Repentance

well the Lord is good and uh tonight I've I've got the privilege and I say a privilege because I counted an honor to be able to to teach um something that Pastor just threw us the uh the instructions basically or just he title and then he he said dig it out um but I will say I really feel and I'm thankful that Pastor chose me for this one because I this is one that I think that um every one of us in this room could probably say that we have dealt with in our life and you understand some of the things that we'll be talking about but it is the foundation it is one of the one of the pillars of of the foundation of the doctor I know we came out of a session talking of Doctrine we're going to be talking tonight and simply instructed doctrine of repentance um and I want you to if you would and we'll take it a little bit slower and then you'll see us pick up but I want you to pay close attention to a lot of the things that we'll be talking about because I I want you to be able to share this even if you you you understand this I want you to be able to share this and be able to share it as simple as possible I think it's so important that that we try not to confuse people when we're we're talking to them um after service if you choose to take these notes they're right there is basically what I'm teaching on and if you want some they're there there's about 20 20 of those so if you need there's needing more we can get them or if some of you want the digital copy just tell me and I'll send it because I know we're going digital you know that's old-fashioned right there that's even got a staple in it but from the very beginning of time as far back as came it it was called to man to repent for his wrongdoings I mean you remember remember Kane what did he do it was the very first murder recorded and God asked for repentance he called him to repent then every since then over the ages we find Israel going through many of us we study about Israel and Israel going through the ups and downs of of their life but out of every Revival through Israel was the basis of what we're talking about and that was repentance so there's no there's no way for us to get around the fact that if we're going to have a relationship with God and walk with God that there must be repented so to start off with tonight we're going to look at and and we've we've got I told them they come out with this list and I did make a few typos in my in in my scripture list but it was probably that long um but there's there's lots of scripture here that we're going to be studying through tonight we may go through and and just basically do some of the highlights in those scriptures but it's very important that we go to the word of God to see where we are and what's going on Jonah was a man of God that God spoke to In Jonah 3 and 5-8 and he spoke to him about a place called Nineveh everybody say Nineveh and then Nineveh was was a very sinful City was a place that there was things that was going on that was not very nice it's God's Wrath God's judgment was coming to Nineveh and this would be one of the positives that came out of the Old Testament but Nineveh the scripture says that the people of Nineveh believed God then believed in what was going to take place and the scripture said they called a fast the people of Nineveh called a fast and they began to cover themselves with sackcloth and they begin to pray for God to spare them and so even the scripture says from the greatest to the least so it didn't matter as a matter of fact the king went on to say he said he said I want man and Beast to cover themselves with sackcloth the whole city including the king himself called a fast let me tell you something and through this I began to take a little note of some of the things we'll talk about but if you really want true repentance to happen in your own life sometimes it takes the fasting and much praying to get you to that place as a matter of fact there are some things that will not happen unless there's prayer and fasting somebody say Amen and because of their prayer and fasting and they're turning away from what they were doing God lifted the judgment now I I want you to make sure you understand that that this is not just a repentance because you did just because you got caught I mean you know there's there's some of that that happens too sometimes we we you know we we're sorry because we got caught truth is true repentance is that Turning Away turning around and we'll look at some of that in just a moment that is one of the positives of the Old Testament but in on the negative side on the reverse side of that we find a place in Genesis 19 which I don't think you have that scripture but we're going to just talk through these a few minutes take note of these but Sodom and Gomorrah there was a man lot that with much prayer he's trying to say God if you can just spare us just a little bit let me see if I can pull something together here let me see if I can let me see if I can get some people to that that would be righteous he says I don't find anybody there and the outcome of that was is lot and his family decides to try and leave Sodom and Gomorrah what happens the wrath of God sets upon the city Burns it up but all through time Old Testament New Testament John the Baptist was one of those and I'm just hitting highlights because I've got somewhere I want to go with these John the Baptist was one that was in Matthew the third chapter verse two through three somebody read that for me let's pull that up look at this what did he say number three thank you make it straight hit what was his message his his message was clear repent repent John the Baptist was also one of those that he spoke with such such strength that uh they even called him a wild man he's he's out in the wilderness and he's he's just bellering and he's he's screaming at the top of his voice why because he believed in what he was preaching I will pause there for a moment and say this sometimes you you're in church and that and we'll we'll do parallel here but you're in church sometimes and you'll find that there'll be sessions of time in that service that you will find that there will be a feeling that comes on the on the group whether it be whatever Minister may be up ministering and there is such a fervent drive and what he's talking about and you'll feel that feeling God is bringing people to repent there's a spirit of repentance that comes upon people and I I I'll mention that in just a little bit but uh there there is such a fervancy that comes with with when you are seeking God like this I want you to notice that Jesus even picks up and after Jesus's is on the scene and he is he's been ministering for a while he himself was preaching repentance in Matthew 4 and verse 17. or the time that Jesus began preaching he was preaching what saying repent for the kingdom of Heaven is what he would he would call people to repent he would ask them hey you've got anything in your life get it right cleaned it up I was uh thinking about how that in the on the day of Pentecost there was Peter was was speaking and he began to talk about repentance but at the very beginning of that or verse 37 he would make the comment he would say when they heard this what happened somebody read or somebody's you remember they were what they were pricked in their hearts so so what was that conviction what was it that was taking place in that person they were being convicted but God was beginning to deal with them about something that they knew was wrong that they needed to get right something that needed to change and so he would he he would there would be something said and he would begin to feel something I I was uh and I wrote this in my notes and I want to share it with you but Maya my grandfather uh tells he he would tell us his testimony and I'll share it with you there was several week revival going on in and in my own church and my grandfather had not yet received the Holy Ghost at that time I wasn't around that was for my time but uh my grandfather was driving back and forth to work and he was driving a good ways off to go to work and and he uh he'd been praying about receiving you know wanting to receive the Holy Ghost been praying for weeks in an altar and so he's driving across and he he named the the bridge that he was on but he'd been praying on the way to work and my grandfather really he really liked his pipe that was just something he did in past time you know he just he he loved the pipe and he was headed across this bridge headed to work and he said he felt something this is him telling his testimony he said I felt something in me you know and he said I'd been eating on me for a while but I really felt that day that something was going to change without thinking he kept it on his dashboard of his old truck without thinking he grabbed it and the little pouch and he said I chunked it out the window went to work that night came back home went to church and he said when I got in the altar he said it was like Windows of Heaven and and I I of course there's more to that testimony but what I want to make out of this tonight is is there was something that broke in him he came with a spirit of repentance there is there is something that happens in an individual and I I wanna and before I get there with that particular note I want to I want to just talk about this I want you to understand that that there are elements about Pentecost are about uh about repentance that is that is sometimes false I was uh as I was studying this I I come from a place called Louisiana okay I better say it right but uh and there is there is people in that area that are very strong in another type of of faith and one of the things that they believe in is is what we call Penance um as I began to study and and those of you that understand this the Penance is is the emotional side of of repentance it is an emotional side so to explain that a little deeper and for example an alcoholic he can re he can regret the day that he ever started drinking but that does if he doesn't change his habit then you know that's that's basically he regrets and he's sorry for it but he doesn't change it and the majority of the times a lot of people think that they can just do what what they call paying pennants and it's really not repentance it's just saying I'm sorry that's basically what you're doing and saying I I did wrong but never doing anything about it true repentance is that and we find this is the definition and in the Greek true repentance would be about faith it would be a change of heart a change of mind and so when you think about this as we as we give we go to the altar we don't do Penance we do repentance right yes we get caught up in the emotional side sometime because we're sorry about it but the question is there what are you doing about it amen I I and these these three elements will show up and this is this is a part of we want to talk about tonight these three elements of repentance the first one is the emotional side there has to be a heart thing going on that's where we were talking earlier about the pricking of the heart in in on the day of Pentecost they they felt something in their hearts they they realized that there was something going on that they needed to change so that emotional side of repentance has to be there that element has to be there if you don't know you're doing wrong then why are you there if a person doesn't know that they're lost why are they repenting they have to know that what they're doing is wrong so they have to have there has to be that emotional attachment there that emotion must show I I need to change what's going on here Paul said it or when Peter preached it they felt it they were pricked in their hearts Paul writes and he talks about the Philippian Jailer acts 16 verse 29 we find that Paul and Silas are in they're in prison they're they're bound and they begin to sing and sing praises and what does the Philippian Jailer do the scripture says that he came to them and he was trembling not because of the earthquake but because of what took place there he realized that hey these guys has got something that I want the scripture says that he repents and his whole family is saved his whole family comes to God why because of an event that that he was shook through the emotional side he was shook and God changed his life the second element is this the intellect um I won't wade into this too much but a person has to understand there has to be that what is intellect somebody give me that definition real quick come on if and you You Gotta Have It oh understand that power within them to understand into leg and I think it's very important that we understand that there there are some people that just don't get it some people just don't understand we'll let God be the judge of some of that okay but you have to get to a place of understanding you have to the intellectual side of a man must must be involved there that that element must be there there must be a something in him says I've got to change or he has a change of mind he has a change of of views things inside of him change so he has he has the he has that that side of him that he wants to know he wants to know more about it that's and I I just just thought about this but you take uh you take the Ethiopian Union he's riding along in the carriage and he's going down through there and he doesn't know what he's really reading does he what does the prophet say hey do you understand that no I don't understand this I need somebody to explain it then when they get to explaining it he understands water I see that well there's water understanding taking him through the steps understanding what's going on so you have the emotional side you have the intellect side but then you also have this third element which is the will you have to have a will to do something you have to be able to say I'm going to get up and do this I I I'm gonna make something happen have you ever met people that that go to an altar it's like they pray and they it's like they get a little breakthrough and then they walk away and next Sunday they're back in the office pray a little while and they get a breakthrough and then they're back in the altar and it's okay to get in the altar but it's it's like though they never get anywhere with that and that that that's the part that sometimes you have to sit down with an individual and you say okay let's break this down let's see if we've got the three elements you know they feel sorry about what they're doing they get emotional you know they're that's there then you talk about the intellectual side of it are you understanding where you are in life and what's going on in your life and and you're trying to talk through that and see where they are but a lot of times it's because the will is not there you may understand all of it but you just don't have it's called will in motion it's just not happening for you sometimes it takes a person getting to that place one of the examples that's given is in Luke the 15th chapter there's a lot of Parables right there but Jesus uses this one particular parable in 18 He talks about the Prodigal Son prodigal son is he is left home given what he needs he's asked his father says Father Can I have can I have all of the stuff that belongs to me yep there you go takes his journey then where does he find himself he finds himself scripture calls it eating with the swine or eating with the pigs scripture says he came to himself he realizes where he's at and you can look through that part of the scripture and you can see all three of these elements working you see him he discovers where he's at and he's wrong and he's you can see that emotional side starting to flare up and say you know what I I need to get out of here then he starts he understands his intellect side says Hey father's house and I don't care if I'm just a just a servant but the father's house is where I really want to be and I know he's got some hired servants there if I could just get there I'll talk to him about that intellect side and then then the wheel in motion is when the scripture says he gets uh he goes and finds his father he goes back to his father now I I I I know it that most of you in this room probably understand that story and you probably understand it better than I do but we do know that for this guy to get up and go to his father's house that that's that's taking it as far as he can go that father yeah he loved him but to the community that was around him to everybody that he would be passing on his way back to his father's house I'm sure that there was a there was probably a stack of stones somewhere that would have taken him out because there was rejection there was no longer affiliated with that household there were so many things that that we could say would be wrong about that but if there was ever us a a story that Jesus would give about repentance it would be the Prodigal Son because we see all of the elements working there we see everything happening he he has repented truly repented and now he's headed back to his father's I want you to understand something here true repentance has nothing to do with Daddy true repentance has nothing to do with whoever he was headed back to forgiveness is not just for another another person brother Jeff that that was for me true repentance is to get get me right never was about who was going to be accepting it never was about who was going to be around me in the altar never was about the fact that so and so helped pray me through to the Holy Ghost it had nothing to do with that through chains of heart change of mind has to do with me why because I'm a sinner and I need to be safe the only way that I'm going to get get there is I've got to get this right all of these elements must be happening in an individual before true repentance can happen there must be a longing for getting where God needs you to be getting where God wants you to be understand this God will never change he will never change when he says something's clean it's clean he don't he don't go back on his word that father that met that son out there he was waiting on it everybody else could call him a dirty dog everybody else could call him a pig everybody else could call him whatever even his own brother had an issue with it we see that scripture tells us even if somebody Falls by the wayside along the way they that are whole are to what restore such a one so if you don't have it in you to help restore somebody we probably need to be along there beside them God help me keep my spirit right because I need to understand that could be me or maybe we go through a time in our life when it is us and I want to make sure that I have kept the good spirit God would you help somebody come along that would help me back up repentance about face turning from the wrong to the right God help me help me to get to a place that I understand that the only way to True repentance is through you I want us to under to take a look real quick into our own lives just just real quick I I I don't ask you to not asking for any anything to to be exposed but I want you just to think of when you came to the Lord the things that may have flooded through you that God had washed away I'm not asking you to pull up old sins I'm not asking you that but maybe there's things you know we are human and just think about those things that that were wrong there and God forgave you he forgave you can you say thank you Jesus he forgave you First Corinthians 7 verse 9 and 10 and I want us to look at this real quick First Corinthians 7 9 and 10. this is Paul's address somebody read this for us no I'm sorry second whoa we going way out there won't we hey you that's right you getting married laughs yes Glory that's all right that's all right yeah praise God hallelujah yes I'm gonna give you the mic second Corinthians 7 verse 9. that again she knows Paul he he addressed this and he he says not that you're made sorry but you are your sorrow brings you to repentance again we go back to what we were saying earlier is is a lot of times we are we are sorry but it shouldn't stop there it works its way through us and through those elements the emotional side the intelligence side of things and then the will to actually do something about it God help us to not stall there there is a process to this repentance is not something I wanted done all the time no you've got to work your way through some things I and again I take it to to the fact that there there's people that that pray for many many hours in a in an altar because why it's what we call praying through you're trying to get there and you're working through that stuff God help us to be able to to allow ourselves to move forward and whatever we're doing asking God to repent to forgive you of those sins repenting of those things take away those things change your heart and mind and and sometimes that you it takes a while but when you get your mind made up when you get things right up here and in here the change will come how many of you remember that feeling and I know I asked you a few moments ago to think back how many you remember the feeling that you had come over you when you knew that you had truly repented you had major mind up and you made that move to say God okay this is it I and you chant you change your way of looking at things you remember that this is what we we strive for these are this is foundation right here this is what the church is truly built on we can we can come in with all kinds of other things and just place it there and call it a church but if there is not if repentance is not a part of it we're not going anywhere as a matter of fact thank you Pastor for for bringing us to this point because if there's not true repentance then what the rest these other guys that's going to talk here in a few weeks the next few weeks it means nothing if you don't have true repentance going on and I I encourage you that if you're working through something in your life and that and and I don't want this to sound like a a therapy lesson but if you're working through something in your life and you know that you got to work on this thing and you know you're having to work through this situation and God I I really need some relief here I need to be free of this use those simple elements that we was talking about work your way through there and and you will get you will see the results you'll see God do some things in your life God I need relief I need I need freedom from this I thank God for our group that we have that comes on Tuesday nights I really think I thank God for that group um I'm thankful for the leaders and the things that we're doing trying to drive that uh to bring to bring the spiritual element into that um I think most of the time though when when we get we get people to come in that they quite don't get that part of it and so it's like a continual struggle it's like if I can make it to the next day or I can make it to the you know it's just a struggle it's like we really true repentance you ever heard the old song He Set Me Free he broke the bondage yes and he sets you free you want to be glory bound that's the only way to do it is God I have to have true repentance I have to have True Deliverance so when Peter stands up on the day of Pentecost and he says repent and be baptized that you understand that true repentance before any of that other can come along you've got to have those sins washed away you've got to be free of those things God thank you for washing those sins away thank you for what you did at Calvary thank you for what you're doing in my life God has been so gracious to many of us and you can truly say thank you Lord for saving me would you lift your hands with us again just lift your hands to God Lord we thank you Lord we thank you for your forgiveness we thank you Lord for washing those sins away taking those sins away thank you Lord for the desires that was there that they're no longer there God that you've helped me cleanse my heart my mind my spirit God Lord that you wash me you cleanse me it becomes a daily thing for us God that we walk through life every day of our life saying God would you would you please gird those loins of our minds up God that you would you would protect us from anything in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus Hallelujah Hallelujah in the name of Jesus amen God bless you tonight would you stand with us think it's very these are very important Keys though that what we what we talked about tonight these this is something that that is much needed and I I encourage you sometimes this is it's it's not something that just automatically just happens sometimes it takes us saying God I got something I need to work on we live in a rough world we deal with with these things every day somebody say I I understand if you truly understand I understand and there are things that we're faced with daily all made this mention he says he said I Die daily there there is something that I have to do every day I have to say God this old flash likes to get up this flesh tries to get in my way I don't know if you ever catch it or not but in his writing sometimes I get the feeling that um awesome he he had a little bit of an attitude I'm not so sure if what he was a hothead there was things about his journeys that you find that he he didn't have a lot of patience sometimes you read through them you'll find that and I say that because some of us understand and you say you know just sometimes we struggle with other people saying you know I don't know why they don't get it I don't know why they can't get there well think about it you were there too you were there but God helped you he helped you and you're here by the grace of God right so just for the next few moments we're we're right at eight o'clock folks for the next few moments if you would would you just take a moment and maybe there's something you need to work on work on that but maybe you're here tonight and you feel okay would you ask God to God keep me keep my heart keep my mind keep my spirit would you do that right now in the name of Jesus God keep my heart in that repentant State God that I I don't turn away from those things and understanding that you've brought us a long way foreign God we need you we need everything that you have for us we need you to protect our hearts and Minds Speak Life into us help me God that I would have the will to get up do the right thing that I would have the will to continue my path that you have before me Lord I would keep will in motion Lord keep moving forward understanding that this is about me getting to you Lord has nothing to do with anyone else but I must be saved Lord I must be saved foreign in the name of Jesus God did you speak life into these this room right now in each and every life in the name of Jesus speak freedom in this place thank you Jesus thank you Jesus would you lift your hands and thank him right now thank you Jesus oh we need you Lord we need you Lord Hallelujah hallelujah thank you Jesus thank you Jesus Hallelujah Hallelujah everyone say in the name of Jesus let God be God in your life let him let him lead you let him direct you your steps we hadn't made it yet folks so everything we've been talking about tonight sometimes it's one of those things we have to go back and say okay God having some issues I need to talk and let it be just like that it doesn't have to be the D's and thou's and talk to the Lord so God I just I need to talk to you I hadn't been feeling right God bless you tonight have a great rest of the week look at your neighbor and say don't forget about the three elements God bless you in Jesus name