Seasons Change ...God Doesn't - Pastor Raymond Woodward

want to read just one verse before receipt at this point and we're going back to the very opening book of the Bible going back to the book of Genesis and we're gonna pick it up this is something God said to Noah after Noah came out of the ark and after the flood had devastated the earth and God and Noah are having a conversation and God gives Noah of this promise God said while the earth remaineth seed time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease while the earth remains there's always going to be a cycle while the earth remains there's always going to be something different coming at you over and over and over again here's what we know about life and it's my subject for this morning somebody say seasons change that's what we know or Jesus thank you for this great group of people thank you for the opportunity to address them from your word thank you for all of our guests that have chosen to worship with us today and enjoy this day with us on this one marvelous weekend and God we just pray that you would be pleased with what we do here and we pray that you would touch lives and alter destinies and even change eternity that's a big prayer but you're a big God and we thank you for it because we pray it in the name Jesus name everybody said amen do just shake hands or high-five your neighbor as you're seated and say man I've slapped you two or three times in their services just one more time god bless you you may be seated this is what we know about life seasons change the tide comes in and then recedes the Sun rises and gives us light and then it sets and it brings us darkness droughts plagues the fields of the world followed by rain in abundance sometimes even flooding we swelter under the intense heat of the summer Sun and we complain about it and then soon we're clothing ourselves against the penetrating cold of the winter and guess what we complain about it prosperity brings abundant opportunity and rewards but then withdraws for seasons when we're confronted by a receding business climate a smile gives way to a tear and joy gives way to sorrow and jubilation sometimes gives way to tragedy sinners become Saints and sometimes Saints even become sinners close friends become hated enemies the guns and the bloodshed of war they're followed by the stillness of peace that is all too temporary see for each of us that's existing on this blue and white spinning sphere called earth we experience the passage of time and I didn't come to give you a science lecture but you know how fast the earth spins and how far it travels around the Sun and so even if you haven't done anything today you've been moving and so that's a comfort for those of us that just didn't want to get up this morning seasons we're turning a season right now this is Labor Day weekend and we're headed into what we call the fall or the autumn and we've got precious moms and dads that they're praying just a one-word prayer right now they're just been at pray in that prayer for about the last three weeks school that's what they've been praying school and we got kids that are praying one word no seasons it's an amazing thing as we age we experience seasons confidence is replaced by doubt and patience by stress and expectancy sometimes by boredom and achievement sometimes by disillusionment and as the Wheel of Life continues its constant turn our human emotions they appear and then they disappear and then they reappear because for every one of us the only constant thing in our lives is this thing called change and just like the calendar year your life and my life they are made up of seasons spring is in the season of activity and a season of opportunity it's the season for entering into a fertile field like a farmer would do with seed and knowledge and commitment and determine effort the spring isn't a time to linger or sit around spring isn't a time to consider the possibility of what if I fail spring is a time to seize the moment and take the day foolish is the person who would allow a springtime season to pass while you're dwelling on the memory of your past success or your past failure and you don't seize the opportunity right now because spring time in our lives it occurs ever so briefly it just comes quickly and and it's so beautiful in the spring and it can lull us into inactivity we're so busy sniffing all the beautiful blossoms that we forget that it's a time to plant it's a time to sow and so it's important that we don't pause too long to just soak in the aroma of spring less we awaken to find our spring time gone with no crops in the ground and know our seed still in our our sack and we we just we haven't done anything to sew into our future spring doesn't care if you plant spring doesn't care how much you plant and spring doesn't care what you plant spring merely presents itself as a time to take advantage spring will not scold you and say you should be out there planting seed spring will not warn you there are consequences if you so seed spring comes without emotion but God has given all of us the wisdom to get up off our comfortable chair and enter into the fields at the right season this is what the Apostle Paul said he said this I say he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly but he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully so for husbands and wives and mothers and fathers and businesspeople spring comes to us in our lives over and over as opportunity it's the opportunity to enroll in a class or have a conversation with a friend at an appropriate time or Springs the opportunity to have the courage to change your habits or maybe change your occupation or maybe even change your friends spring it comes over and over springs may be the chance to change your mind about something that happened to you so spring don't miss it don't let it pass by don't let it pass while you sit idly and you're just moping around about the severe winter you went through don't let spring pass you by become wise enough in your life to recognize that spring doesn't just come once in life just like it occurs over and over in the calendar year it occurs many more times than that in your life and we need to recognize those faint little glimmerings of spring that manifests themselves it'll occur and you hardly even notice it you got to be looking for it spring is the opportunity to listen to the words of somebody that's wiser than you spring is the opportunity to take a little child up on your knee and invest time and love and patience in them spring is the opportunity to take a walk with somebody you love or absorb a good book spring is the opportunity to speak good about somebody where you did have a criticism of them before spring is the opportunity to enjoy God's creation spring is the chance to turn off the TV and get up off the couch and embrace the opportunity to have a conversation instead of everybody staring a little piece of glass spring is even the opportunity sometimes to enjoy the silence opportunity surrounds us all but here's the thing about opportunity it appears and disappears at will it appears instantly and disappears just as quickly and it leaves back behind fond memories to the people who took advantage of spring but it leaves a whole lot of regret to those that were too busy to bother with it springtime is the fresh air of new opportunity spring is the chance to enter into a bleak empty field with some seed and say I'm gonna use this as a new chance Springs the time to choose action not rest Springs the time to choose truth not fantasy Springs the time to choose a smile not a frown Springs the time to choose love not hate Springs the time to choose an opportunity to work spring is a constant beginning in life it's a constant opportunity that's spring a summer that's a different season altogether summer is a season when we see progress of the crops that have been planted but we also need protection for those crops it's not an easy thing for seed that you've sown in your life to break through the clods of dirt and come up into the air that and the light that it needs summer is a not effortless it's full of effort actually when you're talking about growing a crop success in any area of life requires that constant effort here's what I know I can prophesy to you you overcome one obstacle in life and another will appear to fill its place you get through one bad situation another one will appear to fill the void life is designed to be a story of achievement over adversity for all of us because without some adversity in life our achievement couldn't exist does a seed complain because it has to grow under and around and over rocks it doesn't complain would any crop exist if the seed simply gave up growing at the first sign of difficulty obviously not here's what you need to know about life the constant unrelenting gravity of life is a pulled downward everybody has the chance to be negative everybody has the chance to be angry everybody has the chance to be depressed everybody has the chance to be disillusioned everybody has the chance to throw up their hands and quit everybody has the chance to be lazy everybody has that chance but no crop would exist if the seed gave up and there's ample cause in life to just be pulled down but it takes a man or a woman to stand up and say yeah I've been handed some adversity but I'm gonna keep on growing there will always be cause for complaining but if you engage in complaining you just add to the downward pull of the gravity of life there's only one automatic thing in your garden that you plant in the spring and that is weeds and bugs they don't have to be planted they just show up they don't have to be cared for and coddled they just arrive and the summer of life is a time to protect what God is growing in your life it's a time for constant daily effort to mitigate the weeds and the bugs and all of the pests that show up in the garden if you were here for the selfie series a couple of weeks ago on Wednesday night you'll remember this passage it's a famous parable that Jesus told about a sower that went forth to sow seed and he sowed and some seed fell by the wayside and the birds came and ate that seed and some seed fell upon stony places and there wasn't much depth of earth there and so plants sprung up but they didn't stay long because there was no depth to them and Jesus said there was a third kind of ground of that that ground all the plants withered away there was a third kind of ground it was just too crowded it was full of thorns and before the plants could get mature the thorns sprung up and choked them so you've got these different types of ground you've got this wayside ground that the ground is hardened and the seed can't penetrate it and and you've got this this stony ground where nothing can get very deep it's all on the surface and you've got this thorny ground where it's so preoccupied and busy there's not a chance for God's seed to grow and then Jesus said but you know what there was other seed that fell into good ground and it brought forth good fruit and just like life some people did more with it some people achieve more through it but all of that good ground brought forth fruit and here's the question how do you get good ground well you get good ground by tending it and by weeding it and clearing it and fertilizing it and investing in it and protecting it that's how you good get good ground so it's really important that we don't just spend valuable time arguing with nature you can scold every bug that shows up in your garden you can you can get mad and cuss out every weed that pokes its head through the soil it's not going to do anything the weeds and the bugs and the rocks and the storms of life laugh at those who just sit around and whine and a accuse life of being unfair so don't spend any time chasing the birds that are coming to steal the seed in your garden don't spend any time chasing around the bugs who seek to devour your harvest you just keep tending your crop you don't have to get those pests out of everywhere you just have to get them out of your garden to accuse others or to feel sorry for ourselves or to continue rationalizing or making excuses for ourselves that's foolish behavior in the summertime if you want to change it takes effort to change you can't control the weather the traffic you can't control the one you love you can't control your neighbors you can't control your boss or your kids so there's only one thing you can learn to control in your life and that is you you can learn to control you you're the only one that can change your response to the difficulties that are in your life so if I could give you a little encouragement today don't spend time regretting the past but spend your time investing and preparing for a better future that's what you need to do because you are a fertile seed planted by the creator of all things weren't destined to lay around dormant you were destined to spring up in the soil of life and to overcome all your obstacles in the process that's summer it's a time when we protect the crop that's been planted it's a time when we tend things it's a time when we make progress and sometimes it stretches out like every mother that entered into this summer season think it always so good to have my children at home and as summer wore on she got revelation that maybe it wasn't such a great idea every single day every single hour summer can drag on a little bit and we lose our energy and our focus and we're not protecting what God's doing in our life that's summer fall is a season for taking responsibility and we're entering into the fall of the year right now but spiritually speaking in your life speaking it's it's a time to enter into responsibility for those that have planted in the spring and those that have overcome the obstacles of summer and kept away all the pests and tended the garden fall brings the reward of a great harvest it's amazing but for those who wasted their time those who wasted their opportunity fall can be a time of great regret fall tells us whether we really did what we was required or if we just fooled ourselves by talking a good talk and putting on a good image fall is an amazing season fall uncovers those that spent months driving into town bragging to the other farmers you know I got a good crop this year but they weren't really doing the work fall uncovers those who spent months talking to themselves and to others just kind of putting on a good show telling others I'm really working diligently when really they're only hiding behind a facade the arrival of fall in life is like a courtroom that judges our human efforts and you can't dispute its verdict because all you have to do is look at the field of your life to see whether anything is growing the evidence of the harvest is indisputable and the Bible talks much about that the crops in our lives are bountiful or they're non-existent and if they're non-existent we need to look no further than the hands that had the opportunity to plant seed in the spring and we didn't because we're too busy or preoccupied and the feeble excuses we make well I had poor seed or I had poor soil or I had bad weather those excuses don't impress heaven's court when it comes to our lives because other people in this very room have obstacles just like you do and yet their lives are bearing fruit and so that takes away all of our excuses the Apostle Paul in the book he wrote to the Christians in Galatia a Roman province he pressed them pretty hard on this point here's what he said be not deceived God can't be mocked you can't pull the wool over God's eyes whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap he that sews to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption he that soweth to the spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting and then he says this this isn't an encouraging or a discouraging word it's an encouraging word we often just read like God is not mocked what you sow you're going to reap and we think that's negative it's negative if you do it wrong it's incredibly positive if you do it right and here's what Paul said let us not be weary in well-doing don't get tired over the summer chasing away those birds and and getting rid of those bugs and and tending that crop and weeding that garden don't get weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not if we don't give up now we live in this world of of causes and consequences and to a farmer nothing's more dreadful than a barren field in the fall the fall clearly reveals laziness procrastination wasted time missed opportunity in every part of your life you basically get out of it what you put into it you get out of your job what you put into your job you get out of your family what you put in to your family you get out of your church what you put into your church you get out of your relationship with God what you put into your relationship with God in every area of life it works that way and if you plant corn in the spring you'll get corn in the fall if you plant wheat or barley you'll get wheat or barley when harvest comes and and that's just the way life works you can't in life plant one crop and expect to reap another crop just because you suddenly changed your mind you have to put in the work in the fall we either enjoy or we make excuses for those who fully Tale failed to take advantage of the spring who failed to guard their crops carefully throughout the summer there's only excuses and an excuse is just an apologetic attempt to blame on circumstances rather than put the blame on ourselves that's all an excuses don't do that to yourself don't wallow in your mistakes don't just kind of mope about your lost opportunities if you've failed in the past you can do better in the future fall is a time to take responsibility for yourself your choices your family your future that's fall winter is a season to endure and to survive and I don't think many people in North America know more about that than New Brunswickers I make fun of some of my friends when they get talking about bad weather and we're you know we're in Alabama it's like you don't know what bad weather it's give me a living break winter is a season to endure and survive and here's the thing about winter winters totally unpredictable no matter how much we try to prepare it's just unpredictable winter can even appear prematurely some years winter could even come early enough to damage the harvest through no fault of our own and so the first great lesson of life to learn is that winter will always come winter will always come not just the winters of cold snow the winters of disappointment and despair they will come and there are people that show up at church just like we showed up at church today and they come in with a smile and a handshake or a greeting just like we did today but right now they're living in the winter of their life even though the weather's beautiful outside see it's winter in life when prayers go unanswered it's winter when the actions of our own kids leave us shaken and stunned it's winter when the economy turns against us or creditors come after us it's winter when a friend takes advantage of you or betrays you it's winter when your own health seems to conspire against you winter comes in many forms and winter can come at any time and the arrival of winter which thank God only happens once a year on our calendar but it can happen many times in one year in our lives and the arrival of winter always finds us in one of two categories there's only two we're either prepared for winter or were unprepared for winter bottom line to those that are prepared those that plan it abundantly in the spring and guarded carefully during the summer and harvested massively during the fall winter can actually be another season of opportunity it can be a time to gather strength for the coming spring it can be a time to take shelter from the storm winter can be a time of silence and solitude and growing deep in our relationship with God even though if you look out the window of your heart everything looks like it's covered over with cold and ice and snow and barrenness and deadness what we do in the season of winter determines what we will be in the coming season of spring because just as sure as winter visits your life Springs coming because God is faithful seasons change that can be a negative if you're in a good season right now you don't want to hear a pastor on a Sunday morning that seasons are going to change and you might have to batten down the hatches and prepare for the worst you don't want to hear season change but if you're in one of those seasons that we all go through you can hardly wait for your season to change and you hang on to every hope and every glimmer of truth from the Word of God because you want your season to change here's what I know seasons do change to those who are unprepared for it winter brings regret and sorrow winter just brings more apologies and excuses winter just brings more disappointment and fear and winter if we're not careful becomes a time when we blame God instead of trust God here's the deal the major challenge for those who right now are surrounded by winter the major challenge is don't let your winter affect your ability to recognize the arrival of spring because spring will creep up on you it could creep up in a prayer parade in your bedroom it could creep up in a song sung in a service it could creep up at the end of a sermon or the beginning of something that we do at church spring is coming and spring will show up unexpectedly and so don't let your winter blind you to the spring gods about to bring in your life dwelling on the severity of your winter talking about how difficult your winter is we do this every year to ourselves talking about how difficult winter is it just makes winter more difficult to endure the last thing you need when you walk into church during the winter months in New Brunswick is somebody telling you how hard it was to shovel out their driveway this morning it's like enough already I experienced that leave me alone that's the thing about winter you talk about it it makes it worse you dwell on it it makes it worse you think about it it makes it worse let winter find you planning for spring not sulking over the errors of everything that happened in the last year somebody this morning maybe that's what you need to take home today you're in winter right now and you just need to plan for spring you just need to know that God is going to show up you need to make your winter your difficult times a time for examining and pondering and re-evaluating and rediscovering because winter can be fabulous winter can be a time in your life for finding new ways to solve old problems it can be a time to understand and control your disappointment and your anger so it doesn't get the best of you winter is a time when you need to set in your house and be sincere with yourself and sincere about yourself and human beings have a tendency to lie to themselves so you don't need to do that in winter we'll uncover all those false motives winters a time we value our precious senior citizens so very much at CCC and winters a time when we worry about them you know they spent all their early lives worrying about us because we were the kids and now we spend our time worrying about them we don't want the default or slip we don't want them to do donuts with their car on the ice in the parking lot actually let me give you a word we don't want anybody doing that but for a senior winter can be a time that's very physically limiting because they have to be so very careful and spiritually winter can be a limiting time when it comes in winter let me tell you that's a time when you can catch up on some unpaid prayers and catch up on some unkept promises to yourself it's a time to get your house in order and your life and submission it's a time to think about others instead of just brooding about yourself because the cold and the ice and the snow will soon enough be gone and you want to enter your springtime smiling not weeping you want to enter your springtime with your hands lifted and praise to God not clenched in anger at life and so winter can have a purpose if you handle it right here's what the old prophet Isaiah said when he wrote God's word down for Israel for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts for as the rain comes down and the snow somebody say and the snow don't want to ruin your day but the snow is coming it's just a matter of weeks now for as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and it doesn't go back but it does have a purpose it water if the earth and makes it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater you say that's not right snow doesn't bring budding and snow doesn't bring crops and snow doesn't bring all of that yeah it does because it allows the ground to rest and you know the cycle of the year when spring comes it was actually the snow the ground couldn't take a harvest every single week of the year it couldn't take it and so winter even has a purpose and here's what God said in just that way so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth it won't return unto me void empty it will accomplish that which I please just like the rain and the snow that come down they don't go back up to heaven they stay here and they work on the earth and it accomplishes what nature intended well God said when my word goes forth it's not coming back empty it's going to accomplish that which I please and it will prosper in the thing whereto I sent it that's what God said about winter that's what God said about rain and snow that's what God said about the bad weather of your life it has a purpose and God said my word is the same as the rain and the snow that comes down and it accomplishes my purpose if I gave you a word don't you get distracted in the winter if I gave you a word don't you get bitter when your ground is covered with ice if I gave you a word don't you throw up your hands and defeat just because there are mounds of snow over your heart because here's what we know from the Bible and here's what we know from experience and here's what we know from life both ourselves and others seasons change and if you're in a bad season right now there's another season coming because God promised it and gave us the pattern in the seasons of the year this is what we know about life seasons change but God doesn't that's what we know about life seasons change but God doesn't musicians come back for a second would you please I want to give you one more scripture this is the scripture that started this little journey into this little message this morning Psalm chapter 74 amazing verse the psalmist said God the day is yours well we know that it's easy to worship God when everything's going well it's easy to worship God when the sunshine it's easy to have hope and have faith and be positive when the sun shining but the psalmist said God the days yours but the nights yours too you've prepared the light and the Sun you've set all the borders of the earth and God you made the seasons you made summer and winter well if you believe in a creator you know that God created the seasons that we observe in nature but what you may have overlooked is that same loving Heavenly Father created the seasons of your life he allowed the seasons to cycle through it would be nice if we only had to deal with each of these seasons once a year but winter could come to somebody before you leave the building winter could come to somebody with one text message or one phone call winter could arrive anytime this week but so could spring summer could be there and you just feel like you're worn down by the endless toil of guarding your life and guarding your family and working so hard and being so diligent summer comes but fall comes to with the harvest of the faithful seed you've sown in the kingdom of God seasons changing God doesn't he's faithful and he's able in every season of your life and so whatever season that might be this morning I'd ask you to stand right now and I'd ask you to join me and pray and I'm gonna pray but I hope you'll pray whether you pray out loud that's kind of our custom here because the Bible says so much about lifting up our voice in the sanctuary but if that's out of your comfort zone you don't have to pray that way you can pray with the words of your mind but I'm gonna ask you if you'd pray and you don't have to pray what I pray but if you pray something similar to God about the season you're in in life it's our custom here because the Bible talks so much about the lifting of our hands being as the evening sacrifice it's our custom to lift our hands we pray it's a sign of surrender to God and so right now I'm gonna ask everybody in the room if it's in your comfort zone at all even if it's just a little bit in your comfort zone here's what I know if you'll talk to God sincerely from your heart God hears every prayer prayed by every person it doesn't matter whether you've never walked in the doors of a church before could we go to prayer right now Church everybody in the room all of our wonderful friends and guests that are here let's take a moment to pray before we go on with our day Lord Jesus I thank you for the wisdom of your word I thank you God for the promise and the faithfulness of your word and I thank you God that you're always with us and you never leave us and you don't forsake us and so god today we come as a collection of people on this weekend when we're transitioning into a new phase of the year kids are going back to school young people are going to college and Bible College we're kind of refocusing after vacation and we're making plans to hit the fall and do a good job and maybe get a raise or a promotion or do better we're focusing Jesus and so right now we're not just focusing on a physical season right now we focus on the spiritual seasons of life somebody here they have an opportunity and they they don't need to fumble the ball you opened up a door for them help them not to just kind of slide into it help them to run into that opportunity that you have given them with all faiths and all trust and all obedience to you God somebody there in that long hot summer and they're so weary attendant kids and tending crops and they're so weary of tendin responsibilities and they're so weary of just the routine and the ritual god help them to see that it's all for a purpose there's another season coming there's another season coming god somebody's in the fall right now and they're enjoying the harvest but there's somebody else in the fall and they're regretting what they didn't do last year they're regretting mistakes they made they're regretting failures in their life they're regretting and they're saying my harvest isn't as good as it could be and should be because of mistakes I may help them to see God that you are Lord of every day of their life and even on a day of failure you can come through and bring a miracle out of it God somebody's here in the winter of their life it's so cold and so dark it's so frozen over it's it's so dead and they just feel like there's no hope but God here's what I know you can break through the crust of the hardened snow and you can break through the ice that surrounds their spirit and God you can bring them hope and the ultimate hope is seasons change but you don't you are faithful every day right now would you join me at the end of our prayer and if you'd like to physically lift your hands that would be good but what I'm going to ask you to do in your heart is lift up your situation to God and say Jesus would you help me here Jesus would you take this issue Jesus would you forgive me of that sin Jesus would you help me negotiate this problem Jesus I've got a relationship in my life that is upside down and I don't have enough wisdom to deal with it but God I'm asking you to help me that preacher says you'll help me so God I'm asking if you'll show up because I need a spring at the end of my winter [Music] one more moment in whatever way you can pray win your own words out of your own heart would you lift up that prayer to God right now just take one more moment personalize it make it your prayer Church lift up your voice at the end of this service and pray for a moment lift up your voice and pray Jesus is here and he's so real seasons change he's the God who is yesterday and today and forever the very same he never changes I Love You God [Music] I love you Jesus I worship you God [Music] we ask all of these things in your name a name that's greater than our name with more power than our name a faithful name a loving name a healing name we ask all these things in the name of Jesus

Channel: Capital Community Church

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Keywords: pastor, raymond, woodward, preaching, preach, sermon, ccc, capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, christian, seasons, change, god, doesn't

Id: Ocl1VoXY77A

Length: 38min 3sec (2283 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 02 2018