|
SUNDAY SERVICE February 10, 2008
At the end of this message, there is a link to a new article on nutrition by our wonderful sister, Maureen.
LIFE BRINGS CONSTANT CHANGE
LIFE BRINGS A CONSTANT STATE OF CHANGE. NOTHING LASTS FOREVER EXCEPT GOD AND HIS WORD. AND YET, CHANGE IS SOMETHING WE SEEM TO RESIST MOST…that is unless we are in a phase when we are hoping, praying, wishing for change…at least till we get it. That is sometimes the “grass is greener on the other side” syndrome.
HUMAN BEINGS are so weird about change---yet change is something we are going through every minute of every day in our lives.
We go through changes in our individual lives. We go through changes in family life. We go through changes in our ministries, in our churches, and we go through changes in the Body of Christ.
God never changes but the way He deals with mankind does.
There was a time when people were subject to the Law and then came the time when the world was subject to Grace. God never changes, but the way he deals with you and with me does. Oops! Did I lose you there? Well, think about it. When you are not yet a believer, He deals with you one way—works to bring you to Him. Then, when you become a believer, things are different. When you are a babe in Christ, God deals with you as with a baby. Then we grow and He expects more. “To whom much is given, much is required”. And, when we grow into our calling and our ministry, He expects even more. Things a baby or even a “teen” in Christ can get away with are no longer permitted without consequence.
James 3:1 (amp) says it so well: NOT MANY [of you] should become teachers ([a]self-constituted censors and reprovers of others), my brethren, for you know that we [teachers] will be judged by a higher standard and with greater severity [than other people; thus we assume the greater accountability and the more condemnation]
And, then, there are times in life, when the ministry changes. We raise up successors and leave a legacy. That is not something to fear—that is a milestone.
Listen with your spirit to what Eccl 3:1-9 says: 1TO EVERYTHING there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven:
2A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted,(A) 3A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, 4A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6A time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away, 7A time to rend and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, 8A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.(C)
Every culture has customs and ceremonies to get us through major times of changes—they are called rites of passage.
They are: Birth, Leaving childhood and becoming an adolescent, Leaving home, Weddings, and Death/Funerals. To recognize these significant times in our lives, societies typically hold elaborate ceremonies. Each different culture or society may choose to mark these rites in very different ways . A baby is born, the child learns to talk and walk, he or she starts school, graduates, get’s a job, gets married, has a child, raises the child, gets older, becomes a grandparent, gets even older, and eventually dies. Another child is born. A life begins and another life ends. To everything, there is a season and a time.
We love to hear about babies being born and we hate to hear about people dying---but both are a part of life. Most cultures handle death a lot better than in our Western culture. They prepare for getting older; they prepare for death. We mostly want to ignore both and that really isn’t healthy.
BUT THERE ARE CHANGES IN LIFE WE DON’T PROPERLY PREPARE FOR AND OFTEN DON’T EVEN UNDERSTAND.
CONDITIONS OF LIFE
There are seasons---a point of time--- for everything in life...seasons for the things we call good and seasons for the things we call bad.
Many times, when bad things happen, we don't understand why, and we wonder "have I done something wrong?". I used to drive myself crazy with this one—analyzing everything I’ve said or done to anyone in the past week, month, year. Or…wondering what didn’t I do that I should have done? But, when we do something wrong or don’t do what we should do, we really won’t have to be a detective to find out---the Holy Spirit will convict us so that we can repent. Many times, the reason WHY something has happened has nothing to do with what we did or didn’t do. IT’S JUST THE SEASON!
And,when something good happens, we think--"Did I do something really great? What is it, so I can do it again?” But the answer to 'why it happened?' may simply be it's just the season.
We can’t escape the seasons in our lives any more than we can escape the seasons in nature. There will be summer, fall, winter, spring. And just as surely, there will be times to laugh, times to cry, times to succeed and times to fail. We need the times we fail just as much as we need the times we succeed. We LEARN from our failures---sometimes more than from our successes.
There is a purpose in test and challenges. They are to bring about a maturing of the children of God. Don’t be discouraged by them--- choose to see the good they do you and greatness that God has for you.
WE GET IMPATIENT On the one hand, we resist change, yet when we WANT something to happen, we get upset if it doesn’t happen in our time table. God may put something in our hearts; we KNOW He spoke it—and then we don’t see it—at least, not as soon as we’d like to.
DO NOT MAKE PERMANENT DECISIONS BASED ON A TEMPORARY SEASON OR CIRCUMSTANCE YOU ARE GOING THROUGH.
AND BE READY TO DO THE HARDEST THING: WAIT! SOME THINGS THAT ARE TEMPORARY DO NOT ALWAYS REQUIRE ACTION, BUT PATIENCE.
Galatians 6:9And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.
“The reward of patience is reflected in gradually not have to amend your amendments!”
AND let’s go back to THE SEASON OF LIFE AND DEATH.
We all know that no one lives here on earth forever.
Generations pass and new ones are born. That is just the cycle of life. We grieve the losses and rejoice at the blessing of new life. But God says "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." To mourn is good and right. To be dismayed and give up is devastating.
But times and seasons are not just for life and death---they are for war and peace, for planting and plucking up, for laughter and for tears; a time to give and a time to receive, a time to bear fruit and a time for the vine to be pruned.
There are 4 natural seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall and these correspond to different phases of growth and life. Trees are not pruned in the heat of summer or they will bleed to death because the sap is flowing. They are pruned during colder weather. Winter seems like a time when everything is dead and snow covers the ground, but actually, the sap is flowing down and replenishing the tree and vines. You would not have the buds of spring without the restful time of winter. Spring brings new life---things begin to bud and blossom and reach lush ripeness in the summer. Then comes fall; one of the most beautiful times of all. The warmth and fire of glowing color, rich beauty covers the Earth as the cycle gets ready to repeat----just before the cold of winter.
The seasons go by, leaving change in their wake. Your world is transformed by their passing.
Eccl 3:1-2 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:
GO WITH THE FLOW!
|
|
|
