======================================================================== GOD DOES NOT CHANGE, HE STILL USES THE WORTHLESS by Randy Krahn ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the unchanging faithfulness of God amidst life's changes and challenges. It encourages spiritual growth, the importance of bearing fruit, and the need for genuine love and unity among believers. The message highlights the necessity of humility, obedience to God's Word, discernment between the spirit and the flesh, and the transformational power of God's grace in our lives. Topics: "God's Faithfulness", "Spiritual Growth and Unity" Scripture References: Malachi 3:6, Galatians 5:22, John 13:34, Philippians 2:5, 2 Timothy 3:5, 1 Samuel 16:7, 1 Corinthians 1:18, Romans 14:17, James 4:8, Hebrews 2:11, 1 John 3:1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the unchanging faithfulness of God amidst life's changes and challenges. It encourages spiritual growth, the importance of bearing fruit, and the need for genuine love and unity among believers. The message highlights the necessity of humility, obedience to God's Word, discernment between the spirit and the flesh, and the transformational power of God's grace in our lives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lord, we're grateful that we can be together. We thank you for this place. We thank we thankful that we have a roof over our head, Lord, and that we have a place where where you meet with us, where we purpose to meet with you. Pray for the Holy Spirit to manifest in a new and living way this coming year in each one of our lives and our families among our children that we would grow spiritually, Lord, that we would grow, our children would grow spiritually, that our homes would become a refuge and a place where people would come to find help and encouragement, where people would change. In Jesus' name, amen. I was thinking of a scripture that says about God that there's no variation or shadow of turning with him. And even though the seasons change, he doesn't change. So whether we're in winter or spring or summer or fall, God is still faithful. We go through changes in life, but he doesn't change. And so we can say praise the Lord, whether like it is now full ice. My wife said to me last day, she said, man, just to go outside and you feel like there's there's nothing you can really do out there except shovel snow. Recently, she went out to go and check something at the front gate and and she slipped and fell on the ice. And all of a sudden, in a moment, life changes. And all of a sudden, she's not the same, you know, that sore arm and tingling down the arm. And it's been like that for a while. Don't know if it's cracked or nerve damage or if it's a deep bone bruise or joint, you begin to realize that we need the Lord now more than we did yesterday. And a lot of times we we make our plans. A man plans his way and God orchestrates our steps. And it doesn't always turn out the way that we plan. But we know one thing that God is still on the throne, that he still cares for us, that his love for us hasn't changed and his desire for us is to grow spiritually and that we would be conformed into the image of his son Jesus. And his plan for us is still yes and amen in Jesus name. And it's important that we be found faithful. Brother Dan shared about bearing fruit. It's difficult to go outside and see a fig tree bearing fruit in the middle of the ice. We go outside and then we go to see the the blossoms come out in spring and we're really excited to see the cherry trees. And they're the first ones to blossom, the blossoming cherries around here. And to see those beautiful pink and white flowers coming out and seems so exciting. And then all of a sudden the strong wind blows a few weeks later and all the leaves, those petals are blowing all over the yard. And then you know you see the little bits of green coming and you think man that's my favorite time of year is seeing those trees blossom like that, so beautiful. But I've heard one man of God say the farmer he would be really grieved if those leaves stayed that way and those flowers stayed on the on the branches because there's no fruit coming. And a lot of times we get discouraged when we see the flowers of spring blowing away on the fruit trees. But to the farmer, to the one who's anticipating better things than that, the leaves have to fall off so that the fruit can come. You know and then it says see how the hard- working farmer waits patiently for the precious fruit to come. And he's anticipating the early rain and the latter rain. In the same way that's what we need in our spiritual walk. We need to have the early rain of the Spirit of God in our life and we need the latter rains to bring forth the beautiful fruit of grace that manifests in us as the Holy Spirit has his way. You know when I was building homes years ago and we built some homes for some police officers and I wasn't walking with the Lord in those days and I seen how loyal they were to one another and how they helped each other and they had each other's back. And I rode along with them and I saw how they worked together when they're dealing with problems and and how there's just a oneness about them. And I said well you guys want to come over for dinner? No we're helping so-and-so move. And then a week later they're helping somebody else move and somebody else had something and they're bringing meals to them and helping them in the hospital. There's like a community among the police officers and I'm not sure if it's like that with the firemen but there's a sense of church among them. And I thought to myself man this is this is a lot of love there like tremendous love there. I've never I'm not known that kind of love. You kind of get attracted to this kind of love and you also start to think on these things and then you think of our church now as we're following Christ and you say man we don't even have that kind of love that the police officers have one for another. And the unity that they have and they have each other's backs but it's not from Christ. There's love that the world gives. There's a unity that comes from a loyalty to flesh among gangs among criminals but there's a a unity and a love that must rise higher and greater than that where the world comes to a point where they say we want to be Christians because we see the love that the Christians have one for another. Can we say it's true? Can we say it's true? It's easy to love people who love you back. It's easy to love people who are kind to you and encourage you and say good things but can you love someone who who speaks the truth to you? You say well they didn't speak it in love. Well that is really not if it's truth how it's spoken to us. Of course we'd like to have our words seasoned with salt but we don't all do it perfectly. Ask me and brother Dan. We do what seems best. Right because we're just learning. Just as we exhort our children we do what seems best but we're just learning and as we grow in maturity and as we have opportunity to get through we have nine children as you get to the last few you start to realize hey there's a better way to get better results because the end goal is obedience and we want to come to a place where we are exhorting and encouraging and contending for the faith which was once delivered to us that we see people grow spiritually that we see them become obedient to what the word of God says because if we don't become obedient to what God's word says none of us are going to grow spiritually. We deceive ourselves. Jesus said in John 15 if you abide in me and my words abide in you. He talks about us bearing much fruit and our fruit remaining as a branch can't do anything of itself unless it abides in the vine. He said abide in me and let my words abide in you. When we exhort our children we want our words to abide in them. In other words we want them to be obedient to what we're asking of them. It's great to see our kids loving each other and playing and all that while there's just a terrible mess around. There's a terrible food laying all over the place and they're just enjoying themselves and playing games and having a good time and it seems there's so much unity and so much love being spread around and the place is filthy. We can deceive ourselves in thinking that we're in a great place and there can be filth all about us and how does the father see it? You say well that's great you guys are having a great time but there's clothes all over the floor there's food all over your sheets there's well we have so much liberty we have so much liberty we we can eat wherever we want we can do this we can do that we God's given us all things richly to enjoy and we go out and we live in a disorderly and an unorderly way and we don't take heed to the other things that God says. Take heed to yourselves and to your doctrine for by it you'll save yourselves and them that hear you. And my kids sometimes think that I'm just harping on them and I say listen guys you gotta keep your rooms clean and tidy and after you're done eating you need to put things away and you need to learn that the floor if we soil the floor we have to clean up and there's no going to other things until we all work together to help to clean up this area and it's important for us that in a spiritual sense we do the same. You know we go to work and we rub shoulders with people and we get sometimes into conflicts or we find ourselves bitter or things get said it's important to clean up after ourselves if we say things or we become messy or things happen in a careless way and stuff ends up on the floor you say hey doesn't matter believers unbelievers alike yeah I kind of spoke hastily there I got caught up I got laughed at some things there that was being said and and I'm sorry about that I'm ashamed of that I want to do better and it's important that we are humble that way and we don't appear to be more righteous than even the unbelievers because the unbelievers have a form of their own kind of righteousness and then the religious people they have a form of their own kind of righteousness but what matters is what Jesus says what matters is what God sees what true humility looks like what repentance looks like when Jesus comes from seated in the in the highest places and he comes and he finds himself in the likeness as a man even a baby it says he humbled himself we talked about this uh during the the holidays during Christmas time you know when Jesus came and he was born in the barn he's born in a manger he was not ashamed when we humbled ourselves and we were weeping and saying Jesus can you help me someone like me and he comes and he makes his abode with you he's not too ashamed to call us his brethren he's not ashamed to call you his son his daughter and unless we have a revelation that he has no business being born in a barn perhaps you've not perhaps you're still living in the end and you've not met him yet perhaps you've heard about him with the hearing of the year but you haven't seen him you haven't seen him active in your life doing something bringing convictions bringing peace and joy in the holy spirit there's a way that seems right to a man the end is destruction you know we need discernment brother Dan was talking about that we need to have discernment to discern what is of the spirit and what is of the flesh if we can't discern the things of the spirit and the things of the flesh then we'll call all the police officers born against and we'll take the best of them the most decorated and we'll make them pastors and elders in our church now i'm for police officers i'm not against them what i'm saying is that we have to be able to look past the outwardness of what we deem to be godly and righteous and have the eyes of the spirit to see how god sees you know even Samuel was lacking when he came after Saul had been stripped from his authority as king over Israel and the Lord God sent Samuel to go and anoint another who was better than him to be king over Israel and as Samuel comes into the the town there where Jesse was with his sons he said the son that I show you from the house of Jesse as soon as he steps onto the property and he goes over there he sees a lie of head and shoulders above the rest surely the God's anointed is before me I mean he's a fantastic he fits the bill he's got the height like Saul he's got the build I mean just to look at him I mean he's the one and God says that I've I've not chosen him I've rejected him it's not him and he's like surely the Lord's anointed before me no he says you are looking the way man sees and we all have a tendency even men of God have a tendency we look outwardly and we see the man and we say oh this fits the bill but God goes deeper than the skin he goes deeper than the outward appearance he looks at the heart he looks at the measure of the heart and then we get a picture of Eliab's nature later on after David is chosen and anointed David goes to bring some cheese and provisions for his brothers and the captains and he ends up there and he hears this champion mocking Israel mocking the people of God and he's getting he starts asking people who is this guy who does he think he is this uncircumcised philistine who's mocking God's people and who's mocking God and his brother Eliab hears him and he becomes angry and his anger manifests and he says who did you leave those few sheep with are you coming here to what do you what do you come here to do just to hang out go on get out of here and he tries to discourage David from what God is doing from the inside out he uses this man whom Samuel thought was God's anointed standing before him God saw that this is an angry brother that his heart is not right and that he opposes the anointing maybe he become envious of David maybe something was wrong inside of his heart all along but now his anger manifests and he tries to belittle God's anointed and hinder the purpose and call of God for his life but God's people are not hindered by these bullies so it doesn't matter how tall you are in house and stature doesn't matter what how decorated you are on the outside what matters is the spirit of God's on the inside and God was able to finish the work that he begun in David in that he brought about in the process of the cocoon of his dealings he brought about a man of God the making of a man of God is is a story written by Alan Redpath I believe his name was and he goes on to explain how God took David from the sheepfold and how he made him king in Israel and that's really the journey of each and every one of us how God wants to take us where we are and that we be humble and little in our own eyes and have this kind of valiant spirit within us to become the man and woman of God of valor you know what kind of love David had David had the kind of love that he took people like guys from the creek guys from Wagner Hills guys from here guys from there people that didn't fit in who weren't accepted and he said you know what they found their way to David Saul couldn't find a guy in the wilderness all these guys found David somehow what kind of guys were they kind of guys that couldn't manage their own money they were in debt they couldn't get along with people probably had pride issues rebellion issues they found their way to David and they were able to come under the authority that David had and you know what he helped them to overcome those indeficiencies and those rebellion issues and all that flesh and all that pride and all that and he shaped their character through patience and through endurance and he saw them become mighty men of valor these became David's mighty men it's written of them in the book worthless men that became mighty men because of the grace and the power of God in David and they come to experience the love that David had for them through the patience and the endurance they were able to inherit some of the promises there weren't good men that joined themselves with David it says they were worthless men and that's what God does even in today's age he takes those things that are not the worthless things the base things the foolish things the nothing ones and it just pleases him to call those things that are not as though they are and it bothers me to no end we have some brothers who say well you know what God can't use me I'm an I'm an alcoholic or God can't use me I'm a drug addict and I say you know what you should go back to AA and stay over there while you're believing lies because if God calls you righteous and God calls you holy and you haven't practiced those things in 10 years 20 years then you're no longer those things in Jesus name you may have shared in your testimony that Jesus set me free from drugs and alcohol but that's not who you are we are more than conquerors in Christ who set us free who called us out of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love and so we can just sit there and wallow in our pride and our self-pity and make excuses why we're this and why we're not that and you know what God is just it's just an evil heart of unbelief and it just bothers God to no end just keep confessing lies well you know I'm not worthy I'm not worthy that's false humility that's the spiritual pride that's just some excuse for just staying burying your talent in the ground and and thinking yourself just unworthy when I was my children were young I started to call them those things that God put in my heart with what my children would be and I haven't seen the fullness of it yet but I say you're going to be a mighty man of God you're going to be a preacher of righteousness and I just speak into them I want to speak into them those things that God has revealed unto me you know what words have power words have authority and if we keep saying I'm not I'm not I'm not and we just keep denying the power of God that talks about people like that second Timothy having a form of godliness and denying the power of God it says from such people we should remove ourselves that's dead religion you know what it hasn't yet been revealed what we shall be but when he is revealed when he is manifested it says that we shall be like him it says everyone who has this hope in Jesus purifies himself just as he is pure and we want to see Jesus high and lifted up and and we want to see him high and lifted up in us so that he might be magnified we need to remain humble but we need to allow the power of God to work so that people can see Jesus that we might radiate and glow God is not pleased when we just say well I knew you to be an austere man and I just bury my talent in the ground and say oh you know I just don't really have any giftings my little giftings not this not that we just bury it in the ground and we just make excuses because you know what we can do great things in the flesh we can do all kinds of things but when it comes to oh I'm not a preacher I'm not an evangelist or I'm not a pastor I'm not this I'm not that he's given some to do all kinds of different things but you know what in the measure of faith that you have exercise that gift he hasn't called us in the church to be bench sitters as Dan shared we're not bench sitters he's called us to be ministers and ambassadors for Jesus in whatever capacity and gift and call that he's given you give yourself to that if you're an encourager then use the gift to encourage people we need a spirit of encouragement among us if you have a gift of helps that's your gift and help with all your might and do it with the joy of the Lord if you have a gift to preach then begin to exercise that gift I heard brother brother uh I won't use his name but he shared that maybe you're a two-minute brother in other words you you have the content to share for two minutes from the scripture then come and share for your two minutes don't share for three share for two and share the word that God has burning in your heart until God expands your wine skin and you become a three-minute brother but the whole purpose is that we would encourage and exhort and edify one another to contend for the faith that we would become unified in the spirit and that the love of God would be shut shed abroad now David doesn't talk about the rogue brothers that went back we don't know whether there were rogue brothers that went back but you know what if they weren't going to do it David's way and they weren't going to be team players and they weren't going to be interested in learning to do things the way David had because there's an order in things I'm sure they would have just gone back and just found their own way and we've had many people over the years who said you know what I don't want to submit to that brother I don't want to submit to those elders I don't want to submit to that group I see all their in in deficiencies and I see their weaknesses and we all got them that's why we need one another but you know what we want to follow someone who has a heart of Jesus has a passion burden for the lost who want to see people overcome who are willing to lay their life down and and and extend their hand to the poor and to the needy and and to love people and and go and visit the sick and and extend a hand up to people there's a lot of people today looking for handouts you know Jesus doesn't make it easy for us he gives us an opportunity to receive him and then we have a responsibility to walk the narrow path and that path is not easy he doesn't say well you know what now that you've come in this narrow gate there's this wide path he talks in second Peter about add to your faith virtue it's not easy when you've been an unvirtuous person to become virtuous when you've been unfaithful to become faithful when you've been all these things you have to learn these things you know in virtue knowledge it's not easy to learn knowledge it takes time when you have a small child and you're trying to teach them how to talk and how to walk that takes like a year a couple years till they can start to talk a few years we want everything now we want to go through Wendy's we want A&W we just quick quick burgers just stuff ourselves we're good to go and so a lot of people they they go and they listen just strictly to messages and they never get into scriptures themselves and hear the Holy Spirit speak to them God can speak to us through a message just like God speaks to us through mom and dad but he says also in the scriptures that you don't need any man to teach you but you have the Holy Spirit who will teach you and lead you and guide you into all truth we know that his word is truth and we need the Holy Spirit to speak to us and to teach us his way I shared with my son-in-law yesterday we were talking and I said you know it's an interesting thing that we're born with a body legs arms and a head you know and as you're growing up and we start talking to our kids and we start telling them you know what come on use your head you know think don't just do things without thinking and then I heard my uncle say one time I said well you know we need to be led by the spirit and my uncle said to me he's a very religious man and he says if it makes good sense seek no other sense I scratched my head on that and I said I don't understand what that means it makes good sense seek no other sense no the cross doesn't make sense the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it's the power of God it makes no sense to sell all I have and give to the poor makes no sense to walk away from my old friends and from the city that's on fire to the celestial city that makes absolutely no sense and then it gives us a picture that says you have become the body of Christ and Jesus is the head of the body and the head of Christ is God and so while we're still governed by our our own minds our carnal thinking and our our own human reason we're never going to hear what the spirit says to the church we want to come to a place where we're able to hear his voice we're able to be led by the spirit of God and the spirit of God is going to say things that don't make sense my way is not your way says the Lord as the heavens are higher than the earth so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts and he says put away all these what is he talking about put away all these the works of the flesh are evident anger sexual immorality uncleanness pride greediness malice evil speaking grumbling complaining put all these things away put on the Lord Jesus Christ put on love put on patience put kindness on gentleness self-control against such there's no law put on all these things how are we going to put those on except we say Lord I lack here I am Lord I lack I need help I'm coming now I'm coming now I'm not overcoming in the situation I'm coming to my head I'm not going to reason this thing out I'm not going to make excuses why it's right I'm going to say Lord I want your nature and I need your power Paul said he didn't profess to know anything except Jesus Christ and him crucified to know him the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings he counted everything else rubbish he counted it all down except to know Christ we want to come to know him that way this year to know him in a new and living way not to reason it through because we're smart and witty fellas but to say Lord I want to be one of those martyrs that's beheaded under the altar saying how long oh Lord how long until you come and get justice for us from our adversaries rather than taking justice for ourselves rather than waiting on God to avenge us rather than avenging ourselves there's a way that seems right to a man but you know what the end of it is destruction we need to give room for God to act we need to give room for God to show himself strong you know what his word is truth his spirit is power his grace is sufficient we need to grow in that grace and in that knowledge of Jesus Christ there's a knowledge of the low gospel we need the knowledge that comes from the ramah because sometimes the scripture says two things and in every situation we need to be led of the spirit you say well what do you mean the scripture says two things he says in one passage he says we need to hate our father mother wife children our own life also otherwise we can't be a disciple of Jesus we say well what do you mean though scripture says that we if someone hates he's a murderer there's no eternal life in him if we try to reason that through our heads we'll just get confused and put the book aside and go back to the world but then when we get the other scriptures in context you need to love me more than father mother wife children yes your own life what does it look like to hate and to love one more than when you say no to your old friends and to them it's like hatred well we we we've been loyal to one another we're we're a crew we're posse we're team and now you're saying you're cutting loose from us they experience it as hatred but we say we love the lord more now and we love these people but you know what city's on fire we've got to go we can't hang out anymore we can't continue to build our life with carnal friends carnal fellowship and religion it's time to go after jesus when you get a glimpse of jesus you're going to forsake all and follow him we need to lay hold of jesus in a new and living way we need to understand that there's power there that's his grace it's not a license to sin my friends it's the power of god to keep us from sin and to teach us how to live holy and righteous and godly in this present age in which we're in that we can be ambassadors for christ that people can see the love of god which surpasses human wisdom human knowledge you know when i ask god for things i say god give me money i want to build a pool i mean you know how much we need it and i haven't got an answer on that i haven't got an answer on that from god so we plan our way and how many ways we ask god for all kinds of things we're not getting an answer but yet people come to us and say you know what could i borrow 20 bucks i want to buy a bottle i mean i bought a bottle and i want to buy some groceries i have no food now and god's not answering but somehow we see this as love and so we instead of hearing from the spirit we just continue to go on and do things i'm not hearing from god you know what when i was younger in the lord i did those things me and another brother we thought it was love we were trying to help this brother get off drugs and what we were doing is we're giving him money he was buying drugs that's not love my friends if jesus doesn't accept us with wide arms into heaven while we're using and abusing and we're not walking in his word if he doesn't accept us while we're practicing sin and we come and stand his gate and say we're one of the king's kids let us in and he says i'm sorry there's a lot of other children here that i have in here and i've got to be careful i can't accept you this way you're going to have to go to that place where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth if god doesn't let every single person in because he's so loving then we have to do things according to this book we need to understand what love looks like love isn't giving your child everything he asks for knowing that it's going to harm him what if your son asks you for a bottle of whiskey and he's eight years old you're going to go and buy him that because you love him so much you want to give him everything richly to enjoy this is foolishness we need wisdom from god otherwise our wisdom is just human compassion it's no different than the good police officers that are serving and protecting we have a way that seems right to us but we need to understand the way of the spirit and the way of the spirit is life and peace i had a brother recently reached out to me and he said you know what and i told him he called me and he asked for money and i said no i said love you no i have given money to him at different times when i felt the spirit lead me but this time i said no i'm not doing that he was using and it wasn't right and he knew it and he recently i hadn't heard from him two months i thought he's upset at me or maybe he's not alive i was praying for him almost every day he reached out and the first thing he says i'm safe i'm in a place this place that's in such a place and i know you love me thank you for still taking my call thank you for taking my text and i'll be such a such a place for a certain period of time and then i'll reach out to you again we want to keep our hearts open to people who are perishing people who are hurting but we don't want to aid and abed them in their sin if we see that their hearts are softening their hearts are turning we want to err on the side of mercy because mercy triumphs over judgment but at the same time we can't allow sin into the camp that affected the people of israel when achan had taken the accursed things and just brought them into into among the children of israel so we want to be protective that we don't have people practicing sin in the in the fellowship but at the same time we want to make sure that our hearts are right that we are not quenching and hindering the work of the spirit because we are so busy reasoning in our heads you know when there's a whole lot of people reasoning in their heads the holy spirit doesn't move there's no reason for the holy spirit to move because we have it all figured out but if we would just come as little children and say here i am lord help me i know i've got all kinds of thoughts but lord i want to hear from you i need you data and he's going to come to us like rain and spring rain the times refreshing are going to come and you know what in no time we're going to start to see the fruit coming so see the fruit coming on the trees as we abide in him and we just come to him as a little child to inherit his kingdom you say well i'm a christian i i got saved i got baptized it's righteousness peace and joy in the holy spirit that's the kingdom of god on this earth righteousness peace and joy in the holy spirit when i lose my peace and i have anxiety and fear i'm not in the kingdom i'm not walking in kingdom kingdom power i said i repent of these things in jesus name and i want to get back into peace and rest and joy in the holy spirit i can try and pray these things off my anxiety and my fear or i can repent of them and i can say lord i'm in unbelief here i'm in discouragement here i'm something's not right on the inside we want to get into faith faith in jesus so that we can grow spiritually and overcome let's pray lord thank you for your word thank you for this day that you've given us lord lord i pray that we could be ambassadors of jesus to be an encouragement to those around us or to come to hear from your voice and your spirit lord i've made a thousand mistakes lord in my past and i just pray lord you would help us lord that we could learn from these mistakes and that we could grow thereby and that we could come to hear your voice and to be led of your spirit so we'd be fruitful and multiply in jesus name amen ======================================================================== 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