Repentance

Welcome to worship in the world with. We recently started a new series about the gospel call for Pastor Robert takes forward that without Christ that but with Christ part good. Today's message is about the word repent and pastor ever has such deep insight to share with us on this so what's joint so this way, type a word that I think many believers think is a bad word is actually a good word.

It's good news and the word is repentance, so I really believe that many believers have a bad view of this word and don't like it and I can remember when I first found out the definition which will go into a little deeper, but I was in grade class. One day the professor said the word repentance and he was just going just kinda going on, using it as a as an example, but he said it means change mind or change the way you think the verb would be change the way you think the noun your mind, change your mind and then he just went on and it just kind of I didn't set right with me because if you remember when I was in college I was already preaching you provide us. Debbie and I were married and we got married after first year college class IInd year from our preaching revivals two or three of a month, sometimes Friday through Sunday revivals going to school and and I would preach and the reason I would print so hard is because I grown up in the church and out. I realize a lot of young people had made a mental commitment to Christ, but not a heart commitment. So I was saying things like repentance isn't changing your mind is changing your heart is changing your life. It's changing your actions exchanging the way you live in, and then I have this professor that says the word actually means to change your mind and so for five minutes go by my doctors couldn't take anymore and suss the cancer question. He said yes I thought I know you know you know, obviously much more about this than I do.

But when you said, repentance means to change your mind.

I just I've been I've been telling people and trying share price of people have been telling us not a change of mind it's a change of heart, and his answer to me was so profound and so impactful and so loving and so kind. He did not put me down at all. I'll never forget what he said. He said Robert you don't have the ability to change your heart.

He said only God can change the human heart, that he gave you have the ability to change your mind and if you'll change your mind.

Feel change of heart, so I never forgotten that and so were going to look at this, so I want to talk about three areas I want you change your mind in the dates and here's number one. The first one is change your mind about repentance, change your mind about the word repentance that is not a bad word. Now let me tell you why we think it's a bad word.

Preachers and teachers have used this as a bad word in a way which re-pin you people need to repent and we use it that way and then preachers if I buy their own definition. For instance, US people, what most what what what mass must be what repentance means they'll say something like this it means to turn from CNN and turn to God. Take that can be a result of repentance.

But it's not what word means if you're going to define a biblical word go to the original language.

We talk about this Hebrew Old Testament Greek New Testament repentance comes from two Greek words there put together as one. The Greek word is meta-Noida meta-Noida meta-means change like metamorphosis and bring their son. If there is a change. Noida means mind.

So that's the noun the verb. I know y'all want to know this is meta-in the way which means change the way you think, think, is an action so soak it change the way you think change your mind. This is what Jesus came preaching. I want you to change your mind, let me just show you the first time the word repent is in the New Testament, Matthew three, verse one. In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Matthew 417, one chapter later. From that time Jesus began to preach and the safe repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand that I want you know, stumbling, first of all, I said this last week, but it bears saying again Jesus and John did not say, repent for hell is that hand. In other words, they didn't bring bad news that brought good news. But when you given every time you can learn a definition start putting the definition in the sentence when you read it. Here's what John and Jesus are saying change the way you're thinking about having a relationship with God. You have been thinking that the way you have a right relationship with God is by what you do work coming to tell you Johnny saying I'm telling you the Messiah is coming right after me, Jesus, the sand I'm telling you on the Masai and because I'm the Messiah a whole new covenant is being said and it is not a covenant of works anymore. It is a covenant of grace.

I want you to change your mind about the way you can have a relationship with God because not true. Works anymore.

It's free fake history grace. I need you to change your mind. See the way we hear this is that John and Jesus showed up and said repent. In essence, is what we hear you dirty rotten low-down sinners. Y'all change the way you are living and you can go to heaven and want to go back to what my great professor said, in essence, you can't change the way you live. You can just change your mind about who Jesus is and Jesus can change the way you live.

So repentance is not a bad word. It is actually a very very good work.

Correction is part of repentance and correction is not a bad work, so I want to ask you question just to just just for fun and I don't want you to raise your hands okay because I am setting you up. I'm letting you know said you up, so do not raise your hands because you want to raise your hands. I would raise my hand.

So don't raise your hand. How many of you sometimes don't raise your hands.

Hey correction or hate to be corrected. Don't raise your hands. Let me just read your scriptures. Proverbs 12 one he who hates correction is stupid.

Don't you like it. God just says what he thinks. Now this word translated most the time foolish, but is just this foolishness. Think about this. If you're going away and you miss a turn when the GPS says recalculating.

You should get mad at the GPS because you don't want to go two hours out the way you want to know if you need to back up and make you following me. So when the Holy Spirit says to you, recalculating I need you to change your mind I want you to check this point. I want you change your mind about the word repentance. It's not a bad word. It's a good work. Here's the second thing I want you change your mind about what you change your mind about yourself.

You see, the reason many of us don't like to be corrected is because it makes us feel like a bad person. I must be a bad person if I'm having to be corrected. In other words, it's not my behavior, it's me as a person acts 319 says change your mind, repent, and be converted, that's when God does the work.

The end in our lives change comes that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord times of refreshing, only after we change your mind, so we gotta come the place that we change our mind is what Jesus is coming the site I need to change your mind about the way you see yourself so repentance is a good word for believers. One of the best things that ever happened to me about three or four years in the my Christian walk. I was still struggling with a lot of the things that I struggle with before I got saved.

You cannot have this thing that once I get saved a model struggling and but I was still struggling and so I felt like a hypocrite and so I told the Lord when they asked that I feel like two people and so the Lord said to me would you like me to fix that this like that and I said yeah what is choice. Okay, I want you to write down everything you effort done wrong, evil, are disgusting that no one knows about what you write it down of this paper and so I did like I guarded the piece of paper and I didn't put my name on it in our day had a plan worked out so infinite. So yeah this guy gave it to me to write about it so but I wrote down all these things that I thought I wouldn't want anyone to know I ever did that but I did and then I actually thought that the Lord was going to say now burn it and you'll be free just just get you one of those big butane lighters see and just burn it and you will never have another problem again, but he did. He said to me this is when I was at Shady Grove church with pastoral graphing the desired Grand Prairie campus. Now he said to me, I want you to read everything on that piece of paper to pastoral and I shared with him for several days. While that was a bad idea. But finally I decided I'm going to so I said to him one day we were loan us that I need to take some things about me and I told him I went through the entire list set up done this.

I thought this.

I've said this. I'm wide about this. I've covered this up the hear hear things about me. Nobody knows I got to the end of the list and I said that's it centers everything else us enough to never forget his response is the Robert I've done everything the mentalist's and I bet you 90% of our church as to but Satan has you convinced that you're worse than everybody else, you need to change the way you think about yourself. You need to forgive yourself. I felt free. I felt like somebody else.

The next day I was feeling so good. And the Lord said to me you feel better setting a succulent shooter read that listed Debbie now. I said, you have the worst ideas that you took me a few days to try to talk him out of it. He didn't budge. I got with Debbie ascending the tag. I remember telling her a memo saying I don't know if you're going to want to stay married. But this is the main merit. I went through the whole list when I got to the she said Robert I knew you were bad when I married and she said I didn't know you that bad.

But on the she said you know what I admire about you most us in the she said you're the most honest person I've ever met about his filters. I know I can trust you because you be honest with repentance is being honest with yourself letting someone else give your perspective that you might not have and then went to get that perspective you could change your mind and God can change yourself last point. I want you change your mind about Jesus what you start seeing Jesus maybe a little differently.

Do you know the number one complaint against Jesus felt some some would say that it was blasphemy, but it really wasn't that was the charge that they brought them out, but not the number one complaint one date listed the most. Luke 15 verse one then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to cure him and the Pharisees and scribes complain saying this might this receives centers and eats with them for what charge he eats with sinners. By the way all of your people centers out.

Great work you meet with sinners. Luke 730 for the Son of Man is come eating and drinking. You say look a glutton and a wind be ever a friend of tax collectors and sinners is called a friend of sinners. Ever wonder why sinners liked to hang out with Jesus. Mark two verse 15.

It happens he was a dining and Levi's house that many tax collectors and sinners also set together Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him, and when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eating with the tax collectors and sinners. They said to his disciples, how is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners. When Jesus heard it said them. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now remember what the word repentance makes because we can read that essay, he called the sinners to change the way they were living. Or we could read it. According to the definition and say he called the sinners to change their minds about what they thought about God. I think Jesus showed up and I think the reason yet with the satyrs was to say then you need to know that the father and I love that the father and I don't judge you your already judge we read that last week. He did come to condemn us to judge us where we were already judged became forgive us. But listen lately. These three statements that I wrote God is not mad at you. God is not disappointed in you and God is not surprised by is not mad at you, he's not disappointed in you and is not surprised by nothing you could ever do could surprise got you online because he is all-knowing, you have never committed a CN, nor ever will. That will be outside of the foreknowledge of God, the gospel, the love of Christ does not have exclusions. It does not say, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever accept Robert Morris between 1975 in 1979 can be forgiven because I really didn't know he was going to be that bad in high school. Repentance is not a bad word is actually a good corporate. It just made you change your mind, it means it's that you you un-understand and and I want you not only to change your mind about yourself.

I want you change your mind about how much Jesus loves you, and that Jesus shows up in the first word he preaches is change your mind because heaven is here change your mind about how you have a relationship with God. I told your mom go about how got to mature pastoral and how you told me to share with Debbie and their wonderful gracious responses to make that I can't tell you what that did. I got a kid I can't even tell you if you know we have Kairos and freedom ministry and we have Christian counselors licensed professional Christian counselors we refer to many LPC's. We believe in help. We believe in emotional health. We believe and and so many times.

Listen this first confess your faults to one another, that you might be. The more you leave in the darkness, the more the enemy works so I told you how they responded and it just it just just set me free and a few a few days after talking pastoral and talking with Debbie I woke up one morning happy. I just woke up with like this huge smile on my face and I was so happy just so happy in the Lord said to me what why you so happy now let me let me say something most of you know this, but if you're new to Gateway and I say the Lord said to talk about audible voice talking but an impression we get in our spirit that aligns with the word of God to know and all of us have had impressions like that from the Holy Spirit. And so, anyway, I guy just like the Lord said to me why are you so happy and and I talked to God like to talk to you and he's fine with and so I just said to him, Lord, don't you get it to me. Don't you get it. I said there are two people that know everything that I've ever done and still let me in. The Lord said to me just to and I didn't get it. I say I said yes all know, everything that that I've ever done.

And they still love me and he said to me just to mess when I got it. Many send me Robert, I know everything that was on face paper and everything you forgot to put on the piece of the and I know everything that will be on the piece of paper and not only do I love.

I type. I gave mine life so you could be forgiven and have an eternal and abundant life.

I know it all and a lot repentance is not a bad word.

It isn't only going is not a one time event for Christians that had that's how you get into the kingdom is the start, but it is an ongoing lifestyle that we continue to change our minds and allowed to change our we want to take a moment to think about with Pastor Richard today and really listen with the Holy Spirit saying to you if you want to connect with us or check out some of past represent the messages. Visit Pastor Robert.com if you haven't already, go falls on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter so we can be part of your community. So glad that you listen with us today. Nick Stein, Pastor Robert is going to talk about the word judgment until then. We hope you have a blessed day