S Don’t give up, You can Change! In past talked about Gods mercies regardless what sin we’ve committed. I've been thinking lately about God's mercies not just in terms of our sins of commission, but also of our sins of omission, the good, god-pleasing things we don't do.  I was going to simply title this talk "Don't give up!", I didn't record it last night and then this morning I received a First Light devotion from Brother Brian Biggers titled "You can Change" and believed God wanted me to add Brian's thoughts to this message, so my new title is "Don't give up, you can change!" Recently we were meeting in our Messianic church to celebrate the new moon for the month Ayar.  In the Torah God commanded that His people observe times and seasons, including the weekly Sabbath, the new moon, and His 7 feasts throughout the year.  It seems to me this serves multiple purposes.  For one thing, it reminds us we are His people and it keeps us fixed on Him, living our life connected to Him not apart from Him.  In In Dueteronomy and Nehemiah God commands us to observe and keep the Sabbath, but in Exodus 20:8 He says "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy". Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV says "Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."  Lev 19:1-2 says "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy."  God wants us to be holy, because He is holy.  He's promised to never leave us nor forsake us.  He gave his only Son to pay the penalty for our sins and He gave us the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us in our walk of sanctification. We are not under the law in the sense that we must obey the commandments to earn salvation.  Jesus took care of that once and for all.  But Jesus if you love me, keep my commandments, so we show our love to God by keeping His commandments and living a life that pleases Him. So the application of this is the same for all of us in some ways, and very different in other ways. We all have the same Bible and through it can learn of God's commandments which are for all of us. Yet our journeys are unique in so many ways, and so there are so many things that God is leading us individually toward for a life of abundance as He defines abundance, a life of peace and purpose, surrendered to Him. I'm going to share how I feel this applies to me and my life in the hope that it may spark some awareness in you of what God is calling you to, or calling you to return to something you've left or stopped doing. I recently finished my class in Hebrew.  Now I have to wait a while before the next class is available.  But I don't have to wait.  I can occasionally review what I learned to keep it fresh and so I can start to apply it now rather than waiting until I learn more.  This falls under the "Use it or lose it" axiom. This certainly applies to our work.  I learned the basics of AutoCAD a year or so ago, which is an amazing program that allows you to create drawings.  I haven't used it in a while and so I've been thinking about how I can use that in one of my projects, even if it's not essential at this time but in order to keep my skills sharp. How about marriage and relationship skills.  How many of us have read a book or heard a sermon on marriage and then forgotten it because we didn't apply it.  Through Covid I've gotten away from dating my wife and am going to change that. I spoke in the last Selah episode about a talk I heard on Evangelizing and how I had gotten out of the habit or handing out tracts or really any significant evangelism.  Don't give up, you can change! I used to listen a lot to Dan Mohler and hadn't done so in a quite a while, but recently listened to one of his messages.  Some key messages he shared where that God doesn’t want to just save you He wants to transform you, no one owes you anything, forget about your rights, hurt for people rather than be hurt by people, pray for your boss not about your boss, wake up every day and shine, don’t try to NOT sin but rather be like Jesus.  These are just life transforming ideas that I was fired up about in the past but had forgotten about.  It's a reminder that life transforming ideas don't transform unless you put them into action. Another habit is memorizing scripture.  I was reminded about this in a recent interview with Tom Meyer the Bible Memory Man.  It reminded me how I've gotten out of the habit of memorizing scripture. A good daily habit which will also help you understand what God thinks about which habits and behaviors are good and bad is to read the book of Proverbs daily. How about parenting your kids? I recently took my youngest daughter out to pick out a purity ring and take her to dinner, a tradition I began with my first 2 daughters. With the first 2 I honestly didn’t prepare well and didn’t have anything profound to say. This time I memorized the speech from the movie Courageous since I didn’t think I could improve on it. I’ll add a link to the video clip in the show notes. I cry whenever I watch it if I haven’t seen it in a while. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w__jZbXYwCg OK, that's it for my thoughts on this topic, now I want to share with you this great devotion from Pastor Brian Biggers from Lamb's Chapel in Burlington, NC.  To sign up for this devotion go to www.TLCAlive.com   You Can Change   No one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will be wasted and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins and both will be preserved. And no one having tasted the old immediately desires the new for he says, "the old is better". Luke 5:37-39  

 

This passage has nothing to do with wine. It is dealing with the attitudes of people and their willingness to change for the better. Our unwillingness to change even when we know it will be for the better is portrayed as an "old wineskin". When wineskins get old, they begin to stiffen and harden. They become resistant to change. They become crotchety and stubborn. Since new wine is still expanding as it ferments, the skin must be flexible enough to change with the shape that the wine demands. I've even met some "old wineskins" that are proud of their "hardness". People that are content to stay right where they are until they croak! You may wonder what's wrong with being stuck in the fifty's? One problem. The God of heaven is always (and I mean always) wanting to do a "new thing" in you. Contrary to religious thinking in this country, the God of the Bible is always working to take you from "glory to glory". He is always orchestrating the details of your life to move you into a greater revelation of His Son in you and for you to become a greater revelation of His Son in the earth! Wine in the Bible always refers to the Holy Spirit. It is His Spirit that is always expanding His presence in my heart to change me more and more into what I was created to be which is a reflection of Christ to His world. To demand to stay like you are, where you are and always be who you are now is comfortable, easy, familiar and painless. It is also deadly! "No one puts new wine in old skins". Want to take a guess at the spiritual revelation? God stops working in lives that become stiff and set, refusing to change. He won't waste His precious Spirit on lives and churches that are stuck in the past refusing to change and grow into His likeness. High price to pay for being stiff and unbendable before His Spirit. The good news? New wine MUST be put in new wineskins! The heart that is pliable in His great hand and willing to be shaped and molded by Him will always experience God at work to bring them into His best plan for them! Change is uncomfortable. It is inconvenient. It can be humbling! But the result is wonderful! Our Father has promised to work in our lives to keep bringing us to greater levels of glory by His Spirit. New experiences of His joyous plans in us constantly. My part is to be willing to overlook the discomfort that comes with change as God keeps moving me toward His ultimate great plan for me! The slight pain is very much worth the glorious gain! Let me admonish you, especially those of you who are "well down the road" since age and stiff seem to go together, that you will always be willing to be pliable in His hand and be ready for any change He wants to make in you for the greater glory!

 

  Father, I don't want to become an old wineskin that you have to shelve because I would not adapt to what you are doing today. I will gladly give up yesterday's good for today's greater!     E     End Times (Eschotology) Nelson Walters Youtube Channel to help give you insight into how prophecy may be playing out today.  One video in particular is titled "How the 7 Feasts of the Lord will be fulfilled in the Tribulation" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1KtyFQ0V4Y   L     ... I have become all things to all men,  that I might by all means save some. 1 Corinthians 9:22b - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=1%20Corinthians%209:22&version=NKJV   We work with all types of people in our work place.  Learn to listen to others at work, and adapt yourself to their style and what's important and interesting to them.   You can do this without sinning and without compromising the Gospel     A -  Apologetics-Something to say if topic comes up about getting grey hair: "The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, If it is found in the way of righteousness." or if you're not quite that bold maybe just the first half "The silver-haired head is a crown of glory".  It will probably take them back since they probably never heard someone say that and they may wonder where you got that from, and they may ask. Proverbs 16:31 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Proverbs%2016:31&version=NKJV   From Ben LaCorte

• No-one can refute your testimony, and you're sharing something deep-rooted in yourselves, and it's a real-life true story.
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  H - John Shirey - Time Management

• The rule of 13 divides the week into 21 time periods and says if you're committed to more than 13 of those time periods you're too busy.  That's bondage, captivity.  You have no time for spontaneity, to relax, time with your family.  If you don't have that bondage, you have more freedom to be creative and to respond to opportunities.
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