Nothing Changes Without Change

 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says “To every [thing there is] a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up [that which is] planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace”.

 

This is probably one of, if not the most quoted scripture when it comes to dealing with change.

 

Understand that Nothing changes if Nothing changes.

 

Someone once said,  “Change is inevitable; misery is optional”.

 

Some people imagine that it is possible to live life without change.

 

• But, we can no more live and not have change than we can jump without feeling the impact of gravity.

 

• Therefore, to live is to experience change, and any thought that we can avoid change in life is pure illusion.

 

• Women have rights just like men because something changed.

 

• A black man can sit in the front of a city bus because something changed.

 

• People no longer die in epidemic numbers from polio, influenza or small pox, because something changed.

 

I can try to resist change and stay the way I am or release my resistance to change and be like a hot air balloon that goes up when you remove the weight of the sandbags from it.

 

But the Bible says in Hebrews 12:1 “let us lay aside every weight”, in other words there is some stuff that has to change.

 

You see,  “NOTHING CHANGES IF NOTHING CHANGES, AND IF I KEEP DOING WHAT I’VE ALWAYS DONE, I’LL KEEP GETTING WHAT I’VE ALWAYS GOT, AND WILL KEEP FEELING WHAT I ALWAYS FELT.”

 

• I’ve got to ask you this morning are you ready for a change?
• I believe some of us here this morning might be ready for some changes in our life.

 

Albert Einstein said”- “The definition of insanity (crazy) is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”

 

• We have to understand here today that nothing is going to change in our lives unless something changes in our lives.

 

Woodrow Wilson gave a very wise warning: “If you want to make enemies try to change something.”

 

• Change can be very threatening. WHY – because change will bring with it a level of uncertainty and because of that uncertainty people develop an attitude or spirit of fear – 2nd Timothy 1:7 says;

 

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”.

• Therefore we should not be fearful of change.
• Change can be good.
• Change can be exactly what we need.
• Change can change some things.

 

It happens with individuals, marriages, businesses, organizations, and unfortunately with some churches.

 

Even the people of Christ’s day who were looking for and expecting the promised Messiah didn’t accept him when he came because he didn’t come the way they expected him to come, nor did he do what they wanted him to do when he came.

 

• As a result, they rejected Christ and missed out on the greatest opportunity for real change that the world has ever seen.

 

{One of the greatest motivations for serving God is because it changes you.)

 

2 Cor 5:17…Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. The simple interpretation of this scripture is change.

 

• What a wonderful thought.
• What a wonderful consideration…
• There can be a change in me.
• I don’t have to stay the way I am.
• I don’t have to be the person I am.
• I don’t have to be a worrier.
• I don’t have to be someone who is always despondent.
• I don’t have to be someone who sees grey skies when the rest of the world is seeing blue skies.
• I don’t have to be bound by sin.
• I don’t have to destroyed by my lack of self esteem.

 

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

 

• Things can change!
• It doesn’t have to stay this way.
• It can be different.

 

I see that saying everywhere these days, “Imagine Life Differently.”

 

• Seriously
• Think about it
• Imagine your life without all the stuff that’s keeping you from being happy.
• Imagine for a moment what it would feel like to get out of bed in the morning and be truly happy.
• Imagine for just a minute what it would be like to go through an entire day without feeling depressed, or angry or jealous or unloved.

 

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

 

Did you know that this verse of scripture is talking about the effect of change that happens in a person’s life when they get baptized?

 

• You see to be IN Christ is to be buried with him in baptism.

 

I talked about it in our bible study on Wednesday… there is a change that happens in a person ‘s life when they get baptized.

 

• They don’t act the way they used to act.
• They don’t talk the way they used to talk.
• They don’t go where they used to go.
• They don’t feel the way they used to feel.

 

Something changes.

• And I’ll tell you what it is…
• It’s the work of the Spirit of God in their lives.

 

You see, God is never going to leave someone the way He finds them.

• He’s going to bless them.
• He’s going to encourage them.
• He’s going to strengthen them.
• He’s going to forgive them.
• He’s going to heal them inside and out.
• He’s going to raise them up and cause them to stand above the people who used to put them down.

 

Something changes.

• I remember the darkness that surrounded my life before I was baptized unto Christ.
• I remember the fear.
• I remember the despondency.
• I remember the shame.
• But there’s something else that I remember very vividly.
• And that was the immediate change that took place in my life the night the preacher buried me in the waters of baptism.

 

I’ve got to be honest with you…

• Before I was baptized, I really didn’t think there was too much wrong with me.
• But I have to admit, having realized the change that the Lord did in my life, I recognize that there was a lot more wrong with me than I care to admit to you today.

 

• I remember the clean feeling I felt the night I was baptized.

 

Old Paul Harvey, 83 years old.  “How do you feel Harvey?” “Clean!”

 

It is craziness to continue to do the same thing and think something different is going to happen.

 

• I’ve heard people say, “I’m going to change!” But nothing changes in their life, so nothing changes in their life.

 

• If you truly want real, genuine change in your life, why don’t you change something here today?

 

• Why not make a decision to start walking with God today in a greater way than you ever have?

 

• Why don’t we make a decision today to talk to God before we talk to anyone else about the problems in our lives?

 

There’s a saying that says “prayer changes things”. Can I just say, “It’s just silly to pray and not expect change to take place.”

 

• It doesn’t have to be eloquent.
• It just needs to be honest.
• It just has to be sincere.
• I’m sure that most of us know this already, but if you’re struggling with something in your life that is beyond your control, I want you to know that Prayer can change your situation.
• It doesn’t have to be long. It doesn’t have to be rehearsed.
• It just has to come from your heart.

 

1st Peter 5:6-7 says “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you”.

 

Change must happen in life, for to live is to grow; to grow is to change.

 

Isaiah 61:3 says “To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified”.

• God wants to take your brokenness and put you together anew. But we have to realize here today too that Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes.

 

Romans 12 :2 says “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”.

 

“TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND” – Transform means to undergo a change in the structure: it’s a genetic modification.

 

A caterpillar is not a beautiful creature, it crawls around on the ground vulnerable to predators, but at some point in its life it under goes a transformation both physically and mentally.

 

The transformation physically causes the genetic structure to change and produces wings of a multitude of colors, that makes it possible for the new creature to fly and look prettier than before, but also there’s a transformation that takes place in its mind.

 

When it was a caterpillar all it could do was crawl around, but after the transformation in the mind, that caterpillar realizes he can fly. He can rise above being stepped on and he can out maneuver its predators.

• But if there hadn’t been a change, then nothing would have changed.

 

“Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”.

 

 

As long as you stay in that condition, you are always going to get the same results, but if you would just allow change to come to your life and begin to take a few steps toward God today, He will turn your situation around.

 

Remember, Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes.

• You can make up in your mind today that I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.
• You must change from being dead in sin to being alive in Christ.
• From lost to found.
• From hurt to healed
• From sad to happy
• From ‘out of my mind’ to being in perfect peace.

 

TAKE THAT FIRST STEP – WHY – because change begins with that 1st step and Nothing Changes Without Change.