A Time for Every Purpose

And thank you. Good afternoon, brethren. Happy Sabbath, all of you. Greetings from your brethren in Cleveland, where B.J. and I were this morning to get services started. They all send their greetings and their love to you. You can probably tell I have acquired a little bit of a summer cold. It actually started on the last day of Unleavened Bread. I woke up with a sore throat, and it kind of ran its course, and it's actually on the downside now. But I have a little bit of a remnant of that, and I ask you just to bear with me today.

But B.J. and I are very pleased to be with you. How well do you adapt to change? John Maxwell has said that change is inevitable, growth is optional. So how well do you adapt to change? If you're like most people, you probably resist change, because we like our comfort zone. We like stability. We like the things that every day has to offer as long as things don't change.

If you feel this way, I have some very bad news for you. You've been born at the worst possible time in human history. Do you realize that more change has occurred in the last 100 years than the previous 5,000 years combined in human history, and change is occurring at a more rapid pace than ever before?

I'd like to talk about change today, brethren, because not only have we experienced a lot of changes in our lives, a lot of changes in our society, in our church, in every aspect of our lives, the last 3 months, 6 months, a year, 10 years, 40 years, we probably are going to see more dramatic change in the future than we have ever experienced before in the past. Now, today when I'm talking about change, I'm not talking about the need to change our values or our belief systems.

Trust me, those are under assault every day by the world that we live in. But what I am talking about today and encouraging you to do is to learn to adapt to change in events, events in our community, in our businesses, in our church, in our families, to realize that change is inevitable. The truth is, brethren, that change is a constant and a natural part of human life. And even though we may resist sudden or dramatic changes, if you think about it for a minute, and if we're really honest with ourselves, we are constantly surrounded by change in our life and in our world.

I'll give you some examples. Modern technology is rapidly advancing. I wouldn't have dreamed 10 years ago that I would have a little device in my hand that I own called a smart phone that's a GPS and a telephone and an internet provider and everything all in one little device that I hold in my hand. That would have been unbelievable. When I first started studying church literature in the late 60s, when they would talk about Daniel 12 and verse 4, the scripture says, Knowledge shall increase in the latter days. That used to be defined by the church as, well, there will be an influx of libraries built before the end time.

Do you see, no one even conceived that you could sit down at a device and go to a search engine like Google and type in anything and suddenly be knowledgeable about it. That you, through the internet, would be able to tie into major universities and research centers in the world. That's how much our world is changing. I could talk about society, I could talk about fads, how fashions change, customs, businesses grow and expand, and some businesses, they go under and they close and new businesses are formed. I could talk about government. Republicans come into power, Democrats come into power.

This is just constant change. I could talk about education. You know, at one time, public education was the most important thing, and now people homeschool their children. Because of the internet, the whole concept of education is changing rapidly in our world. I don't need to tell you that God's church has changed a lot. And in my 40-year association with the church of God, there have been tremendous changes that I have seen over that 40-year period of time.

How inevitable has changed? Well, I'll give you an example. Let's say that we decided today, after services, to take a picture of all of us here. And we all gathered together and we took a picture. Do you realize that that would just be one snapshot of a single moment in time and it would never be the same again?

You see, my wife and I, for example, are visiting today. We won't be here again next week. That picture changes. You have folks that are in Columbus today at the prom. They won't be in that picture. They'll be here next week. If you were to look at three months from now, people that are not fellowshiping with us now may join us in three months, so that picture would change. In a year, babies may be born. Some of our brethren may die. That picture will change. You see, the truth in the reality, brethren, is that we are under constant change. Every moment is just a single snapshot and is not like the moment before it. And it won't be like the moment after it. Now, that change is usually so slow and almost imperceivable in our minds that we don't quite realize it. But if you've had a friend and you shake their hand, you look in their eyes and you see them five years later, then you see the crow's feet. You see the gray hair because enough time went by that you see that they're changing. Of course, we're not changing, but they're changing. They are getting older, aren't they? Well, again, change is all around us. And brethren, it's only going to continue at an ever increasing pace.

We need to be prepared for that. We've been called to a life of change. You know, repentance was change. Conversion is a change process. We're in the process of becoming more like God. Let's go to Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and begin in verse 1 and see that change has a purpose. It was God who instituted change in the world because we live in an ever changing universe, a universe that's expanding. It's not the same as it was yesterday. Tomorrow it will be different than it is today. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 1. It says, To everything there is a season, and our lives are like seasons. We have seasons that are like springtime in our lives where there's new growth. And we have seasons in our lives that are like summer where we're just kind of enjoying life the way it is. And then we have seasons that are fall when change begins to take place in our lives. We have seasons in our lives that are like winter and seem cold and heartless. There are trials and there are problems and we may feel isolated. We may feel alone. To everything there's a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. Heaven has purposes for you and I. And those purposes may be different depending on how we're wired and what our background is and what God needs to teach us. Verse 2. A time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck what is planted, a time to kill, and a time to heal.

A time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, a time to dance, a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing. Verse 6. A time to gain and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to hear and a time to tear, and a time to sow, a time to keep silent, a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war, and a time of peace. You see, brethren, we go through something that's called the journey of life. And through that journey of life, change constantly happens.

We face different challenges and events that are often unwanted and unexpected in our lives. Yet each changing event can teach us something and can help fulfill a purpose that God has for us in this lifetime. Remember, verse 1 says, a time for every purpose under heaven. You see, change has a purpose, even if we don't like it, even if we resist it, even if we resent it or regret the fact that change is forced on us, it has a purpose.

Today, what I'd like to do is contrast a few individuals who experienced great change in their lives. Some view change as bad and they resisted it and they despised any kind of change in their lives, even though the change was good for them.

Then there were a few other individuals we'll take a look at who realized that a changing event can teach us something and they can even fulfill a purpose that God has for us in a lifetime, even again, if that change is uncomfortable or we didn't ask for it or we didn't particularly want it.

Let's go to Genesis 19, verse 4.

We're going to take a look at a man named Lot who hated change. He liked his comfort zone. He just liked to be comfortable.

Well, I figured out many years ago that when I wake up in the morning, God does not say to himself, how can I make Greg comfortable today?

God doesn't do that. He says, how can I test Greg? How can I allow him to create a situation in which he tests himself, in which he is stressed, in which he can learn something new and maybe something sink into his head that hasn't happened to him?

What was time for Lot to experience a sudden and dramatic change? And here's what God did. Genesis 19, verse 4.

It says, now before they lay down, a little background, two angels were sent to scout out the city. Abraham had already been warned by God that this would happen, and these two angels were going to confirm what God already knew.

And that was that Sodom and Gomorrah were wicked and needed to be destroyed.

Now before they lay down the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter surrounded the house, and they called to Lot, and they said to him, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them carnally.

So Lot went out through the doorway, shut the door behind them. He wanted to protect the two visitors that he had in his home. He said, Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly. For now, he says, See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man.

Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish. Only do nothing to these men, since this is the only reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.

And that means to be protected for the night. And they said, Stand back!

Then they said, The one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge. So they're saying to Lot, Who are you to judge our values?

Isn't that something we hear in society today? Why? My values are as good as your values. Who are you to judge the lifestyle that I'm living?

This is a common theme that we hear today, and that's what they're saying to Lot.

Stop acting as if somehow you're superior to us, as if somehow you're our judge.

And now we will do worse with you than with them. So they pressed hard against the man, Lot, and came to break down the door.

But the men reached out their hands, this is the angels, and pulled them into the house with them and shut the door.

And they struck the men who were in the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.

Then the men said to Lot, have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, whomever you have in the city, take them out of this place, for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord.

And the Lord has sent us to destroy it. I want you to notice what they say. Get out! God has sent us to destroy it. So Lot went out and spoke to his son-in-laws, who had married his daughters, and said, Get up! Get out of this place, and the Lord will destroy this city.

But his son-in-laws, he seemed to be joking. Now, I won't go into the details here, because this is a family-friendly service today.

So I'm not going to go into the background of what went on here. But I just want to emphasize that Lot was told to leave the city to spare his life. He was told to tell his relatives to leave at once, because destruction would begin. Why did Lot live in Sodom?

In other places in Scripture, he's called righteous Lot. Why did he live in Sodom? Because he liked it there.

There was something about it that was comfortable. Maybe it was what the culture offered being in a city. Maybe it's the walls protecting him from wild animals, he and his family. There was something that he found comfortable in Lot.

He liked it there. He became spiritually blind to the perversion and the corruption that existed there.

He had learned to compromise with evil. You know what? His life was in a rut.

God said, okay, I love Lot. I'm working with Lot. His life is in a rut. He's compromising with things he shouldn't be compromising with.

It is time for sudden and dramatic change in his life.

The way that he offered his daughters to very degenerate men in the city of Sodom just shows how far his values had declined, how much he had compromised with what he knew was right and knew what was wrong.

Let's go to chapter 19, verse 16. Let's see with what enthusiasm he decides to leave the city to spare his life.

Genesis chapter 19, verse 16. And while he lingered...

It doesn't seem very enthusiastic me. He's delaying it. He's stalling.

Instead of fleeing the city, he was just told, you need to get out of here.

And now, because God is going to destroy the city, he did what many of us do when sudden and dramatic change is forced upon us.

He lingered, so much so that the men took hold of his hand and his wife's hand and the hands of his daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

They literally had to carry him outside of the city.

So it came to pass when they brought them outside that he said, Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.

Well, this didn't please Lot because this was the opposite of what he wanted. He liked living on a plain. In the plain, everything is flat.

But he didn't want to go to the mountains. Those are rugged. You have to climb hilly things to get the mountains.

This was the complete opposite of what his lifestyle was all about, of what he wanted, of what he desired. He was comfortable, and he didn't want to leave the city.

This was a time of great change in his life, and he would have rather stayed.

You know, brethren, it's often true of us, the same thing.

When things begin to change dramatically, or when it's obvious that something big is about to happen, we too may linger. We don't really want it to happen.

We sometimes don't want to face the reality that something big or something powerful is about to change our lives forever.

He resisted it to the point that if the angels hadn't literally grabbed he and his family by their hands, they would have died right there and then in the city of Sodom.

Even though his life was in danger, he loved his monotonous everyday life too much. Think about it. What was really there for him in Sodom?

The people obviously didn't respect him. They looked upon him as an outsider. That's what they said in the scriptures that we read.

He's an outsider. He's not one of us. He's superior. He's always judging us and telling us we shouldn't be acting like animals.

So it's not that he had great respect. So what future did he really have inside him, aside from comfort, aside from his rut that he was in in his life?

Let's now go to Genesis 19 and verse 18. Take a look at verse 18.

As I said, he loved his rut too much in life. He was comfortable accepting the lifestyle around him, and he didn't want any part of his daily routine or his life to change.

Verse 18, The Lot said to them, Please know, my lords, indeed, now your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy, which you have shown me, by saving my life. But I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me, and I die.

I always find that rather funny. Some evil overtaking you die? You're a dead man. You were in Sodom. Where did this come from? What does this have to do with the price of putty?

Verse 20, See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it's a little city. Just a little one. Please let me escape there. Is it not a little one?

And my soul shall live. And he said to him, See, I have favored you concerning this thing also. This is what the angel says, In that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore, the name of the city was called Zor.

The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zor, and then the Lord rained brimstone and fire in Sodom Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens.

So he overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

If you read closely, you'll find that Lot didn't want to go to the mountains, even though he was specifically told to go to the mountains, wasn't he?

But he resisted. He lingered. He waffled. He wanted to be as close to Sodom as possible, even in a little city, just a little one, that was near Sodom, rather than do what he was told. Because he resisted. He didn't like change.

Verse 26, his wife was very similar to him, but his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. Of course, looking back behind represented longing to go back to a life of sin, wanting to be there, rather on the journey that God was going to take them.

He and his wife were apparently matched bookends. She didn't want to leave Sodom. She also liked the rut that her life was in, because ruts are easy. All you have to do is go through motions and routines. It requires minimum effort or risk to be in a rut, and the results are predictable.

Very little happens. There are very few opportunities, very little growth, but things are consistent. There are few challenges. People become comfortable living in a rut, and instead of looking at change as an opportunity to learn and experience new events, they wanted to return to their own little world, a world that really had nothing to offer them.

Isn't this example a lot like us at times in our lives, brethren? Oftentimes, we also experience dramatic change in life, and sometimes we face conditions in which we are forced to change against our will, against what we want. So how do we view those experiences? Do we get angry with God? Do we get angry with the circumstances that we find ourselves in?

We wake up in the morning and say, boy, I hate this. I wish this hadn't happened. Do we get upset because change may wrench us out of our routines? Do we view them as something painful, something to be resisted? Or perhaps we should view all change as an opportunity, as something that has a silver lining.

Now, don't get me wrong. Some routines are good. For example, Bible study and prayer every day is a good thing. That's a good routine. But, you know, even those can lose effectiveness over time if we don't add some element of change into those important habits. If we study the Bible the same way, day after day, year after year, without any variety, without a fresh approach, without an additional tool, without a new perspective, then after a while even something as beneficial as that is going to lose its effectiveness in our life. Now, let's take a look at Lot's uncle Abraham and see an example of someone who embraced change. Unlike Lot, he was the opposite of Lot. Genesis 12, beginning in verse 1.

Abraham was a total opposite of Lot in this regard. We'll see what remarkable thing he did here.

It really is pretty remarkable for a 75-year-old man. Now, the Lord said to Abraham, Get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse him who curses you, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. No lingering.

No, but God, you don't understand. I just bought this new tent. And I need about three months here to break it in before I make any long journeys. No, it just says that God said, Do this. And verse 4 says, Abraham departed. This was a sudden change in his life, particularly when he tells a 75-year-old man to pack up your bags.

Get moving, and by the way, I in the future will tell you where you're going. I'll let you know later where your ultimate destiny is. But Abraham accepted this opportunity without complaining or questioning why God did this to him. He didn't say, God, why me? He didn't say, What did I do wrong? Abraham was to wander from place to place for the rest of his natural life.

And why did he do this? Because he had a key that I want to emphasize is so important for us. When we face sudden and dramatic changes in our life, he looked at the long-term benefits of change. The reason we resist change, the reason we're uncomfortable with change, is because we're looking at life from the short term.

I like what I have and feel right now. You see, that's short term. I like my comfort zone. That's short term. But there's rarely growth in a comfort zone. God is not in the comfort business. God is in the people development business. And what Abraham did is he always had a long-term view of his life and the world. And he knew there would be a benefit to him and all of his descendants if he obeyed God, got out of his comfort zone, and all the wealth that he'd already acquired and ran, and did what God asked him to do.

So again, he was a visionary. He looked into the future, and he always saw and looked for the long-term benefits of accepting change, not simply the short-term comfort that he had if he did nothing. Let's go now to chapter 22 and verse 1, another situation in which he was faced with sudden and dramatic change that he handled very well. He says, Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and he said to Abraham, and he said, Here I am.

And he said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a bird offering on one of the mountains, of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose up early in the morning. Didn't linger. He didn't wait until afternoon. He didn't wake up and wait until evening. It says that he rose up early in the morning. He embraced change. And he saddled his donkey, and he took two of his young men with him and Isaac, his son, and he split the wood for the bird offering and arose and went to a place of which God had told him.

So we see here is another example of dramatic change forced on Abraham. He's being tested by God and told to offer his only legitimate son, the son of promise, as an offering to God. That wasn't easy. The son of promise that he'd waited for so very long. This was a shock to Abraham's sensibilities, but he pleased God with his attitude, because God said, do it.

And he had faith and belief that God said, you do something, you do it. And sometimes God orchestrates things in our lives that we don't agree with or understand. And how we react when God does that or allows those things to happen to us, how we react is very important to God because it's testing our mental, just like it was for Abraham.

Now, of course, why would God, this is out of character for God to make this command. He was trying to teach Abraham something. It's the only reason he had the command. He was trying to teach Abraham prophetically to understand that Abraham, someday I'm going to have to do exactly what you're being asked to do. I'm going to have to take my only beloved son, and I'm going to have to allow him to be a total offering, like I'm asking you to do. And I'm asking you to go to Moriah, which later became known as Jerusalem, where the son of God would die. He said, I'm asking you to lay your son on wood, and someday my son is going to be laid on a stake or a cross and tied to it and nailed to it, to wood.

And he's going to be an offering. So he was trying to teach Abraham a prophetic lesson here. This is not normally something that God would ask a human being to do, but he and Abraham had the kind of relationship where God was trying to teach him something. Verse 10, Abraham stretched out his hand and he took the knife to slay his son.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, he said, here I am. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad, nor do anything to him.

For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. He says, Now I know how much you love me, that you're willing to do to your own son what I must allow my son to do. And that is die and become an offering in the future for all mankind. Verse 13, Abraham lifted up his eyes and he looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up before a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, the Lord will provide what?

Tremendous faith as it is said to this day in the Mount of the Lord, it shall be provided. Now let's go to chapter 23 and verse 1. Another dramatic change is going to happen in Abraham's life. He's going to lose someone whom he loves very dearly. Genesis chapter 23 and verse 1, Sarah lived 127 years. These are the years of the life of Sarah. So Sarah died in Kurjath Arba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

So he lost his life partner, his beloved Sarah. And he wept for her and he mourned for her. This too was a dramatic change in his life, to lose your lifetime partner. He was a very old man at this time.

Matter of fact, in chapter 24 and verse 1, it says, Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. So his wife has died, he's a very old man. So how do you think he adjusts to the situation in life?

So what was Abraham about to do in his twilight years? He may well have been about 150 years old at this time. Maybe it's time for him to just sit by the tenth porch and to look out at flaps and dream about what might have been. Maybe it's time for him to just spend the rest of his life reminiscing about the past or sitting at the tenth door regretting the things that he should have done. He's about 150 years old now. He's well advanced in years. He's seen a lot of dramatic change in his life. It would be easy just to get in your comfort zone. It would be just so easy to get in a rut and just live life that way, particularly in his case. Genesis chapter 25 and verse 1. Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Katorah, and she bore him Zimran, Zakshan, Midian, Ishback, and Shua. Wow! I can't remember what movie it was. I saw a movie once where a person came into a village, and he asked where the village elder was. And the native says, he on mountaintop with young maiden. And the guest said, at his age? And the native said, he old, but he ain't dead. Well, we could say that about Abraham at this point in his life. He old, but he ain't dead. You see, he was a very old man, and he deeply loved Sarah. But he looked upon life. He looked upon change, even dramatic change. It's not the end of the book of his life, but simply a new chapter in the book of his life. Verse 7 states that he was about 175 years old when he died, so he was probably about 150 years old when these events occurred around Mary and Katora. You see, for Abraham, life was still worth living and enjoying. There were still more experiences to learn about life. He wasn't about to just shut life down. He wasn't about to fall into a rut or to move into a shell for the rest of his life, because he had accepted change throughout his life. He had demonstrated faith in God and became the father of many nations because he was willing to adopt to change. He was willing to continue to grow, to learn new things, new experiences, new opportunities. Even when that change was painful, even when the change was a result of loss or sadness or mourning. Now, brethren, I'm not suggesting, certainly at this time, that when dramatic or unwanted things happen in our life, if we're senior citizens, for example, that we remarry, that may not be desired. But what about developing a new hobby? What about developing a new skill? Perhaps picking up a musical instrument that you've never played before? What about building something, whether it's a garden or something built out of wood or a new craft skill? What about teaching? What about taking all of those years of experience, of life experience, and imparting it to young kids to teach them something about life, to give them a head-started life? How about traveling and seeing areas of Ohio that you always wanted to see and just never had the time to do? How about volunteering to help people do things that are not as well off as you are, haven't been blessed as much as you are? You see, life is meant to be constantly changing. And rather than stay in a rut, or rather than regret the fact that things change, that our lives change, just accept the fact that change has a purpose. And we can use that change to help us to grow and help us to learn new experiences and to go through new opportunities that we probably never would otherwise. I think that's important for us to understand and appreciate. Let's go to Exodus 2 and verse 5 and see another man who experienced dramatic change. Exodus 2 and verse 5.

This is the case of Moses.

It says, And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then this sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew woman, That she may nurse the child for you? And Pharaoh's daughter said, Go. So the maiden went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away, and nurse him for me, And I will give you your wages. So the woman took the child and nursed him, And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, And became her son. Now, he became a prince of Egypt.

No, he wasn't next in line to ever be a Pharaoh. Certainly not. But let me tell you something. When you grew up in Pharaoh's house, You had privileges and opportunities that were unbelievable. You had the best education available. You actually learned to become literate. You were taught things that the average Egyptian would never learn in their lifetimes.

You had perks and privileges and benefits by growing up as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Let's continue now. So she called his name Moses because I drew him out of the water. That's also an Egyptian name, by the way. You may hear a Pharaoh like Tut Moses. Moses is from the same root word as the Hebrew word Moses. Verse 11, Now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown, And he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens.

He got away from the isolated, rarefied air of the palace, And went out to see the real people, his brethren. And he looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way. And when we saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hit him in the sand.

And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting. And he said to the one who did the wrong, Why are you striking your companion? Then he said, Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? So Moses feared and said, Surely this thing is known. In verse 15, When Pharaoh heard of this, he sought to kill Moses.

So the man that was killed was not just some bumpkin. He was a high-ranking Egyptian official. And it upset Pharaoh that of all people, Moses would kill a high-ranking Egyptian official. He sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat there by a well. So here is a man, highly educated and pampered in Pharaoh's court, a prince of Egypt, from the most civilized culture that existed in the world at that time. And what sudden dramatic change does he go to? Well, he leaves that and goes to live in a wasteland by Egyptian standards known as Midian.

And because God has a sense of humor, God gave Moses a new career. The one, according to Genesis 46.34, was the most despised by Egyptians, and that was a shepherd. So God has a sense of humor, and he says, not only am I taking you from all of this to this wasteland, this little desert area, this backward area, I'm going to give you the profession that growing up in Pharaoh's court, you were always taught, was to be so despised. I'm going to make you a shepherd for 40 years. Now, that had to be a difficult transition for someone to go from Egypt to Midian.

That would probably be like someone going from Canton, Ohio to, say, Sugar Creek, Ohio. I did that to tease Mr. Miller. But it was a culture shock for Moses to go from Egypt to the land of Midian, just like if you grew up in a major city and you ended up in the Amish culture. There's a culture shock. There definitely is a difference. And yet Moses accepted, he might not have liked it, but he accepted this change, this sudden and dramatic change in his life.

Because God is not in the comfort business, he's in the development business. And 40 years later, God says, Okay, you passed that test. Now take your little staff and your little sandals and go back to Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go. Once again, a sudden and dramatic change in Moses' life. Yet all the wonderful things we read that were accomplished by Israel, the founding of a nation, and the people who eventually led to Jesus Christ and his birth, and our Savior, and much of what we find in this book was because of this man Moses who accepted sudden and dramatic change in his life.

Painful at times? Yes. Maybe he didn't like the change? Yes. But he understood because he looked in the long term that it was a good thing that these things happen. Let's now look at some New Testament examples. 2 Timothy 4 and verse 9. 2 Timothy 4 and verse 9. This is rather a sad scripture because we see here that the Apostle Paul, who was imprisoned at this time, had experienced dramatic change, and he was struggling to deal with it.

You mean people in the church experienced dramatic change? You mean people in the church of God sometimes struggle to deal with change? You bet! Here's what he says. 2 Timothy 4 and verse 9. He says, Be diligent to come to me quickly. Paul is lonely. He's a prisoner in a dank prison cell. verse 10. For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica.

Crecans for Galatia. Titus for Demetria. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. And Tychicus I've sent to Ephesus. Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come. In the books, especially the parchments, Alexander the Coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words. At first, at my first defense, no one stood with me, but all forsook me.

May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. You see, this is a pretty dramatic change for Paul, who was always a very extroverted man. You had to have a unique personality to go from one city to another, and to walk into a synagogue, and no one who knew who you are, and just start to initiate conversations about prophecy and about Jesus being the Savior.

He was an extroverted man. He was a very energetic man who had lived his whole life, walking and doing things, and being a very important person in God's work. And now, as an aged man, he is stuck in this prison cell, and the people that he trusted most had abandoned him. The aged apostle of the faith is lonely. He's in prison. Demas has abandoned Paul and went back to the world.

He calls Mark useful, the same Mark whom he wouldn't allow to even travel with him in Acts 15 that caused a split in the church when Barnabas went his way, and Paul went his way. That same young, immature kid Paul now recognizes, hindsight being 20-20, a little maturity, he now recognizes he's useful for me in my ministry. Alexander the coppersmith that did something that greatly harmed Paul, we don't know the details. It may have been testimony.

At his preliminary hearing, none of his beloved brothers were there to give him emotional support. This was a tough time for the apostle Paul. Yet he dealt with it, and he accepted it, and he looked at it as an opportunity. He said it was an opportunity to preach Christ through me, that the Gentiles might hear the Word of God. That's what he says in verse 17. So as painful as it was, as much as he didn't like it, he accepted it and looked at it as an opportunity.

The final example that I would like to mention regarding change today, someone who accepted dramatic, unbelievable change is none other than God himself. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, well, Malachi 3.6 says in the scripture that God does not change. God changes not, but remember that that's in reference to his character and his values and God's ethics. Actually, the most dramatic change that ever took place in our universe took place when Jesus Christ emptied himself of his Godhead, of his divinity, and walked on earth as a human being.

Let's read about that in Philippians 2. If you'll turn there with me, Philippians 2 and verse 5. The most dramatic change that ever took place in human history that has ever occurred was for our benefit. It was because Christ loved us so much, he was willing to change his very form and composition. You talk about dramatic change. You talk about sudden change. Paul writes here to the Philippians, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.

You see, brethren, Jesus Christ was God in all glory and in all splendor, and he gave that up. He was humbly born from a woman as a human being, and at that time he was no longer composed of spirit, no longer had glory, risked everything that he had by doing that, and he did it because he loved you and I so much. He was no longer composed of spirit. He had to rely on a close relationship with his Father while he walked on the earth, and his connection with his Father was through the power of God's Holy Spirit.

Talk about a culture shock to go from God to man. I like to use a phrase that, you know, Adam, the name Adam means dirt or mud. That's what man is. So Jesus Christ basically went from God to a dirt bag, and he did it humbly, and he did it because he loves you and I so much, because he looked at the long term. Is it comfortable being in the full glory of God? I'm sure it was.

That's the status he had. He could have easily stayed there, but he looked at the long term. What's best for my brothers and sisters that my Father wants to add to my family? What's best for their benefit? They need a Savior. They need someone to come down to earth and experience the pains and feelings and temptations, yet remain strong and never sin.

They need a Savior, Jesus said. They need me. And he accepted that dramatic, sudden change in composition from being God to a mere human being and dwelling in the world that we live in. Because, again, he looked at the benefits of the long term, not the short term. Let's go to Hebrews 5 and verse 5. Hebrews 5 and verse 5. And we'll see specifically the benefit that we have because he was willing to do that. Hebrews 5 and verse 5. It says, Though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered, and having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him, called by God as high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, in whom we have much to say and hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing.

I'd like to read verse 7 from the translation New Century Version.

Well, Jesus lived on earth. He prayed to God and asked God for help. He prayed with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and his prayer was heard because he trusted God. Even though Jesus was the son of God, he learned obedience by what he suffered. You see, brethren, the humbled emotion that Christ willingly accepted made him more fitting as our high priest. His suffering as a man made him better equipped to be our Savior. It made him better equipped to be an intermediary, to be our high priest. He was able to learn firsthand, not just sympathy. You know, sympathy is when you feel sorry for someone. He went beyond that. He learned empathy. Empathy is different than sympathy. It's identification with something. It's understanding the way another person feels, or what they fear, or what their expressions are. Because he came down and he walked as a man, and he lived and experienced the same types of trials and difficulties that you and I do, it made him more fitting to be the perfect high priest and Savior. It isn't just due to some theological theory that he's a great high priest. It's because, as we say in the modern vernacular, he's been there, done that. He's a high priest because he empathizes, he knows how it feels. He knows what our frustrations are like. He knows what it's like to be discouraged. He knows what it's like to suffer in pain. That's what made him the great and perfect Savior and high priest. So you see, all change isn't bad. Some change is painful, but change is very good, usually, and necessary. So how do we feel about change? Well, brethren, we have to accept the fact that change is constant. It's part of everyday life. Change of itself is not bad or evil. It's what people become during the process of change that leads to either bad or evil. The change itself isn't usually bad or evil. It's what it does to people and how we react to change that becomes bad or evil. Sometimes, events in life force us to change whether we want to or not. We tend to look at change and interpret it as a loss or an elimination of something important. Brethren, I want to encourage you today to view change as the beginning of something important. We don't have to want to change. I've certainly had a lot of change in my life that I never expected and never wanted, never asked for. But rather than look at change negatively, rather than resist change, the biblical point of view is to look at change as an opportunity to gain and grow in something new. And if we have that perspective, we will be able to adapt to that change much more effectively than we would otherwise. We need to view change and the need for change as something that's positive because we should look at it from the long-term results and not look at it always as just bad or evil. Yes, maybe it forced us to get out of our comfort zone. Yes, maybe it shook us out of a rut, and we don't like that. Yes, maybe life now is more hectic than it was at one time.

But if we look at it from the long-term view, as Jesus Christ did, as Moses did, as Abraham did, if we look at dramatic and sudden change from a long-term perspective, we will be able to accept that change much more readily. Turn with me to Job 14.

We are all creatures of habit, and yes, we resist change. We like stability. We like our routines. And routines are not necessarily bad, but if they stop us from growing, they can become bad. Brethren, our lives have always been about change and repentance and conversion. We've been through fiery trials. That's change. But in Job 14, he looked forward to the big change. I don't know if you ever considered that the resurrection is a big change. Here's what Job said. He said, If a man dies, shall he live again? He says, All the days of my hard service I will wait. When we die and this physical life expires and we go into the ground, we are sleeping. The Bible uses that analogy of sleep. In our culture, we use the phrase, Rest in peace, and we are awaiting a resurrection. He says, All the days of my hard service I will wait, patiently, quietly, till my change comes. You shall call and I will answer you. You shall desire the work of your hands. For now you number my steps, but do not watch over my sin. My transgression is sealed up in a bag and you cover my iniquity. So, brethren, thanks to what Jesus Christ did, God does not look at us and he does not look down on our sins. He does not look at us in a negative way. He looks at us as forgiven. Our transgressions are sealed up in a bag. Our iniquity has been covered by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. And we all have forward, we can look forward, to the most dramatic and sudden change that we will ever experience. And that will be the change from being physical to being a spirit being in the family of God for all eternity.

Now that's what I call sudden and dramatic change. And that change will be good for us. So as John Maxwell likes to say, change is inevitable, growth is optional. I encourage you to accept change and realize that it's a part of daily life. Everything is constantly changing. Yes, perhaps in such small ways that we don't perceive it, but it is changing every second that ticks by. Let's look at change as an opportunity for growth, as an opportunity to experience new things in our lives. God is not done with us yet, brethren. Let's be willing to change and grow for the better. Have a wonderful Sabbath.