"Rediscovering Repentance" - The Apostolic Connection

Acts chapter 8 verse number 20 in the midst of a revival a man by the name of Simon made a request he said to Peter and John after seeing Peter and John lay hands upon the Samaritans and they received the gift of the Holy Ghost speaking in a heavenly language Simon the sorcerer although baptized was not converted Simon the sorcerer asked Peter said i will give you money if you give me the power that i may lay my hands on people and they would receive this gift here was Peters answer but Peter said unto Him thy money perish with thee because thou has thought that's very important word that the gift of God may be purchased with money you have thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money you have neither part nor lot in this matter for that heart is not right in the sight of God repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of my heart may be forgiven thee for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity then answered Simon and said pray ye to the Lord for me that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me we find two very powerful statements made in the two verses Acts chapter 11 verse 18 was the conference or the gathering together of the apostles because something very unusual had taken place Acts chapter 10 these Gentiles people that before this time we had been taught not to even eat with them they didn't even have a soul and they were not covenant people with God and we were not even a fellowship with the Gentiles but Acts chapter 10 turned that all around because the Gentiles received the gift of the Holy Ghost and spoke with other tones and were baptized in jesus name it bothered the church to the extent that the early church gathered together in a meeting and there Peter rehearsed before James James it would be commonly believed that James was the pastor of the Jerusalem church he was kind of the leader of the group and James gave Peter the floor and Peter told how he'd seen the vision and how it went down and then James passed the judgment in verse number 18 he said that God has granted to the Gentiles repentance notice that what he says here in acts 1118 that God granted to the Gentiles repentance the word granted means to give it means to open up the way he said that God granted the Gentiles repentance this verse of scripture tells me that I am not really to repentance repentance is not something that I deserve as a man repentance church is and it is a gift from God repentance is a gift that God gives us now we know in Acts chapter 11 excuse me I chapter 10 that when Simon made this request that he would have the power now you understand it may sound on the surface like a good request and he might have even been able to deceive some people by saying I just wanted to be able to give the Holy Ghost people well he didn't want to give the Holy Ghost of people he wanted to say all the holy ghost of people he wanted to profit from and we see that today church don't we we see those that want to profit from the gospel we we see those who want to sell different things and enough said but but Peter addressed the subject and Peter told him that his money would go to hell with him he said your money is going to perish right along with you and then he called on him to repent and he said you need to repent because of the thought that you pay you have had the thought you have thought that the gift of God could be purchased by money I want you to know that repentance touches your mind before it ever alters your heart repentance touches your mind before it ever alters your heart so it's the thought we are given repentance to attack Falls that are not God word listen to this our thoughts our thoughts are the raw material out of which character is formed what a man things determines not only what he says does and sees but also what he is as a man thinketh so is he our whole character gradually takes on the nature and complexion of inward of thinking whatever we're thinking about will become who we truly are naturalist affirm that the size of the fish found in central Africa is subtly influenced by the dimensions of the lake in which they live the same type fish being much larger or smaller in proportion to the scale of their environment in other words this same fish if it's in a large body of water will grow large but this same fish if in a small body of water will stay small thus our thoughts can either enlarge improve enhance our lives or our thoughts can actually keep us very small and never changing can you say Amen we live in a we live an environment of petty griping our character becomes correspondent Lee small shriveled emaciated whereas if we rise up into the region of noble and spacious conceptions of life and truth our character will inevitably expand in proportion to the dimensions of its mental environment character derives its substance and form from the influence and distilled from the mental processes knowable thinking the end alt by rights to result in noble living this is what Peter had in mind when he bids us to arm ourselves with the mind of Christ he knew very well that the shortest and safest way for a man to reproduce Christ's character was to try to put on he is mine you we become what we allow ourselves to think this is why important is so needful because repentance attacks daily thoughts that are not godly thoughts that will keep us helmed in thoughts that will keep us from developing thoughts that will hold us down and actually thoughts that will keep us living a life far beneath our privilege with God I'm here to tell you deliverance is for everyone well why doesn't everybody get delivered because they don't allow enough thoughts of deliverance to live inside of them and until as a man thinketh so is he Exodus chapter 28 addressing the high priest if a uniform is important God proved it by clothing the high priest in the tabernacle and God said in Exodus chapter 28 and verse number 30 and God said and thou shalt make a plate of pure gold and gray upon it or inscribe like engraving of a Cygnet holiness to the Lord Exodus 28 and verse 36 he said I want to play a gold inscribed with this holiness unto the Lord now watch this please so any time you saw the priest coming he had a gold and play tied with the lace of glue around his head around his forehead and on his forehead was a clade of gold that weighed four and a half pounds and I'm working on a sermon it ain't heavy its holiness if they can write a song he ain't heavy he's my brother I can preach a sermon it ain't heavy its holiness and so on you seem coming and you know he's the high priest because on his forehead is this plate holiness to the Lord it shall be put on a verse 37 and thou shalt put it on a blue lace that it may be up on the Mater up on the forefront of the moderate it shall be and in shall verse 38 it shall be up on Aaron's forehead now why would it be placed on his forehead and not his belt buckle why was it placed on his forehead and not his armband why was it placed by God on the forehead because the forehead in Scripture represents the place of fold the thought is the identity of a man you are you are the false they go on in your mind you can do all you can dress it up different you can act different for a certain time but when the day is done you become and you are who you allow and what you allow the thoughts that go through your mind and so God said about Aaron said I want the thoughts on his head to be the thoughts of holiness First Samuel 1749 says these words for Samuel 1749 and David put his hand in his bag and took Vince a stone and slang it and smote the Philistine in his forehead that the stone sunk into his forehead and he fell upon his face to the earth I personally do not think it is a coincidence that it just doesn't loosely say his head but that the scripture says plainly David here him in the forehead David hit the adversary where he was thinking the adversary things were going to quit let's hit him what he's thinking we're not going to quit the adversary things that you're almost ready to give up and you are believing in thinking that life is never going to turn around for you why don't we learn to think and hit him in his forehead and say no I just started living no I'm going to live I'm going to come out this this time of sickness in my life this time of sickness in my life this unexpected interruption in a marriage relationship this son that's gotten addicted these finances that have collapsed this is not here to stay this is only a season of my life I'm going to come out of this season the Sun is going to shine again now I say this example for the Davis I am not advocating speeding but I remember one time driving down the interstate in a blinding rain that was falling and I was just creeping along and all of a sudden this truck passed me so fast and I thought to myself you are Romanian what I'm going to find you somewhere up here on the side of the road you to drive this way well what I didn't know it was back during the day of CB radios and they still have them I don't mean they don't have them anymore but I think their own cell phones now but anyway what I didn't know he had talked to somebody on the other Lane and and he was talking somebody coming in the opposite direction and they had told him what mom mile marker it wasn't raining and so instead of creeping along he just decided to just hammer down and drive out of the right hand he got the rain a lot faster than idea now I only I can only use this in a spiritual sense today please don't don't don't speak through the rain but I wonder sometimes in our walk with God when it starts raining tribulations and we start just shutting down and slowing down and we just start just kind of creeping along and barely making it and our praise almost goes into a coma and our prayer life almost goes into a coma and our church life goes into a coma and we're like bears hibernating in the winter we're just barely creeping along while somebody else goes through the same trial but they decide that they're going to double up on their prayer they're going to double up on their praise for if he was worthy enough to praise him in a good day then he's worthy enough to praise him even bad day job why don't you curse God and die why don't you just you're covered with boils we've lost all of our children job we are bankrupt Joe we have lost everything job you're being accused of having another woman job you're being accused of all kind of sin Joe why don't you curse God and die woman you speak like a fool have we not received good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil also Joe had it right job said I'm not a fair-weather Christian I'm not just going to jump up and down whenever things cry even when the skies are black he's still in control for the Prophet said the clouds are but the dust of his feet so if it's cloudy in your life today please understand the master is passing by the clouds are the dust of his feet