So far, we’ve looked at three of the commitments required as a member of Dr. Halverson’s “The Fellowship of the Burning Heart.” Today’s blog ties the previous commitments together with a fourth commitment of total surrender.
The first commitment of Dr. Halverson’s “Fellowship of the Burning Heart” (found in They Found the Secret byRaymond Edmond) revealed the role of the Holy Spirit in one’s personal spiritual growth and maturity. Cooperation with this Spirit-initiated process requires a daily refocusing on Him. Clarity in this refocusing requires immersion in God’s Word.
The second commitment of the “Fellowship of the Burning Heart” pertains to one’s character. Holy living, self denial, and self-discipline are the tracks one must travel to develop the kind of character that emulates the Lord Jesus.
The third commitment highlights the mission of every follower of Jesus Christ. The love of God was sacrificially demonstrated when Jesus died on the cross. Our assignment, as long as we have breath, is to glorify God by getting the word out and inviting people to receive the grace necessary to experience the redemption provided at the cross.
The fourth and final commitment removes any possible limitation that might interfere with God’s desire to live through you and to do what only God could do. The Fellowship of the Burning Heart requires total abandonment to Jesus Christ.
“The Fellowship of the Burning Heart”
“Having come to a personal belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and realizing that the urgency of the hour in which we live demands the highest type of Christian Discipleship. I wish to unite with a band of young people offering themselves as expendables, with a vision of evangelizing the youth of the world for Jesus Christ in the shortest possible time.”
COMMITMENT #4
“I AM COMMITTED TO THE PRINCIPLE that Christian discipleship demands nothing less than absolute consecration to Jesus Christ. Therefore I present my body a live sacrifice, utterly abandoned to God. By this commitment, I desire that God’s perfect will shall find complete expression in my life; and I offer myself in all sobriety to be expendable for Jesus Christ. (Romans 12:1-2; Philippians 3:7-14)
Romans 12:1-2 (NASB) Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Philippians 3:7-14 (NASB) But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
KEY PHRASES TO CONSIDER WHEN EVALUATING YOUR COMMITMENT TO THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST:
· “ABSOLUTE CONSECRATION” – Have you given up all your rights and totally submitted yourself to serve Jesus Christ?
· “A LIVE SACRIFICE” – Rather than a willingness to die for Jesus; are you willing to live for Jesus?
· “ABANDONED TO GOD” – Do you genuinely want to please God more than man?
· “SOBRIETY” – Have you counted the cost of this kind of commitment?
· “EXPENDABLE” – Are you willing to do the least desirable tasks without recognition should the Master ask it?
A special thanks to Dr. Richard Halverson for listening to God and taking the time to pass on to fellow followers of Christ the lessons he learned concerning “The Fellowship of the Burning Heart.”
RichardHalverson (1916-1995) was a minister of the former United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America and served from 1958 until 1981 as the Senior Pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church, Bethesda, Maryland. He served as the Chaplain of the United States Senate from February 2, 1981 until December 31, 1994. He was an associate of the National Prayer Breakfast movement starting in 1956. Halverson also was a member of the Board of World Vision, from 1956 to 1983, serving as chairman from 1966 to 1983. He was the President of Concern Ministries, a charitable foundation in Washington, D.C.
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