Things Change
Seems like everything changes over time.
Sadly, many of us have seen the changes in the church.
And it is upsetting that many seem to not care.

Introduction
We take caution not to change things in church or its worship service.
Or at least, some try to keep things the way God wants it done.
We know that God does not change (Malachi 3:6).
We know that the word of the Lord will abide forever (Isaiah 40:8).

There are some things that should never change, yet they do all the time.
We must insert here the fact that sometimes change is necessary.
The type of change we mention here is when you go from bad to good (Ephesians 2:1-10).
This is the change when we leave the world, and obey the gospel of Christ to become a child of God.
Yes, change is necessary when we repent of our sins (Acts 3:19).
Everything we do in life transforms and changes the way we do things.

We all have changed.
Can you do what you once were able to do?
I remember that once, I had to sit in the hallway to talk on the telephone, because that is where the telephone was plugged into the wall.
Now we carry our phones around with us and use wireless handsets and talk on the phone while doing our chores around the house.
Just about everyone in this room has a cell-phone on their person, or in their purse.
We talk on the phone just about anywhere we may be.
Maybe you remember when your car broke down, you had to walk to find a phone to call someone.
I am sure that many of us remember when there were only three or four channels that we could get on our TV sets.
Remember when most TV's were black and white?
Yes, we are getting that old.
Now we have TV's, movies, and concerts streamed onto any electronic device, and we can watch them whenever we want and not be at the mercy of the broadcast station.

There is so much of our world that has changed that only a few of the really younger folk have no idea what it means to see change.
My young grand-kids can operate any electronic device in their home, and I am still trying to figure out how to use my TV remote.
Whenever we are having trouble with our I-pad or phone, we ask our grandchildren to help fix the problem.
I am sure many of us feel this way.

Now, as much as we want to keep change out of the church, we have to face the reality that things have changed a great deal.
Our challenge is to not let these changes hurt our souls (1 Corinthians 10:12).
In many congregations it is actually doing that because of the changes that have already taken place.
We see many churches of Christ adopting practices they borrow from the denominations.
Some Christians who are trying to remain faithful are seeing some of the changes that have hurt the church in recent years.
I remember the days when members of the church of Christ had a reputation for knowing their bibles better than anyone else from any other religious group.
We cannot say that anymore.
Bible illiteracy is so common that people are not even embarrassed that they do not know their bibles anymore.
They do not know the Bible stories, and they do not know the Bible characters and what they did.

We know that our culture and society has a definite impact upon the church.
Our world is entertainment driven and motivated by greed.
It is not unusual anymore that this does not cause church leadership to seek ways to please or entertain the crowds.
They are almost forced to do this entertainment because they feel they will lose members or young people if they do not change.
Remember that the preaching of the gospel was all we needed to bring people to the Lord? (Romans 1:16)
This was very effective years ago.
Now, most of our members believe that we cannot attract anyone by pure gospel preaching.
We must offer incentives of food, frolic, and fun to bring people in.
The Bible informs us in Acts that the preaching of the word caused the church to grow by leaps and bounds. (Acts 8:4)
The changes that have taken place have been so subtle that the majority of members have not noticed it happen.
Those who tried to warn about the changes and the danger associated with them were labeled alarmists, and usually ignored.
About the only people who recognize the changes are those who left the church and returned some time later.
What they find is much different from what they left.

Conclusion
We must find the one way once again.
We must look to ourselves and our brethren and see if we have changed or not changed.
Keep in mind that some changes are good, but many are not.
It is time for self-evaluation (2 Corinthians 13:5).
We must get back to the Bible ways.

By Carey Scott

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