Credentials of a Committed Christian

I have been working on my sermon for this week and found it to be very enjoyable and Spirit led. Below is a little snippet from the sermon, I'll be preaching out of II Corinthians 11.

...Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager and baseball great Tommy Lasorda, a great Italian-American by the way, describes his battle with bad habits: "I took a pack of cigarettes from my pocket, stared at it and said, ‘Who’s stronger, you or me?’ The answer was me. I stopped smoking.

"Then I took a vodka martini and said to it, ‘Who’s stronger, you or me?’ Again the answer was me. I quit drinking.

"Then I went on a diet. I looked at a big plate of linguini with clam sauce and said, ‘Who’s stronger, you or me?’ And a little clam looked up at me and answered, ‘I am.’ I can’t beat linguini."

Brothers and sisters, it’s hard to hide who we are and what we are. Our habits, actions, behavior tell on us. We think we are this and that, but others see us as we really are. It’s hard to hide who we really are.

I came across a poem titled "You Tell On Yourself"
You tell on yourself by the friends you seek,By the very manner in which you speak,By the way you employ your leisure time, By the use you make of dollar and dime.

You tell what you are by the things you wear, By the spirit in which you your burdens bear.By the kind of things at which you laugh.By the records you play on the phonograph.

You tell what you are by the way you walk,By the things of which you delight to talk,By the manner in which you bear defeat,By so simple a thing as how you eat.

By the books you choose from the well-filled shelf,By these ways and more, you tell on yourself.So there’s really no particle of sense In an effort to keep up false pretense.

You see, everything about us, tells about us. But the good thing is this: no matter who we are or what we are, the Lord can change us and make us better! Amen!!II Cor. 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old has gone, the new has come!"In our text, let’s examine some credentials of a committed Christian and see how we stack up.
1- Honest dealings
2- Painful sacrifices
3- Stressful concerns