STEEMCHURCH: REPENTANCE

Repentance is the pivot point of the gospel. Repentance is the first step you take in personally receiving the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ.
Repentance is the doorway into all the blessings of God has prepared for you.
Repentance is a change of direction. It involves a realigning your life to God's will.

It involves a total change of direction, when you repent you don't just say nice things to God. You don't just make promises that you will be better. You turn around, the whole orientation of your life turns away from sin towards the Lord.

God command all people everywhere to repent. Repentance is for all people everywhere ( Acts 3:19)
Repentance cause great joy in heaven ( Luke 15:19 )

It's important to understand exactly what TRUE REPENTANCE is but before then repentance doesn't just means saying "SORRY" to God.

Repentance is not

1. Not becoming religious (Matthew 3:7-10, Matthew 5:20)
   The Pharisees were extremely religious. They fasted and prayed and had many religious ceremonies, yet never repented.

2. Not just feeling guilty
   Feeling guilty about our sin comes before repentance, but is not repentance itself. No one repents unless they first feel guilty about their sin, but not all who feel guilty actually repent.

3. Not just being sorry for your sin (2 Corinthians 7:10)
   Some people are very sorry because of the consequences of their sin. They are not really sorry for the sin, but for the penalty they receive in being caught.

4. Not by your strength
   (Isaiah 64:6)
   Many people try in their own strength to become a better person and change their way of life. Any self-effort has a root of self-righteousness in it, which does not acknowledge the need of repentance from sin.

5. Not just knowing the truth (James 2:19-20, Matthew 3:8)
   Having an intellectual head-knowledge of truth does not guarantee that the truth has become a living reality in one’s life.

TRUE REPENTANCE

True repentance is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit in you heart. Several things mark this kind of repentance.

1. Being sorry to God for your sin (Psalm 51:1-4, Psalm 38:8)
   True repentance involves a sorrow not just towards one’s self (because of the consequences of sin), or even toward another person, but first and foremost, it is true sorrow toward God.

2. Being truthful about your sin (Psalm 32:5, Proverbs 28:13)
   Acknowledging your guilt before God is an important precursor to repentance. If you cover up your sin you cannot enter into true repentance.

3. Being willing to turn from your sin
   (1 Peter 3:10-11, Proverbs 8:13)
   Repentance is marked not just by a recognition of sin but by a revelation of sin as God sees it.

4. Taking responsibility before God
   (Luke 19:8-10, Leviticus 6:1-7)
   Repentance involves not just setting things right with God, but also setting things right with others. If harm has come to another because of your sin, repentance involves, where possible, making restitution.

Repentance has to do with a revelation. Revelation and Repentance are complementary aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. We cannot have one without the other.

But the work of God does not begin with repentance. If repentance came first, then it would be God responding to what we do. But the very nature of the Gospel is that God takes the initiative. Our walk with God is always a response to his grace, not the other way around.

The Holy Spirit must first bring a revelation of what is it you are turning from and what is it you are turning to. The direction is to God

Repentance is our response to a revelation from God. Each times we received a revelation in God's word our response should be repentance.
Romans 6:6-7, Romans 6:11-13

Repentance was not base on any idea of trying to be better. It was response to a revelation of it's own depravity before God together with a revelation of God's plan of salvation through Christ.
Repentance is base on the revelation of two things.

1. That the power of sin was broken at the cross.

2. That God requires you to switch allegiance from sin to Him (God)

Without a realization of these two truths, there can be no true repentance. Unless we understand that the power of sin was broken at the Cross, we will be caught up in an endless cycle of self-effort – trying to break the power of sin ourselves. Self effort is not repentance.

And unless we understand that God requires you to switch allegiance from sin to himself, we will never see the need for repentance in the first place. Because of a lack of understanding in these two areas, many Christians have never truly experienced the liberating power of repentance.

From what are we to change
Changing Direction To repent means “to turn around, to change direction.” Repentance means turning from

1. Turning from sin (Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:5)

2.Turning from the world (1 John 2:15; James 4:4)

1. Turning from yourself (2 Corinthians 5:15; Luke 14:26)

2. Turning from the devil (Acts 26:18)

But just turning from these things is not enough. It is what we turn to that makes the difference.

1. Turning to righteousness (Romans 6:13)

2. Turning to God (Acts 20:21; 1 Thessalonians 1:9)

First and foremost, repentance involves a changing of your focus from sin, self and the world to God. God is always ready to receive the person who is “humble and contrite in spirit” (Isaiah 66:2; 57:15; Psalm 51:17).

His arms are always wide open. He has taken the first step toward you in the sending of Christ; now you are required to take a first step toward him in repentance.

THANKS to our friend @SirKnight for the initiative to spread the gospel in steemit, showing the love of Jesus to many.

Love you all