Committed To The Son

INTRO. – ILL.- Sometime ago a woman who had just returned from a trip to Mexico called the Los Angeles police to report that a rattlesnake was loose in her overnight bag. Police went to investigate. They approached the bag, which the woman had heaved out of a window onto the sidewalk. Cautiously, they scattered the contents of the bag—only to find that the rattle was caused by an electric toothbrush, which had accidentally turned on!

Most of us are not too fond of snakes and are pretty cautious when we think one might be nearby.

ILL.- Jan 23, 2006. SYDNEY, Australia - Talk about unwanted house guests. A 78-year-old Australian woman was rushed to a hospital after she was bitten by a 5-foot snake - one of the world’s deadliest varieties - while watching television in her suburban home.

Valerie Makin, a great-grandmother from the southern city of Melbourne, was sitting on her couch knitting and watching television when she saw the unwanted visitor out of the corner of her eye. As she tried to flick it away, it sank its fangs into her left arm.

"She never even raised her voice," said Makin’s daughter, Janice Milinkovic, who was in her bedroom when her mother came in and said she had been bitten. "I got off the bed and I saw it slither off the couch and that’s when I knew she wasn’t (joking)," she added. Makin was rushed to a nearby hospital, but she did not suffer any poisoning because the snake’s fangs only punctured the skin and the venom did not enter her bloodstream. SHE WAS A BLESSED WOMAN!

The creature - known as a brown snake - crawled under the couch where it remained until a pest control inspector removed it from the house, the report said. ANYONE INTERESTED IN MOVING TO AUSTRALIA?

Brothers and sisters, this sounds so very much like our lives. We are going about our business, whether watching TV, working, doing what we are supposed to be doing and suddenly a slithering snake comes into our lives and tries to take a bite out of us.

That slithering snake, of course, is none other than Satan, otherwise known as the Devil, the murderer, the liar, the deceiver, the destroyer, the evil one, etc.

It seems like we can be doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing in life: working, raising a family, going to church, trying to honor the Lord, etc. and then suddenly, the evil one throws a wrench in the works and brings things to a halt.

What kinds of things does Satan throw at us in order to deceive and dupe us? Sometimes it is a blatant temptation to sin and other times, it’s very subtle.

ILL.- Jan 23, 2006, EASTON, Pa. - A woman fined $173.50 for throwing salad greens out of her car. Dawn Higgins, 47, was cited Oct. 18 while parked outside a Wal-Mart in eastern Pennsylvania. She said, "Lettuce comes from the ground, therefore it can go back into the ground. It’s biodegradable. I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong."

Higgins said she took her daughters and a friend to the store, and they stopped at a McDonald’s along the way. She said she pulled into a parking space to finish her meal but decided not to eat the half-dozen or so leaves atop her salad.

After failing to appear in court Dec. 22, Higgins discovered she had been convicted in absentia and owed the state $173.50.

Brothers and sisters, that was woman was guilty of throwing lettuce on the ground. BUT LET US (lettuce) NOT TO BE TOO QUICK TO JUDGE HER.

We’ve all certainly done worse things in our lives, have we not? Don’t you wish something like that was the worst of what you were guilty of?

Satan has a way of tripping us up in life and tempting us to do some naughty and nasty things in life. CONSEQUENTLY, we need someone to save us. We need a savior. Someone to save us from Satan and from a whole lot more. WE NEED JESUS! Being committed to Him is the only thing that will save us!

Education won’t save us. Money won’t save us. Intellect won’t save us. Only Jesus can save us!

PROP.- In this message, let’s think about our commitment to the Son of God who is our Savior.

1- Committed to His Position

2- Committed to His Life

I. COMMITTED TO HIS POSITION

ILL.- In one “Peanuts” comic strip one of the female small fry came to Charlie Brown and said, “Yes sir, Charlie Brown, Abraham Lincoln was a great man. Charlie Brown, would you like to have been Abraham Lincoln?”

“Well, now, I don’t think so,” he replied slowly; “I am having a hard enough time being just plain old Charlie Brown.”