COMMITMENT

ATTRACTS FAVOR,
SUCCESS AND
EXTRAVAGANT
HARVEST

4 Take

delight in the LORD, and he

will give you your hearts desires.
5 Commit everything you do to
the LORD. Trust him, and he will
help you.

1 Some

time later, God tested Abrahams

faith. Abraham! God called. Yes, he
replied. Here I am. 2 Take your son, your
only sonyes, Isaac, whom you love so
muchand go to the land of Moriah. Go and
sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of
the mountains, which I will show you.

3 The

next morning Abraham got up early. He

saddled his donkey and took two of his
servants with him, along with his son, Isaac.
Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt
offering and set out for the place God had
told him about. 4 On the third day of their
journey, Abraham looked up and saw the
place in the distance.

5 Stay

here with the donkey, Abraham told

the servants. The boy and I will travel a little
farther. We will worship there, and then we
will come right back. 6 So Abraham placed
the wood for the burnt offering on Isaacs
shoulders, while he himself carried the fire
and the knife. As the two of them walked on
together,

7 Isaac

turned to Abraham and said,

Father? Yes, my son? Abraham replied.
We have the fire and the wood, the boy
said, but where is the sheep for the burnt
offering? 8 God will provide a sheep for
the burnt offering, my son, Abraham
answered. And they both walked on
together.

15 Then

the angel of the LORD called

again to Abraham from heaven. 16 This
is what the LORD says: Because you have
obeyed me and have not withheld even
your son, your only son, I swear by my
own name that

17 I

will certainly bless you. I will multiply

your descendants beyond number, like the
stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.
Your descendants will conquer the cities of
their enemies. 18 And through your
descendants all the nations of the earth will
be blessedall because you have obeyed
me.

8 Goliath

stood and shouted a taunt across

to the Israelites. Why are you all
coming out to fight? he called. I am
the Philistine champion, but you are
only the servants of Saul. Choose one
man to come down here and fight me!

9 If

he kills me, then we will be your

slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our
slaves! 10 I defy the armies of Israel
today! Send me a man who will fight
me! 11 When Saul and the Israelites
heard this, they were terrified and
deeply shaken.

32 Dont worry about this Philistine,

David told Saul. Ill go fight him!
33 Dont be ridiculous! Saul replied.
Theres no way you can fight this
Philistine and possibly win! Youre only a
boy, and hes been a man of war since his
youth.

34 But

David persisted. I have been taking

care of my fathers sheep and goats, he
said. When a lion or a bear comes to
steal a lamb from the flock,35 I go after it
with a club and rescue the lamb from its
mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it
by the jaw and club it to death.

36 I

have done this to both

lions and bears, and Ill do it
to this pagan Philistine, too,
for he has defied the armies
of the living God!

37 The

LORD who rescued me from the

claws of the lion and the bear will
rescue me from this Philistine! Saul
finally consented. All right, go
ahead, he said. And may
the LORD be with you!

48 As

Goliath moved closer to attack, David

quickly ran out to meet him.49 Reaching into
his shepherds bag and taking out a stone,
he hurled it with his sling and hit the
Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank
in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face
down on the ground.

50 So

David triumphed over the Philistine

with only a sling and a stone, for he had
no sword. 51 Then David ran over and
pulled Goliaths sword from its sheath.
David used it to kill him and cut off his
head. When the Philistines saw that their
champion was dead, they turned and ran.

The eyes of the LORD search the whole

earth in order to strengthen those
whose hearts are fully committed to
him.

A.

Commitment always precedes achievement.

- Some people want everything to be perfect
before they are willing to commit themselves to
anything.

B. Heart is what separates the good from the

great.

A.

Its one thing to talk about

commitment.

- Its another to do something about it.

A. Commitment is the enemy of resistance, for

it is the serious promise to press on, to get
up, no matter how many times you were
knocked down.

1. Cop-outs People, who have no goals and do

not commit.
2. Hold-outs People who do not know if they can
reach their goals, so they are afraid to commit.

3. Drop-outs people who start toward a goal

and quit when the going gets rough.
4. All-outs people who set goals, commit to
them, and pay the price to reach them.

A. Measure your commitment and evaluate it.

1. Sometimes you think you are committed to
something, yet your actions indicate otherwise.
2. Spend a few hours tallying up how you spend
your time and money.

B. Know whats worth dying for.

1. Ask yourself, what am I willing to
die for?

C. Make your plans public and you

might be more committed to
following through with them.