A Theology Of Change Series

A theology of change…

Acts 11: 1 The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3 and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them." 4 Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened: 5 "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. … 15 "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ’John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?" 18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."

A middle aged woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating table she had a near death experience. Seeing God, she asked "Is my time up?" God said, "No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live." Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a facelift, liposuction and a tummy tuck. She even had someone come in and change her hair color. Since she had so much more time to live, she figured she might as well make the most of it. After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing the street on her way home, she was killed by an ambulance. Arriving in front of God, she demanded, "I though you said I had another 40 years?" God replied, "I didn’t recognize you."

We are in the midst of a conversation on change… not to change surface appearances… but to continue becoming who God has called us to be… a deeper level… a deeper search… a spiritual compultion…

From the conception of the church in the NT God demanded they change for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And throughout the Bible we see what I would call a Theology of Change…

God compels us to change

for the sake of the Gospel…

First – Recap…

Last week:

We discussed the need for personal revival…

For real revival comes from respondigng to God’s word that leads to heart change, to life change, to world change…

Second Question today:

Why must we change? Why do I talk about change so much? Why is it in our vision statement? If God doesn’t change why should we?

Why must last week’s message and this week’s service be more than just another service? It must be a milestone for us… a moment where we make a decision…

Many of you cut covenant with God last week… to do whatever He asks for the sake of reaching the lost… to reach the younger generations, to reach every ethnic group…

Life is change… and from a biblical perspective on change – why should we change… because God doesn’t change…

but God does change… not in character or essence but in relationship with us…

The nature of redemption is change… without knowing God and making Him our lord and savior we are condemned to our sin taking us to hell… when we reach out to Christ and ask Him to be Lord of our lives and accept Him as our savior and Lord the nature of our relationship with God changes… and we are accepted into His kingdom… THE RELATIONSHIP CHANGES resulting in what we discussed about revival… heart change, life change, world change…

So to must we change to encourage relationships with others that lead to their salvation.

For some time now God has been challenging my heart and life with several things we are called to accomplish as a church. Visions of who we are meant to be and where we must continue to Go.

A statement I tell our staff and board often is that the question is not if we will change but the pace at which we will change.

The bottom line – I am more concerned with the mission of God than the maintenance of tradition…

God compels us to change

for the sake of the Gospel…

I am more concerned with positioning ourselves to experience genuine revival that leads to heart change, life change, and changing our world. To see salvation of 100’s in this city…