JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME YESTERDAY ,TODAY AND FOREVER : AN UNCHANGING GOD IN A CHANGING WORLD
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1. THE LORD IS OUR UNCHANGING REFUGE AND STRENGTH IN THIS RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD. HE IS OUR ANCHOR WHEN WE FACE MANY CHANGES WHICH CAN AFFECT US DEEPLY . WE CAN EXPERIENCE SUCH CHANGES IN OUR HOME , WORKPLACE , RELATIONSHIPS , NATURE , FINANCES , HEALTH , CULTURE , FASHION , LAWS , GOVERNMENT , STATUS , PEOPLE ETC. SOMETIMES CHANGES CAN BE SUDDEN AND TRAUMATIC . IN THESE TIMES OF CHANGES AND DISTURBANCES WE MUST RELY ON THE UNCHANGING GOD WHO IS OUR SURE FOUNDATION . THE LORD WILL BE OUR FAITHFUL FRIEND AND GUIDE US THROUGH THESE PERIODS OF CHANGE AND UNCERTAINITY.
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. " Hebrews 13:8
" The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, ’Destroy him!’ " Deuteronomy 33:27
2.THE LORD IS OUR UNCHANGING REFUGE AND STRENGTH IN ALL THE SITUATIONS THAT WE MAY FACE IN OUR LIFE . HE IS OUR SURE AND STEADFAST COMPANION . HE HAS PROMISED NEVER TO LEAVE US NOR FORSAKE US . THE LORD JESUS KNEW THAT DURING HIS EXPERIENCE OF THE CROSS , EVERYONE INCLUDING ALL HIS DISCIPLES WILL FORSAKE HIM, BUT HE HAD THE ASSURANCE THAT HIS HEAVENLY FATHER WILL BE WITH HIM EVEN IN THAT TIME OF LONELINESS. WE CAN TRUST THE LORD TO BE WITH US , EVEN WHEN EVERYONE ELSE HAS FORSAKEN US.
" No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. " Joshua 1:5
"But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. " John 16:32
3. THE LORD IS OUR UNCHANGING REFUGE AND STRENGTH EVEN WHEN THE HEARTS OF PEOPLE CHANGE AND THEIR LOVE TURNS TO HATE. THE LOVE OF GOD NEVER CHANGES . THE HEARTS AND THE FACES OF PEOPLE CAN CHANGE AND THEY MAY TURN AGAINST US . PEOPLE WHO USED TO LOVE US AND FAVOUR US MAY CHANGE THEIR ATTITUDES SUDDENLY. BUT THE LORD WILL ALWAYS BE GRACIOUS TO US AND LOOK ON US WITH FAVOUR. HIS LOVE IS UNCHANGING TOWARDS US.
" The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. " Jeremiah 31:5
" and said to them, “I see your father’s countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. " Genesis 31:5
" Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. " Daniel 3:19
" the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." ’ Numbers 6 : 25-26
4. THE LORD IS OUR UNCHANGING REFUGE AND STRENGTH EVEN IF EVERYONE ELSE HAS FORGOTTEN US , DUE TO OUR LOW STATUS. EVERYONE REMEMBERS US WHEN WE ARE PROSPEROUS AND POWERFUL . BUT ONLY OUR TRUE FRIENDS REMEMBER US IN OUR TIMES OF NEED AND LONELINESS. THE LORD REWARDED THE DISCIPLES WHO STOOD WITH HIM IN TIMES OF TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS . WE CAN TRUST THE LORD TO BE WITH US EVEN DURING OUR LOWLY AND LONELY STATE . HE WILL STRENGTHEN US BY HIS LOVE AND COMPASSION.
" Who remembered us in our lowly state, For His mercy endures forever; " Psalm 136:23
" The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends. " Proverbs 14:20
" Wealth brings many friends, but a poor man’s friend deserts him.
A poor man is shunned by all his relatives— how much more do his friends avoid him! Though he pursues them with pleading, they are nowhere to be found " Proverbs 19:4,7
"You are those who have stood by me in my trials.
And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me,
so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. " Luke 22 :28-30
5. THE LORD IS OUR UNCHANGING REFUGE AND STRENGTH EVEN WHEN WE FACE CHANGES IN OUR FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. HE WILL MEET OUR NEEDS EVEN WHEN WE FACE A WILDERNESS IN OUR FINANCES AND SOCIAL STATUS . HE PROVIDED FOR THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL DURING THEIR JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS FOR 40 YEARS , WHERE THERE WAS NO HOPE OF ANY HUMAN HELP. HE DOES NOT FORSAKE US OR DESPISE US IN OUR TIMES OF DESPERATE NEED. WE SHOULD ALWAYS LOOK TO HIM TO MEET OUR NEEDS EVEN WHEN THE SITUATION LOOKS IMPOSSIBLE. HE IS OUR UNCHANGING PROVIDER.
" I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. " Psalm 37:25
" He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. " Deuteronomy 8:3-4
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. " Matthew 6:25-34
6. THE LORD IS OUR UNCHANGING REFUGE AND STRENGTH EVEN WHEN OUR PHYSICAL STRENGTH WANES AWAY . THE LORD WILL CARE FOR US EVEN IN OUR TIMES OF WEAKNESS AND OLD AGE. HE CARED FOR JACOB DURING HIS LIFE FOR 147 YEARS AND PROVED HIS FAITHFULNESS . WE CAN TRUST HIM TO CARE FOR US EVEN IN OUR OLD AGE AND WEAK CONDITION . WE NEED NOT WORRY ABOUT OUR FUTURE IN OUR OLD AGE.
" Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. " Isaiah 46:4
"And he blessed Joseph and said, "God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who fed me all my life long unto this day,
the Angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth." Genesis 48:15-16
" Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. " Genesis 47:28
7. THE LORD IS OUR UNCHANGING REFUGE AND STRENGTH EVEN IF OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS FORSAKE US . EVEN OUR EARTHLY PARENTS CANNOT TAKE CARE OF US FOREVER . BUT THE LORD WILL ALWAYS BE THERE TO CARE FOR US . SOMETIMES EVEN FAMILY MEMBERS AND LOVED ONES MAY TURN AGAINST US , BECAUSE WE HAVE CHOSEN TO FOLLOW CHRIST . BUT THE LORD WILL ALWAYS BE WITH US AND STRENGHTEN US IN SUCH TIMES.
" Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me. " Psalm 27:10
"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! " Isaiah 49:15
"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. " Matthew 10:21
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I have come to turn " ’a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her motherinlaw—
a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; " Matthew 10: 34-37
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