A Call To Commitment - Brian Martin

Well, good morning, greetings to Jesus name this morning. I

probably know as many or more youth here this morning

than I do of the older people. And uh that's

because me and my wife were cooking at Bible school

this last year. But but what to give you? Ah,

I don't know if this is a warm welcome or

not being up here, you know, but I want to

give you guys a warm welcome. And from Montrose, Colorado's

where I come from. And I would have been glad to

listen to one of the brothers. But you know, I

called the the Matthew jun just here called the commitment.

And I don't know, you know, it just seems like

we don't have a lot there is. There's a lot

of very committed people, and and uh, how do we

how do we gain commitment or how do we actually

go so far that we just we really are committed.

And that's been a that's been a thought in my life.

You know, what do I need to do? I didn't

need to cut off. And I thought of this story

when I was putting this together. But it was Thursday,

May first, two thousand and three, and it was soon

after we had I had me and my wife got

married and I moved to Colorado and it was over

in Utah, so I remember Bremer when it happened quite well.

But five days after Aaron Ralston had first entered in

the Utah Blue John Canyon on what should have been

an eight hour thirteen mile hike, is what he was

expecting it to be while scrambling up through a narrow section,

and he was actually using ropes, and yeah, it was

pretty pretty intense. I believe Ralston dislodged a thousand pound boulder.

It rolled onto his hand and pinned him down, and

he was completely by himself, and there he was, pinned

in them mount His supplies that he had with him

at the time was two burritos three liters of water,

and yeah, you can imagine that don't last too long.

And there was virtually no chance of rescue where he was.

He didn't expect anybody to find him, and I guess

nobody knew he was there. I don't know. But he

was a twenty seven year old experienced mountain climber, so

he had done this a lot. He'd been in the

mountains a lot, he was used to it. He wasn't scared,

he was never scared of be impinned in the mountain

when he went there. That wasn't even hadn't even crossed

his mind. And he tried rigging some ropes and stuff

to move the boulder, but it went buds. He tried chicking,

chipping the rock with his knife, and he just had

a knife. It was like a three inch blade, I believe,

very small knife, and he chipped on it for quite

a while, ten hours, they say, and all he had

was a pile of dust. So now his just remember

his knife was extremely dull. Now at this point too,

he didn't have much of a much of a knife left.

On Tuesday, which there was day three of the ordeal,

he'd run out of food and water. On Wednesday, Ralson

began sipping the year, and he had started saving the

day earlier. He pulled out a video camera recorded a

message to his parents. He next exted his name, birthday

and was certain it was his last day on earth

in the canyon wall, and topped it off with rest

in peace. On Thursday, after he had a vision of

a little boy running across the floor to hug one

armed man, he realized he had a hard decision to make.

Decision that would mean the difference being life and death.

Aaron came to the conclusion the only way to survive

was to amputate his own arm. After breaking two bones

in the arm, he cut through the flesh and tendons

and muscle with his pocket knife, ammutating his right arm

below the elbow. He used the first aid kit his

backpacked a bandage his arm and put it in his sling.

He repelled seventy feet down a cliff and walked quite

a few miles. I don't remember how far it was

out of that canyon. It was what he described it

as the most difficult writening decision in his life. So,

like I said, I said, are you committed this morning?

Are you fully committed? Are you undecided? For Christ? Have

you really committed your life to Christ to do his will?

To whatever? Are you willing to do whatever it takes.

You know a lot of times we get busy in

this life, and a lot of things just maybe sneak

up on us or whatever. We're so involved. This guy

was so intoclining that he never thought about some day

he would get pinned. Are we getting pinned down by something?

You know, the decision you make to in your life

is more important than the decision that Ralston made that day,

or Aaron Ralston made that day. It's a decision of

life and death. Where you're for him, it was a

decision of life and death. But it's a decision we

make and how dedicated we are to where we'll end up.

You know, I had to put down Matthew five point

thirty because it fits in here. It was actually even

his right hand and Matthew five thirty is and if

I right hand to fend thee cut it off and

cast it from them for his profitable thief. For that

one of them members should perish, and not that whole

body should be cast in hell. It's not really exactly

what I'm trying to get across here, but still that

are we willing to go do whatever it takes, fully committed,

fully committed in our life. Dise Jesus that we're willing

to go to the extreme to make it to make

it there. You know, in Joshua twenty four, I was

going to read some of that. I'll just read fourteen

to fifteen, I guess. But in this farewell speech, Joshua

reminded them how God brought them out of slavery, provided

for them and rescued them time and time again. I

mean he just did to continued, you know. And now

God had delivered them into the Promised Land, and they

had some decisions to make. And verse fourteen. There Now, therefore,

fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth,

and put away the gods which thy father served on

the other side of the flood and in Egypt, and

serve ye the Lord. And if it seemeth evil onto

you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom

you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served

that were on the other side of the flood, or

the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell.

But as for me and my house, we will serve

the Lord. And that's that's that's a commitment, you know.

I just see you read down through and he and

and you think about that commitment as a leader. There,

how many fathers in the home, How leaders in the

home are so committed that you just stand up and say,

as for me and my house, we will serve the

Lord and my family We're going to serve the Lord

no matter what. And and you know, sometimes we maybe

we don't. We don't want to go quite that far

that that that, but the commitment there is what I'm

getting after. I mean, everybody has a choice. I fully,

I fully recognize that, and each person has a choice

to make. But are we so committed that we're like

me and my house, we are going to serve the

Lord no matter what the rest of the church here

at Halsey does decides to do. We're gonna follow the

Lord what the rest of our friends do. Are we

that committed this morning? Do you have the confidence to

say that? Not just you? You know a lot of

times we're like, oh, I'll serve the Lord, But my family,

We're gonna serve the Lord no matter what. That's who

we are. That's what we're committed to that. It's just

I thought I had when I actually started this, this servant,

when I got started on is I was getting this

call and the first time I answered it and it

was from the CDC and they wanted to do a survey,

and I told him I'm not interested in hung up

and thought that was the last time I'd hear from him.

And they were very persistent, and I knew the number,

and I just kept hanging up, and they I didn't

feel like answering the survey or you know, maybe I

should have. I don't know, but I didn't. I didn't end.

They called, and I was so impressed with that person

or persons or whatever because they didn't just call. They

called me at six in the morning, they called me

at eight in the evening. They called me during the day.

And this happened over a month's time, and they called

me Sunday morning, they called me Saturday. They called. They

didn't just call one time in the day. They called

continually throughout the week. And I was like, wow, that's impressing.

Well I blocked the number. They may still be calling me.

I don't know. I blocked the number. You know, I'm

not getting it anymore. But are we that determined? Are

we that committed when maybe there's a family member or

something that needs to call of God that we're doesn't

matter whatever it is. Are we just that committed, you know,

to serving God? So is God calling you this morning?

Is he calling you not? Maybe you're already Christian even

but is He calling you to the next level to

move on? Where you have to cut something off to

get to that level? You know, Aaron Rawlson there he

had it was life or death to where he finally

cut off his arm to get out of there and live.

But sometimes I think it's life and death of us

our commitment to God, because we just continue on in

this path we're in. And you know, his path was climbing,

and he climbed a lot of mountains in a lot

of places, and he was very experienced climbing, but eventually

it got him and he got out. But anyhow, are

we willing to go to the point where we will

cut something off to go to the next level to God?

And that's whether it's work, whether it's whatever. And that's

a call to me, are we willing to answer his call?

Or do we ignore his call? Or do we block

his call? We just want to be left alone and

want to do our own thing. I didn't want to

be messed with him, and I ended up blocking their call.

You know, I was thinking, And when we were younger,

in our house, we had a phone that was on

the wall, if you can believe that, you know, it

was just a corded phone on the wall, and there

was no caller, idea or anything. He didn't know who

was calling, and the phone would ring, and it was

pretty you know, I don't know. I think our phones

rain more now, but maybe not. But it was my

brothers and sisters. I would run down the hall and

the office was around a corner and try to be

the first one in there to grab the phone. And

we were so excited to answer the phone that if

somebody was in front of you, you just pushed him

past the door so you'd get to go in the door.

You know, that's a Are we anticipating Godd's call that

much that we were just ready there to answer it

to you know, jump on it. Or are we more

just when God's God calls us? You know? And maybe

you're laying in bed at night and you think of

something that I need to talk to that person because

of something I did or whatever, and and and we

just push it off. Maybe I don't know, just yeah,

but you know that do we anticipate and listen to

God's call and and not ignore his call? In this

day and age, I hang up on a lot of calls.

I really do ignore a lot of calls. And another

interesting thing when I was younger that some of the

younger people will find interesting is we actually had a

party line, so we had different neighbors that were on

the same line, and when the phone would ring and

it would be for somebody else, maybe we'd sit there

real quiet and listen to the neighbors to listen to

their call, and which wasn't a very good thing to do, probably,

but pretty soon they'd be like, hey, somebody else on

the phone, and they would catch on and you would

quickly hang out. But anyhow, called the commitment? Are we

that committed? You always have choices, you know, when there's

a call, And I kind of deluded on that already,

that when God calls you to make a confession, to

do something to make it right, or just whatever he

calls to you, you know, are you going to ignore

that call? Are you going to respond? How are you

going to respond to that call? And I probably, well,

I didn't. I don't think I ever said anything I

was gonna say. I probably responded rather snarky to the

call that they kept calling, but I don't I never

said anything when she said who it was, I just

hung up and eventually, But how we respond to a

call when the God calls us till we push it

off or is our response the way it should be.

So I was thinking of different calls. And you know,

there is a lot of calls in our life and

we and we don't we don't take them real seriously,

but that are unimportant that we don't really and that's

some of them are good calls or whatever. You probably

all have a neighbor or somebody that calls them and

he's just like I have, I don't have time for

them right now, to just just hang up and and

uh don't answer or whatever. We just classified on on

important and that's uh uh. There is no unimportant call

from God. If you feel God calling you to do

something or to don't push that off, do that. There's

not an unimportant call. He's never going to be that

person that's just annoying or whatever. And you don't want

to take time for wor always take God's call, you know.

Roman's twelve one says, do not conform any longer to

the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the

ringing of your minds. They'd be able to test and

approve what God's will is, his good, perfect, pleasing will.

Are you willing to, you know, not just conform to

the to the things of this world, but to the

will of God, his pleasing, perfect will. Are you willing

to go to the next level? Are you so committed

that you're willing to do that? It also says in

for Sus lines four seven, for God has not called

us to uncleanliness, but to holy, onto holiness. And so

God's call is always going to be pure. It's always

going to be to do the right thing. It's to holiness,

it's not to uncleanness. Or it's already touched on it

a little bit. But you know, the I said the

unimportant call, and a lot of times we don't answer

that call. Sometimes we answer that call and just chat,

and it just I don't know, I said it's unimportant,

and it's because a lot of times it it is

important to talk and communicate with people and all that.

So I don't know, it's just it's not a call

we have to take, I guess right now or whatever.

And so but then you got the call that you

just silence and you don't and that's what I was

a little bit on the last one too. But and

or we just let it ring, we let it unanswered

and don't and I just you know, there's there's never

a time I just want to say it again. There's

never a time that we should let God's call go

and just un answered. You know, God wants to have

a relationship with you. He wants to He loves you,

and he cares for you. And are you willing to

take the time to answer that call, whatever it is,

to go to the next level. Are we committed enough

that even though we're very busy in this life or whatever,

we're willing to take that call and go to the

next level. Maybe you're saying, I have been listening and

I have you know, been calling, but it doesn't seem

like anything's happening. That is something that you know, a

lot of people go through. I think everybody goes through

at certain times. Is we want the call of God

and we just don't seem to get answers, and don't

we don't know where to turn, where to go, and

because we're in a hurry, we want the answer right away.

We live in that kind of world and whatever. But

Jeremiah thirty three, verses one to three. Moreover, the word

of the Lord came on a Jeremiah the second time

while he was yet shut up in the court of

the prison, saying, thus Saith the Lord, the maker thereof

the Lord that formed it to establish it. The Lord

is his name. Call onto me and I will answer

thee and show THEE great and mighty works which thoull

know ust not. And you know, like I said, I know,

God doesn't answer right away all the times, and we

feel that maybe he'd but he will answer if you're sincere,

if you want to. There's I don't believe God ever

leaves somebody just stranded without an answer. If you're really seeking,

you got to find that answer a lot of times.

You got to seek. You got to be pretty dedicated

and have the commitment to do it. But God answers

don't give up on him, even if you wore out

your commitment. You know, I don't know. Sometimes we get

to You know, you can always fall back on the

words of Hebrew writer, which says, never will I leave you,

Never will I forsake you. You see, God answers calls,

He's there for you. He never leaves you, never forsakes you.

Then I put down the interrupted call, and I'm sure

everybody hears but on the phone and somebody called, and

you told that person that you were talking to. Hey,

I really got to take this call, and you move

on to something that you consider more important or however

you want to. And I do that way too many

times as somebody else calls and I've been wanting to

talk to that person or need to talk to over whatever,

or and h. But I was thinking about that. You know,

how often do we when God is speaking to us?

Do we get interrupted? It seems like I get interrupted

all the time with a different thought or or whatever,

gets sidetracked and and uh, and and you take another call.

You don't, you don't stay out on the call, and

then maybe you even forget to call that person back,

and you should have called. How often do we get

sidetracked and interrupted by things? And and God was trying

to speak to us, and we just moved on to

another call, to something less important, something that's probably weighing

us down. Maybe I don't know, it doesn't have to be,

but weighing us down, and at some point, depending on

what it is, it might pinch us and pin us

down to that rock. Are we committed enough to listen

to the call God? You know? First two Timothy two

twenty two Flee evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness

faith love, peace, and along with those who call on God,

call on the Lord out of a pure heart. You know,

if you're going to call on the Lord out of

a pure heart, you're gonna have You're gonna pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace.

Are we pursuing those things? Are we following after those things?

Is that what we want? What we want the most?

Are we interrupted by the other things in this world

that are the opposite of that? I don't think if

you listen to those verses you'll have foolish arguments. You know,

you won't uh that lead to quarrels. You will see

if you're seeing God's call. If you're feeling God's call,

you're committed to him. And we all make mistakes, but

we'll follow after. You know, the urgent call I put down.

And we all know we've all had a two in

the morning call from a family member or something and

and you see it and you know right away that

something's wrong, and uh and and we answer that call

and it's uh, if it's somebody we know, and you

just have that feeling, you don't you don't just pass

that off. It was quite a few years ago, but

we had a call that a boy in our church

was missing and wandered off in the adobe's and he

was I don't know, just a couple of years old

or whatever. And it was an urgent call, and everybody

took off and went over there with it was dark out,

it was at night. They realized he was gone and

took off with four wheelers and whatever else and searched

until until he was phound, and thankfully he was found.

But it was an urgent call, and we responded very

quick for that boy. We were how many people would

have just sat at home and said, ah, he'll be

all right. So what are we that urgent with our

call if we know there's a lost soul? You know,

that was a lost boy and a lost soul, you

could say. But you know, sometimes I think we know

that there's lost souls and we're like they'll come around

or whatever. But is it urgent to us? Does it

actually mean something to us? Are we concerned about that

person enough that we drop everything sometimes to help? That's

an urgent call? Effusions four one through seven. I. Therefore,

the Prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk

worthy of the vacation wherewith vocation, wherewith you're called with

all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, for bearing one

another in love, endeavoring to keep unity of the spirit

in the bond of peace. There is one body and

one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope

of your calling. The Lord, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

one God and Father of all, who is above all

and through all, and in you all, but onto every

one of us is given grace according to the measure

of the gift of Christ. Are you living worthy of

your calling? Is what I put them verses down to.

It's am I living up to God's calling in my life?

Am I really willing to go the extra mile to

go where I need to go to cut off what

I need to cut off to be fully committed? Am

I making every effort to keep unity peace? As He's

verse talked about. You know, if you want to be

committed to the call, you'll read these things, which is

the word of God. You'll read about them. If you

want to find help others find these things, you'll live

them things. So if you want them, you'll read them.

If you want to help others find that commitment, you'll

live them and teach them. You know, zach he is

when Jesus was passing through, he climbed up in that tree.

He did whatever it took to see Jesus, and then

he did whatever it took to make it right. He said,

I'll return fourfold wherever wronged or whatever. Are we willing

to go that extra mile to find Jesus and then

to make everything right to listen to his call? You know?

Aaron Rolston. Later in life, he completed some amazing feats.

He climbed. He ended up moving to Colorado. He climbed

all fifty four of Colorado's fourteen thousand foot peaks solo

in the winter, and then skied off of them, all

fifty four of them, something nobody else had ever done.

What if that happened, if he went to cut him

something off to gain life, No, he would have died.

There are you willing to cut off anything that there

is that's pinning you down this morning? Then move on

so you can live. Each of us have a calling

of God. We all have a separate life, though we

have different paths, we all go in different ways. But

what I want to make sure is that I'm totally

sold out to God, that I'm willing to do whatever

God wants me to do in his calling. Are you

willing to have that commitment with me this morning to

go to the next level? You could say, are you

willing to do whatever it takes or are you not

answering God's call? That's about our heads for prayer. Lord.

We're thankful for this church, for this group of believers,

and we can gather here. We're thankful for your word. Lord,

help us to all grow and learn and be willing

to do whatever it takes to have the commitment to

grow in You. Lord. We just asked this aw on

your name. Amen.