Small-group guide: The God Who Does Not Change
Text: “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6)
Big idea
Everything we know is changing, including us. God is not. Spurgeon walks through the ways God does not change: in his nature, his character, his plans, his promises, his warnings, and his love for his people. That is the reason his people are “not consumed.”
“Take any one attribute of God, and I will write semper idem on it (always the same).”
Open (10 min)
- What is something in your life that has changed more than you expected in the last five years?
Discuss (30 min)
- Read Malachi 3:6 and James 1:17. What do these verses say God is like? What do they say he is not like?
- Spurgeon contrasts God with mountains, oceans, and even our own bodies, which are “always undergoing revolution.” Why does it matter that the one we worship does not wear out?
- He says God never changes his plans because he is almighty, all-wise, and everlasting. Which of those three do you most need to hear this week?
- Spurgeon writes that when a promise feels empty, “You have been shaken on the rock, not the rock under you.” When have you mistaken a change in your feelings for a change in God?
- He also says God is unchanging in his warnings. How does that make the promises more trustworthy, not less?
Apply (10 min)
- Pick one promise of God to rest on this week. Spurgeon’s advice: “Lord there is the promise; it is thy business to fulfill it.”
Pray
Thank God for one way he has been faithful that you did not deserve. Pray for anyone in the group facing a season of change.
This Sunday at New Park Street: The God Who Does Not Change
On Sunday we opened Malachi 3:6, “I am the LORD, I change not.” Our pastor reminded us that everything around us is shifting, from the mountains to our own bodies, but God is not. He is the same in his nature, his character, his plans, and his promises.
One line many of us wrote down: “You have been shaken on the rock, not the rock under you.” When God feels distant, it is our footing that moved, not him.
This week: small groups are discussing the sermon (guide attached), and daily devotionals arrive each morning Monday through Friday.
In a real pack, this recap uses your church’s name, events, and links.
Sunday afternoon“I am the LORD, I change not.” Malachi 3:6. Everything around us changes. He doesn’t. Missed Sunday? The full message is on our site.
Monday quote card“Take any one attribute of God, and I will write semper idem on it.” Always the same. #SundayRecap
MidweekFeeling shaken? “You have been shaken on the rock, not the rock under you.” Small groups are talking about this tonight. Come join one.
Saturday inviteTomorrow we keep going. If this week changed everything for you, come worship the God who doesn’t change. Service times in bio.
When Everything Changes, Here Is What Doesn’t
In January 1855, a twenty-year-old preacher stood up in a London chapel and chose an unusual subject for a young man: the unchangeableness of God. Charles Spurgeon’s text was a single verse, Malachi 3:6, “I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
He began with the world his hearers knew. Mountains lose their snow and gain it again. Oceans rise into mist. Even our bodies, he said, are “always undergoing revolution.” Nothing stays. Then the turn: “But God is perpetually the same.”
Spurgeon walked through what that means. God does not change in his nature or his character: his power, wisdom, justice, and love are what they always were. He does not change his plans, because he is never surprised and never short of strength. And he does not change his promises. When a promise feels empty, Spurgeon said, it is because we changed: “You have been shaken on the rock, not the rock under you.”
His practical advice is worth keeping. Don’t stand on a promise and wobble when the wind comes. Lie down on it. “Lord there is the promise; it is thy business to fulfill it.”
Excerpt. Full packs include a complete 600 to 900 word post.