Twelve Stones - Lesson 2 - Commitment

Joshua 4:21-22, ‘…When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know…’

The Lord has taken us from captivity and allowed us to enter His Promised Land. We have been in turn handed the awesome responsibility of walking differently of loving differently and teaching differently. Have we forgotten where we came from? Have we forgotten where we are going? Let’s not forget our foundation and let’s certainly not forget to pass the torch to the next generation.

What words come to mind when I say the word commitment?





Synonyms: promise, pledge, vow, obligation, assurance, binder, dedication and loyalty.


For those of you who have gone through Discipleship II
You learned about the law of first 1st mention.
Let’s go to the first occurrence of the word promise
and see how the Lord feel about a commitment.

Numbers 14:34, ‘After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.’


Here is the Lord’s promise.
He promised them the Promise Land if they followed Him.
They did not follow Him.
They groaned, they mumbled, they murmured.
They wished at times they were back in bondage.

What can we learn from this first mention of the word promise?





We also find the word commitment used in negative ways.
When we talk about a foundational stone of commitment are we talking about…

Committing fornication & adultery
Committing wickedness & trespass
Committing whoredom
Committing lewdness

Committing iniquity & falsehood
Committing things worthy of stripes
Committing sacrilege


Job 5:8, ‘I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:’

When you are in trouble how quickly do you seek God?
Do you commit the outcome totally to the Lord?
Or do you tell Him how you think it would best turn out?





So we know we have to trust the Lord and His promise that He will allow us into heaven.
Don’t we then have to trust Him with everything leading up to heaven?

Psalm 31:5, ‘Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.’

We remember Jesus quoting this verse,
Shouldn’t we wake up each morning with this verse on our heart?





We need to confidently place our lives in His hand,
After all. He created us.
He will also be our preserver.
We need to rest safely after we are totally committed to His trust.


God is faithful,
Because He will always fulfill His promises,
and withhold no good thing from us as we walk uprightly.

1Peter 4:19, ‘Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.’

How do you suggest we be more committed to the Lord today than we were yesterday?





I think too often we are led by your own wisdom,
We need to obey God and He will finish His work in us.
He shall bring it all our struggles to pass;
And will accomplish it in the best way,
the most desirable way.

He will do what we cannot.
He will not suffer our character to remain under suspicion.
We need to commit it all to Him,
Our cares, our business affairs, our necessities to Him.

Psalm 37:4-6, ‘Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.’

Specifically how do we commit our ways to the Lord?
With fervent prayer





Another way of thinking of committing things to the Lord is
To roll the whole burden of life upon the Lord.


To commit our works to the Lord
The beginning, middle and end.
And commit them in the name of Jesus.

All we do will safe when we place them in the Lord's hands.
Peace will result from that faith.
Our thoughts will become steady, calm, and joyful.

Proverbs 16:3, ‘Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.’

Why are we unsure at times?





John 2:24, ‘But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,’

I believe here are people that only trusted Jesus because of His miracles.
What about us?
Do we trust Him only because of His miracles?
Or only because we might get something out of the deal?





2Timothy 2:2, ‘And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.’

How committed are we to others?





We have heard most of these verses.
When it comes right down to it we basically know
what the Lord is telling us to do at most times.



Do we pretend He will forget what he told us to do?
Do we think that feeling we have inside will eventually go away?
Are we fooling anyone or really just ourselves?

James 1:22, ‘But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.’


I believe all of us in this room is more than hearers.
We are doers.
I also believe that when we pray at night
We ask the Lord to forgive us for not doing something He told us to do.

So I say we wake up each morning and renew our commitment to Him.
Ask Him to strengthen us.
To guide our thoughts, actions and steps.


Psalm 31:5, ‘Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.’

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