2023 | The Year of Dunamis - "Repentance Prepares The Way"
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2023 | The Year of Dunamis - "Repentance Prepares The Way"

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“REPENTANCE PREPARES THE WAY”
Matthew 3:8
Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance.
Revelation 2:2-5(NLT)
2“I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. 3You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.
4“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!b5Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.


Revelation 2:4-5 To the Church in Ephesus (BSB)
4"But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love. 5Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."





YOU ABANDON YOUR FIRST LOVE BY GETTING CAUGHT UP IN AND LOVING THE PLEASURES OF LIFE MORE THAN HIM!

YOUR ACTIONS, TIME AND MONEY WILL POINT TO WHAT YOUR FIRST LOVE IS!
Revelation 2:7
7"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

Revelation 22:17
17"The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely."

John 3:29-30
29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30He must increase; I must decrease.

Revelation 2:14-16 To the Church in Pergamum
14"But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. 15In the same way, some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth."


Jesus is calling out the false teaching and promoting of sexual
immorality!


**HIS PEOPLE ARE CRAVING HOLINESS!!!**
Revelation 22:10-13
10"Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of prophecy in this book, because the time is near. 11Let the unrighteous continue to be unrighteous, and the vile continue to be vile; let the righteous continue to practice righteousness, and the holy continue to be holy.”

12“Behold, I am coming soon, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done.13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
This morning I came to tell you, your Repentance Prepares The Way!
THERE ARE LAYERS TO REPENTANCE, MULTIPLE DEFINTIONS THAT DESCRIBE HOW WE KEEP WITH REPENTANCE (Matt. 3:8)

1. Repentance Prepares the way to Grieve Sin
2. Repentance Prepares the Way for Salvation + Joy
3. Repentance Prepares the Way for True Covenant with Jesus
4. Repentance Prepares the Way for the Return of Jesus
1. Repentance Prepares the way to Grieve Sin
Repentance prepares the way for grieving sin in our life, the church and our nation!


REPENTANCE:
To Repent-"to Pant," "to Sigh":
The Hebrew word naham, is an onomatopoetic term which implies difficulty in breathing, hence, "to plant," "to sigh," " to groan." Naturally it came to signify"to lament" or "to grieve," and when the emotion was produced by the desire of good for others, it merged into compassion and sympathy, and when incited by a consideration of one's own character and deeds it means "to rue," "to repent."
Matthew 26:75
75And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.
When was the last time you stopped to weep, you broke down and wept over the sin you committed, the wrong thing you did?

When was the last time you paused while watching tv or scrolling through social media and wept over what you saw?
We cannot enter into true repentance if our heart doesn’t break for the
sin we commit and the sin our nation is committing.

THE LORD IS NOT ANSWERING W/ MERCY + JUSTICE to a SILENT
CHURCH!
2. Repentance Prepares the Way for Salvation + Joy

REPENTANCE:
The term shubh, is most generally employed to express the Scriptural idea of genuine repentance. It is used extensively by the prophets, and makes prominent the idea of a radical change in one's attitude toward sin and God.It implies a conscious, moral separation, and a personal decision to forsake sin and to enter into fellowship with God. It is employed extensively with reference to man's turning away from sin to righteousness. Both terms are also sometimes employed when the twofold idea of grief and altered relation is expressed, and
are translated by "repent" and "return"(Ezekiel 14:6 Hosea 12:6 Jonah 3:8).

SALVATION NEEDS REPENTANCE AND
REPENTANCE NEEDS CONFESSION OF OUR SIN!

1 John 1:8-10
8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.
IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE NO SIN, OR SAY YOU ARE A SINNER IN
FALSE HUMILITY YET THINK YOU HAVE NOTHING TO REPENT
FOR, THE BIBLE SAYS THERE IS NO TRUTH IN YOU!


2 Peter 3:9
9The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that ALL SHOULD COME TO repentance.

2 Corinthians 7:1,7-10 Paul’s Joy Over the Church’s Repentance (NIV)
1Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 7He told us about your longing, your mourning, and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced all the more. 8Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Although I did regret it, I now see that my letter caused you sorrow (words from sermons should cause you sorrow because it leads you to repentance that leads you to Jesus!) but only for a short time. 9And now I rejoice, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Repentance isn’t you getting caught and saying sorry!

TRUE REPENATANCE WILL HAVE GODLY SORROW!

2 Corinthians 7:8-9 Paul’s Joy Over the Church’s Repentance(NIV)
8I now see that my letter caused you sorrow but only for a short time. 9And now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us that leads to salvation without regret...

GODLY SORROW PRODUCES REPENTANCE THAT PREPARES THE
WAY FOR SALVATION AND SALVATION BRINGS FORTH JOY!!

To withhold Godly sorrow and repentance is to withhold JOY from the
Heavens, withhold Joy from Jesus and your own life!


3.Repentance prepares the way for true covenant with Jesus

Luke 15:11-31
The Parable of the Prodigal Son

11Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.16He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing. 17Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food? But here I am, starving to death! 18I will get up and go back to my father and say to him (repent to him), “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”

YOUR REPENTANCE PREPARES THE WAY FOR THIS RESPONSE:

20So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
21The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
22But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.
JOY BROKE OUT AT THE REPENTACE AND RETURN OF THE
FATHER’S SON!
Luke 15:6-7 ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’ 7In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.
Luke 15:10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

REDEMPTION IS WAITING ON YOUR REPENTANCE!

Repent-"to Turn Over," "to Turn Upon," "to Turn Unto": The word epistrepho, is used to bring out more clearly the distinct change wrought in repentance,you turn over and expose sin, wage war against sin and turn fully unto to Jesus

This is a NT form of repentance that takes it further than to just grieve over sin, but means to abandon sin! GRIEF ISN’T ENOUGH, IT TAKES FULL ABANDONMENT OF SIN AND A RETURN TO JESUS AND RECEIVNG HIS MERCY AND GRACE THAT EMPOWERS YOU TO OVERCOME!!

REPENTANCE IS ABANDONMENT OF EVIL AND OUR SIN!
REPENTANCE IS WAR AGAINST EVIL AND SIN!
THIS IS PERSONAL REFORMATION!

Repentance doesn’t just prepare the way for you, for loved ones, for
the lost to return to Jesus, but it prepares the way for
THE RETURN OF JESUS!!
4. Repentance prepares the way for the return of Jesus
Matthew 3:1-12 (Luke 3)The Mission of John the Baptist(Isaiah 40:1–5; Mark 1:1–8; Luke 3:1–20; John 1:19–28)

1In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” 3This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for Him.’
(Luke 3 continues)
Every valley shall be filled in,
and every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked ways shall be made straight,
and the rough ways smooth.
6And all humanity will see God’s salvation.’

Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

7But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance.9And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

WHO OR WHAT IS KEEPING YOU FROM REPENTANCE?
The last message from Jesus directly to His church in His word is
REPENT!!!!

Revelation 2:4-5 (ESV)
4But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. (reform)

Revelation 1:3
3Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

Jesus is saying to an END TIME CHURCH:
Remember, Repent, Reform!!

Regret is not Repentance!

2 Corinthians 7:10
10Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

John 18:18
18Because it was cold, the servants and officers were standing around a charcoal fire they had made to keep warm. And Peter was also standing with them, warming himself.

Luke 22:60-62
60And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62And he went out and wept bitterly.

John 21:7-9
7Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it) and jumped into the sea. (He’s running to Jesus!) 8The other disciples came ashore in the boat. They dragged in the net full of fish, for they were not far from land, only about a hundred yards.

9When they landed, they saw a charcoal fire there with fish on it, and some bread.


REMEMBER, REPENT, REFORM!
- Text NEW to 59090 if you are a first time visitor.

-Text JESUS to 59090 if you received salvation today.

-Text WACO to 59090 for all upcoming events.
Thank you for joining us in His Presence today!
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