WE NEED CHANGE FROM AN UNCHANGING GOD

Isa 43:18 – 19a – “But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. 19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?”

Mal 3:6a – “I am the Lord, and I do not change.”

The message title is We Need Change from an Unchanging God

Many people will profess they hate change. Why is this? Well for some it’s fear, for others it’s just plain old stubbornness and still others who learn something, get comfortable with it and even become an expert in that particular field and as the expert, they have perceived power. They travel the globe teaching others about what they have become an expert in. Companies and corporations buy into what they’re selling. They buy in figuratively and literally, paying thousands of dollars for this “new” technique, the new technology the new way of doing things that’s going to bring them success.

There are literally thousands of books telling you how to lead, how to succeed, how to grow your business, how to grow your church, how to have a successful marriage, how to have a successful divorce, how to raise your kids, how to take a test and the list goes on. They give processes, do’s and don’ts, must haves and leave alones. There is always the next great thing, the next big idea and then the next. There is always someone looking for the bigger, better, faster, stronger and conversely someone looking to build the bigger, better, faster, stronger. There are those that live by the motto that change is good and that everything changes.

Still another change to contend with as we enter month six, or month nine depending on whether you want to start the clock when leadership was first briefed or when we learned of the dangers, nevertheless we are suffering the effects of COVID-19, with its death toll over 200,000 lives. That is over 200,000 families affected by the loss of a loved one or loved ones; as there are stories of husbands and wives and siblings dying within minutes, hours or days of one another.

There are the people who didn’t die from the virus but are still dealing with the effects COVID has taken on their bodies. Then there are those who did not contract the virus, yet their lives have been turned upside down because their business didn’t survive the shutdown. They can’t be faulted for a lack of planning; it would be almost impossible to plan for something that would last this long.

Yet there are some businesses who have risen from the ashes of this pandemic. By changing their focus, changing their business model, they have found other ways to survive.

And then we have the church at large, still fighting to get back into their buildings, still struggling to adjust to a “new normal” and we’re wondering if things will ever be “normal” again. Will life ever go back to what many of us were familiar and comfortable with. We certainly miss meeting together, we miss the fellowship, but we would miss you even more if you contracted the virus and died.

This pandemic has pulled the sheets back on the stark disparities we as Black people have experienced since our ancestors were forcibly brought here to this land, and the atrocities continue.

In the wake of Breonna Taylor’s killers, the only charge that was filed was wanton endangerment; meaning, of the barrage of bullets the police fired, some of them went into other homes and could have, they didn’t, but they could have shot someone else. So, is this saying the possibility of hurting someone else was more egregious than the taking of the life of a Black woman who laid sleeping in her bed because you served a no-knock warrant on the wrong address?

At first glance it would seem that even the senseless taking of Black lives is changing, in that, it seems to have become more blatant, under the umbrella of a leader who has repeatedly proven he has no regard for Black and Brown lives, who has even fanned the flames of violence and so the flood gates have opened wider for the open attack of citizens of the United States.

Perhaps he’s striving to model the leaders of old such as Andrew Jackson whose presidency brought brutal, racially motivated mob violence like never before, including a race riot in Washington, D.C. Jackson, like our current president, had no sympathy for mobs, but even less for slaves and free blacks. Jackson also dealt in nepotism appointing Francis Scott Key’s brother in law to the cabinet and ultimately to the position of Chief Justice.

And so, in the country that is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of brave; if we delve past the first verse of that iconic song written by a man who owned slaves, and fought to keep it that way, we would find these words…

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I think we need a change.

We have another national song that say, “My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing, land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims’ pride from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” But the question is, will that freedom ring for everyone or just a chosen few?

W.E. DeBois had this to say about that hallowed song,

Of course you have faced the dilemma: it is announced, they all smirk and rise. If they are ultra, they remove their hats and look ecstatic; then they look at you. What shall you do? Noblesse oblige; you cannot be boorish, or ungracious; and too, after all it is your country and you do love its ideals if not all of its realities. Now, then, I have thought of a way out: Arise, gracefully remove your hat, and tilt your head. Then sing as follows, powerfully and with deep unction. They’ll hardly note the little changes and their feelings and your conscience will thus be saved:

My country tis of thee, Late land of slavery, Of thee I sing.

Land where my father’s pride, Slept where my mother died,

From every mountain side, Let freedom ring!

My native country thee, Land of the slave set free, Thy fame I love.

I love thy rocks and rills, And o’er thy hate which chills,

My heart with purpose thrills, To rise above.

Let laments swell the breeze, And wring from all the trees, Sweet freedom’s song.

Let laggard tongues awake, Let all who hear partake,

Let Southern silence quake, The sound prolong.

Our fathers’ God to thee, Author of Liberty, To thee we sing

Soon may our land be bright, With Freedom’s happy light

Protect us by Thy might, Great God our King.

No one is free when others are oppressed. We need change.

With man, the one constant we can count on is change. Wave after wave of change, but in an ever-changing world, one in which you are forced to change or be woefully left behind and unable to function, there is something that will never change. God says, “I am the Lord, and I do not change.” God said, I am the same yesterday, today and forever.”

We sometimes get stuck in what we would like to think are the glory days of times gone by. Where we look back and believe that things were somehow better before. In our passage from Isaiah the Lord was reminding the children of Israel of all he had done for them, how he had delivered them before from their oppressors, but then he says, “But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. 19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?”

Change happens all around us every day. Day changes to night, which changes back to day; winter changes to spring, which changes to summer, which changes to fall, which changes back to winter. Our children change. As they get older, their bodies grow; their minds grow as they learn new things from their parents, teachers, friends and other adults like coaches, pastors and even the bus driver. That’s why it’s so important who our children are exposed to. As we mature into adulthood, our bodies begin to change and change again and change again. While our minds still desire to do certain physical things our bodies’ protest, sometimes through not responding at all, sometimes softly with a muscle strain and sometimes very loudly with a muscle tear, broken bone, slipped disc or pinched nerve.

Change

We change jobs. Sometimes it’s to go to a job with better pay, better hours, better benefits or in a better location. We change homes because we desire another location, a bigger home, a smaller home or sometimes out of necessity. Sometimes the change is bad, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s necessary to propel us into what God has for us to do.

How many of you have changed cell phones in the last year? Why?

1. New technology – you wanted the latest and greatest

2. Better technology

3. Old phone broke

4. Parts are no longer available for your phone

5. Your job required and provided you with a phone

6. Changed carriers

And the list goes on.

We change cars and with that change, in most cases, comes new car payments.

Change

We change TVs and recorded technology. Does anyone remember Beta max or even the VCR, even DVD’s are becoming a thing of the past since we now have DVRs that you can record your shows and watch anywhere on any compatible device.

But many people don’t like change, unless of course, it benefits them. If we can get people to see the need for Christ in their lives, the benefits of salvation, then evangelism would be easy, and ministry would be simple. The call would go out and people would respond to the need.

We look at the poor and needy and may wonder why this is so. Christ did say the poor will be with you always. But if you were to look at the distribution of wealth you would find it to be grossly uneven. Wealth is not just about income, wealth is defined as assets – liabilities; in other words, the value of what you own minus what you owe.

Write down the word own. Now write down the word owe. Do you notice anything? When you look at it there is just one letter difference between the words, but the meaning is vastly different. God tells us in Romans 13:8 owe no man anything, but to love one another. While he tells us in Psalm 50:10 For all the animals of the forest are mine and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.” When God said this it was because of the disobedience of the people. They were offering up sacrifices to God but being disobedient and not following the covenant they had made with God. Today God would say, all the money is mine I don’t need your money but I tell you to give your tithe so that you can see what I will do through you.

Now this isn’t a message about tithing, but it is a message about change. If we want God to do what he promised in his Word then we have got to change. We have to be obedient to the word of God. We have to change because we are born in sin, shaped in iniquity – the way our flesh lives, thinks and speaks is an affront to God, it’s an offense and if we want the blessings of God, then we must kill our flesh daily. So how do you do that?

- You must put away childish thinking and get rid of the, what’s in for me attitude.

o Get rid of the thought process that says if they don’t love me or like me, I’m not going to love or like them and take on the mind of God which says, “To have a friend you must first show yourself friendly.”

- You must trust God with the money he has given you. He said bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be meat in my house. Back then, the priest’s only job was to take care of the temple and pray and offer sacrifices for the people, so they were supported by the tithe and offerings and offerings were the animal sacrifices that came into the temple. Today the meat would be the rent, electric, gas, internet and ministry outside the walls. Yes even though ministry inside a building has ceased, the ministry still goes on. He went on to say, “if you do”, meaning if you tithe, I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to receive it. Try it! Put me to the test. Then he says you will have abundance; others will call you blessed and you will be a delight.

How do we kill our flesh?

- By being humble – putting others’ needs ahead of our own.

- By showing mercy to those who fall because when we fall, we want God to have mercy on us.

- By praying to God for our brother and sister instead of gossiping about them on the phone.

- By seeking God daily through prayer, study and meditation.

- By focusing on things that are true instead of what’s on TV and the magazines you see at the checkout stand.

- By focusing on things that are honorable instead of the wrong that is done and how to get over on other people.

- By focusing on what’s right and pure and lovely and admirable instead of what’s wrong with everyone and everything else. You will always be able to find and see the negative and bad in people and situations. No one will always be right because no one is infallible. Perfection is something we strive for but will never achieve until we get to heaven. What is perfect, is the mission we have been given – to go ye therefore and make disciples – to teach them, in Sunday School, in Bible study, it’s easier now, we do it on Zoom, you don’t even have to leave your house. We do it through Intercessory Prayer on Thursday mornings. We do it by having our own study time. Study to show thyself approved unto God, not me, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Can you lead someone to Christ? Do you have some Scripture memorized? I know you can pull it up on your phone, your tablet or your ipad, but when you’re in a conversation with someone you need to have some Word in your heart, you need to have a Word you can give them without having to do a search on your phone. Scripture says, Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you oh Lord it also says thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Not my phone. Our whole life should be about pleasing God, about worshipping him, about making him smile.

o The one who holds our lives in his hands

o The one who knows all things

o The one who knows all about us and loves us anyway

o The one who sent his Son to die for our sins while we were yet sinners

- We ought to have some Word in our heart so we may help others in an instant, so we may live what we proclaim.

While we are not perfect, what is perfect is the mission to teach them to observe whatsoever things God commanded. But here’s the best part, there’s a promise at the end of that command and how many know God keeps his promises? Here’s the promise, Lo I will be with you always even to the end of the earth. That’s a long time and because God changes not, because he cannot lie, because his promises are yea and amen, because heaven and earth will pass away, but his words shall not pass away. That means his promises are true and will stand forever. It means he will do just what he said.

When man and woman no longer love you because you changed; you got a better job than them, a better house than them, a better car than them, a better relationship than them, God said I change not. Your change could be God separating you from people you thought were there to hold you up when the truth of the matter is they were holding you down or holding you back all along. When you rely more on people than you do on God he will move them or you to show you who truly has your back, to show you where your help is truly coming from.

God said WAKE UP, LOOK UP and GET UP! I am your keeper; I am your sustainer; I am the God who supplies all your need according to my riches in glory by Christ Jesus; I Am that I Am. Stop looking to your right and to your left for help and look up. I am the Lord and I do not change.

Not only does he not change, he doesn’t move. We run here and there, from this church to that church, from this website to that website, from this broadcast to that broadcast, looking for God, looking for what the church can do for me and what the pastor can do for me instead of what God can do through me. We think it’s about a feeling we get when it’s not about feeling or emotion it’s about the Word. Are you hearing the Word from heaven, not just a word? We hear a lot of words but is it the Word? How many of you have heard the quote, “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” And heard it said like it was a quote from the Scriptures. Well that’s a word, but it’s not the Word, that’s not in the Bible. Someone said it and it sounded good but the truth is they were probably trying to get someone to clean up so they threw that out like it was Scripture and someone else believed it because they had not studied the Word for themselves.

Here’s another, “Money is the root of all evil.” Is it a word or the Word? It’s a word someone threw out as a way to make Christians think they’re not supposed to have wealth, but the Scripture actually says in 1 Timothy 6:10 – For the love of money is the root of all evil.” Why? Because you worship what you love, that’s why the first commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength.

How do we kill the flesh?

- Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. What you think about controls what you do. Everything starts with a thought whether it’s good or bad. King James says it this way in Philippians 4:8, if there be any virtue if there be any praise think on these things.

How do we kill the flesh?

- By replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, by replacing the lies the enemy told you through family, friends, bosses and teachers with the truth of God. That you are wondrously and marvelously made, that you are the head and not the tail, that you are the first not the last, that you are a lender not a borrower, that you are above and not beneath. I hear what they’re saying but what does God your creator say about you.

All of these things require change.

- A change of mind

- A change of heart

- A change of will

- A change of habits

- A change of atmosphere

- A change of priorities

- A change of friends

- A change of associates

Change. We have to change if we are going to be a useful addition to the Kingdom of God, if we are going to grow Love Christian Center into the ministry God has called it to be. We’re all busy, we all have problems, we all have needs, we all have things we wish were better, but the reality is unless we change, the change will never happen. Unless we trust and follow God, we will never experience his promises and blessings for ourselves. Oh we may see them happening for others, we may read about it in a book but we will never see the fruit in own lives until we change.

In addition to the great commission, each branch of Zion has a mission and a vision. Our mission is

“Lifting up Jesus, winning souls for the Kingdom of God”

That’s the only way you can win souls for the kingdom, He said if I be lifted up from the Earth, I’ll draw all men unto me.

Without a vision the people perish, so our vision is

“Be a place where people come for enlightenment, encouragement and empowerment to advance and enhance the Kingdom of God”

Our goals are still

- To win lost souls for Christ through evangelism.

- To biblically educate Christians through sound Scriptural teaching.

- To equip Christians spiritually, physically and financially through comprehensive coaching.

We just have a different venue and presentation. As small as we are we have big goals but we have an even bigger God. All we have to do is commit to tell others, commit to show up and God will meet us at the point of our need.

Not only do we have a mission, vision and goals, but we have core values. This is at the heart of what we believe, at the center of who we are this is what we value at our core

- Bible Knowledge—Become familiar with the truth of Scripture through regular attendance at Worship Service, Sunday School and Bible Study. 2 Timothy 2:15 – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

- Prayer—Communicate with God daily. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 – “Pray without ceasing.”

- Excellence—Maintain the highest ministry standards that bring glory to God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

- Worship—Reverence God for who He is. Psalm 29:2 – “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”

- Encouragement—Give hope to people who need hope. Ephesians 1:18 – “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,”

You might wonder why we’re here, that’s why, because God has given us a vision, a mission and goals and we don’t believe that he would give a vision then not have it come to pass. So we are trusting God that he will give us what and who we need to carry out our assignment. No matter what it looks like now, God’s mission, his Word and his promises will come to pass.

Love Christian Center is going through a change right now, and when we come to the end of this chapter God has great things for us on the other side. But we must stay together, we must keep moving and we must continue to trust God and respond to what he is giving us to do. It’s time for change; if we don’t commit to change we will never become what God has called us to be and we will never do what God has called us to do.

We serve a God who never changes in an ever-changing world. To be effective, to be useful and to be a part we have to be a changing people. If you’re ready to begin your change commit your life to Jesus right now. It’s a simple prayer of recognizing that you are a sinner, believing that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died and rose again and asking Him to come into your heart and be Lord of your life. If you prayed that simple prayer, welcome to the family and we’d love to hear from you.

If you are in the Douglasville area and would like to become part of the Love Christian Center family please contact us at [e-mail] and let us reach out to you and connect and pray with you. Perhaps you don’t live in the Douglasville area but you would like to join our ministry partners in helping spread the Good News of the Gospel, please share the message, continue to join us online and we sincerely thank you for your financial support, past, present and future. For more information, please go to our website at www.lovechristianctr.org.

The presentation of the ministry may look different right now, but it’s still the same Word of God, it’s still powerful, it’s still effective and it’s still our only hope for change in a world that hates change, yet must live with it every day.