Over all my years of ministry I have often thought about the things I can't change

Humanly speaking, we like to think that we can change anything and if we try hard enough maybe we can even change the world!

But the Word of God tells us that there are actually very few things we can change

1/ x 3, the Word of God tells us we can change our attitude

1 Peter 3: 8 ‘keep a humble attitude’

2/ x 11, the Word of God tells us we can change our plans

2 Corinthians 1: 17 ‘I changed my plan’

3/ x 7, the Word of God tells us we can change our clothes

2 Samuel 12: 20 ‘David...changed his clothes’

4/ x 6, the Word of God tells us we can change the name of something or someone

2 Chronicles 36: 4 ‘he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim’

So, according to the Word of God I can change my attitude, I can change my plans, I can change my clothes and I can change the name of something or someone

And here’s me thinking I can change anything and maybe even change the World -

silly me!

Here's 3 things I can't change

1/ I can’t change the unbeliever

I can’t change the unbeliever - I cannot persuade them to believe in Christ and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior

Testimony: A respected senior family member

Jennifer and I have witnessed to him for over 40 years and when we talk to him about Jesus he walks out of the room

I’m sure you too have a family member, a friend or colleague whom you have been witnessing to for years but they refuse to surrender their lives to Christ

Why can’t we change the unbeliever!? - Only the ‘saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ’ can change them

Testimony: Many years ago in our first Church, we had a family of 7 people

By NZ standards they were very poor, they lived in a 2-bedroom house at a very small fishing village called Rangitata Huts, 1-hour drive from our Town

They were a dysfunctional family, all unemployed, the eldest son was addicted to drugs and had AIDS and the eldest daughter was mentally handicapped

One Sunday they all came to Church and got saved, water baptized and for years we went out to their home to do Bible Study with them

We have a piece of furniture in our home that reminds us of them - the father Chris and one of his sons did a furniture restoration Course at the local Polytech and practiced their new-found skill on a cabinet that is now in our lounge room

Dear friends, I can’t change the unbeliever and neither can you

Acts 15: 11 ‘We believe that we are all saved...by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.’

2/ I can’t change the believer

I can’t change the believer - I cannot persuade them to follow Jesus and obey Him

Please remember that there are 2 types of disciples

False disciples: are false converts, they are disciples in name only, they follow Jesus for a short time and then they abandon Him

John 6: 66 ‘At this point many of His disciples turned away and deserted him’

True disciples: are true converts, they follow Jesus faithfully and never give up

John 8:31 ‘Jesus said to the people who believed in Him, “You are truly My disciples if you remain faithful to My teachings’.

Testimony: we cannot disciple false converts

Years ago, we had a lady in our 2nd Church who would call out to me in a very loud voice and say stupid things while I was preaching on Sundays

The Elders of the Church refused to do anything about it so one Sunday during the Message as she called out to me I interrupted her and told her to be quiet. Immediately she lifted up her newspaper and hid behind it. After that Sunday she never returned to the Church

Dear friends, I certainly can’t change false disciples and I’m not even going to try, and I can’t change true disciples either, neither can you

Yes, I can help the true disciple in the Word of God and prayer but it’s God Who changes them, not me

Philippians 1:6 ‘And I am certain that God, Who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns’.

3/ I can’t change me

I can’t change myself (Just ask Jennifer) - I cannot conform myself to the image and character of Christ

Jeremiah 13:23 ‘Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can a leopard change its spots?’

So, why can’t I change myself!?

Romans 7: 14 ‘The trouble is with me, for I am all too human’

One of the great lies that the unbelieving world tells us is that we are (a) basically good and that all we have to do to change ourselves is to (b) look within ourselves for the answer

(a) No! The Word of God tells us that we are not good

Romans 7: 18 ‘I know that nothing good lives in me’

(b) No! The answer is not within me

Romans 7: 15 ‘I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate’.

If I’m going to change, I need to look outside myself to the Lord Who is indeed good and ask Him to change my heart

Romans 2: 29 ‘(a) change of heart (is) produced by the Spirit’

Testimony: Over the last few years the Christian ‘world’ has been hurt by the moral failure of several high-profile Christians

If these leaders could change themselves they would have repented from their sin but they didn’t! Their attention was on their own ‘celebrity’ status and their adoring ‘fans’, but not on the Lord

Testimony: Isn’t it sad that we don’t hear about successful Christian leaders like Luis Palau who passed away early 2021 – no scandals!

(In over 50 years of ministry, he and the Luis Palau Association have shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with tens of millions of people through evangelistic events and media. He spoke in over 80 countries with more than 1 million registered decisions for Jesus Christ. He authored close to 50 books).

Dear friends, I can’t change myself and neither can you

I love what the Apostle Paul said about himself

1 Corinthians 15: 10 ‘But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out His grace on me’

Here's a prayer asking God to change the 3 Thing I (We) Can’t Change:

1/ Lord, we ask you to change the unbeliever by the ‘saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ’. Amen

2/ Lord, we ask you to change the believer, we ask you to make them true ‘disciples’ and faithful followers of Jesus. Amen

3/ Lord, we ask you change us, we ask you to conform us to the ‘image and character of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior’. Amen