Change: April 26, 2013

Today's Word for Friday APRIL 26, 2013

CHANGE

DEFINITION:

To make different in form; to transform; to make a difference in the state or conditions of a thing.

SCRIPTURE:

For I am the Lord, I do not change. Malachi 3:6

God is not a man, that He should lie nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Numbers 23:19.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13:8.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

God, who is all wise, all knowing and without sin never changes His mind nor withdraws His promises. He gave Moses the Ten Commandments and they are still valid today. God's plan for salvation has never changed and His promise for eternal life through Jesus Christ has never changed.

When we see someone make their decision to accept Jesus into their life, most of the time we see a dramatic CHANGE in that life. As a result of Adam's and Eve's sin we are born with a sinful nature. God is without sin so our sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). God cannot change who He is so we are the ones that must change if we are to have fellowship with God. Our unrighteousness must be changed into His righteousness (Romans 3:22). That change takes place when we come to Christ and receive His righteousness, which is a free gift.

The apostle Paul tells us that when we come to Christ we become a new person and the old person is gone (II Corinthians 5:17). Paul's life is evidence that this is true. His life was completely changed when he met Jesus. His old life was persecuting the Christians and his new life was preaching the gospel and being persecuted himself because of his faith in Christ. His life was completely changed. He considered the gift of life offered by God to be well worth any persecution that he might have to endure. God does not change but He does change us.

I [Ken] can remember seeing dramatic changes in people's lives, years ago, when I was in a different church every night for 90 days in a row for three summers showing a Billy Graham Crusade film. Every church was filled to capacity and at the end of the film I would always give the audience a chance to accept Jesus as their Savior. It was remarkable to see individuals of all ages respond night after night. They responded because God spoke to their hearts making them realize their need to change from their sinful ways and accept God's grace and forgiveness.

Over the years, both of us have been part of city-wide crusades and we have seen people from all walks of life make a decision for Christ that brought a dramatic change in their life.

I can remember meeting a man who made his decision to follow Jesus in the Los Angeles Billy Graham tent crusade. This man soon became a dear friend of our family and I watched his life change. It was about as a dramatic change as we will ever see in our lifetime. His name was Jim Vaus. He worked with Mickey Cohen who was known as an under-ground gangster. Jim was his technician for wiretapping, so he was living what we would call an "evil life." When he found Jesus as his Savior, his life changed and he left Mickey Cohen because of his new found faith and soon opened up what he called Hells Gate Station in New York. This was a program to reach the teenage criminal element on the streets of New York and to bring them the gospel message. What a change Christ made in his life.

When we think of the word "CHANGE" another thought comes to mind that we want to share with you. Many families today seem to be disintegrating because of many different reasons. Some of these reasons are:

•    Preoccupation with an occupation to the exclusion of family needs. This goes beyond work. It can include watching TV, being with associates such as in a club, and many other activities. Family needs to come first.
•    Refusal to face the severity of a child's action. How many times has a situation come up and possibly you have responded by thinking that it is not that serious, or I am too tired to deal with that today?
•    Refusal to respond quickly and thoroughly to the warning of others. This could be a neighbor, a relative or a spouse warning you and you just do not have time to see if it is a problem or you just do not care.
•    Rationalizing of a wrong, therefore becoming part of the problem.

When things are not going well in your life, especially within your family, it is time for change, a change for the better. To change we must want something more than what we have now. We must be willing to give up our sinful ways. What is better than to make a change in how we live our life today and have assurance that we will spend eternity in Heaven with our Lord? If you are willing to make a change then God is waiting for you to come to Him and He will change you.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 3:3.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.

PRAYER

Open my heart today to allow You to change me to be what You want me to be. Help me to want to spend my time doing the things that honor and glorify Your name. Give me wisdom in my decisions. Give me assurance that I have eternal life. Give me the courage to make changes in the things I do that do not honor You.