Change is a Happening

Winter, spring, summer or fall. Seasons change. Fall is here and Summer is over. Rick says he is not sure God intended for there to be our current change of seasons when the world started in the Garden of Eden. God created a paradise. Rick would want one season and that is summer. Paradise to Robin means life and winter is dead. She imagines in the Garden of Eden all the trees and flowers were in bloom all the time. Rick does believe though that God intended for there to be change. 

Over the summer, Rick met a man who had committed a crime and landed in prison. He needed a radical change in his life. He made a vow with God. If God would do something, then he would do something in return. He would repay God. In their conversation, the man confessed that he hadn’t held up his end of the vow. He said God did His part but I didn’t do mine. He wanted to but didn’t and that guilt has been over his head for a long time. Rick lead this man to a place where he took a step of faith toward Jesus. He seemed sincere as he left that day that he was going to make some changes in his life. 

In order for a person to really make changes, there has to be some decisions made. There really needs to be a changing of direction for your life. The word repentance means to turn, to go the other way. In a car, we call that a U-turn. The most radical change you can make in your life is what Barry McGuire said in his song, “A funny thing happened on my way to hell, I got saved, saved, saved.” We need to make a turn, find God and move towards Him. There is only one path to God and we need to get on that path.

When a person becomes a Christian and becomes a brand new creature, Rick recalls the verse that the old things have passed away and behold all things have become new. Although the word change is not in that verse, that is the most radical change that a life can take. One day you are going one way and it is the wrong way. And it becomes so evident when you make that turn, when you make a commitment to follow Christ and you become a Christian, when you begin to live in the new; it is a huge change.

Maybe seasons weren’t the original intention of God; but after the fall of man there were seasons. God created the seasons and seasons can be a great metaphor for life. Seasons can represent hope. If you are feeling down because of fall and winter, they are not going to last forever. It is a season. If you are in a dead or cold season, hang in there, don’t give up because Spring and Summer are coming. There is hope because new life is coming. 

We know we need to change in our heart and in our mind. People make yearly resolutions because they know deep inside that change is needed. It is an inward feeling. We inherently know that we need to make a change in some area. 

Rick says as he gets older, the more hopeful he gets. He knows there is help and hope; but without change, what is help and hope? If you cannot receive the help and hope that is being offered to you then what do you really have? You have to become a receiver and an asker. When Jesus says, “Behold,” He is saying take a look at what I am doing. “Behold, I stand at the door of your heart and knock.” Jesus wants to come in. He will not burst through the door. Whoever opens the door, He will come in. That is the most radical change that a person can ever go through. 

There are many who won’t open the door to Jesus because they are afraid that Jesus will ask them to make changes that they do not want to make. The answer is that yes, He probably will ask us to make changes. But Jesus does it in a way that is loving and caring. He knows where you are isn’t where you can be. He will do everything to move you to that place. Change is good, they call it sanctification, to be set apart for Him. Change is definitely a part of a radical life.

Transcript

Today’s episode is about change, “Change is a Happening.” Winter, spring, summer or fall. The first day of fall inspired this episode. Seasons change. Summer is over. One day it is hot and the next day it is cool. We need to always be about changing. 

Rick says he is not sure that God intended for there to be our current change of seasons when the world started and in the Garden of Eden. God created a paradise. Rick can jump on the band wagon for no seasons because he would want one season and that is summer which is his favorite season. Paradise to Robin means life and winter is dead. She imagines that in the Garden of Eden all the trees and flowers were in bloom all the time. 

Rick does believe though that God intended for there to be change. That mankind would be about change. Change can also be described as money in your purse. Rick remembers a fundraising campaign where people were asked to put all spare change in a container to give. During the campaign, Rick preached on the issue of change. People need to change. 

Over the summer, Rick met a man who had committed a crime and landed in prison. He needed a radical change in his life. He shared with Rick that he had made a vow with God. If God would do something, then he would do something in return. He would repay God. In their conversation, the man confessed that he hadn’t held up his end of the vow. He said God did His part but I didn’t do mine. He wanted to but didn’t and that guilt has been over his head for a long time. We sometimes bargain with God to get something we want. Soldiers have done that many times on the battlefield telling God they will live for Him is He spares their life.

Rick lead this man to a place where he took a step of faith toward Jesus. He seemed sincere as he left that day that he was going to make some changes in his life. In order for a person to really make changes, there has to be some decisions made. There really needs to be a changing of direction for your life. The word repentance means to turn, to go the other way. In a car, we call that a U-turn. The most radical change you can make in your life is what Barry McGuire said in his song, “A funny thing happened on my way to hell, I got saved, saved, saved.” We need to make a turn, find God and move towards Him. There is only one path to God and we need to get on that path.

Rick says as soon as the season of Fall begins to take place with the leaves changing and the days getting shorter, he starts to get down because he knows winter is coming. Fall is not his favorite season because it means leaving summer behind. For some fall is their favorite season and maybe for others winter because you can find some beauty in those seasons too with winter activities and sports. 

Everything is in a constant state of change except death. Death is final, you aren’t growing or progressing anymore. The place you occupy on earth is gone except for maybe in the hearts and memories of people. The life you were responsible for is no longer being lived. It is a permanent change. It is a spiritually permanent change on the location of your soul.   

A bible verse that comes to mind for Robin comes from Ecclesiastes and from a song, “to everything turn, turn, turn; there is a season for every purpose under heaven.” When a person becomes a Christian and becomes a brand new creature, Rick recalls the verse that the old things have passed away and behold all things have become new. Although the word change is not in that verse, that is the most radical change that a life can take. One day you are going one way and it is the wrong way. And it becomes so evident when you make that turn, when you make a commitment to follow Christ and you become a Christian, when you begin to live in the new; it is a huge change. For many it is a joyful and wonderful change. 

A lot of people, don’t like change. If you are in a comfortable place, you don’t want to shake things up. When businesses try to implement change to increase efficiency, they have trouble getting employees on board because they still want to do it the old way. If you don’t change with it, you rub against the change, because you don’t want it. You liked the way it was before, you question why a change is needed. People don’t want new ideas coming in when old traditions seemed to serve well in the past. 

From another angle, some people really like change. They don’t like the status quo. They can’t wait to make a change but we have to remember that God’s word doesn’t change. You might want to change how things are done because you don’t like it God’s way. God’s way is always the constant way where the world’s way is always changing. You can’t rely on the world’s way. If you want a solid foundation, it is God and Jesus Christ. 

Maybe seasons weren’t the original intention of God; but after the fall of man there were seasons. God created the seasons and seasons can be a great metaphor for life. Seasons can represent hope. If you are feeling down because of fall and winter, they are not going to last forever. It is a season. If you are in a dead or cold season, hang in there, don’t give up because Spring and Summer are coming. There is hope because new life is coming. 

When you think about change in relationships, one of the biggest changes can come when everything seems to be going fine and then there is a loss or separation, divorce, death, or a breakup. These are changes that you don’t want to happen and you didn’t ask for them to happen. You invested all your dreams and hopes in the relationship and then it is gone. All the securities and familiarities are no more. It is one of the toughest types of change that a person would have to deal with. Unexpected change can be devastating and extremely painful. If there is a gradual change you might be able to deal with the inevitability but it is not pleasant in either scenario. Robin explains that when her first husband died, she went through an identity change of one day being married and the next day being single. It was a shocking change and hard to absorb.

We know we need to change in our heart and in our mind. People make yearly resolutions because they know deep inside that change is needed. It is an inward feeling that they need to make a change. We inherently know that we need to make a change in some area. Rick says when he goes to a seminar, he will come back with a list of things to change. We want what we do to be better, whether it is personally, in work, or in relationships. We want things to look better, feel better and smell better.  

A problem we have sometimes is that we want it to be instantaneous; but most inward change takes time, it doesn’t happen overnight. The best approach is to take baby steps, moving forward toward change one step at a time. 

The definition of the word insanity is doing the same thing over and over thinking you will get a different result. If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you’ve always got. Rick will ask people often, “do you like what you have?” Then it is time to look at what you are doing because what you are doing is not producing the results that you want. Then you have to find what things you can change. Start with something. Rick often asks another question, “Let’s say I am in your situation, what would you tell me to do?” He hopes then they will come around to asking him what he would do in the situation.

Rick says the older he gets, the more opinions he has. As he gets older, the more hopeful he gets. He knows there is help and hope; but without change, what is help and hope? If you cannot receive the help and hope that is being offered to you then what do you really have? You have to become a receiver and an asker. When Jesus says, “Behold,” He is saying take a look at what I am doing. “Behold, I stand at the door of your heart and knock.” Jesus wants to come in. He will not burst through the door. Whoever opens the door, He will come in. That is the most radical change that a person can ever go through. 

There are many who won’t open the door to Jesus because they are afraid that Jesus will ask them to make changes that they do not want to make. The answer is that yes, He probably will ask us to make changes. But Jesus does it in a way that is loving and caring. He knows where you are isn’t where you can be. He will do everything to move you to that place. He will pursue you, be over you, be near you, wait for you, and be patient with you to lead you to that place. It is the absolute best place that you can be, to be like Christ. Walk hand in hand with God and with Jesus. He will protect you, He will fill you with love, your life will have peace when the storms hit, and He will be there.  

Change is good, they call it sanctification, to be set apart for Him. Change is definitely a part of a radical life.