TRANSFORMING COMMITMENTS: REIGNITE

 The problem with commitments is that they change over time.  We struggle to continue to invest energy and time to some things because they do not energize our hearts.  Since the 1950’s Americans have been reducing their commitments to volunteering, civil clubs, and church.  This reluctance to commit is also found in a reduction in marriage and having children.  Across the board in our society, we are less likely to commit.  Partly because it is easier not to be committed.  It requires less of our energy and time.  It gives us more “me” time.  Yet the deeper question is, Are we better off today? Maybe the reluctance to commit to “home and hearth” is only the tip of a spiritual iceberg in we are unable to find things like truth, meaning, purpose, and direction.  Instead, we live in an “echo chamber” that only affirms the goodness of our social disconnection and our desire not to be bothered.  In our sermon series Transforming Commitments the sermon is Reignite.  There is a genuine difference between “existing” and truly living.  None of us should be content with only existing when we can truly find an abundant life of purpose, meaning, and hope!  We turn to the words of Jesus to find the path to truly living but his words seem to be contradictory.  In Luke 9:18-27 Jesus is with his disciples and he tells them how they will find their true self, abundant life, and an enduring passion for what matters most for living.  This path wasn’t just for the disciples but Jesus died and was resurrected so that we would find life everlasting welling up in us as a spring of living water!  This is our prayer for you that you will sense the spark of the Holy Spirit igniting your heart to worship, strength, and power as you share the words of our Lord and Savior! Luke 9:18-27: Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” 19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.” 20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” 23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?  26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.” (NIV)