REKINDLE-GETTING FIRED UP FOR A NEW YEAR: CHANGE

We continue our series Rekindle-Getting Fired Up for a New Year with the sermon Change.  One of the things we can count on today is change.  We may not like it.  We may resist it.  We may be frightened by it, but turbulent times will bring change.  Why do we resist change?  It does not take us long to recognize that some changes have good consequences and some have bad consequences.  How do we know the changes that will create good consequences?  This is an age-old problem for humanity.  The things we think will be good, at times turn out to be very bad and even tragic.  One of problems of 2020 that has spilled over into the 2021 is the use of violence to achieve political change.  It the process, people have been hurt or killed.  God wants to direct us to meaningful, healing change.  We return to Isaiah 6:4-10.  God had been speaking to his people but they will not change and be healed.  In fact, they could no longer recognize change that would heal their lives. What about us?  What change can truly heal our hurt, our society, or our nation?  God wants us to recognize change that can make us whole again!  As you read Isaiah 6:4-10, may you see the goodness of God’s healing power and may it lift you into the hope and confidence of God’s presence!   Isaiah 6:4-10  4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (NIV)