A Total Commitment

A TOTAL COMMITMENT
Elder Gerry M Gooding

INTRODUCTION

Church, I want to talk to you today about something that costs everything and gains everything. I want to talk to you about A Total Commitment.

We live in a day when people want the blessings of God without the burden of surrender. They want the crown without the cross. They want the victory without the valley. But the Word of God calls us to something deeper, something higher, something that demands every single thing we have.

Romans 12:1 says – “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Paul calls it reasonable. Not radical. Not extreme. Reasonable. Because when you consider what God has already given you, giving Him everything back is simply the right response.

POINT ONE – COMMITMENT BEGINS WITH SURRENDER

Before you can commit to anything, you must first surrender your own agenda.

Joshua stood before the people of Israel at Shechem and laid the choice flat on the table. In Joshua 24:15, he declared – “Choose you this day whom ye will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Joshua did not hedge. He did not negotiate. He drew a line in the sand and stepped over it with his whole house behind him.

Total commitment starts in the will. It starts when a man or a woman says, “Lord, my plans are Yours. My time is Yours. My gifts are Yours. My very breath is Yours.”

The problem with too many of us is that we give God partial surrender. We hand Him one room and lock three others. But God is not looking for a partial tenant – He is looking for full possession.

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-6

ALL thine heart. Not most. Not some. ALL.

POINT TWO – COMMITMENT REQUIRES CONSECRATION

Now somebody in here knows how to shout at the altar, but consecration happens in the ordinary moments. Consecration happens Monday morning. It happens in the workplace. It happens when nobody is watching.

Daniel made up his mind – “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.” – Daniel 1:8

The Babylonians had Daniel’s address, but they could not have his heart. They had his name on a roster, but they could not name his God. Why? Because Daniel had already settled the matter long before the pressure came.

A total commitment means you consecrate yourself before the crisis hits. You build your convictions in the quiet so they hold firm in the storm.

“I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” – Psalm 16:8

When God sits always before you, the enemy has no angle to approach from.

POINT THREE – COMMITMENT PRODUCES TRANSFORMATION

Total commitment changes you from the inside out. Paul put it plainly in Romans 12:2 – “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Transformation is the evidence of genuine commitment. When you truly commit to God, the people around you notice. Your household notices. Your enemies notice.

The three Hebrew boys – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – told Nebuchadnezzar straight – “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace.” – Daniel 3:17

They did not know the outcome. They did not have a guarantee in natural terms. But they had total commitment, and total commitment speaks even when the fire is already hot.

And the King looked in that furnace and saw four men walking. When you commit totally to God, you never walk alone.

POINT FOUR – THE ULTIMATE EXAMPLE OF TOTAL COMMITMENT

I want to close here, church. Because if you want to see what total commitment looks like in its purest form, look toward a hill called Calvary.

Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. The weight of the world pressed down on Him. And still He prayed – “Not my will, but thine, be done.” – Luke 22:42

That is total commitment. That is heaven bending toward earth. That is love with no reservation, grace with no limit, sacrifice with no ceiling.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” – John 3:16

He gave completely. He gave finally. He gave totally.

And now He turns to you and me and says, in the words of Matthew 16:24 – “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

THE CALL

So I ask you today – what kind of commitment have you made?

God gave you total redemption. Jesus paid a total price. The Holy Ghost offers total power.

Respond with total commitment.

Elijah challenged the prophets on Mount Carmel and the fire fell – 1 Kings 18:38. The altar was soaked, the sacrifice was prepared, and God answered the total surrender with total fire.

Church, lay your whole self on the altar today. Every gift, every wound, every dream, every doubt. Present your body a living sacrifice.

And watch God show up totally in your life.

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” – Romans 8:32

ALL things – for ALL of you – when you give ALL to Him.

The altar is open. Come today with your total commitment.

Preach it in the power of the Holy Ghost. Amen.