It’s 2019! We have lived 27 days of this year already. We are finishing the first month of this year! Wow! January is gone already! Can you believe that?
I’ve a question for you: Can you compare who you were in 2018 and who are you now? What is different? What is better? What Did you change in yourself?
Since last year, We are receiving here powerful messages about “expectations”! It’s time to put in practice what we learned!
Somebody said: “Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results”.
That’s right! How many mistakes did you make last year? I made a lot of them for sure!
Please, pay attention: If you do this year what you did last year expecting different results, you are crazy! You have the whole year in front of you! Don’t waste your time doing the same mistakes you did last year. It’s time to change! It’s time to grow!
Today we’re gonna talk about change. The title of this message is: “The Time to change has come” can you say it? …
One of the most difficult things for human beings to do is change.
It’s hard to do it. Think about: Do you remember when you moved to your new home? When you got a new job? When you change from primary to secondary school?
Do you remember when you moved to a new country, different culture, different language?! Change is hard! But change is also good!
I remember when I moved to Ireland the first time. I didn’t know how it would be here, I didn’t even know what I would tell the immigration officers. Everything sounded and looked different, the cars, houses, people… it was hard, but it was good!
When you change to a better place, when you change to a better job, school and of course, when God call us to be a better person and we change and become a new and better person, we can see that change is good!
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
Please, look what is written in Romans 13:11,12:
And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light.
It’s time to wake up!
It’s time to wake up from our slumber. Sometimes the slumber can be fear, an anguish that keeps you from living God’s plan!
You may have had a terrible experience and now everything that happens in your life, some thought comes and tells to you that everything will go wrong! Don’t listen to it! It’s time to wake up!
The slumber can be like a sin that has been with you for years and you cannot let go of it. It takes you away from the presence of God and the change for the better never happens completely, because there will always be this sin, this stone that makes you stumble! It’s time to change! The time to change has come!
God said in Isaiah 43:19
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Do you believe that? God is moving in our lives! He is doing a new thing. It springs up! He is making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Hallelujah! He is the God of miracle!
You know, I love the Bible. The bible is the word of God, and we can learn a lot from it.
Today I want to use some examples of the bible to increase our faith, but I would like to challenge you to read the whole bible this year. It’s time to change, so let’s improve our knowledge about God!
It’s Time to change: if you decided today to change your life, look what God will do in your life:
1- A little boy become a strong soldier of God
1 Samuel 17:45,46
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.
All the Israeli army were afraid of the giant! David’s brothers were afraid too! But, a little boy, a normal guy, was not. David was delivering some bread to his brothers and heard about the trouble the army were facing! So, He decided to make things different! He decided to change and follow What God had planned for his life! He received a prophecy that He would become the king of Israel. So he decided to live it! He decided to walk in the right way, the way of God! And if you read the whole story, you’re gonna see that the giant was defeated and killed!
When we decide to change and live God’s will, even a little boy can become a strong person in God’s hand! If you think you are small or too weak, in God’s hand you will become a special soldier of the celestial army.
Are you ready to live in God’s power? If your answer is yes, so you can face the giants of your life. Face them! Don’t be afraid: As David did, Face them!
Face the giants of your life! Slay them and move on, do not be taken back by the mistakes and failures in your life. Leave your past behind and dare to live God’s plans for your life. There is security for you, there is protection, there is a good life for you!
The God of Israel is with you!
You can say to the Giant of your life:
Trouble, You come against me with sword and spear and javelin,
Disease, You come against me with sword and spear and javelin,
Devil, You come against me with sword and spear and javelin,
BUT I COME AGAINST YOU IN THE NAME OF THE LORD ALMIGHTY, THE GOD OF THE ARMIES OF ISRAEL! He is with me!
David had to give up childish play, take responsibility, and exercise what was the call of his life. He had to mature. Just like change, maturing is also hard to go through! This is a phase where we stop drinking milk to eat food that’s more solid. When we mature, our behaviour, our attitudes change. We became men. People look at us and say: Wow, how did you grow up! Now you are a parent, or now you are a good wife, or a good son who helps your parents at home. Yeah?
Change brings this spiritual and physical maturity to us. When we become mature at a spiritual level, we become stronger.
. Small problems no longer shake us, we realise how great God is and that our enemy is actually weak! So we trust more in God, we grow in Faith and move on!
So, the First thing we should change today:
“Stop being a little child and start growing up. Grown up in faith and become a great man of God, face the giants and overthrow them”.
It’s time to change: : if you decided today to change your life, look what God will do in your life:
2- An orphan girl became a Queen and saved her people!
Look what is written in Esther 2:17 “Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.”
Esther was a young lady, with no parents, living a hard life in a foreign land! She lost everything but her faith in God. Even though she faced many problems, she would still dream, She still had expectations!, And then She changed her life.
But up til that moment, she was still facing troubles! She lost her parents. Her parents were killed! She had to hide her Jewish identity, who she really was.
Maybe you are like Esther. Perhaps you have had to hide your past, wishing others would not know what you’ve done, who you were or what others did to you. Maybe you don’t know who you really are in God! Maybe you’re worried that your past will define your future. Maybe you felt that if people knew the “real” you, they would tease you, make fun of you, or reject you. You’d rather not dream instead of being frustrated once again. You prefer not to make plans in case you cannot reach them!
Sometimes, God doesn’t change a situation, because he is trying to change your heart!
It is necessary to abandon the negative vision we have OF ourselves. Maybe because of what happened and the things we’ve been through, we have a wrong view of the person we really are, or really need to be! You must have an identity! You must know who you are!
it’s time to change! And the time to change has come!
In Ephesians 2:10 says:
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We are God’s creation!
and in Romans 8:15 says:
“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[a] And by him we cry, “Abba,[b] Father.”
We are God’s creation! We have identity! We are children of God!
God takes care of your life, He knows everything about you. He knows about your past, what you did, what you been through, all your troubles, problems, sadness, and He still loves you, He still loves me!
In the middle of our chaos, our wrong ways, he says: Son, I love you! My daughter, I am with you. We just need to change our minds, forget the past and carry on straight ahead! So, find who you are in Jesus! You are a child, bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. In Colossians 2:14 says: “having canceled the charge of our legal
indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” You don’t have to pay more anything!
Change brings us a new recognition: In Ireland you get a PPS number. Through this government document, any company can know all your details, address, work, age, training.
When you decide to change and live God’s plans, you receive a new registration. You will be recognised as a child of God, someone who has been saved and has a life purpose. Your past will not matter any more. This will not stay on your record, all your bad history will be erased by the blood of Jesus, because now you have a bright future ahead now that you know who you are!
When you know who you are in God, you can start dreaming again, making plans and putting them in God’s hands. He is taking care of you. Know who you are, Dream again, make plans and trust in God! He can make you a King, a Queen! Yeah. I believe in his power.
So the second thing to change today is: Forget your past! Don’t hide yourself. Dream! Make plans and Know who you really are. You’re a child of God!
It’s time to change: : if you decided today to change your life, look what God will do in your life:
3- He will Swap your natural fishing net for spiritual ones!
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Matthew 4:19
Peter was a ordinary man, a professional fisherman. Someday, He had a real encounter with God and his life changed! He used to fish for a living, but when He changed to God’s plan, He started to fish men!
Peter had to give up to his natural fishing nets to experience a good change in his life. If He had not done it, he would not have lived miracles next to Jesus.
It’s time to change! Sometimes we need to give up some of our plans to live God’s plan! So, Throw your nets away! Your plan is not good enough to give you all the peace and protection you need! You cannot do the same old things of the past year! You have to throw away your nets, your plan if you want to live God’s plan!
Let me tell you something: It’s not wrong to insist on your plans if you think they are going well, but if they are also keeping you from getting close to God, or if they are keeping you spiritually weak and preventing you to grow, that is wrong! It’s wrong of us to insist in error when we fully know that God has better plans for our life! It’s time to change.
Allow God to take care of your life!
My brothers and sisters! Wake up! We read in the Beginning: Wake up of your slumber! The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.
The day of the Lord is near. Jesus is coming back soon. Look the signs! The day is almost here. It’s time to change. The time to change has come.
1- Stop being a little child and start growing up. Grown up in faith and become a great man of God, face the giants and overthrow them. God is with you! Don’t be afraid! Joshua 1:9 says: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
2- Forget your past! Don’t hide yourself. Dream! Make plans and Know who you really are. You’re a child of God!
Philippians 3:13,14 says: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
3- Give up of your natural fishing nets and live God’s plan.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20,21.