00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on episode 672 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm Jeff Brown from the read to lead podcast, challenging you to reach true success in business and in life through consistent and intentional reading. And one way to be inspired to success is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Mader. Change is not about what is happening to us,
00:00:35 but rather it's about what is happening within us. That change is about us recognizing that God has a larger plan. And part of our job is to recognize where God is working and then go there. Welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time,
00:01:03 your talent and your treasures for your true calling and the inspired stewardship podcast who learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. And today's spiritual foundation episode about impacting the world. I talked with you about Matthew chapter nine, verse 17, how change comes, but there are ways we can keep it in perspective and what that can mean for us as believers.
00:01:41 Let's talk about change. You know, the truth is change is one of those things that is a constant in our world. We always have to face the fact that things change it moment to moment, day to day, year to year, nothing is ever the same. And Matthew chapter nine verse 17 says neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed,
00:02:10 but new wine is put into fresh wine skins. And so both are preserved. You know, that idea that we have to adapt and change ourselves. As things become new, we have to make changes in what we do, what we think, how we act is part of recognizing and keeping change in perspective, whether it's a birth, a death, a new beginning,
00:02:35 or an ending, whatever it is, change happens, but the truth is the way we cope with it. The way we keep it in perspective, that's what matters, you know, does the change change everything we often feel like it does. Even the smallest change often feels like it's going to affect every component of our life, but that's usually not true.
00:03:04 We feel like change happens quickly. And the truth is that it's that we are actually moving too slowly in recognizing and adapting to it. We always feel like change is going to be for the bad that it's always going to affect us in a negative way. But the truth is oftentimes if we can see the larger picture, we can recognize that even changes that we don't want.
00:03:32 Eventually bear fruit. That is good. The change is not what we wanted, but is what we wanted. Really the criteria by which the universe decides whether or not it will change. We can't take our will and put it over onto what God has planned for us. And assume that we somehow know better, that the change that we see or want or don't want is absolutely the change.
00:04:06 That is the best. Instead we have to recognize and trust God with those changes. You'll Malakai chapter three, verse six. And there's dozens of examples like this say for I, the Lord does not change. Therefore you are not consumed. Another words. The truth is that God is the constant that we can depend on. Even in the worst of change that helps us move through change with less fear that helps us move through change with more perspective,
00:04:39 recognizing that in the larger scheme of things, that change is probably not as bad as we thought nor is good, by the way, this happens. Whether the change that we see is one that we think will be bad or good. We often fear even good changes. We fear success as much as failure in many ways. So as believers as we put over onto God,
00:05:03 the fact that God is constant, we can begin to set back and recognize that maybe this change is about being made into a new wine skin. Maybe this change is not about what ha is happening to us, but rather it's about what is happening within us. That change is about us recognizing that God has a larger plan. And part of our job is to recognize where God is working and then go there.
00:05:37 That can be really, really hard to do, especially if that change feels overly negative, but the truth is that is where we should go for. The Lord does not change. Therefore you are not consumed. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast, as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen,
00:06:12 but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoy this episode, do me a favor, go over to facebook.com/inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there until next time,
00:06:46 invest your time, your talent and your treasures, develop your influence and impact the world..