Coping With Change, Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. You follow the Word of God. That's how this works.

Well, why would I follow the Word of God? It's alive. Nobody else's words are alive. It's alive.

It has life. These aren't dead words. All words we write are dead. They're from a living being, but now they're dead.

They're just on a page. He said, no, my word's different. It's alive.

He said, it's active. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. God's word, he said, my word's alive and it does stuff. My word changes people.

You see, think of it. The word of the gospel saved you from all your sin. God says, yeah, I've got words for you. These words will change you.

You'll be able to cope. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world. There's a book written by William Bridges. He's from the business world and it's called Managing Transitions and Making the Most of Change. That's what he writes about. That's his expertise, managing transitions.

And here's what he says. Change is not the same as transition. Change is situational.

The new site, the new boss, the new team roles, the new policy, a new reality. Transition is the psychological process people go through to come to terms with the new situation. Change is external. Transition is internal. And unless transition occurs.

You'll never cope with change. There has to be a transition in the way you think. He said, when we talk about change, we naturally focus on the outcome that that change will produce.

If you move from California to New York City, the change is crossing the country and learning your way around the Big Apple. Transition is different. The starting point for transition is not the outcome. But the ending that you will have to make to leave the old situation behind.

Situational change hinges on the new thing. But psychological transition depends on letting go of the old reality and the old identity you had before the change took place. You have to do this. The transition is I have to let go. You see, I have to let go of that reality. I have to do that.

You can just see how this would work, no matter what it is. If I lose someone I love who's dear to me, I have to let go of that. No matter how I deal with it, even though I have a moment of denial, the whole truth of the matter is they're gone and they're not coming back.

That's change. I have to deal with that. If I don't deal with that, I'll never be able to cope.

And people run into that kind of thing all the time. What if you get a terrible diagnosis? You see, what if you get a terrible diagnosis?

Well, you get it. That's the reality. I have to let go. Well, no, I just want to be the way I was before I had the diagnosis.

Wanting to be the way you were before you had the diagnosis has never helped anybody because there's a change here. It's the change and how we cope with it. As I said earlier, Israel could not let go of Egypt and could not. And you and I would have thought, I don't understand that, ten generations of slaves. See, now they're in a position of the unknown. They're told they're going to a promised land.

They don't know nothing about it. The Jewish Christians and Hebrews could not let go of Judaism. They just couldn't do it. And now you hear people say the same thing, I just want things to go back to the way they were. That's what I want.

I want to go back pre all this stuff. Let's just do it and then we don't have to change. There's a reality to change. You have to be able to cope with it. Bridges goes on in his book and he says there's three stages. The first transitional stage is this, the ending. There has to be an ending in this transitional stage. In other words, you have to let go. You have to lose what was passed. I have to let it go. I'm moving to a new place. I have to let it go.

I have to. That's my first stage. The second stage is what he calls the neutral zone.

Nothing's happened yet, but once you let go, you're in a neutral zone. The third one is the new beginning of change. Now, think of this from the Book of Joshua.

What do they have to leave go of? Egypt. Where's the neutral zone? The wilderness.

And then what's the change? The promised land. I mean, think of it in the Book of Hebrews.

What do they have to let go of? Judaism. You see, where's the neutral zone? I'm a believer. We're part of a church. But what's the promised land?

The faith rests life. That's the process. So, you may think, well, okay, I understand that, but how do I do this?

What does it take to actually do this transition and be able to cope with change? You see, that's the problem that we have so often. And what I want to do is go right back, in a sense, to where we started. Let's go back first to Joshua. Joshua chapter 1. You see, does God equip us to be able to cope with change? Yes.

Over and over and over and over again. In fact, a lot of what God tells us is to equip us to cope with change because we're sinful people. We live in a fallen world and change is everywhere. Life changes every day.

I can still remember one of the books that I read many, many years ago from a youth pastor, and he talked about the change, and he had a bunch of teenagers at a camp, and he was one of those fun-loving youth pastors, and they ran an obstacle course. And you ran the obstacle course, and at the last part of the obstacle course, there's a long vat of mud about 18 inches, 2 feet deep. And you had to dive into the vat and go under the finish line to do it. And so he ran it, and then when he dove into the vat at the end, something happened, and he couldn't move anything. He was conscious.

He could hear the kids laughing because he wasn't coming up. And then after a period of time, pretty long I imagine, someone jumped in and realized something is wrong, and they pulled him out, and he broke his neck, and he's a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. The title of the book, Between the Lightning and the Thunder, everything changes. Between the lightning and the thunder, my whole life changed. That's change.

How do you cope with something like this? You see, how do you do this? Well, in Joshua, notice what he says. Verse 7, only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to do all according to the law of Moses, my servant commanded you. And do not turn from it to the right or the left so that you may have success wherever you go. What's he saying? Moses wrote the law.

Do it. But he's not done with it. He says, verse 8, the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. You shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do all that is written in it. And then you will make your way prosperous and you'll have success.

Wow. I have to do the law, but I have to know the law, but I have to meditate on the law. You see, that's what I have to do this.

That's what God said, and if I do it, notice what God says. You will have success. You'll make your way prosperous. You'll cope with the change. It'll be fine with you. What kind of change?

Any kind of change. It won't matter. Now, let's go to Hebrews, chapter 4.

And notice what he does. The writer of Hebrews in his first 10 verses is warning them to not do what the Exodus generation did. Don't end up not being able to cope with change just like they couldn't cope with it. You'll never enter the faithless life. And then he says this in verse 10, for the one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from his works just as God did his. There is a rest that God wants to give you.

This is the grace of God, the ongoing grace of God in your life, not just to save you, but to keep you. And then he says, therefore, let us be diligent to enter the rest so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience. You've got to learn to cope in this. You've got to do what I'm telling you.

Don't do what they did. And then notice verse 12. What's the first word? For. You've heard me say this a thousand times. That's an explanatory gar. Let me explain what I mean here. Here is his for.

How do I learn to cope with change? For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as a division of the soul and the spirit of both the joints and the marrow. And it's able to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. Wow.

What's he saying? You follow the word of God. You follow the word of God. That's how this works.

Well, why would I follow the word of God? It's alive. Nobody else's words are alive. It's alive.

It has life. These aren't dead words. All words we write are dead. They're from a living being, but now they're dead.

They're just on a page. He said, no, my word's different. It's alive.

He said, it's active. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. God's word, he said, my word's alive and it does stuff. My word changes people.

You see, think of it. The word of the gospel saved you from all your sins. God says, yeah, I've got words for you. These words will change you.

You'll be able to cope. Notice the depth of them. He said, piercing as far as the division of the soul. And he says, and of the spirit. It speaks to my soul, the inner man.

We talked about that some last week. He says, both of the joints and the marrow, and it's able to judge the thoughts and intentions of my heart. God's word should judge your thoughts and your motives. Whenever you say something, do you allow God's word to judge what you just said?

See, I don't think we think about it that way. What does God say? Well, I'm just telling you what I'm saying.

Yeah, I know. What does God say? You see, that's an important thing. You want a really good piece of advice? Stop talking about what some politician or some blogger on the internet said, whatever they said. Stop talking about what they said. How about talking about what God said? If you talk about what God said and not what some politician or some blogger said, you might have a completely different view of the circumstances we're all in.

That's what God's saying to us. He says, look, there is no creature hidden from His sight. All things are open and made bare from the eyes of Him whom we have to do. Look, you can't fake this. You can't fake it. God sees everything. There's nothing He misses. It's easy to fool everybody else.

It's easy. You know, one thing you could never do is fool God in any sense. No matter what you're saying, no matter what you're doing, He knows your heart and He knows what you're doing. He said that's what He's saying. He said, now watch. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has just passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

This is interesting how He adds this. He said, look, I know this is hard. I know change is difficult for us.

I even know that we fail sometimes in this. But you know what? We have a high priest. What's a high priest do? He intercedes for his people. He represents me to God. He's my high priest.

That should give me reassurance. Even when if I'm failing, he said, my high priest will do that. He said, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin.

I just love that. You see, that's an amazing thing. Jesus knows. You see, He was tempted.

He didn't sin. He knows when I'm tempted, I often sin. He understands my weaknesses. He gets that, but He says, I've got it. I'll represent you to God. So even if I'm not coping well, He says, I'll do it. I'll represent you to God.

But there's even more. He said, therefore, conclusion, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in a time of need. Not only has Jesus interceded for you, but what's God say to you and me? Come here. Come to me. You're not coping with, come here. Get up on my lap at the throne of grace, and I'll give you the grace and mercy you need to get through this. Wow. You see, wow.

Think of what God has provided for us. How this works for us. He says, yeah, that's what the word of God can do in our lives. I've learned something over the years. There are two different, there are many more than that probably, but there are two different kinds of Christians.

And I've seen this. There are Christians who have done everything within their power to stay as close to Jesus Christ as they can. Their whole lives. They know the word of God and they meditate on it.

And they determined that if God said do it, I'll do it, and if God said don't, I won't. The word of God is their life blood to them. What I've noticed with those kind of people, when real change comes into their lives, they cope. Then there's the other kind of people. Sunday morning only people.

You know, they come and they sing a few songs and say, you know, God bless you and all that. And then when real difficult change comes into their life, they fall to pieces. Because they're not prepared for it. They're just not prepared for it. And the reason they're not prepared for it, they don't know the word well enough. They don't meditate on the word.

They don't obey the word of God. And now, where's God? Where's he at to help me?

I can't cope, where is he? It's where he's always been. It's always been the same for God.

You see, that's how it happens. Those people who just meditate and make the word of God their life blood, they handle the loss of a loved one way better than someone who has no spiritual depth at all. Some people without spiritual depth spend the rest of their lives and don't ever handle it. They handle the loss of their health better.

Outer man's decaying, inner man's being renewed. I'm okay. I don't like it, but I'm okay. They handle the loss of a job better. They handle the loss of a death of a loved one better. Everything is different. And my view is they probably handle this whole pandemic and COVID better. They're fine. And I know that to be true because we have interacted with so many different folks in the church and there are some people that interact with us and they are not handling it well at all.

Not at all. I mean, it's just you could have put them in Joshua or put them in Hebrews, they're just not handling it well. And there are other people who have lost a great deal of the things we value, money, et cetera, all the things, and they handle it in such an encouraging way.

They never seem discouraged by it at all. It could affect a lot of people. They could lose, it doesn't affect them. My trust is in the Lord here. I totally trust with the Lord. This will be as bad as the Lord lets it be and it will last as long as the Lord wants it to last. And I'm okay with that. You see, I'm okay with that. Yeah, but look at what we're losing. Look what we might not have.

That's what one person says. The other person says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and God will add it to you. So that's what I'll do. And maybe God doesn't want me to have as much as I used to have. I'm okay with that. You see, that's back to Paul. I've learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. Think of the changes Paul went through all the time.

He goes, I got it. I'm okay because I meditate on the word and the word of God speaks to me constantly in my life. One last passage. I'm going to go to one we visited before, 2 Peter chapter 1. Verse 2. Peter writes, he says, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord. That's two things to pray for everybody to get more, more grace and more peace. I mean, and knowledge.

Those are great things. Then he says in verse 3, seeing that his divine power, we looked at that last time, dunamis, his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. And I said the last time, what does that cover?

It's everything. You can't think of that. Well, he doesn't.

I don't have the power. He said, no, I got that. Then he says in verse 4, for by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises. Just like he did Israel to Joshua, just like he did to the church in Hebrews. God says, I've given you all my promises. It's not so that you and I can have, keep God's promises like we keep recipes in a little recipe thing. We're not just trying to accumulate them. We're trying to live by them. What has God promised us?

You see, well, all things work for our good. Yes. All things, yes. Are we more than victorious in Jesus Christ? More than conquerors, Paul said.

Yes. You see, I want you to think about it. He said, this is yours. Remember, he said, no man can stand against you, he said to Israel.

Remember when he said that? But didn't Paul write to us? If God be for us, who could be against us? Oh, I don't know. I think the pandemic's against us.

It's going to, really? He's sovereign. You see, it's a difference.

I get it. Coping with change is not easy for any of us. That is really hard for us. But God has given us his magnificent promises so that we can cope with all the changes of being sinful people and living on a cursed planet. When this has run its course, there'll be more changes in your life. Some of them will be much worse than this.

You may lose someone you love dearly or you may get a diagnosis that could be fatal, and that'll seem a lot worse than what you're going through now. Because living as a sinful person on a cursed planet, we experience changes all the time. He has spoken to all of our fears, all of our worries, all of our anxieties concerning change.

How many times has he told us, fear not, don't worry, don't be anxious? You see, and I keep saying it over and over again, but he's saying that to us because he's telling us as his children, don't worry, don't be anxious, don't fear, because I got it. I got this. I got your life. I got this diagnosis. I got this surgery.

I got this. Now, do you believe me or not? You see, and I think so often, we're just like that generation. We just can't cope. But the words that God has given us, these precious promises, will not help us if we don't believe them. And if you don't believe them, that's your choice, but you will reap what you sow. You will find yourself in turmoil all the time. Just try to remember this. God has told us over and over again, you can cope with change. And you know what that means?

You can. Let's pray. Father, as we find ourself all experiencing a very similar change, we learn from the Word of God that, as human beings, we struggle with coping with the changes in our lives. But Father, as children of yours, we struggle needlessly. That our real struggle isn't with the circumstances of the change. Our real struggle is our disbelief in what you have told us. Father, I pray that you will convict us of this, that we dedicate ourselves to constantly reading and meditating and thinking about all these incredible things that you have promised us.

Change is inevitable. But peace is something that comes when we believe you. Father, that's my prayer for all of us. In Jesus' name, Amen. At that website, you will find on only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. .