REPENTANCE ESSENTIAL FOR JESUS COMING KINGDOM

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“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:1-2

“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15

“No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3,5

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

“Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,“ Acts 3:19

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this, he has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31

We are called to live holy lives that honor God. Our decisions either fuel the fires of revival or quench the Spirit— we either rejoice in God and walk in His Word or grieve the Spirit by disobeying. The choice is ours.

REPENTANCE THAT LEADS TO SALVATION

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“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you …” 2 Corinthians 7:10-11

To get into Christ’s Kingdom, you have to truly repent, truly dying to self so that you cannot go back to your old life. Paul talks about godly grief, being convicted by the Holy Spirit about your sin. Knowing how abhorrent sin is to God you will have “godly grief that leads to repentance“. You will also realise how good, how gracious and merciful God was to send His Son, Jesus, to pay the price for your sin of rebellion against Him and His values.

Once we have truly repented and accepted Jesus as our Saviour and Lord, God the Father sends the Holy Spirit to indwell our spirit. God’s Word tells us that our spirit is the lamp of the Lord and a lamp requires oil (Holy Spirit) to function as God intended. When Adam and Eve sinned the Holy Spirit departed their spirit, so they died spiritually immediately and their bodies died some 900 years later.

“The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.” Proverbs 20:27

Without the Holy Spirit we cannot live the Christian life. He is the one that brings about the sanctification process, making you Christ like. He is the one that produces the fruit of the Spirit in your life; love, joy, peace patience, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, kindness and self control. He is also one that provides the gifts of the Spirit for ministry; words of knowledge, words of wisdom, prophecy, faith, healings, miracles, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues. You are not saved unless the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit are evident in your life.

Sadly, there are many people sitting in the pews of churches that have not experienced “godly grief that produces a repentance that leads to salvation“. The “end times” parable of the Ten Virgins tells us that half of them that are waiting for the bridegroom (Jesus) to return do not have oil for their lamps and Jesus tells them to depart from me I do not know you. This parable reveals that half the people in the “end times” church that think they are Christians and are waiting for Him to return are not saved and will be on earth when the wrath of God is poured out with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements.

For Christians this should be a wake up call, we have a mission field in our churches people who need to experience “godly grief that produces a repentance that leads to salvation.”

HISTORY PROVES GOD RESPONDS WHEN NATIONS REPENT

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In the year 1849 in the United States a major cholera epidemic broke out and quickly spread. Soon  more than 150,000 died.  The death rate was far higher than today’s covid19.  In response President Zachary Taylor called for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer – a solution that had been called by Americans many times previously, beginning with the Pilgrims.   Within days the epidemic was stopped. God responded.

Abraham Lincoln called three times during the Civil War for such Days of Humiliation

The Lord has allowed today’s global pestilence. New more virulent virus strains of the Covid virus are emerging worldwide. God typically uses catastrophes whether it is pestilences, famines, floods, wars to cause nations to repent and turn to Him. Read the story again of Jonah and Nineveh (Jonah 3:6-10).  If sincere repentance happens, “God will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:12-14). Abraham Lincoln called three times during the Civil War for such Days of Humiliation, He said, “But we have forgotten God; we have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplies and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”

Yet this simple but humbling solution is ignored by not only our nations leaders but most church leaders.  I would suggest we are living in the last days Jesus spoke of prior to His return to rule and reign on this earth. Jesus said, lawlessness will abound like the days of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah. Apostasy in the church, a great falling away, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24)
 
Personal and national repentance is typically not on the agenda of most political leaders and most churches. In that vacuum, you and I, are called to be examples, if necessary to start a prayer network, certainly to join other prayer networks, participating, for example, in Global Days of Repentance.  The next Global Day of Repentance focuses on Australia on February 7, 2017. If you want to join in then do so by going to: www.globalrepent.com

NATIONAL REPENTANCE THE ONLY SOLUTION

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The following letter to President Trump assembled by Pastor Jeff Daly of Global Day of Repentance, http://www.globalrepent.com, presents the only way forward for the USA ie. a call to national repentance.

“Tonight, FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”

The United States is in a crisis. The President and First Lady having tested positive for the COVID19 virus is a sign that the pestilence allowed by the Living God has come home to the White House.  God has a cure for that pestilence.
It’s time, IT’S WAY PAST TIME, for God’s Solution. 
God’s Solution:  personal and national repentance. 
Yes, prayer events are great; and a powerful move of the Spirit took place on the Mall recently with The Return,  Franklin Graham’s Prayer Walk, Jonathan Friz’s 10 Day ministry, and Redigging the Wells of Revival.  Now it’s time for the next step: a call made by our forefathers—ten earlier Presidents among them—proclaiming a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer. 
I hope you’ll call for such a day Mr. President.  One of your predecessors, President Taylor, called for such a day in 1849 to stop a cholera epidemic. Within days the plague ended. 
This is not just a political battle for the future of the nation. It’s a spiritual battle against the spirit of Liberty that God planted in this nation.  We need to use God’s Strategy to defeat the enemy. 
During the dark days of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed three such days. In his April 30, 1863 proclamation, the President noted, “We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God.”   He went on to say, “Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!”  And his conclusion was, “It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”
Mr. President:  It’s time for God’s Solution, personally, and in sacred assemblies, even at the local church level.  In the face of national crisis, the Living God has His Strategy, just waiting for us to make the next “chess” move.  
Humble yourself before Him, Mr. President, and call us all to join you on a given day. That will be our spiritual “get well card ” to you and to the First Lady. 
Over the past 400 years of this nation that process has worked every single time— close to 800 separate times! 
As we humble ourselves He lifts us up!
God bless you, sir,