Vision Sunday 2025 - Be Committed

2024 Year In Review

In Psalm 77:11-14, Asaph the psalmist wrote these words:

Psalm 77:11–14 KJV 1900

I will remember the works of the Lord: Surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: Who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that doest wonders: Thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

We serve an amazing God who only does amazing things. However, it’s our responsibility to pause and remember the great things that He has done.

2024 was another year of God’s blessings on our church.

At the beginning of the year, we launched our ministry sign up sheets and organized our church ministries to operate on the annual commitments of our church family. By doing this, we were able to involve more people in our ministries as they operated on rotating schedules. Many of you responded to God’s leading in your heart. Many individuals got involved - whether in the Audio/Video Ministry, Card Ministry, Cleaning Ministry, Good News Club Children’s Ministry, Hospitality Ministry, Nursery Ministry, or in the Yard Ministry. We would like to add three more in 2025.

We were able to canvass more of Enola with door hangers and we plan to continue in 2025.

We had some great events throughout the year - Kid’s Fun Day, Revival Services with Evangelist Will Geiseman, Missions Conference with Jeremy Lockhart, Harvest Banquet, and Christmas Programs. Many of you shared with me how God was at work in your heart throughout the year and it brought me such joy to see God answer prayer.

Through all of these efforts, we had the privilege of ministering to many different guests that God brought to our services and activities. Some settled in and have become a part of our church family. Others that have faithfully attended here have joined in membership with the church and have become active in this local body of Christ.

We were reminded this year of the depth and richness of the Word of God. I want to quickly remind you of the series that we covered in 2024.

What’s on Your mind? - Biblical Thinking

The Holy Spirit: baptism of the Spirit, indwelling of the Spirit, Filling of the Spirit, fruit of the Spirit in our lives, the gifts of the Spirit/spiritual gifts

Government: God’s Gift to Mankind - miniseries

Doctrine of the End Times - Revelation

Bible studies - men’s and women’s, on topics ranging from what the Bible says about alcohol, to courageous women of the Bible.

Book of Acts - wow, what an incredible book of the Bible!

In Acts, we learned that the Lord Jesus loves the local church.

In Acts, we learned all about prayer in the church, sin in the church, suffering in the church, serving in the church, and the mission of the church.

I look back at 2024 and I can confidently say, we saw another year of God’s blessing on our church. 2024 was characterized by positive momentum and steady growth. I believe that we accomplished exactly what we set out to do: we moved Forward Together.

Now with 2025 upon us, God has given us a new year and a fresh direction. As I’ve already shared with the church family, one of my desires this year is to continue making updates to the interior of our building as the Lord allows. To commemorate this, there’s a project that Randy Farringer has been working on for several months that I’d like to reveal to you now.

Reveal the logo

Next slide here:

As we look ahead to this year, God has put this theme on my heart: Be Committed.

In many respects, we live in a culture that makes fun of commitment!

Far from being a character quality that is elevated, commitment is mocked; it is ridiculed. Those that live by their word or those that live by commitment are seen as gullible and old fashioned.

At one point while I was preparing for this message, I had a moment that made me chuckle. I had grabbed my iPad and flipped open the cover. When I did, a notification popped up for Apple TV - Apple’s TV and movie subscription. It was an ad and it was headlined, “Get Apple TV Free For A Weekend.” And then the subtitle read something like this:

Read slowly:

“get your all access pass to hit TV shows and movies without commitment.”

I was like, “no way! Case in point!” Our culture elevates getting to do things or try things out without commitment! Commitment is bad! Commitment is old-fashioned!

Christian, no matter what culture you live in, commitment is never out of style for the follower of Jesus Christ!

I’ve already mentioned how that last year God added a number of folks to our church family. You have become regular attenders now. My desire specifically for you is that you grow in your level of commitment and take definite steps beyond where you are now.

But whether you’ve been attending for one month or for many years, if you are a child of God this morning, as your pastor, I want to see you grow in commitment.

Perhaps your question is, “commitment to what?”

There are several things:

Next slide here:

Commitment to Christ

We are committed to many things, but none of us are committed enough to Jesus. None of us are passionate enough about Jesus. It doesn’t matter where you are in your walk with Him, there is room for you to be more excited about Jesus than you are right now. There is room for you to be more determined than ever to keep His commandments.

Next slide here:

Commitment to your local church

You can attend a church without being committed to it. Attendance alone does not equal commitment. Tithing alone does not equal commitment. Those are both important things, but they form only part of your commitment to your local church.

Next slide here:

Commitment to your marriage

This certainly isn’t a popular idea in America, is it? Doesn’t matter if it’s popular or not, our Lord expects commitment in the marriage relationship.

Commitment to God’s design for marriage

Commitment to biblical, sacrificial love

Commitment to your spouse

This year, my prayer is that marriages in this church will be strengthened. Every marriage relationship is a work in progress because every husband and every wife is a work in progress to be more like Jesus. If you’re married this morning, don’t think that your marriage has arrived. You need to grow in your commitment to your marriage.

We’re going to try and encourage commitment in the area of marriage.

Next slide here:

Commitment to Christ-centered families/commitment to Biblical parenting

God created marriage and He created the family unit. He has given us the roadmap for having Christ-centered families. I plan to emphasize that this year. In September, we’ll be hosting a Marriage and Family Conference. Pastor Frank Camp will be joining us specifically to preach on these two subjects. Whether you are single or married, you won’t want to miss it. Put it on your calendar and plan to be here every service.

No doubt, there will be other ways in which we will see our theme developed as the year progresses, but you may be wondering, “Pastor Tim, where are we going to be studying commitment in the Bible?”

Next slide here:

Well, there’s a lot of places that we could go, but we’re going to begin in the book of Nehemiah.

Turn to Nehemiah 2:17-18.

We are not going to get all of the background and context of the book of Nehemiah today, but I want to introduce you to this man that we will be studying now on Sunday mornings. As I read the pages of Nehemiah, I am reminded that at heart this was a man just like me - a man with hopes, a man with dreams, a man with very real fears. But I find also, a man that remained committed in the face of great adversity.

I see in Nehemiah a man that was committed to his God. Therefore, he lead the Jewish people to be committed to God.

I see in Nehemiah a wonderful example of male leadership.

I see in Nehemiah a man of prayer.

And I see in Nehemiah a man who wanted to live a holy life that was distinctly different from the pagan influences that were all around him.

I see in Nehemiah a man who lived by this motto: Be Committed!

Read Nehemiah 2:17-18.

Years after Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, God would use a Jewish man named Nehemiah take on the herculean task of rebuilding the walls of the city and of restoring law and order to the land of Israel.

These two verses capture Nehemiah’s heart in this great project. He travels back to Jerusalem and he looks out over the broken city. Quietly, he turns around and looks at the poor, discouraged Jews standing around him. With a fire in his eyes, he says, “let’s do it. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem. Let’s restore the honor of the city of our God. Let me tell you of what God has already done to enable this!”

His words in verse seventeen are so moving, so encouraging, that soon the other Jews responded with excitement and said, “Yes, let us rise up and build!” So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

What I want to draw your attention to this morning is this: it all started with one man who was committed.

So I challenge you this year. Be committed! Set your heart right now that you are going to be committed to Christ in 2025 and then develop a plan for how you will make that happen! Make a decision right now that you are going to be committed to your local church in 2025! Plan how you will make that happen! If you’re married or you’re actively parenting, decide right now that you’re going to be committed to a whole new level in those relationships.

Make a choice today that you are going to be committed in a culture of unfaithfulness! Be Committed!

Close in prayer