### **Introduction – The Fading Seasons**
Video Ill.: Sermon Bumper
You can feel it this time of year. The grass that once stood green and tall now turns brown. Flowers that filled the summer air with color and fragrance begin to wilt. The days grow shorter; the air turns crisp.
The calendar and nature both tell us — it’s fall. The time for apples, falling leaves and pumpkins!
https://nypost.com/2025/10/14/lifestyle/engineer-wins-contest-with-2346-pound-pumpkin/
California gardening enthusiast wins biggest pumpkin contest: Here’s his massive, prized gourd
Associated Press
October 14, 2025
A few days ago, a manufacturing engineer in California made headlines by growing a 2,346-pound pumpkin and winning the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off.
What’s fascinating is that he wasn’t just lucky — he applied his engineering skills (precision watering, light exposure, nutrient balance) to coax that gourd into greatness.
But here’s the kicker: last year he lost by just six pounds. He came back, refined what he did, and turned what was once almost enough into record-winning.
Imagine that — a pumpkin bigger than many cars, grown from soil, sweat, and science.
The sad thing is that big massive pumpkin will eventually go bad. It’s moment of glory will fade.
You know, as soon as the calendar turns to September, and some places even before that, the aromas of pumpkin spice and apple cinnamon begins filling our homes, shopping centers, and our workplaces. Coffees and hot chocolates take on new “fall” flavors, each claiming to capture the taste of autumn. There’s literally pumpkin spice everything — coffee, cereals, dog treats! It’s like the world goes nuts for a few months!
Then, there are colorful gourds, bundled corn stalks, and colorful fall leaves decorating our homes.
The heat of summer baseball is now replaced by the cool temperatures and the Friday night lights of football.
Someone has once said: “Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter.” Carol Bishop Hipps
The clocks change. The evenings are no longer filled with stunning sunsets, but are now enveloped in darkness as the days march onward, the days getting shorter and shorter with each step.
Fall is a constant reminder that life changes, seasons change, and nothing escapes the ever ticking clock. Fall is the time when we observe and feel change more than any other season, I believe.
But while it lasts, how beautiful it truly is. And part of that beauty is the fact that it does not last. When fall comes, it offers a change of scenery that never gets old, because it is here for only a little while, and then its gone.
It is as if creation itself is preaching a sermon: Everything changes. Everything fades.
We see that not just in nature, but in life.
Culture changes faster than we can keep up.
Technology becomes outdated almost as soon as we learn how to use it.
People change — their priorities, opinions, even relationships.
And sometimes, we change too — our feelings, our circumstances, our health, our strength. We look in the mirror and realize we’re not that young kid anymore.
Everything around us changes.
Is there anything that stays the same? Besides change itself?
Isaiah asked that same question in his day. The people of God were surrounded by instability, uncertainty, and decay. But in the middle of it all, Isaiah heard a word from the Lord:
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,?But the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40, NKJV)
Centuries later, Peter quoted this same passage in 1 Peter 1, adding:
25 [T]he word of the Lord endures forever.
Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. (1 Peter 1, NKJV)
Isaiah saw it first — and Peter confirmed it: there is one thing that never changes — the Word of God.
In a world where everything fades — from flowers to fame, from seasons to civilizations — God’s Word stands unshaken.
And that’s where we begin this morning in our new study, Unchanging. If we are going to live in a world that changes by the minute, we need something eternal on which to hold. That something is the Word of God. The Word of our God endures forever!
So what does that mean for us today? Let’s look together at what makes God’s Word so enduring — so alive — and so trustworthy.
### **1. God’s Word Is Enduring**
Isaiah 40 is an incredible passage of hope and promise. It begins by prophesying about the coming of one crying out in the wilderness. We now know this voice belonged to John the Baptist — the forerunner of Jesus.
Isaiah asks what the messenger will proclaim, and God answers:
6 … “All flesh is grass,?And all its loveliness is like the flower of the
field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,?Because the breath of the Lord blows upon
it;?|| Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,?But the word of our God stands forever.”
(Isaiah 40, NKJV)
What a simple yet powerful picture. He compares the things of this world — all that we can see and touch — all of human life and accomplishment — to grass and flowers. They have beauty. They have purpose. But they do not last.
Think about how quickly seasons pass. One day the yard is full of life, and the next it looks barren. One moment, it is spring. Trees, flowers, and bushes are budding and bursting with color.
The next moment, it seems, it is summer. The colorful flowers are gone. The world is shades of green.
Then, you blink, and it is fall. Leaves are turning just for a moment, then they are falling to the ground.
That is how temporary things in this world are.
Even the greatest civilizations — Egypt, Rome, Greece — once mighty and unshakable, are now just history lessons. Kings, athletes, and celebrities all fade from memory.
Glorified Julius Caesar Remembered His Humanity
Source: Christian Meier, Caesar (New York: Basic Books, 1982), p. 443
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2003/november/14653.html
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When Julius Caesar returned to Rome after many years of fighting its battles abroad, he planned great festivities and triumphal processions to celebrate his victories over Gaul, Egypt, Pontos, and Africa. Each of the four processions took an entire day. His goal was to hold the city spellbound by his greatness.
The cavalcades wound through the streets and ended at the temple of Jupiter, displaying treasures, spoils of war, large paintings of battles, and maps. Then came the prisoners with their barbarian kings; then the Roman officials; and then the commander himself, riding on a chariot drawn by three white horses. He wore a laurel wreath and purple toga, carried the eagle scepter, and colored his face with red to represent Jupiter, whose power had made the armies victorious, while over him a slave held the golden wreath.
Yet even as the crowd cheered, this same slave also served as counselor to this mighty conqueror, whispering in his ear, "Remember, you are only human."
No matter how high we rise, we are still grass that withers and flowers that fade.
The people will forget. Life will go on without you. Kingdoms rise. Kingdoms fall. Yet the Word of God continues to be read, preached, and believed.
It is enduring. It is unchanging. It is eternal.
The truths of Scripture have never lost their relevance. Scripture has never been proven false. It has never failed to guide those who trust it.
**Application:** Consider our lives. If our worth is tied to what fades, we will be left empty. If our confidence depends on what this world defines as success or stability, we will find ourselves constantly chasing a moving target.
We cannot stand on the truths of this world, which seem to change by the hour, even by the minute. What is “right” or “acceptable” today becomes that which is “wrong” and forbidden tomorrow.
But God’s Word does not change with the times — it defines them.
When we anchor our lives to God’s Word, we stand on something solid — something that will not shift with the winds of culture or the tides of emotion.
So let me ask you — on what are you building your life?
Your feelings? Your plans? Public opinion?
Or the eternal Word of God?
### **2. God’s Word Is Living and Active**
Isaiah told us that the Word of God stands forever. It endures. Peter takes it a step further — the Word of God not only lasts, it lives.
Listen to his words starting at verse 22:?
22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of || God which lives and abides forever, 24 because
“All flesh is as grass,?And all the glory of man as the flower of the
grass.?The grass withers,?|| And its flower falls away,
25 But the word of the Lord endures
forever.”
Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. (1 Peter 1, NKJV)
Peter says that the Word of God is living and abiding forever!
You see, the Bible is not just a historical record, a story written through and for the ages — it is a living voice. When we read it, the Spirit of God speaks through it. It brings conviction, comfort, correction, hope, but most importantly, salvation through the good news of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 4:12 says,
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4, NKJV)
The Living Word
Source: Floyd Schneider, Evangelism for the Fainthearted (Kregel, 2000); quoted in Men of Integrity (March/April 2001)
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2001/october/13288.html
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A Christian university student shared a room with a Muslim. As they became friends, their conversation turned to their beliefs. The believer asked the Muslim if he'd ever read the Bible. He answered no, but then asked if the Christian had ever read the Koran.
The believer responded, "No, I haven't, but I'm sure it would be interesting. Why don't we read both together, once a week, alternating books?" The young man accepted the challenge, their friendship deepened, and during the second term he became a believer in Jesus.
One evening, late in the term, he burst into the room and shouted at the long-time believer, "You deceived me!"
"What are you talking about?" the believer asked.
The new believer opened his Bible and said, "I've been reading it through, like you told me, and just read that the Word is living and active!" He grinned. "You knew all along that the Bible contained God's power and that the Koran is a book like any other. I never had a chance!"
"And now you'll hate me for life?" queried the believer.
"No," he answered, "but it was an unfair contest."
It is an unfair contest! Only God’s Word has the power to speak life today! Only God’s Word can discern the heart, lead us through life’s challenges, and guide us to a saving knowledge of Jesus.
Nothing else under Heaven has that kind of power. The same Word that spoke creation into being still speaks life into us today.
It is powerful enough to create galaxies — and personal enough to restore a weary soul.
#### *Application*
When you open your Bible, you are not just reading a good book — you are encountering the living God. His Word has breath. His Word has life. His Word has power.
Let it shape your heart. Let it renew your mind. Let it dwell richly within you until it becomes part of who you are.
Savor the Word
Source: Carole Mayhall, Colorado Springs, Colo., Today's Christian Woman, "Heart to Heart.”
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/1997/may/3181.html
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Carole Mayhall wrote in Today’s Christian Woman: ?
I reached into the cupboard for a mug, filled it with water, then popped it into the microwave. After the water was piping hot, I mixed in a packet of hot chocolate and carried it up to the room where I have my quiet time.
I sat on the couch with my Bible and sipped the hot liquid, savoring each swallow. Then it dawned on me that what I was doing with my morning hot chocolate was exactly what I should do with the Word of God. As I drank my hot chocolate, it becomes a part of me. So should I be with God's word. I should sip and savor, be warmed and fed.
This morning, sip and savor. Let God’s Word fill us, warm us, and become part of us. Live out the Word each and every day, and its power will speak for itself.
### **3. God’s Word Points to the Unchanging God**
You see, the reason God’s Word never changes is because its reflects an unchanging Author.
Jesus IS the Word!
And as the Hebrew writer said:?
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13, NKJV)
That means the truth of Scripture is not rooted in shifting culture but in the eternal nature of God Himself. We can trust God’s word to stand forever because it’s Author does not fade, falter, or fail.
His nature, His truth, His character remain constant.
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/BTGO/citi-golf-is-never-the-same-twice
CitiBank has a commercial out right now that maybe you have seen:
“A professional basketball court is always 94 by 50 feet.
An Olympic-sized pool is 50 by 25 meters.
And tennis — 78 by 36 feet.
Always. 100% of the time.”
And then it adds, “But golf…. It’s never the same twice.”
The point of the ad is that life and business are always changing — and in such environments, we need a solid, unchanging financial expert to help us navigate shifting conditions.
Now, I cannot speak as to whether Citi actually is that or not.
But spiritually speaking, I cannot help but think the same truth applies.
Our world feels like that ever-changing golf course.
The terrain shifts, the winds blow, and the obstacles seem different every day.
Yet in the midst of all that change, there are a few things that are always the same.
The measurements never change.
The boundaries never move.
And that is exactly what we find in God’s Word — a fixed foundation in a world that refuses to stand still.
When everything else changes — when the landscape of life looks completely different than yesterday — God remains constant.
He has always been faithful. Always just. Always merciful. Always loving.
Everything else in life needs updating — your phone, your computer, your car, even your vocabulary.
But God has never needed an update.
He is not improving with time — He is perfect.
He does not evolve — He is.
That is why His Word endures — because it reflects an unchanging, eternal God.
#### *Application*
When you build your life on God’s Word, you are not clinging to an old tradition — you are holding fast to the eternal truth of a living God.
And in a world that feels like shifting sand, that is the only firm ground on which to stand.
### **Conclusion – Standing on What Lasts**
As the seasons turn and the world around us shifts, we are reminded that everything — no matter how strong, how beautiful, or how new — eventually fades.
The grass withers.?
The flower falls.?
The pumpkin rots.?
Even the brightest colors of fall will soon give way to the stillness of winter.
But through it all, one thing remains — the Word of our God stands forever.
When life feels uncertain, when everything familiar seems to be changing — hold fast to what does not.?
When culture drifts and truth becomes a moving target — anchor yourself to what never wavers.?
When your heart is weary, and you are tempted to wonder if God has changed — remember: He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
God’s Word endures because God Himself endures.
You can build your life on that.?
You can build your hope on that.?
You can build your eternity on that.
So this week, as you see the colors fade and the leaves fall, let it remind you of this truth:?
Everything changes — but God’s Word remains.
And when everything else around you seems to be shifting, stand firm on what lasts.?
Because the grass withers, the flower fades,?
But the Word of our God stands unchanging forever.
