Repent!
That word is all over The Word.
– Repentance is in the Bible 21 times.
– Repent is in the Bible 39 times.
– Repented is in the Bible 9 times.
– Repents is in the Bible 5 times.
It was the first sermon that Jesus gave.
It was the first sermon John the Baptist gave.
So it is probably important, ya think?
Yes…it is (eternal) life and death critically important!
☆ (Jesus said) Unless you repent, you too will all perish.
• Luke 13:3 & 5
If we don’t do that, we die. Yes, eternal, death.
But it is a sermon we rarely hear today’s church leaders give today.
Why is that?
For one, it is because too many people only look in mirrors to narcissisticly admire themselves.
Not to be accountable for themselves.
Even those who are in the pulpits!
Also, we have a culture that demands others change to make them feel better.
The ‘inside job’, that activity of changing from within…well…it is hard.
The need for change has to first be even recognized.
Then there has to be a personal responsibility and a desire for that change.
After that, has to be owned. It has to be responsibly accounted for.
And, it won’t feel good at all to know there’s a need do all of that change.
So, because of that difficulty and uneasiness to ‘feel’ the discomfort that comes with change, it will most likely be the last, and I mean very VERY last thing that too many people of todays culture will do.
But the Lord doesn’t want us to go to eternal death.
So when repentance is what our lives need, He wants us to do JUST THAT.
☆ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
• 2 Peter 3:9
That is for everyone.
This is NOT just for the new believer.
This is for EVERY Christian.
Me, you, all of our Christian brothers and sisters.
It is how God wants all of us to continue to live.
As the Lord says, through John, to the Church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation, we need to KEEP a repentant lifestyle.
The scripture explains;
☆ Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place.
• Revelation 2:4-5
The Lord has made it plain to us;
That which we did that made us fall in love with Christ and take a faithful walk in Christianity,
Is the same thing we need to continue to do to STAY in love and our walk in Christianity.
Do not let your faith get old and mold.
We are to keep within the process of our sanctification.
We are to continue to grow, to deepen our humility.
We are to die to self, and consider others first, and esteem others more.
When we do that, it will be easy for us to see where we need to change.
Where we need to ‘turn back’.
Where we need to REPENT.
And our salvation will be so much more of an intimate relationship with Christ, and when we are close to our Father, it is a good thing to be bothered by behaviors or thoughts that go against DAD.
☆ I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
• 2 Corinthians 7:9-10
So let us all REPENT!
Let us guarantee our eternal salvation, by our desire to always look to change for the good, in HIS name!
I Love you guys!
