Pastor Robert and TaQuaris Smith
Pastor Robert: Praise the Lord. Thank you, Pastor Brian. Thank you, Hope. It's good to be with you. One of the things I love doing in the whole wide world because that's what I'm called to do, preach and teach the word. When I'm in that place, I'm at my happiest. You know that? And I love you all. It's good to have some of my long, long, long time friends in the house, so like to wave to them, some of my students. They've been listening to me for a long time, longer than you, and they still showed up. It's good to have them. They kind of surprised me today. That's a good surprise.
Before we get started, just to be a little transparent, Pastor Brian and Pastor Jeff and I, otherwise known as the three amigos. We occasionally get together behind the scenes and talk and chat and pray and seek God's direction. One of the things I appreciate about Pastor Brian, he's always checking in with us to make sure that we are doing the right thing, that we are serving you, blessing you. I appreciate him keeping us accountable and as we strive for excellence in ministry, because we can never get stagnant and comfortable and content in our ministry. I appreciate as our lead pastor, him keeping us in line.
I appreciate Pastor Jeff. He's kind of our heartbeat, barometer. He came to us when we were meeting several months ago at, said the Lord had placed on his heart for us as the leadership, to as the Lord leads to bless people, honor people. It's a shame that as we get together in churches and in the world, we say all these nice things when people are gone and we honor them when they are gone. Have you showed up to a funeral and you learn more about a person in a funeral than you did their entire life? We are trying to be intentional not to be that way in this community. We decided when we would have a chance to speak, that we would take time out to honor people as the Lord puts them on their heart.
As I was meditating-- sorry sweetheart, we didn't talk about this ahead of time. As I was shaving this big bald, beautiful head-- that's my listen to the Lord time. As I was doing that, meditating about today, the Lord placed on my heart to take time out to honor somebody very special and dear to me. The Lord put on my heart for me to bless and honor my beautiful wife. Today.
Many of you may not know, you know, she hasn't been here at Hope for a while, but before we were married, I was blessed to be her pastor. I was blessed to be able to see her way before being a husband, to see her from a pastor's lens. And let me tell you something about her that you may not know, but I hope and pray that you soon will in this community. As a pastor, I saw this woman be very faithful. She was very faithful in the music ministry probably. And I'll just go out on the limb and say she was the most faithful member of that music ministry. She went through a near death experience, and after that, she remained faithful in serving the ministry.
I saw her be a single mom and take care of three beautiful daughters on her own and still remain faithful at every service. I saw her bring broken women to church on a weekly basis. How do I know? Because she brought those women a lot for me to pray when we had our prayer time. I saw her go out of her way. I still see her go out of her way to minister to broken women. I have to be honest; I get selfish sometimes because I'm looking up for my wife and she has got a phone call and she's out the door. And sometimes, me and the kids, we tease, oh, mom's going to go help somebody again. But that was one of the first things before I knew that I was being attracted to her. That's one of the things that attracted her to me: her service in her heart for people.
Another thing that attracted me to her was she's a very mysterious woman. And in that, a mysterious woman is very misunderstood. But I get to see you when the lights are not shining. I get to see you when the church doors are not open, and I see your heart. What I feel from the Lord today is to honor you by saying this, God did not make a mistake when he made you. He designed you the way he designed you to be a blessing to not only this community but be a blessing to me.
I have no regret one day that I said I do. You came to me and loved me at one of my most vulnerable, sorrowful times. When you first met me, I was a very sorrowful person. When I became your husband, was the day my life changed to be very joyful. And there is a forever grin on my face because of you. It's not easy blending a family. It's not easy let alone being married to me. It's not easy being a pastor's wife. I just wanted to honor you by seeing you do an excellent job.
TaQuaris: Well, hello. I'm glad I heard the Holy Ghost say, bring tissue up here because I didn't know why I was bringing it, but that's why. I didn't expect that. Most people that know me know I don't like to be in the forefront like this. I have to learn to receive that, and I'm still learning how to receive that. I appreciate you. I love you for that. I love you anyhow. Thank you.
Pastor Robert: As I say, it's time to get to work. Praise God. You know, repentance is the path to forgiveness and salvation. Pastor Brian alluded early this word, repent. Repentance has gotten a bad reputation in church. That's because more often than not, we have gotten a picture of someone yelling at us, "repent!" or coming with a harsh tone of repentance and wanting to repent. And as a leader in God's church, I want to take time to ask you to forgive us for that. And
Although it is essential for us that is repentance for us to enter into the kingdom of God, I have to admit that it has not been taught very well. It has been something that has not been discipled very well in church. On the other hand, it has produced more shame as opposed to opening the pathway to freedom and liberty that is delivered in Jesus Christ. That's why Pastor Brian said it's a good word. It's a good subject. It's liberating, it's freeing. Unfortunately, as it has been taught and demonstrated in churches throughout the ages, it has been the very opposite for people and for some of you. For that, again, as a leader in the church, I want to ask you to forgive us for that.
Jesus has a message of repentance and that's what we want to speak about today. I want to hear your heart for our motivation in getting this message. Because of our mistakes-- And what I mean "our", I'm talking about the body of Christ as a whole. We have in the latter years we've been trying to come up with things to make church more palatable for people. While I understand and I agree that we need to try to correct some mistakes, what I don't want us to do in doing that is lose some of our core messages that come from Jesus himself. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. Even when we try to correct damages that's done, we don't have to change the narrative of Jesus' message. In fact, as Jesus began his public ministry, the very first message that he came with was to repent. And we can see that in Matthew's gospel.
TaQuaris: From then on, Jesus begin to preach, repent of your sins and turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is near.
Pastor Robert: From the very beginning, as Jesus was anointed to do as the Son of God and anointed for ministry, the very first message he came-- which in fact, John the Baptist prepared the way. Jesus comes reiterating that same message. John's message was repent because Messiah is coming. Now a Messiah has come, and Jesus is saying, "The time is now I'm bringing the kingdom of God now." And so since the kingdom of God is upon you, it's time to repent.
As he says, repent, we are going to get into what that means. Repentance requires you to go from something to something. And Jesus said that "to" because the kingdom of heaven is near, I'm coming to you. I have come to you. But see where we have missed it. And what I mean we, we that have been in a religious mindset, a self-righteous mindset. Where we have missed it is because when we come up and have yelled at people to repent, we have been strictly focused on someone's behavior that we deem inappropriate or deem sinful or wrong.
Repentance is Jesus' message. Core focus is not behavior, but the interchange that gives rise to a new God center Christ exalting behavior. Did you get that? Repentance, Jesus's message is not just simply concerning behavior, but it's a inner change that will give rise to God-centered behavior. You can't have God-centered behavior unless repentance comes first. It has to be an inward change in your heart. Jesus's call was a radical call, a radical change for inward change to happen between God and man. Because first, repentance has to do with our relationship with our creator. Our heart set, our mindset has to be changed in relation to what God has deemed to be holy and truthful. Amen.
In this mindset and this understanding, repentance was to go beyond just being sorry for sin or just an improvement in behavior. It's easy to say, I'm sorry when we've been caught, but that doesn't mean that we are changed on the inside to change our behavior. We are just trying to do something not to get caught. But repentance has to do with how you look at that sin in the first place. It's an interchange of heart and mind.
TaQuaris: Yes. Repentance is meant to be a life-giving, sin- replacing gospel root, a posture of the Christian life. Is it easy? No, but is it good for us? Yes. It begins with an internal change of mind and heart that leads, like you said, to an external change of life. And having an internal change of mind is useless if it doesn't follow up with a change of life.
Pastor Robert: It's the same principle when I teach biblical discipleship. What good is it to call yourself a Christian? But we like the term what Christ follower, right? What good is it to say I'm a Christian or Christ follower if you don't follow him? And what does that mean by following him? That you mimic him. You look like him. We can't be Christians only in name. It's in how we live, how we think. And that's a radical change.
When Jesus came on the scene, pay attention to the words of Jesus, the letters in red. Pay attention to what he said. He said, "I didn't come to abolish the law. I came to fulfill it." What does that mean? Because people all often-- we still have this tension between law and grace. To understand what Jesus-- we gotta go back to his words. He said, "I didn't come to abolish, but to fulfill." What you were meant to learn in the law, if you didn't understand how to do it, look at Jesus. Jesus would say, I know you have heard do it this way, but I'm actually showing you how to fulfill what you have learned.
When it comes to repentance, it moves from just being sorry because you got caught. Because you broke the law, you are afraid you are going to get penalized. That's a big deterrent for people not to break the law, because you are going to get penalized. Jesus's message is: don't break the law because you are going to get punished. Don't break your law because it's not the right thing to do. That's why Jesus says in his commandments, he said, follow the commandments. But he said the overarching thing, the biggest commandment is to not only love your God with all yourself, with all your heart, with all your mind and your soul. He said, "But also love your neighbor as you love yourself." In this, you fulfill all the commandments. He's saying, instead of living by a set of rules, live by the principle that if I love my neighbor, it takes care of the list.
You see that even obeying the law of following God's commandments still has to do with an interchange in your heart, so your motivation is different. That's the radical change. Instead of appearing good and righteous, he says, be good and righteous from the inside out. Amen. We want to take a little time to talk about the principles of repentance. What does it look like? We hear this, we've heard it yelled at us, repent, but what does that mean? We want to take a little time to teach this morning on the principles of repentance. Number one, we must recognize our sins. In order to repent, we must admit to ourselves that we have sinned.
TaQuaris: Luke 5, verse 32: I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.
Pastor Robert: See in the context, Jesus is having one of his famous or infamous exchanges with the religious leaders. You know, these pharisees who thought they had it all together because they followed the law to a T. They thought they were righteous because they followed the law. And so this message of repentance was something that did not resonate with those religious leaders. And so he said I'm come to those-- they know they are sinners. If you think you are high and mighty, then this message will not do anything for you. You have to first recognize that you are a sinner in order to repent. How can you repent if you don't think you've done anything wrong. There has to be a recognition. My wife is going to speak more on this. There has to be a first, a recognition that there's a need to repent.
TaQuaris: Biblical repentance begins with the spirit of God convicting us of our sin. And it includes the awareness, or we can call it the red alarm, the consciousness red alarm that we turn from God, that we fell short, that we went after idols or we pursued our own kingdom or whatever the case may be. See God, he works through his spirit, through the spirit of truth that convicts, but it also brings comfort to us. And his offers comfort by redirecting us to the Gospel of Christ. Conviction can be ignored or it can be heated and repentance, it begins with God drawing us back to himself by alerting us that we have fell short. So it starts with the spirit of God. It's something internally working inside of you, some type of alert. That's the spirit of God. Like I said, we can either heeded it or we can either ignore it, but when you heed it, that's when repentance actually begins.
Pastor Robert: As we recognize our sins, as we recognize the need to repent, then-- I'm using the word steps, but I don't want this to be like we have this list to go through. But another step in the process is that we must feel sorry or sorrow, not sorry, sorrow for our sins. And there's a big difference. We are talking about a godly sorrow,
Second Corinthians 7:10: for the kind of sorrow God wants to experience, wants us to experience, leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There is no regret for that kind of sorrow, but worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.
Pastor Robert: Again, coming from the word of God. Paul is saying the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads away from sin, results in salvation. You see, too many times our experience that has come in church is that the call for repentance, it comes with the tone of condemnation, pointing out that you've sinned, you've wronged and just leaves it there. There's nothing that's inviting you to, to come into a reconciled relationship. It is just to blast you for your sin. That's where that shame has been produced. God doesn't produce shame. That's the enemy. That's fleshly people's intent. God's intent is to never shame. God's intent is to convict us, to reconcile us.
You see, repentance is part of relationship. If God did not want to have relationship, he would've just kept us with him being a task master, master through the law. There was no relationship in the law, but there's relationship that was extended to us from God through Jesus. Jesus equals relationship to God. And that's why the message of repentance is not about condemnation; it's about relationship with God. There were some more things that explain that how that relationship is flushed out.
TaQuaris: Well, pretty much like he said, repentance or godly sorrow has emphasis on a relationship with God. In other words, the person is sorrowful for offending God versus being sorrowful for the punishment that they will receive. And this sorrow is initiated by the Holy Spirit and it is shaped in the heart of the believer.
Pastor Robert: Yeah, I wanted you to say that that last part where the initiation, the motivation comes from: the Holy Spirit. My friends, you and I are not Holy Spirit. We can condemn, we can shout, we can yell, we can expose, we can try to make people feel guilty all we want to, but we are not the Holy Spirit. The conviction of a believer come from the Holy Spirit. A relationship with God cannot be established unless the Holy Spirit is present to Woo the heart of the person. Did you hear that? We are not the Holy Spirit.
I don't care how much of a disdain, a dislike we have for something or for people or what they do. And we can voice and express our disdain, our dislike, our disgust, our disagreement. But unless the Holy Spirit is involved, all we are doing is producing strife and contention and confusion, never conviction and never a pathway to relationship. Because it's the Holy Spirit's job to come and to teach us and lead us into all truth. We may think we have truth, but the Holy Spirit is truth. As my wife said, it is only through truth, that we are reconciled to God. Truth first came to us personified in Jesus Christ.
With any dispute, any trying to get an understanding of what's right and wrong, it has to be through the lens of Jesus Christ. You and I don't see everything clearly when it comes to God. Our minds are too finite. We don't understand God like that. Some of us think we do, but we don't. And so to help us by God's grace, and that was Jesus said. He said, "I'm leaving you". In the Godhead, the Son, I'm leaving you, but I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm going to send another. That "another" is the Holy Spirit. Thank God for the Holy Spirit. It's through that relationship, through the Holy Spirit that presses upon our hearts, that tugs on our hearts and convicts us. What offends God offends us. As we work with the Holy Spirit, we begin to see sin as God sees it, not as we see it as mankind, but as God sees it.
If you want to know how to repent, study the life of David. David messed up like most of us. In real ways, he messed up. Let's just be honest. David did some really dirty stuff and he tried to hide from it just like we do. But when David's heart was convicted by it, he didn't just feel sorry for what he had done towards another man or woman. He said, God, I sinned against you. I missed the mark with you. That's where it has to start from, is that we have the understanding that we miss the mark with God. God, I know, or I have empathy on how this affects you. And because of that, I need to not only make it right with my fellow man, but I need to make it right in your eyes too.
When we come to this place to stay true to our sorrow, we must forsake our sins. Jesus says something about this in the gospels,
TaQuaris: John 8: 4- 11- teacher, they said to Jesus, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her, what do you say? They were trying to trap him into seeing something they could use against him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote in a dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, alright, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone. Then he stooped down again and wrote in a dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you? No, Lord, she said, and Jesus said, neither do I go and sin no more.
Pastor Robert: This passage has been taught and certain things have been emphasized many ways. Majority of the time, it's Jesus's lack of condemnation to the woman that has been emphasized the most. But I dare to say that's not the most important line in this passage. The most important line is Jesus' admonishment to say, go and sin no more. Jesus forgives us of our sins. He paid the price so we wouldn't be condemned for our sins. But the message doesn't stop there.
TaQuaris: And when you look at it from a relationship perspective, it makes it a lot easier because your motivation is coming from the love that you have for the Father, right? That's why repentance has emphasis on relationship with God. It would be very hard for a person to really, truly, sincerely repent of whatever they offended God, by without having a relationship with him, without really loving him. You are not going to really care. If I did something to offend my husband, I feel bad about that even if I didn't intentionally do it. Because guess what? I love him. I feel bad and sorrowful that he feels that way.
It's kind of the same even with each other. And it's also the same. Even with God. We repent because we offended him. I'm sorry, God. Sometimes we have to repent even when we feel like we are right. So God, please forgive me of the unknowing sins that I have done. We've got to cover all the bases because we don't know it all. As long as we live in this sinful world and have this sinful nature, we are going to fall short sometimes. But that's why it brings it right back to the beauty of Christ, the beauty of repentance. Because we are turning away from something and turning away to someone who's going to embrace us. And that's what he did all of that for on the cross. And we are here to receive that.
Pastor Robert: As we opened up the message, I said that repentance is the path to forgiveness and salvation. And so we begin path by confessing our sins.
TaQuaris: Confession isn't about just listing the sins that you did, but it's actually more about acknowledging and admitting to God where we fell short, so we can be restored. Confession actually is also very healing because it opens our heart to receive God's grace. And through confession, we can actually accept a forgiveness that Christ freely offers us from the cross.
Pastor Robert: Again, that's about relationship. And this relationship has to do with that walk of repentance, forgiveness and salvation. And, and, and again, the word speaks to that as well in one John 1:9.
TaQuaris: But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
Pastor Robert: It's relationship between us and God. We confess and he's faithful to forgive us and to cleanse us. Confession of sins is a cleansing process. It's a cleansing process. It frees us up. We are going to talk a little bit about that, about forgiveness a little later. This last principle of repentance is another one I think we've lost in the New Testament church, I'll say. I think in the old covenant, they had more of a revelation of this, but in a new covenant, we've kinda lost this. And it's the idea of making restitution.
TaQuaris: Acts 26, 20. I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea and also to the Gentiles that all must repent of their sins and turn to God and prove they have changed by the good things they do.
Pastor Robert: And this last part says, prove that they have changed by the good things they do. Let me tell you something that this passage doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that you and I dictate what someone does to repent. Again, we are not the Holy Spirit. In our new covenant relationship, we are led by the spirit. As we repent, if we have to repent towards God, or we have to repent towards man, you know, when we sin, there's injury. Something is bruised, something is lost, something happens. Let's be honest with ourselves.
Let's be human beings for a minute. I know we are spiritual. But if we are sinned against something happens, it hurts, right? If we sin and we have a theft or loss or something saying sorry doesn't just get it, does it, right? Come on. You can be honest. Sometimes, it just doesn't satisfy. A principle of repentance as the Lord leads in making restitution, that as you repent, as you say, I'm sorry, there is something that has to be done, tangible, visible.
As a leader, oftentimes, I've seen where things have been done in injury very visibly in the congregation. What do we do? We go off in our private quarters and say, I'm sorry, we patch it up and hush hush. But then we never make restitution for what happened publicly. It's good to say you are sorry to the person that had the injury, but what about the witnesses? Let's talk about criminally. And this is where our criminal system falls short. We used to call our correctional facilities, places of rehabilitation, but there's very little, if any, rehabilitation that comes forward because it's all about being punished for a crime. But if we were to be radical and changing that whole situation, instead of people just spending times behind bars if they stole your car and wrecked your car, why shouldn't they buy you a new car?
You've often heard people when they are released from prison, "I've done my time," right? Because that's the way our system is made up. If you do a crime, you know, you spend time behind jail. Well, you spending time behind jail, don't gimme a new car. I'm glad you are punished, but what about my stuff? In relationships, what about my heart? What about my reputation? We are going to talk about forgiveness later. That's a whole other subject. Sometimes, just in reality, none of these things ever happen. But that doesn't get us off the hook in forgiveness. We'll speak about that in a little bit because a part of repentance and a repent of heart, another principle is that we must forgive others.
TaQuaris: Colossians 3:13, make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
Pastor Robert: Again, you will say, okay pastor, how does this relate? It all relates in this way: It goes back to the inward change of how you think about these things. Because you and I can say, well, this person or this thing offended me. Why should I forgive them? We can come with all the list and reasons why not to. Well, if you change that mindset to the mind of Christ, you can say, why should God forgive you for what you've done? You've sinned against the holy God with some unholy things, but yet it said, for God so love the world that he gave is only begotten son not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
It was the love motivation that God had towards a sinful people that opened the pathway to forgiveness and salvation through Jesus Christ. I always say, when we have a hard time to forgive, whether it's ourselves or people, I always say, look at the cross, that our savior can hang upon this cross being bloodied and whipped and maimed and say forgive them. Could you do that?
I used to give these little lessons as a Bible teacher. They say pastor, I'm just having a hard time forgiving this person. I'm having a hard time forgiving this. And you know what I would do? I would give an assignment. You know what that assignment was? I said, "Go watch The Passion."
TaQuaris: I understand sometimes, it's hard depending on what the situation is to forgive. I often tell others that feeling that you have is part of your emotional realm, which is part of the soulish realm, the soulish part of us. So you cannot operate through your emotions when it comes to forgiveness because sometimes you don't feel like forgiving someone because you still need healing and you are still dealing with those emotions. But you have to put that aside. You really have to put that aside. It's all about your will and your heart to do that. And the Holy Spirit will help you walk through, walk that out, walk in forgiveness. Don't get caught up with your emotions sometimes. That's part of our soulless realm, the part that needs to be saved.
Pastor Robert: Let me try to wrap this up a little bit. Got a couple more things we'll try to get out. Repentance has been misrepresented too many times in people's church experiences concerning this. It has been delivered through a loud, demanding, unloving shout that has little to do with reconciliation and more about condemning one's actions. But see, in contrast, Jesus never approved of anyone's sins, but he allowed personal conviction to grab a hold of their heart, and he offered a way towards repairing that breach, repairing that relationship, not in the spirit of condemnation, but in the spirit of reconciliation.
Like we said before, repentance is a turning away from something and a turning to something. It's not just a turning away from sin, but a turning to away of life and righteousness and peace and holiness and pleasing God and relation with other people. It's not just about I've wronged, I've been wronged, or I've wronged and that's it. But it's a doorway. Repentance is a doorway to something that is very fruitful and cleansing and helpful in our life. Yet there are hindrances to repentance. I don't know about you, but I've had to deal with this is pride. Pride is gets in the way.
I had something personal happen to me this week. I was challenged by someone, family member. It came up at a place where I was angry. I felt some type of way. There was something, news, that came up where it wasn't time for me to express anger or frustration. It was a time for me to cheer that person on. Oh boy. It was on public display. It is like, okay, Robert, what are you going to do? I had to go through that process of repenting for where I was at, not wanting to cheer this person on. Yeah, me. Yep, yep, yep. I had to get over myself, and to acknowledge something that needed to be acknowledged in praise regardless of how I was feeling emotionally.
TaQuaris: Pride is also a stumbling block because repentance allows you to be humble and vulnerable. We all know that pride is the opposite of humility. When we see more clearly that our need for God's guidance and grace and his forgiveness and his leading and his wisdom, in humility, we can honestly admit that we have sin or we have done wrong. But pride, however, does resist this attitude. That's why it is a stumbling block.
Pastor Robert: Another hindrance to repentance is unforgiveness. I can go several ways in this, but I want to speak directly to people not forgiving themselves. I want to bring that in the context of us receiving forgiveness from God because as a pastor, over the years, I've come across people that just could not forgive themselves. No matter how many times we told them that God forgave them, God loves them, as you make a conscious effort to turn towards him, to give your life to him, they struggled week after week with not being able to forgive themselves. If they couldn't forgive themselves, how could they ever come to a place of repenting to God, which unlocks the door to forgiveness?
Not only do we forgive others, we have to forgive ourselves. We can be harder on ourselves than God is with us. Probably because from our lens, we can't see an expected end, but God does. God knows our coming and our going. All we can see is our present. God knows our future. God can see your mess today and see you blooming down the road. Sometimes, we can't see that blooming, but God can. God holds out hope for you more than you do, more than people do because they can only see you right now. But God knows what he's designed for you to be. He's better with dealing with us than we will ever be. He's always looking and thinking and preparing the best for us, always, no matter what state we are in.
Even when we are turned against him, God is always looking out for your best. God always is extending the invitation to be reconciled to him. God is always in the business of reconciliation. God doesn't turn his back on you. When we are not in relationship or fellowship with God is because you've turned your back on God, not the other way around. God's doorway is never shut. We shut it. We shut it. God hands extends towards you because he loves you, because he loves you. All he wants from us is to remember that. I alluded to prison earlier. My wife had a thought of this image when we were talking about unforgiveness.
TaQuaris: How unforgiveness locks the unforgiving person in their own self-made prison.
Pastor Robert: We have to be freed up and we have to watch out for those traps for unforgiveness to lay a hold of our hearts. Right now, I would like for those that are willing before you stand up, I need you to be in agreement. I would like for us as a congregation, even those that are watching online, if you want to stand up, I would like to lead us into a repentance prayer only if you are willing to. I'm not forcing anybody, but I would like for us to do that if you will.
Father God, we come to you as a corporate body asking you to forgive us for whatever it may be. Oftentimes, there's a need for repentance on a daily basis. First and foremost, Lord, there are some may be watching even now that need to come to you for the first time, seeking repentance from their life of sin. As you make up your mind to do that today, the Lord wants to invite you into the family of God and for you to forsake your sin and establish a relationship with his son, Jesus Christ.
Lord, there are things in our lives right now that we are seeking your forgiveness as we repent of our way of thinking, of our words, of our actions, Lord, or even how our heart is right now. And we ask that you as you are faithful to come and to cleanse us, to make us whole again in mind, body, and soul. And Lord, with that whatever needs to be replaced, repaired, healed, Holy Spirit, we ask you to show us and to lead the way. Lord, thank you for this pathway to salvation and forgiveness. As we recognize your love for us, we receive that love and we receive that gift of repentance, and we thank you that it shall forever change the way we live as we try to be more and more like your son, Jesus Christ. We all pray this prayer in his mighty and precious name. Amen.
Pastor Brian: Thank you, Pastor Robert and TaQuaris. I feel like I've spent a lot of my life trying to help people with misconceptions they've had about God and how they believe certain things that are wrong about God. And even the story that Pastor Robert shared about the woman caught in adultery, it was interesting that the man wasn't there. But even in that story of wonderful grace, it is still oftentimes taught from a law perspective. Like after he extended forgiveness, he was like pointing the finger at her and saying, no, don't do that anymore. But that's not what Jesus said. What he was saying to her was, be free from doing that anymore. He graced her into forgiveness. He graced her into freedom.
What the Lord is offering us today when we have true godly sorrow as we read about, is that we are graced into freedom. And that freedom, we get freedom from the sins that so easily beset us. Sometimes people say, well, I have an anger issue, or I have a lost issue, I have a whatever. No, you are in bondage. Jesus wants to come and give you freedom today. That's why he said to that woman, be free from doing this anymore. What a wonderful place that God offers to us: freedom from the bondage of Satan and his schemes and his ways1:43:00. And so that's what he offers us today. So thank you for standing and thank you for praying that prayer at the end here. Thank you for this really great invitation to really live in a place of repentance. Hallelujah. Let's raise our hands together now.
May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May the Lord make his faces shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord turn his face toward you and give you his peace. And may you walk in the wonderful gift of repentance through godly sorrow. This we pray in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Dave and Lou will be serving communion this morning for those who want to receive communion, we'll have people to pray for you here as well. Brother Adrian, if you would come and just play the piano a little bit, it would be wonderful. Thank you.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 7-23-23. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.