A SPIRIT OF SAMENESS OR BE AN AGENT OF CHANGE. Two part series.
BUILD A SAFE PATHWAY TO CHANGE. CAN WE CHANGE? ARE WE TRAPPED?
Jeremiah 13: 23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin? Or a leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are
accustomed to do evil.
God, you know what I was, You see what I am: CHANGE ME, PLEASE GOD CHANGE ME!
People need to see change, change that makes a difference. Change with real and genuine love and understanding. Change
that listens and hears. God give us FRESH EYES, and a NEW VISION. God help us tear down the walls and barriers that
divide your people and hinder change.
Many of God’s leaders never ACT in FAITH, but we learn to REACT IN FEAR and attack any agent of change.
Speak clear, but speak in great tenderness. Are you a student, learning and growing? Are you trapped in the
SPIRIT OF SAMENESS? How can we pray for others to change and us stay the same? Pastors fall in ruts, open ended
graves? You can change, if you want to...? Your family can change, if you want to ...? Why stay in this trap? Why get
out of this trap to fall prey in another?
We must avoid a spirit of bondage ... change, we need change.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15. For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again TO FEAR, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption...
WE ARE CREATURES OF HABIT.
--- Manner or pattern of conduct.
--- The prevailing disposition or character of a person’s thoughts and feelings.
--- Mental make up.
--- A pattern of behavior acquired by repetition.
WE CAN HAVE A HABIT TO FALL INTO TRAPS AND SNARES...
Acts 8:23 For I perceive that thou art in the GALL OF BITTERNESS, and in the bond of sin.
2 Timothy 2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken
CAPTIVE BY HIM AT HIS WILL.
GOD WILL NOT CHANGE YOUR OUTSIDE UNTIL YOU CHANGE YOUR INSIDE.
THE CHANGE OF DIRECTION OF MOTION IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE MOTIVE FORCE IMPRESSED.
This is a law of nature stated by Isaac Newton. If there is little effort there will be little change of direction.
A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind, and won’t change the subject. Winston Churchill.
Plato: Nothing endures but change.
IF YOU WANT THINGS DIFFERENT, YOU CANNOT STAY THE SAME. If you don’t like what you are getting,
change what you are giving!
God grant us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, and the courage and wisdom to change
the things that should be changed, and give us the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
If there is breath, there is opportunity to change.
1. WE ARE IN A VALLEY, A PLACE OF TRANSITION ... HEARD OF THE TERM: FUTURE SHOCK?
Future shock is a term that deals with the shattering stress and disorientation that is induced in individuals by subjecting
them to too much change in too short of time. Well, God is in charge, and our hope is not in or of this world. We must face
and embrace change. We must renew our hearts and our dreams. Change is not bad, change is not good. Change is neutral.
It is how we prepare our hearts and make ready for change. IF WE ARE NOT AGENTS OF CHANGE IN OUR CHURCHES
AND OUR COMMUNITIES WE ARE DOOMED JUST AS THE DINOSAUR.
A. IF YOU WANT THINGS DIFFERENT, YOU CANNOT STAY THE SAME.
B. WE ARE IN A VALLEY OF CHANGE.
Psalms 84:5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; whose heart are the ways of them.
6. Who passing through THE VALLEY of BACA, MAKE IT A WELL; the rain also fillleth the pools.
Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in THE VALLEY OF DECISION: For the day of the Lord is near, in the
VALLEY OF DECISION.
C. WE ARE LACKING IN AN EVALUATION SYSTEM WITH IN THE CHURCH.
I. WHAT IS NOT INSPECTED WILL NEVER ACHIEVE WHAT IS EXPECTED?
II. Anger stops change. Anger is seldom a primary emotion. Anger is a secondary emotion that comes forth out of the
primary emotions of hurt, disappointment, discouragement, and a wounded spirit. Anger will always resist change.
III. CHANGE IS SELDOM EFFECTIVE COMING FROM A CONFRONTATIONAL ATTITUDE... CHANGE IS BEST GIVEN BIRTH
FROM A CARE-FRONTATIONAL ATTITUDE. We must "COME ALONG SIDE" others and help bring about change.
IV. Recruit team members to help bring about change, your team members can use their influence and help bring acceptance.
V. Good change always comes in baby steps, slow progressive, patient, planned steps. This is why change seldom comes.
Change needs guidance and leadership with a godly plan.
VI. Change is not as a spare tire, riding in the trunk, change is best used as a steering wheel.
D. WE MUST LEARN TO COUNT THE COST FOR CHANGE. THIS COST IS TWO FOLD.
I. What will the cost and consequences be if I don’t change?
II. What will be the cost and consequences of change?
E. DO I STILL HAVE A LOVE OF LIFE? A LOVE OF MINISTRY? A LOVE OF RELATIONSHIPS?
I. Have I lost my passion?
II. What are my priorities? Do I have some wrong priorities?
III. What are my behavior patterns? Do moods dictate by reactions?
IF YOU WANT THINGS DIFFERENT, YOU CANNOT STAY THE SAME.
Are you taking your church, your family, and your friends for granted? Are you belching potatoes and bologna while hogging
the remote control? Has television become a little god in your home? Are you faithful to attend the services at your church?
Divorce comes because family members refuse to change. It is time we arise and be agents of love, appreciation and change!
2. INVITATION TO CHANGE ... IF THE HORSE IS DEAD DISMOUNT!
NEBUCHADNEZZAR, GOD WANTS YOU TO CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDES AND QUIT SINNING!
A. NEBUCHADNEZZAR IS WARNED --- CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDES --- OR ELSE...
Daniel 4: 5 I saw a dream which made me AFRAID, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of
MY HEAD TROUBLED ME.
B. NEBUCHADNEZZAR was successful... IN THE WORLD BUT NOT TO GOD!
Daniel 4:22 It is thou, O King, that art grown and become strong, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of
the earth.
C. NEBUCHADNEZZAR WARNED:
Daniel 4:16 LET HIS HEART BE CHANGED FROM A MAN’S, AND LET THE BEAST HEART BE GIVEN HIM;
AND LET PASS SEVEN TIMES OVER HIM.
D. THERE WAS A MAN OF GOD WITH A MESSAGE FROM GOD...
Daniel 4: 27 Wherefore, O King, LET MY COUNSEL BE ACCEPTABLE UNTO THEE, and break off thy sins by
righteousness, and thine iniquities by SHEWING MERCY to the poor; if it may be lengthening of thy tranquillity.
E. SEVEN LONG TERRIBLE YEARS LIVING AS AN ANIMAL ON ALL FOURS ... RESISTING CHANGE ...
Daniel 4: 33 The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon NEBUCHADNEZZAR: and HE WAS DRIVEN FROM MEN...
AND DID EAT GRASS as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’
feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.
F. SEVEN LONG TERRIBLE YEARS WITHOUT CHANGE ... WHEN NEBUCHADNEZZAR LEARNED TO PRAISE
AND HONOR GOD...
Daniel 4:34 Nebuchadnezzar lifted his eyes to heaven, understanding returned to him, I blessed the Most High,
and I praised and honored God ... 36. AT THE SAME TIME NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S REASONING RESTORED....
G. NEBUCHADNEZZAR CHANGED HIS ATTITUDES TO PRAISE GOD! WHY NOT BEFORE 7 WASTED YEARS?
IF YOU WANT THINGS DIFFERENT, YOU CANNOT STAY THE SAME.
3. DAVID CHANGED AND GOD HONORED HIS CHANGE...
2 Samuel 12:20 Then David AROSE from the earth, and WASHED, and ANOINTED himself, AND CHANGED his apparel.
and came into THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, and worshipped: theN he came to his own house; and when he required,
they set bread before him, and he did eat.
A. HIS SERVANT SAID, WHAT THING IS THIS THAT DAVID HAS DONE?
B. David fasted and wept when the his son was alive.
C. MAYBE GOD WILL HEAR AND HEAL MY SON?
D. He is dead, I can’t bring him back, ... BUT I SHALL GO TO HIM!
IF YOU WANT THINGS DIFFERENT, YOU CANNOT STAY THE SAME.
IF YOU WANT THINGS DIFFERENT, YOU CANNOT STAY THE SAME. If you don’t like what you are getting,
change what you are giving!
Have you ever seen a dog run out on a football field? Everyone is whistling and yelling at the dog. The dog will
run this way, then that. The dog will run all over the field? Someone has to run out and get the dog. If we are not very
careful we will be about change like that dog, that hears from everywhere and goes no where?
If the moon listened to every howling dog, it would soon quit shining.
IF YOU WANT THINGS DIFFERENT, YOU CANNOT STAY THE SAME.
4. YOU CANNOT JERK EVERYONE’S EMOTIONS AND LEAD TO CHANGE!
I. You cannot demand trust, you must earn trust!
II. Some are like ducks to water, they will grab the truth and run off and leave the crowd. They are like a bull in a China
shop. They must learn patience and understanding.
III. Some drag their feet. They are slow and resist change. We must learn to communicate well, and allow time for these to
process and assimilate change.
IV. The church is not a democracy, it is a theocracy. We believe in God called men and leaders.
V. Fear and jealousy will hinder change. Some fear a lose of power.
VI. A lack of confidence and a trust of God’s calling can hinder growth and change.
F YOU WANT THINGS DIFFERENT, YOU CANNOT STAY THE SAME. If you don’t like what you are getting,
change what you are giving!
5. CHANGE IS NOT CHANGE UNTIL THERE IS CHANGE!
Galatians 6:30 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.
2 Thessalonians 3:13 But, ye brethren, be not weary in well doing.
Life is short. Death is sure. Sin is the cause. Christ is the cure.
Life is short, you can’t lengthen it. Death is sure, you can’t avoid it. Sin is the cause, you can’t overcome it.
Christ the cure, you need no more.
God, you know what I was, You see what I am: CHANGE ME, PLEASE GOD CHANGE ME!
Isaiah 56:4 For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the THINGS
THAT PLEASE ME, AND TAKE HOLD OF MY COVENANT.
6. WE MUST GROW A SPIRITUAL VISION OF GROWTH AND CHANGE AND PROGRESS.
WE MUST MAKE A CHOICE TO CHANGE, OR STAY THE SAME.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
ARE CHANGED INTO THE SAME IMAGE FROM GLORY TO GLORY, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
IF YOU WANT THINGS DIFFERENT, YOU CANNOT STAY THE SAME.
IT IS INSANE TO THINK YOU CAN STAY THE SAME, AND GOD CHANGE THE WHOLE WORLD.
YOU MUST BECOME AN AGENT OF CHANGE, FORM GLORY TO GLORY.
7. DON’T STAND AROUND AND CRY IF THE BROOK GOES DRY, GOD HAS ANOTHER PATH!
I have heard some say that the preacher prophesied his own brook dry. This is pure insanity.
God knew it was time for a change. The preacher can’t stay in his comfort zone. There is a time
to take a step of faith and move in God!
1 Kings 17: 6 -8 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he
drank of the brook. 7: And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain
in the land. 8: And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
IF YOU WANT THINGS DIFFERENT, YOU CANNOT STAY THE SAME. If you don’t like what you are getting,
change what you are giving!
8. CHANGE IS NOT PASSIVE BUT RATHER ACTIVE.
Job 14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
We must move and release our faith to bring about change.
9. MAKE THE CHOICE TO BE AN AGENT OF CHANGE.
Joshua 24: 15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether
the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose
land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
I Cor. 15: 51. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 52: In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed.
IF YOU WANT THINGS DIFFERENT, YOU CANNOT STAY THE SAME. If you don’t like what you are getting,
change what you are giving!
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com Could you help me, and pass by work on to others?
