The Dedication - July 26, 2026

<p><strong>Calling: Keeping, Finding, Growing</strong></p><p><strong>The Dedication</strong></p><p><strong>Jon Fredricks</strong></p><p><strong>Today&#39;s Scripture: 1 Samuel 1:21-28 NIV</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong>1 Samuel 1:21-28 NIV</strong></p><p><strong>21 </strong>When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, <strong>22 </strong>Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.”</p><p><strong>23 </strong>“Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.</p><p><strong>24 </strong>After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. <strong>25 </strong>When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, <strong>26 </strong>and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. <strong>27 </strong>I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. <strong>28 </strong>So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.</p><p> </p><p><strong>2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV</strong></p><p>For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him…</p><p> </p><p><strong>Mark 10:45 NIV</strong></p><p>For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”</p><p> </p><p><strong>Matthew 6:24 NIV</strong></p><p>“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Matthew 22:37 NIV</strong></p><p>Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’</p><p> </p><p><strong>Matthew 16:24 NIV</strong></p><p>Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.</p><p> </p><p><strong>1) DEDICATION TO JESUS AND HIS WORD</strong></p><p><strong>John 14:6 NIV</strong></p><p><strong>6</strong> Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Matthew 4:4 NIV</strong></p><p><strong>4 </strong>Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”</p><p> </p><p><strong>2) DEDICATION TO HIS PEOPLE</strong></p><p><strong>Matthew 22:37-39 NIV</strong></p><p><strong>37</strong> Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ <strong>38</strong> This is the first and greatest commandment. <strong>39</strong> And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’</p><p> </p><p><strong>1 John 3:10 NIV</strong></p><p>This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.</p><p> </p><p><strong>1 John 3:16 NIV</strong></p><p><strong>16</strong> This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.</p><p> </p><p><strong>3) DEDICATION TO HIS MISSION: THIS CITY</strong></p><p><strong>Mark 1:17 NIV</strong></p><p><strong>17 </strong>“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”</p><p> </p><p><strong>Matthew 28:18-20 NIV</strong></p><p><strong>18 </strong>Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority i