Change is Forever

A Leadership Changes

“Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying: “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” (Numbers 27:15-17)

1. Joshua is chosen as Israel’s new leader

   a. “Joshua the son of Nun who stands before you, he shall go in…” (Deuteronomy 1:38)

2. Each church leader brings the congregation out of one place and into another

3. Each pastor should build on the foundation of the previous

4. Leaders should not be criticized but encouraged and strengthened (Deuteronomy 1:38, Deuteronomy 3:28)

5. Three times it is said Joshua would cause the people to inherit the land and prosper Deuteronomy 1:38, 3:28, and 31:7,8)

6. You cannot truly prosper without a pastor

7. There is a greater inheritance yet to be claimed for any church

B Change - Respond or React

1. God told Israel to change directions in the wilderness

   a. Repent and change their attitude toward Him

   b. Turn from their idols

2. God does not change, but we need to (Malachi 3:6)

3. If you do not change, you camp and become stagnant

4. We are surrounded by change in music, technology, education. But in the church, we fight change

C God Loves Change in His People

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

1. We want to change in our own life if it is toward the better

   a. Growth

   b. Healing

   c. Prosperity

2. We want others to change, and preach it in church

   a. Salvation for sinners

   b. Healing for the sick

   c. Regaining joy and fellowship with God for the carnal

3. But, we hate to face change in our own life

   a. Our routines

   b. New leadership i.e pastors, church leadership

   c. Songs

   d. Where we sit in church

D Why Do We Need To Change?

“God will hear, and afflict them, even He who abides from of old. Because they do not change, therefore they do not fear God.” (Psalm 55:19)

NIV “Men who never change their ways and have no fear of God."

NLT “Because they refuse to change their ways, they do not fear God.”

ESV “Because they do not change and do not fear God.”

1. When we refuse to change, we stop our journey and no longer reverence God

2. We resist change because we want to remain in control

3. When we embrace change, we recommit our trust in God

E Change is a Natural Part of Life (Ecclesiastes 3:1-10)

1. Change is a leader’s greatest asset because you can expect it

2. You can use change to create and move ahead. It is your friend

3. Change allows you to prepare, be inspired

4. Leaders exist for change. Without change, you have no job

5. Businesses which do not change die

6. Change allows you to truly find where you are, your personal location

7. The enemy of change is tradition. It kills creativity

   a. Move on from the former things. God is doing a new thing

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

1. History is divided into time periods. CHANGES

2. God puts dispensations into His plan toward His eternal kingdom

3. We need to understand each change takes us closer to our destination

“ I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.” (Ecclesiastes 3:12)

1. What should your attitude be during change?

   a. Rejoice, God has everything under control

   b. Keep doing what you have always done

   c. Throw a party. Go have a pizza

2. Continue to enjoy life. God made everything to be enjoyed

“I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it (brings changes), that men should fear (be reverent) before Him. That which has already been, and what is to be has already been; and God requires an account of what is past.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14,15)

1. We often think the only important time is from the time we are born until we die

2. Time has existed for billions of years. Our lifespan is a speck

3. Changes in our lifetime have happened many times in history.

F Don’t Fear Change

1. What will we do? Where are we going? Our church will change?

2. Your church has always changed and will change many more times

3. Change is not new. Nothing happens that has not happened before

4. What is to come has also happened before

5. What you are going through has happened thousands of times to others in the past

6. If Jesus does not come it will happen to others thousands of times in the future

7. God desires us to look to the past for faith and hope for the future

   a. We have come through changes before

   b. We will come through this change also

   c. Should you live long enough to see another pastor, you will come through that change also