Change

Philippians 3:7-9: 7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.

8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ                                                

9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

Paul stated here that he considered everything in life as rubbish, trash, in order to know Jesus Christ. In life, if we keep tract of our nutrition in order to have a healthy life we learn soon that there are a lot of foods that may taste good but they are considered "empty calories". This means that they have no nutritional value. They don't add anything to our attempts to maintain a healthy weight. In the spiritual world- there are things that we are tempted to "eat" that have no spiritual value. In fact, they can hinder our spiritual walk. The world offers a lot of empty calories for our diets. But we must, like Paul, consider them as trash- useless and detrimental to our walk with Christ.

Many of us hold onto things in our natural life- things that no longer have any significance or value. And we do the same in our spiritual life. Let me ask you a question-- do you read and pray as much as you should? And if not, why not? God is requiring change in the church and in individuals. We are the ones to blame. It is up to us to create this change, up to us to do the things necessary to bring about this change. We can't blame anyone- not even Satan- for we are the ones who control what we do.

If we don't clean our house- if we don't let go of what God is asking us to let go- then He will come along and do it for us- and it will be worse than if we made the choice.  It is better to fall on the Rock than have the Rock fall on you!

Matthew 25:1-11 is the parable of Jesus about the five wise and five foolish virgins. The five wise virgins had their lamps all trimmed and ready for the return of the bridegroom. But the five foolish virgins did not. They spent their time doing other things. When the bridegroom returned the five foolish ones realized their lack of oil, but it was too late. The five wise virgins, who had spent their time wisely- maybe like Paul- considering everything else useless and trash- other than getting to know Christ-- they were ready.

Are you ready? Are you spending your time and talents wisely? In this day with all the technology around us, with all the activities that we think we must be part of--many things are out there to tempt us away from the real issue of life- getting to know Christ and being ready for His return.

Are you doing all you can to bring about the change that God is requiring of His people? Are you maintaining your lamp so that you will be full of the "oil"- the Holy Spirit- when He returns?

 There is an old song that speaks about change- the writer was tired of always being stirred but never changed. All the boo-hooing, sobbing and tears won't do it. We need to stop being convicted of it, and get up and do something to allow the change to come. Change-- it's up to each individual. We can't blame anyone or anything but ourselves if we are not changing.

(Taken from Pastor Keith's message- 3/15/2015)