land—giants, walled cities, vast fortifications.  Perhaps all the people of God would have died in the wilderness and God would have had to raise up a new people through Moses.  But Joshua and Caleb saw beyond the visible to the invisible.  They realized that God was with them and guiding them and empowering them so nothing could stand against them.  They were living in the supernatural.  The majority of the spies and the rest of the people were living in the natural.  They could not see the invisible so they ended up dying in the wilderness.

What if Elisha the prophet could not have seen the invisible protection of God when the armies of the king of Aram surrounded the city where he was staying.  Elisha’s servant comes in all in a tizzy, O what shall we do, O what shall we do?  There is no way out.  All is lost.  We are doomed!  He had an Eyor anointing! Have you ever felt like that?  Did you know that panic is not listed in the bible as a spiritual gift?

Elisha responds by praying to God.  Not about the situation, but for his servant who is so worried.  Elisha prays O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.  The scripture never says that Elisha ever went out to look at the situation.  He was already living in the supernatural.  He was able to see the invisible.  He prayed that his servant might also be able to see the invisible.  And we read that the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he looked and saw the hills filled with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.  Elisha wasn’t worried because with his spiritual eyes he saw the invisible—he saw that his physical enemies were greatly outnumbered and greatly out gunned!   Elisha had the armies of God on his side.  Who could stand against such a show of force?

What if Jesus was not able to see the resurrection and his ascension to the right hand of the Father and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost?  Could he have gone through the struggles in the Garden of Gethsemane and crucifixion on Calvary?

All these people were living and moving in the supernatural.  They were able to see the invisible and that made the difference in their lives. 

Are you a Missouri Christian?  You know, Missouri is the “Show Me State.”  Missouri Christians say Show me and I will believe.  But Jesus told us hat we have to have eyes to see the invisible.  He said in Mark 11:24 Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  Missouri Christians say Show me and then I will believe.  Jesus says Believe and then you will see.

You remember the story of Thomas who was not present when Jesus appeared to the other disciples after the resurrection.  He told the other disciples Unless I see the nail marks in his hands…I will not believe it.  Thomas was a Missouri Christian.  And then Jesus appears to Thomas and he believes.  Jesus says to him in Jn. 20:29  Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. 

On the Day of Pentecost Peter quotes the prophet Joel in saying that one of the results of the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh was that young men would see visions and old men would dream dreams.  This is one of the ways that we come to see the invisible.  God sometimes grants dreams and visions in which he communicates some important truth to us.

So, God spoke to the prophet Ezekiel through a vision of dry bones in which he told the prophet that even though all the prophet could see with his natural eyes was spiritual deadness, God would bring new life to the people of Israel and with his spiritual eyes in the vision Ezekiel saw bones coming together and flesh coming onto those bones and breath coming into those bodies.

God spoke to a disciple named Ananias in Acts 9 and told him to go to the house of Judas on Straight street and ask for Saul and lay hands on him to restore his sight.  All Ananias could see with his natural eyes was Saul the persecutor of Christians.  But the vision of God convinced him that this Saul would be healed of his physical and spiritual blindness and he would become a great leader in the church.

As we are clothed with power from on high and as we live and move in the supernatural we are enabled to see the invisible.  We are also enabled to hear the inaudible.

Right now, at this very moment there are inaudible waves traveling through this sanctuary.  Our wireless microphones broadcast inaudible signals through our sanctuary to the receivers at the mixer.  There are inaudible TV and radio waves traveling through our sanctuary at this very moment.  But just because they are inaudible to our ears does not mean they are undiscernable.  They can be discerned with the proper receiver.

Jesus wants us to be those proper receivers tuned in to what is naturally inaudible but what is spiritually discerned.  He says as our Good Shepherd, My sheep hear my voice.  He speaks to his sheep.  If you are one of his sheep you can expect to be spoken to.  But whether you hear him or not will depend on whether you are tuned to the wavelength of the Spirit or not. 

Over and over again in the Scriptures we read of God speaking to people.  He told Abram to leave the comfortable and the familiar land where he was raised, Ur of the Chaldees, and go to a land that God would show him.   God didn’t say where it was, just that he would show him.  He told Moses from a burning bush to go back to Egypt and lead his people out of bondage.  We read in the 16^th chapter of Acts that Paul and Silas and Timothy traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia but they were kept from preaching the word in the province of Asia.  When they came to the border of Mysia, the tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.  They heard the voice of Jesus telling them where to go and where not to go.  Then Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him to come over to Macedonia to help them.  He heard the voice of God in the vision telling them to go to Macedonia. 

The people of God who are living in the supernatural and who are clothed with power from on high can expect to hear from God.  They can expect direction from God, as long as it is their intention to do what God tells them to do when he speaks to them.  God does not promise to speak to those who just want to hear what God wants them to do so they can then decide whether they will do it or not.  But those who want to hear from
God so they can know what to do can expect to hear from God.  God wants to give input to the decisions you make in life.  Don’t you think God’s opinion, and God’s wisdom might be helpful to you?

The apostle John says 7 times in the book of Revelation He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.  We need to listen to God with the ear of the Spirit.  The Spirit speaks to his churches. In our Scripture from John’s gospel, Jesus tells us that when the Spirit of truth comes, he will tell you what is yet to come. He will take from what is mine and make it known to you.  Well, on the Day of Pentecost the Spirit of Truth HAS come and he wants to speak to you.

Sometimes this might be in an audible voice.  Sometimes it might be in a voice that only you can hear in your spirit.  Sometimes it can be a growing conviction.  Sometimes it can be a set of divinely arranged circumstances.  Sometimes it can be a combination of a number of these.  And being sensitive to the Spirit’s voice is something that is learned over time.  But the bottom line is that God wants to speak to his people through his Spirit and as we are clothed with power from on high and living in the supernatural we are enabled to hear the voice of God that may be inaudible to others.

And thirdly, as we live and move in the supernatural we are also enabled to do the impossible.  Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 17:20 that doing the impossible is linked to our faith.  He says that if we have a mustard seed sized faith nothing will be impossible for us.

If you SEE what God wants to happen and when you HEAR what God wants you to do about it, then you can DO the impossible.  It depends on your faith and the power of God, not your own power. 

It is impossible to walk on water unless it is frozen or you know where the rocks are.  But Peter walked on water, didn’t he?  We often focus on the fact that he looked at the wind and waves, became frightened, and sank.  But there were 11 other disciples who were playing it safe and sitting in the boat.  Peter was the one who had the faith to step out of the boat in response to the word of Jesus and he walked on water like Jesus was doing.

Jesus tells us What is impossible with men is possible with God.  And the angel of God told Mary Nothing is impossible with God.  It is impossible for the dead to come back to life, but Jesus and the apostles raised the dead.  It is impossible to feed thousands with one boy’s lunch, but Jesus did that.  It is impossible for those born blind and crippled to see and walk, but they did under the ministry of Jesus and the apostles.  And these things continue to happen today.  As Christians are filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit to see the invisible, hear the inaudible they are enabled to do the impossible, just like Jesus did. 

What would it be like if we could really begin to live our lies in the supernatural?  What would it be like if our desire was to actually see the invisible, to hear the inaudible, and then to do the impossible?  I believe it would mean Acts 29 would begin in our lives and in the life of our church.  I believe it can happen and will happen as we are open and obedient to the Spirit.

I am going to invite you to join me in prayer at the communion rail during the singing of our closing hymn. 

What do you need God to show you that is now invisible to you?  Come and tell God about that.

What do you need God to tell you that is now inaudible to you?  Come and tell God about that.

What do you need God to do for you that is now impossible for you?  Come tell God about that this morning. 

5-12-13 Sermon - Happy Mother's Day

To listen to today's sermon, click here.

A MOTHER'S GREATEST GIFT        

Matthew 15:21-28                        New International Version (NIV)

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

²¹ Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²² A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

²³ Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

²⁵ The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

²⁶ He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

²⁷ “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

²⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

On this Mother’s day I want to share something with you that I got over the Internet called “You know You’re a Mother when...”

You count the sprinkles on each kid’s cupcake to make sure they are equal.

You have the time to shave only one leg.

Your kid throws up and you catch it.

You consider finger paints to be a controlled substance.

You’ve mastered the art of placing large quantities of pancakes and eggs on a plate without them touching each other.

Your child insists that you read “Once upon a Potty” out loud in the lobby of Grand Central Station and you do it.

You hope ketchup is a vegetable, since it’s the only way your child will eat anything.

You find yourself cutting your husband’s sandwiches into cute shapes.

You stop criticizing the way your mother raised you.

You hire a sitter because you haven’t been out with your husband in ages, then you spend half the night checking on the kids.

You use your own saliva to clean your child’s face.

You say at least once a day, I’m not cut out for this job,” but you know you wouldn’t trade it          for anything.

In the midst of all the humor that surrounds these statements there lies a great truth--the image that children are forming of their world and their church and their God is being significantly influenced by what their mothers say and do.

I want you to look with me this Mother's Day at the story of one of the mothers in the New Testament.  It is this Canaanite woman or the Syro-Phoenician woman as she is called in Mark's Gospel.  Here we read one of the few accounts of Jesus venturing outside of Jewish territory in his ministry.  It was for Jesus a time of deliberate withdrawal.  The end was coming near and he wanted to have a time of quiet to prepare for the events of the end.  It was not so much that he wanted to prepare HIMSELF, although that purpose was probably also in his mind, but rather he wished some time in which he could prepare his disciples for that difficult time.  There were things that he had to tell them--things that they had to understand.

There was no place in Palestine where he could be sure of privacy; wherever he went the crowds were sure to find him.  So he went north, right through Galilee, until he came to the land of Tyre and Sidon, where the Phoenicians dwelt.  There, at least for a time, he would be safe from the hostility of the Scribes and Pharisees, and from the dangerous popularity of the people, for no Jew would be likely to follow him into Gentile territory.

But even in these foreign parts Jesus was not free from the loud cries of human need. There was a mother who had a daughter with a dreadful affliction.  Her daughter was suffering terribly from demons. 

Now many people in our modern American culture don't believe in the devil and demons.  They just speak of evil influences and inclinations and yet when Jesus spoke of evil he always spoke of personal evil.  It was always done by someone either human or demonic.  Jesus believed very much in the devil and in the servants of the devil--demons, as does most of the Christian church world wide today. Most of the Christian church worldwide today is not so naive as to label the stories of demons in the New Testament as ONLY mental illness or epilepsy or something like that.  And perhaps one of the reasons why the church in America today seems to regard sin and evil so lightly is because so many do not regard the devil and demons in the same way that Jesus did.

This woman knew the terror of demons.  She could see her daughter writhing on the ground, or being thrown suddenly into the fire, or uttering all sorts of curses and profanity apart from the control of her own will.  There was no problem convincing that mother of what was wrong with her daughter.  And evidently no one in the Canaanite cities could do anything to help her.

Somehow she must have heard about Jesus and the wonderful things that he could do.  When she heard that he was coming to her area she followed him and his disciples, and cried out desperately for help.  Jesus was her last hope.  If Jesus couldn't help her then no one could.

At first Jesus seemed to pay no attention to her. The disciples were embarrassed and they wanted to get rid of her.  They told him--”Tell her to get lost.  She's bugging us.  She's a pest.  You have to rest.  The last thing you need now is another woman pesting you.” To them the woman was a nuisance and all they wanted to do was to be rid of her as quickly as possible.

If this had been a Jewish mother, no doubt Jesus would not have hesitated to meet her need, but she was not.  This was a Gentile woman, and not only was she a Gentile, she was a Canaanite.  She was from a long line of people who were enemies of the Jews.  These were the people who occupied the land when the Hebrews first arrived with Abraham. They were always a thorn in the flesh to the Hebrew people attacking here and attacking there, rushing out in raiding parties from their fortified and impenetrable cities along the coast of the Mediterranean.

They were also deeply pagan, idol worshiping people, people so filthy and corrupt that even in this day of permissiveness and sexual promiscuity scholars refuse to translate many of their religious texts from their cuneiform and Ugaritic languages, they are that bad.  This was a CANAANITE woman hollering for Jesus.  What in the world could she want?  What insult did she want to hurl at him?

And you need to understand, there were rules about Jewish rabbis not going into Gentile territory, and about Jewish rabbis not talking to Gentiles, and about Jewish rabbis not talking to women in public.  These rules are not in the bible, but they were the rules of the good church folks—the Scribes and Pharisees. 

Of course, church folks today can also make up some rules of their own.  There are some strange laws regarding church on the books in communities all over our country.  Young girls are never allowed to walk a tightrope in Wheeler, MS, unless it’s in a church.  In Blackwater, KY, tickling a woman under her chin with a feather while she’s in church carries a penalty of $10 and one day in jail.  No one can eat unshelled, roasted peanuts while attending church in Idanha, OR.  In Honey Creek, Iowa, no one is permitted to carry a slingshot to church except a policeman.  No citizen in Leecreek, AR is allowed to attend church in any red-colored garment.  Swinging a yo-yo in church or anywhere in public on the Sabbath is prohibited in Studley, VA.  And turtle races are not permitted within 100 yds of a local church at any time in Slaughter, LA.  Don’t some of those laws make you wonder what in the world ever led to their enactment?

It’s true that there are rules in the Bible.  There’s the 10 commandments, there’s the great commandments that Jesus quotes from the Old Testament.  But the Pharisees made the mistake of confusing the rules with the faith.  The rules are boundaries set up by God to keep us safe.  Outside of those boundaries we can get hurt.  The rules are there for our benefit. 

We must focus on what is inside the fence of the rules and not on the fence itself.  It is the core and not the outer edge that is most important.  The core of our faith is our personal loving relationship with God and the core of the church’s task is ministry.  At one point Jesus called the Pharisees Whitewashed tombs filled with dead men’s bones.  He was saying they looked fine and respectable on the outside because of their rule obeying, but they had no life within them for the life of faith is not found in just obeying rules, but in a living, loving relationship with God.  They had missed that important point and were teaching others to do the same.

So, Jesus ignored the rules of the Pharisees regarding rabbis.  This woman was not hurling insults and curses.  She was crying out for help!  So Jesus told her that he was sent first to the house of Israel.  He was the Jewish Messiah first.  He had been sent to God's chosen people.  But she said that even the pet dogs get the bread thrown from the master's table.

She was speaking of a practice of the day in rich homes.  In those days the people did not use knives or forks or napkins at the table.  The people ate with their hands and wiped their soiled hands on chunks of bread and the pet dogs ate that bread when it was thrown to them.  So the woman was saying, "I know that the children are fed first, but can't I even get the scraps that the children throw away?  The children of Israel have been fed for some three years now and they have thrown much away, may I not have some of the mercy that they have discarded?

It was then that Jesus saw in this Canaanite woman something very deep.  In that Canaanite woman Jesus saw a faith greater than that of many of the children of Israel.  And he healed this mother's daughter of her demonization.  He cast the demons out and the daughter was set free.

Do you realize that this faith was the greatest gift that this mother could ever give her daughter?  I imagine that many times as the daughter was growing up, she asked her mother, “Tell me again, Mom, how Jesus healed me."  And the mother would tell the story again.  Do you think that daughter would want to know more about this Jesus in whom her mother believed so strongly, this Jesus who healed her without ever even seeing her?  Of course she would.

You see, this mother had a faith that gave her a new perspective on her world.  She saw the world through different eyes than those around her.  She could see things clearly that were unclear before.

When we go to 3D movies as you enter the theater they give you a pair of those special glasses to wear while you watch the film.  When the film comes on it is amazing to see the movie come alive with people and animals seeming to come right out of the screen into your lap.  During the film I sometimes have taken off the glasses to see what it looks like without them.  When I have done that, I have found that the film was all out of focus.  There are double images on the screen and you just could not see the film clearly without those glasses.

Faith is kind of like those glasses, for faith enables you to see things as they really are--from God's point of view.  And yet millions of people without faith-eyes, without those special glasses that God gives us, millions are walking around in a foggy out of focus world claiming that they see clearly. They don’t know any better.   They don't know what it is to see clearly through the eyes of faith.  And there are such people in the church as well.

No doubt the people of that Canaanite woman's village were that way.  None of them came with her.  They must have said “Forget it!  We've seen this before.  Your daughter is hopeless.  We have never seen anyone like her delivered from demons before so don't get your hopes up.  If our doctors can't help you, then no one can.  Why in the world do you want to go and see Jesus, you are just setting yourself up for a big disappointment.  Be realistic.   Nothing will ever change.” 

And you know, if she had listened to them they would have been right!  Nothing would have changed.  She would have gone on believing that it is not practical to believe that God would intervene in our world.  It is not practical to believe that God will respond to our needs and our requests.  It is not realistic to believe that God will do miracles for us.  And if she believed that, nothing would have changed.  Her daughter would still be demonized.

But this woman, this mother, had the special glasses of faith that enabled her to see beyond what had happened in the past, and beyond what was happening around her in the present and to see into the world of possibilities.  A world where God is actively involved in providing the needs of his people.  A world where God not only saves his people from hell but sustains them while they are living in a fallen world, by intervening on their behalf.  She was as Robert Schuller says, A possibility thinker. 

Now which way of life is really the practical way? Which way is more realistic?  To say that we believe in a miracle working God, who intervenes in our world on our behalf with unlimited resources at his disposal and then NOT expect God to act like that? Is that realistic?  Is that really practical?  And yet, that is the way that we live much of our lives!

The life of faith is really practical.  God DOES exist.  God DOES want to act on our behalf.  He DOES want to perform miracles in our lives.  We CAN depend on him.  We CAN trust him.  The life of faith DOES work in daily, everyday, ordinary life.  Just as a car runs best when; it works according to the instructions of its designer and manufacturer, so our lives run best when they are lived according to God's instructions.  God says “Trust me.  I will take care of you.  Believe me in spite of what you may see or NOT see around you.  I WILL supply your needs.”

This is the kind of faith that this Canaanite mother had.  And what greater gift could she give to her husband and daughter than that same faith?  By her trust in God, by her speaking of God and his faithfulness to her she could instill that same faith in her family.

Do you have the faith, the trust of this Canaanite woman?  You can.  You may not think you can, but you can, for God says you can.  It involves an act of the will.  You need to say to yourself, “Yes, I believe that God can be trusted, that he has by best interests in mind and that he WILL act on my behalf.”  It means taking God at his word, believing that what he says in the Bible is true and that he will act like he says he will act.

Will you begin today to look at the world in a different way?  Will you look at your life situation in a different way--through the eyes of faith?  And will you share that faith with others? That will be the greatest gift that you can give to anyone.

5-5-13 Sermon-Building a Life of Commitment

To listen to the sermon from today, click here.

BUILDING A LIFE OF COMMITMENT

Building a Great Life  -  Part 5 of 8

2 Chronicles 16:9 (NIV)

05-05-13 Sermon

              "The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him."  2 Chr. 16:9 (NIV)

I.  THE POWER OF COMMITMENT

            My commitments

                                    ... show my ______________________________ (Mt. 6:24)

                                    ... shape my ______________________________ (Pr. 4:23)

                                    ... determine my ______________________________ (Mk. 8:36)

II.  THE PRICE OF COMMITMENT

"If you want to be My follower you must love Me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters -- yes, more than your own life.  Otherwise, you cannot be My disciple."  Lk. 14:26 (NLT)

I GIVE CHRIST...

            *  THE FIRST ______________________________ OF EACH DAY.

              "Each morning I will look to You in heaven and lay my requests before You..."  Ps. 5:3 (LB)

            *  THE FIRST ______________________________ OF EVERY WEEK.

                        "On the first day of the week, the disciples came together..."

            *  THE FIRST ______________________________ OF EVERY PAYCHECK.

                        "Honor the Lord by giving Him the first part of all your income."  Pr. 3:9 (LB)

            *  THE FIRST ______________________________ IN EVERY DECISION.

              "In everything you do, put God first, and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success."  Pr. 3:5-6 (LB)

III.  THE PITFALLS OF COMMITMENT

            1.  WE GET _____________________________________________

              "The attractions of this world, the delights of wealth, the search for success and lure of nice things come in and crowd out God."  Mark 4:19 (LB)

            2.  WE BECOME _____________________________________________

              "Don't be lazy in showing your devotion.  Use your energy to serve the Lord."  Rom. 12;11 (GWT)

IV.  THE PAYOFF FOR TOTAL COMMITMENT

              "Do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat... or drink... or wear?'  ... your heavenly Father knows that you need these. But seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."  Matt. 6:31-33 (NIV)

              "The Master will say, `Well done good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things -- I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your Master's happiness!"  Matt. 25:23 (NIV)

              "Give yourselves completely to God -- every part of you... you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for His good purposes."  Rom. 6:13b (LB)

BUILDING A LIFE OF COMMITMENT

Building a Great Life  -  Part 5 of 8

2 Chronicles 16:9 (NIV)

05-05-13 Sermon

Every time there is upheaval in the stock market financial advisors say the same thing: ignore the daily ups and downs and commit to the long term.  They could have been talking about life.  History shows that long term commitments pay off. 

The sad thing is that today in our society as technology is speeding up the pace of change people are more and more reluctant to make long term commitments.  We don't want to be committed to anything.  We don't want to commit to a long term job.  We don't want to commit to a long term marriage.  We don't want to commit to long term investments.  We don't want to commit to a church. We don't want to commit to anything.  In fact, if there is any operational attitude today it's "I want to keep my options open. I don't want to be tied down.  I don't want to commit to anything because life is a buffet and I don't want to get to the end and say, `Oh, I filled my plate up with the wrong stuff!'" 

That's tragic because the fact is you can't live without making commitments.  You can't buy a house without making a commitment. You can't get married without making a commitment.  You can't even get a driver's license without making some kind of commitment.  Nothing great ever happens without making commitments.  If we go through life without making any commitments we just drift without any focus.

So today as we look in the fourth of this series on "Building A Great Life" I want us to look at "Building a Life Of Commitment." I want us to look at what the Bible says about the power of commitment, the price of commitment, then what it takes to make a commitment, the pitfalls of commitment and the payoff.

THE POWER OF COMMITMENT. 

What does the Bible say about the power of commitment?  The Bible says that nothing affects your life more than the commitments that you choose to make.  In fact, my commitments have three profound effects on my life.

         The things I commit myself to... my commitments

         1.  Show my values.  They show what I really think is important, what I really value, what I really love.  There is no such thing as love without commitment.  The essence of love is a commitment of oneself to that person, to meeting the needs of that person.  That's what love is all about. You can't love without making commitments. 

I may say something is important to me, but the way I commit my time and my money shows what is really important.  I may say, for instance, that my family is important to me.  But if I commit all my time to my work, and none of my time is committed to my family, it shows what's really important.  If I say my health is important to me, but I don't commit any of my time to taking care of myself, then it means that my health is not really important to me. 

My commitments not only show my values they...

         2.  Shape my life.  I become whatever I'm committed to. Your life is the sum total of your commitments.  If I believe that making money is the most important thing in life, then my life is going to be shaped by that.  If I believe that being well liked and being popular is important, then my life is going to be shaped by that.  If I think that having a good time is the most important thing in life, then my life will be shaped by that.

Once you choose your commitments in life, your character is set.  So you better choose your commitments carefully.  And if you've never thought those things through, you may not like how you're going to end up if you haven't looked at those commitments.  Commitments not only show my values they shape my life.

Not only that, the Bible says my commitments...

         3.  Determine my destiny.  The destiny of nations is determined by the commitments that people make.  The very fact that we experience freedom here this morning to talk and pray and worship like this is because somebody spilled their blood for that.  Our freedom was bought with a price.  

The commitments that you make, that I make, they not only determine our destiny here and now, they also determine our eternity.  We talked about this a lot last week.  Life here on earth -- 60, 80, 100 years -- is brief compared to the years you're going to spend in eternity.  If you develop a relationship with Christ, you're going to spend eternity with Him and your rewards and responsibilities are going to be based on how you used your life here on earth.  That involves commitment.

Jesus said it like this, "What will a man give in exchange for his soul?"  That's a very important question because every day of your life you're exchanging your life for something.  We're all given just a certain number of minutes to live.  The average human being will live 25,550 days.  Every day when you wake up, you exchange your life for something. 

Wise people use their time wisely.  Wise people plan how they're going to exchange their life.  You are going to exchange your life for something.  Wise people plan that exchange by making what we call commitments.  When you make a commitment you're choosing how you're going to invest your life.  You're choosing how you're going to spend your time.  You're choosing how you're going to use your resources. 

Of course the most important commitment you're going to make is your commitment to Jesus Christ.  But even that has a price tag. Every commitment, regardless of which one you make, has a price tag to it.  You have to weigh out the benefits and the pay off compared to the price tag on it.  What are the price tags, what are the costs of following Christ?

Jesus is very up front about it.  He doesn't beat around the bush.  He's not vague.  He just lays it out in Luke 14:26 "If you want to be My followers you must love Me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, more than your own life.  Otherwise, you cannot be My disciple."

Jesus is very clear about the cost of following Him, the cost of commitment.  He's saying, "I expect to be first place in your life.  You have to love Me more than anybody or anything else if you want to be My follower."  That's pretty audacious.  He says you've got to love Him more than your parents, more than your husband, more than your wife, more than your kids, more than your own life.  That's pretty strong cost.  No human being would ever say that to you.  Jesus Christ makes demands on your life that no dictator, no despot, would even think of demanding in terms of loyalty. 

The only difference is, He has a right to it.  Why?  He made you. He created you.  He loves you.  He has a plan for your life.  He died on the cross for you.  Nobody else has done that.  Nobody else can claim those three things -- that you were made by them, that you were planned for a purpose by them, and that they died for you.  Jesus says, "I gave My life for you.  I expect your life in return."  I think He has a right to it.  He says "I demand first place in your life if you're going to be following Me." 

Some people imagine their life as a pie and Jesus is a slice of that pie.  There’s a career slice, a relationship slice, a sex-life slice, a goals and ambitions and dreams slice, a family slice, and my Jesus slice.  Jesus says, "No thank you.  I don't want to be a slice of your life.  I don't want to be a part of your life. I want to be number one."  Jesus Christ is not an appendage that you just tack on. 

If Jesus Christ is not Lord of all in your life, He's not Lord at all in your life.  You're kidding yourself.  C. S. Lewis said, "The only thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important."  It's either all or nothing. It either demands and deserves everything I've got or let's all go home.  The one thing it cannot be is moderately important. The phrase "casual Christian" is a contradiction.  It's like saying, "I'm semi-pregnant", "I'm half dead".  No you're either alive or you're dead.  You're either pregnant or you're not.  Jesus Christ is either Lord of your life or He's not Lord of your life.  Don't kid yourself. 

Jesus says this is the cost.  "I want you to seek Me first."  How do you do that?  We talk a lot about putting God first in your life, how do I put God first in my life?  Four practical ways:

1.   I GIVE GOD THE FIRST THOUGHTS OF EACH DAY.  Psalm 5:3 says "Each morning I will look to You in heaven and lay my requests before You."  I'm not saying, when you get up in the morning the first thing you have to do is sit down, read your Bible and have a quiet time and pray -- although I recommend it.  But I'm not saying you have to do that.  What I am saying is, before you get out of bed in the morning, you ought to learn that the first thing you think about is talking to God, even before you roll out of bed, "Good morning, Lord" rather than, "Good Lord, it's morning!"  Those are the alternatives. 

Let me give you a secret to a mood lifter, a mood enhancer.  Talk to God before you talk to anybody else each day.  Read the Good News before you read the bad news in the paper.  It will help you keep everything in focus and realize who's in charge.  It's no wonder so many people are stressed out and negative.  They get up in the morning to an ALARM clock.  Not just music, but ALARM, so they wake up alarmed!  The first thing they do is turn on the talk radio and news radio and listen to all the rapes and all the violence and all the people who got murdered and all the international conflict that's going on.  Then they go down and fix their breakfast and read the paper about more problems and economy and business and education.  Then they turn on the tv and watch thirty minutes of Bad Morning, America hearing about problems.  Then on the way to work, they listen to more talk radio, more news, hearing about more traffic jams, more problems, more crime.  Then they wonder, "Why do I feel so bad when I get to work?"  You're feeding yourself this constant diet.  Let your first thoughts each day be of God. 

You can do this.  Let me give you the secret.  The way you do it is, your last thought at night tends to be your first thought in the morning.  Have you ever gone to sleep at night with some stupid song stuck in your mind and you wake up the next morning and it's still going on?  Why can't I get that out of my head? You can train yourself that when you go to sleep at night, the last person you talk to is Jesus.  And with your head laid on the pillow, you say, "Jesus, I know You're with me.  I know You're in me.  I know You're watching over me.  And I want to see You in the morning.  Good night, Lord.  Help my first thought in the morning be of You." 

You can do that.  That gives God the first thought of every day.

2.  I GIVE HIM THE FIRST DAY OF EVERY WEEK.  Acts 20:7 "On the first day of the week, the disciples came together."  They worshipped.  Why do Christians worship on Sunday?  We do it for two reasons. 

         1.  Because Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Sunday.  It's called Easter.  We celebrate Easter every Sunday. 

         2.  Because it's the first day of the week and we want to give God the first thought of every day and the first day of every week.  We call it The Lord's Day. 

3.  I GIVE HIM THE FIRST TEN PERCENT OF EVERY PAYCHECK.  The Bible says in Proverbs 3:9 "Honor the Lord by giving Him the first part of all your income."  That's called tithing and we've talked about this many times.  One of the ways we show that God is first place in our life is give Him the first ten percent right off the top. Not after I've paid all the bills.  Why do I do it?  In gratitude for the past, to keep my priorities right in the present, and in faith for the future.  If you really want to know what's really important to you, if you really want to know what you really love, if you really want to know what you're really committed to, look at your check book.  I don't' care what you say is important, the way you spend your money and the way you spend your time shows what is really important.  If God's first in your life, He's going to be first in your time and first in your checkbook.

There are plenty of promises about tithing in the Bible.  We don't have time to go into it today.  Two verses you can look up later:

         One of them is Deuteronomy 14:23 "The purpose of tithing is to teach us to put God first in every area of our lives."  That's the purpose.  It's a reminder.  Every time you get a paycheck and sit down and write out your tithe and give it back to God, it's saying, "God, You're first."  That's the purpose of tithing, to teach us to put God first.

         Another verse, 1 Corinthians 16:2 says we ought to give our tithe on the first day of the week.  Why?  Why not the second day or Thursday or Friday?  Because on the first day is when I go to church and tithing is an act of worship. 

Tithing is not giving to charity and giving to charity is not tithing.  Those are two different things.  You ought to give to charity.  Tithing is when I give to the Lord as an act of worship at the house of worship on the first day of every week.  That's tithing. Peg and I for years have supported other mission projects besides the church.  But that's not tithing.  That's a gift, an offering.  Tithing goes to the house of worship, as an act of worship. 

4.  I GIVE HIM THE FIRST CONSIDERATION IN EVERY DECISION.  Proverbs 3:5-6, "In everything [circle "everything"] you do, put God first and He will direct you and [here's the promise] crown your efforts with success."  Do you want to be successful?  Then you need to memorize that verse and do it.  Put God first in every area and He will crown your efforts with success.  Do you want your finances to be successful?  Put Him first in them.  Do you want your business to be successful?  Put Him first in it.  Do you want your family to be successful?  Put Him first in it.  It's a no brainer!

SOME PITFALLS TO COMMITMENT

There are some things that cause us to stumble, to get entrapped, that can ambush us and trip us up.  They're hazards.  I want to mention two that can weaken or dilute our commitment to Christ.

1.  WE GET DISTRACTED.  We lose our focus.  Mark 4:19 "The attractions of this world, the delights of wealth, the search for success and the lure of nice things come in and crowd out God." Is there anything evil in this list?  No.  Is there anything bad in the list?  No.  Is there anything that's really wicked in that list?  No.  There's nothing wrong with wealth, success, nice things.  What's wrong with it?  He's saying, they're not the most important things in life.  There's nothing wrong with those things, it's just not what God put you on earth for.  He didn't put you on earth for wealth and success and nice things.  Those are gimmes, freebies, perks.  But that's not really what you're here on earth for. 

Don't make that the most important.  If success or wealth or nice things become number one in my life, God gets bumped out of first place and that becomes an idol.  The Bible says in the Ten Commandments, Don't do it!  Don't have idols.  Don't let anything take first place in your life except God.  Don't let good things get in the way of the best. 

2.  WE BECOME COMPLACENT.  What happens when we become complacent is we start living off of past commitments and don't make new ones.  "In 1921, I made this commitment..."  Have you made any more since then?  Have you grown any since then?  Have you updated your commitment?  Or have you just become complacent in that level of commitment?  You think some commitment you made ten years ago is enough to keep you going for the rest of your life? No.  You need to be continually growing in your commitment, striving, deepening.  We become complacent.

A story in the Bible:  In the book of Joshua (chapter 7) there's a story that after Moses led the Israeli's out of bondage for 400 years of slavery from Egypt, he leads them through the desert and they wander for forty years.  Then Joshua leads them across the Jordan river into the Promised Land.  Now the next step is to take over the Promised Land.  They find there are enemy people living there.  So the first town that they have to take on is Jericho. 

At that time, Jericho was the most fortified city in the world. It was considered impenetrable.  Now here's a bunch of slaves going to take on this major city.  We talked about this in the message on faith, how they marched around the walls, the walls fell down and they had a great victory and it was a huge miracle. They had this incredible miracle and victory. 

A few days later they go on to take over the next city.  Only it's a little dinky podunk town called Ai.  It's a wide spot in the road.  And they got complacent.  They'd had this big miracle at Jericho.  Joshua 7 says, "Soon after Jericho's defeat, Joshua sent some of his men up to spy on the city of Ai.  Upon their return they told Joshua, `It's a small city.  It won't take more than two or three thousand of us to destroy it.  There's no point in all of us going up there.'" 

Do you hear the cockiness?  Here the complacency?  "So approximately 3000 soldiers were sent and they were soundly defeated.  [They got clobbered.]  About 36 Hebrews were killed during the attack and many others died while being chased by the men of Ai.  The Hebrew army was paralyzed with fear at this turn of events and Joshua and the elders of Israel tore up their clothes and lay on the floor crying to God with dust on their heads.  Joshua cried out to the Lord, `O God, why have you brought us over the Jordan river if you're going to let the Ammorites kills us?  Why weren't we content with what we had? Why didn't we just stay on the other side?  O Lord, what am I to do now that Israel has fled from its enemies [This guy is having a mid life crisis!] But the Lord said to Joshua, `Get up off your face.'"

There's a time to pray and there's a time to `Get up off your face!"  Sometimes you need to pray about a problem.  Sometimes you just need to do something about it.  "God said, `Israel has sinned and disobeyed my commandment and has taken loot I said not to be taken.  They've not only taken it but they've lied about it and hidden it among their belongings.'" 

God had said, "When you take over these cities, you're not to save any of the spoils of war.  I don't want you keeping any of their things, their idols, their gods.  I want you to wipe it all out."  But one guy in the entire nation disobeyed.  One guy.  And his name was Achan.  The Bible says that Achan found three things -- a Babylonian dress for his wife, some shekels of silver worth about $500, and a bar of gold worth about $200.  He hid them. But they found him out.  That one guy and his son had caused the whole nation to be defeated.  That's the power of one individual not being committed.  That's the power of one individual keeping an entire group of people from being blessed.  They got complacent and they were humiliated.

They said, "We were part of the big miracle last week at Jericho so we'll just sit this one out.  We'll just send a few troops up there."  We need to be aware that Satan wants us to become complacent or else we will miss God's blessing and we will be defeated.  There's going to be a spiritual battle in the mind of every person here.  The issue is, How real and how deep is my commitment to Jesus Christ?  Will I lay it all on the line for Christ? 

When the Israelites went through the Red Sea, was that the last time they were tested?  No.  They had one test after another. And you're going to be tested the rest of your life too.  Romans 14:12 says "Don't be lazy in showing your devotion.  Use your energy in serving the Lord."  Phillips:  "Let us keep the fires of the spirit burning."  We can't live on yesterday's level of commitment.  We have to keep developing spiritual muscle.   Each new test requires a new commitment.

THE PAYOFF FOR COMMITMENT TO CHRIST 

God promises both a short term payoff and a long term payoff. The short term payoff is in Matthew 6.  Jesus says this, "Do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat or drink or wear?'  Your heavenly Father knows you need these.  But seek first [there's that put God first, again] God's kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well."  The first payoff when I commit my life totally to Christ, I don't have to worry any more.  God says, When you give your life totally to Me, I assume responsibility for every need you have from that point forward. 

God does not assume responsibility for all your needs if you're half committed, if you're partially committed, if you're uncommitted.  God does not owe you anything.  He doesn't owe you tomorrow.  But, in His grace, when I give my life totally to Him, and I say, "God, I'm all Yours", God says, "That's what I've been waiting for.  Now I will take care of all your needs from here on out." 

In ancient Rome, there were twelve million slaves and servants. There were more slaves and servants in Rome than there were free people.  Many free people voluntarily sold themselves into slavery as servants.  Why?  Because in Roman law, a master was prescribed under law to take care of all the needs of a servant. So if you sold yourself to a good Master, that master was responsible for all your food, all your clothing, all your medical care, your retirement, your education.  Every need that you had, he would take care of.  It was like cradle to grave security. 

In the same way when we come to God and say, "God, I give You all my life."  He says, "All right!  You're never going to have to worry again because I'm the master and I'm responsible to take care of all your needs."  That's the short term benefit.

The long term benefit in heaven is Matthew 25 "The master will say, `Well done good and faithful servant!  You've been faithful with a few things.  I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your Master's happiness."  Three eternal benefits: Affirmation -- God says, Good job, well done!  Promotion -- He's going to give greater responsibility.  And Celebration -- He says, "Come and share your master's happiness."  Party time!  And when God parties that is one party!

What kind of commitment, what kind of life are you going to live? A half committed life, an uncommitted life?  The problem I see in most people today is that they are over committed.  They make half hearted commitments to twenty different things, rather than total commitment to the one thing that really matters in life, why they were put on this earth. 

Henry Varley once said, "The world has yet to see what God can do in and through and for the person who is totally committed to Christ."

Look at the very first verse on your outline.  "The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him."  God is looking for people to use in this world.  God is looking for people to bless in this world. God is looking for people He wants to strengthen in this world and the only qualification?  A fully committed heart.

I personally intend to be that kind of person.  From the depths of my heart, I want to have a fully committed heart to Jesus Christ.  I challenge you to make that your goal too.  It is the best and wisest investment of your life.  It doesn't take great people to do great things.  It just takes committed people.  God says do that.  "Give yourselves completely to God every part of you.  You want to be tools in the hands of God to be used for his good purposes." 

I want to challenge you to become a person of deep commitment in a shallow, superficial world where they can't understand commitment until Saturday, much less commitment for eternity.  It's a decision you'll never regret.

Prayer:

      As we close in prayer, I want to ask you to consider in what areas of your life do you need to make a fresh commitment. Will you say, "Jesus Christ, I want to start giving You the first thought of each day."  You can do that!  "Jesus Christ, I want to start giving You the first thought of each day.  Help me to start, thinking of You.  Help me to train my mind to do that."  Will you give Jesus Christ the first day of every week?  "Unless I'm ill, I'm going to be at worship every week.  I'm not going to put You second or third and worship You when it's convenient.  I'm going to be there rain or shine.  The first day of every week belongs to You, God."  Will you give Him the first ten percent of every paycheck and say, "God, I realize I'd have nothing if it weren't for You.  Jesus Christ, in gratitude for the past and in faith for the future and to show that my priorities are right, right now, right off the top, the first part goes back to You."  You can do that!  Trust Him.  It's an issue of trust.  Will you give him the first consideration in every decision?  Will you say, "Jesus Christ, from here on out I want to put You first in everything that I do."  He will crown your efforts with success. 

      Dear Lord, thank You for what You've done for us.  You made us, You love us, You gave Your life for us.  We want to give our lives back to You in return.  In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.