Staying Committed

I. Who is Committed?

A. Show of hands…

1. How many of you like being friends with committed people?

a. Giving your time and effort to a cause or person.

2. How many of you have people in your life that you wish would be more committed?

3. How many of you think you are a committed person?

B. Things we are committed to…

1. The average American works 45 hours a week.

2. We spend 31 hours a week watching TV.

3. 15 hours a week on-line.

4. Keeping up with the Jones’. $10,000 in credit card debt.

5. 60 hours a week sleeping.

C. Things we are not committed to…

1. Over 50% of all marriages end in divorce.

2. 1 hour a week in religious activities.

3. ½ hour a week volunteering in service.

4. 1.5 hours a week exercising.

5. 2.64% of our income given to the church.

D. It’s interesting to see what we will and won’t commit our lives to.

E. God is looking for committed people and wants to help make you a committed to the right things.

1. Giving All You Got

2. Staying Sharp

3. Be Ready for the Motherload

4. Never Forget

F. Right commitment brings right choices which make right people who are blessed abundantly.

G. Prayer

II. Giving All You Got

A. Deuteronomy 6:4-13

1. 4"Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10"The LORD your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. 11The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. When you have eaten your fill in this land, 12be careful not to forget the LORD, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. 13You must fear the LORD your God and serve him.

B. He is God alone.

1. Deuteronomy 6:4

2. Exodus 20:5

a. I am a jealous God.

3. He wants your complete and total commitment to Him and His calling on your life.

C. Three things that we should give our commitment in.

1. Deuteronomy 6:5

D. Our Heart

1. What we believe.

a. Beauty – In the eye of the beholder.

b. Intuition – I just have this feeling.

c. Desire – Put your heart into it.

2. God wants our heart.

a. Ezra 1 – God stirred Cyrus heart to do good.

b. 1 Timothy 1 – God wants to ensure that we have a pure heart.

c. 1 John 1 – Truth should be in our hearts.

3. Our heart will determine what we believe.

E. Our Soul

1. Who we are.

a. The essence of our being.

b. Our consciousness or personality.

c. Hebrew – nephesh – life, vital breath

2. God wants our soul.

a. Luke 1 – Our soul should praise Him.

b. Psalm 116 – Our soul finds rest and rejuvenation in Him.

3. Matthew 16 – Nothing in this world is more valuable than our soul.

4. Our soul is who we are and we should be identified as God’s child.

F. Our Strength

1. How we live.

a. Act, Say, Respond

2. Strength isn’t always about power.

a. Strength in numbers.

b. Strength in mass.

c. Strength in emotion.

3. God isn’t interested in how powerful we are.

a. Although, when we are committed to Him, we will find power we’ve never experienced before.

4. God is interested in how we live our lives.

5. God wants our strength.

a. Proverbs 1 – We should live disciplined, successful lives doing what is right, just and fair.

b. Titus 1 – Our lives should be blameless and faithful.

c. James 1 – Controlling what we say.

d. Ephesians 4 – Not allowing our emotions to cause us to sin or destroy relationships.

6. Our strength is how we live and we will find power in right living.

G. God wants us to commit our heart, soul, and strength to Him and His calling on our life.