Through Change We Grow!

Through Change We Grow!

Pastor Glenn Newton 7-1-01

On July 4th, 1776 there was a Document signed by the brave leaders of the American

Colonies, this document was a Declaration of Independence. It was a day that changed

the lives of those who lived in our country forever, it was a Change that required courage

on thier part and Faith in the Divine for their protection.

I have made copies of this Declaration of Independence for each family to take home and

have and hopefully you can read it and be reminded of the great price that was paid for

our freedoms. Our children especially need to be taught that what they enjoy today didn’t

come to them without a price. As adults, we need to be reminded that all the great things

that we enjoy today, our freedom to worship here this morning, our freedom to pursue

new opportunities, like Next Generation, and so many other things that we do each and

everyday, they all are possible, first. because God has blessed our Nation, second because

we have had men and women for the last 200+ years that have fought for our freedoms.

Friends, we should not take our Freedoms for granted, Our Freedoms are not a guarantee

.. they are rights that we need to defend and be mindful to protect when necessary.

This week we Celebrate Freedom. This Freedom came about because of the people’s

desire for freedom, and these same people were willing to make whatever changes were

necessary to achieve their goal of Freedom.

I’m sure somebody has said this before, I just don’t know who to give the credit too right

now, but the fact is, “Nothing worthwhile is accomplished without sacrifice.”

The men who signed this declaration of Independence, they pledged more than just a

couple of hours a week to the cause of freedom, they pledged more than one Saturday a

month to a meeting for the cause of freedom, in the last words in the Declaration of

Independence this is what they said, “we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our

Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

These men not only pledged these things, if you know their stories and what happened to

them during the Revolutionary War, most of them died in combat, most of them lost their

fortunes, and many of them were very wealthy, many of them lost there whole families in

the war. But because of their bravery, we are free today. Many of you have stepped into

those same shoes, laying your life and honor on the line for our Freedom, and all of us

who enjoy what you have worked for, We tell you Thank You, Thank You for the

Sacrifice.

The best way we can thank those who have went on before us is to not take it for granted,

and to defend what they fought so hard to secure. Are you aware of the kind of

legislation that is being passed in our Capitol this week? Are you up to date on the issues

that affect our Freedoms? I challegne you to stay informed and stay active, by calling or

writing your representative and voicing your opinion. Your opinion doesn’t have to be

like mine, but the more involved we are, the better off our country is.

Through Change We Grow!

Obviously those Early Americans had to go through drastic changes, and they

sacrificed everything so that our New Nation could grow.

We are learning something about Change these days, arent’ we?

I wanted to share a Scripture that talks about making a Change, and how Jesus is teaching

that this change is necessary to make it into Heaven. Matt. 18: 3-4

.3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children,

you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself

like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven

I’ve been thinking all week about this whole subject of change, and why is it so hard on

us?

And to be honest, I thought that going through these changes in our church building,

moving my office, and so on, would be easy for me, because I’ve been dreaming about this

for a long time. I’ve been trying to figure out why this has been harder than I thought it

would be, and its not so much moving all my stuff to the house, even though that has been

a mess. It’s the whole idea of getting out of my comfort zone, I’ve been pushed from the

nest so to speak.

We are for the most part, people of habit and we are also for the most part people who

like things in their proper place, when anything disrupts this, we get out of sorts, it makes