Being Truly Repented

Repent and Be a Witness

Every truly born-again believer has gone through the experience of repentance, which is when we make our confession of faith and commit to following the Lord's teachings. This is where our relationship with the Risen Christ starts. Before you decide not to read further, please wait! The Lord has intended to use this message to help you in your own witnessing ministry. You heard me correctly: after your repentance, the Lord Jesus Christ called you to be His witness to the world (Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:19-20). While many brethren in the Body of Christ aspire for the official ministry titles, there are also others who want the ministry titles to show power and status. At the same time, only a few have no other desire except to please the Lord through obedience and soul-winning.

As we know, John the Baptist came as a witness from our Heavenly Father so as to reveal our Lord Jesus Christ to the world (John 1:32-34). He started out his ministry preaching repentance (Matthew 3:2). This was repeated by Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38), and the apostle Paul went through a similar experience; he repented and was Baptized (Acts 9:18-22). Paul could not have been baptized without repenting first. Even though Luke does not mention repentance in this account, it was common practice among the brethren to preach repentance and encourage baptism as a sign of repentance (Matthew 3:11).

What is Repentance?

Some weeks ago, the Lord had us write an article on Salvation. As it is, there can be no salvation without repentance or being born again (John 3:3-8; Matthew 3:2; 4:17). Biblically, repentance means turning from sin to God (Deuteronomy 30:1-2; 2 Chronicles 6:26-27). Once we have renounced our sins through repentance, we sustain our salvation through our obedience to the Lord (Philippians 2:12-13). There are many people who have faith in God and the redemptive work of Christ Jesus, but let me tell you: faith that does not involve repentance is not true faith (Acts 20:21). That is most definitely not a faith that leads to salvation (Romans 3:22-25; Ephesians 2:8). This is the kind of faith the world has: historical knowledge about the work of salvation through our Lord Jesus, but no fruit of repentance which is obedience. Knowledge or belief alone is not sufficient, as the Bible says: "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!" (James 2:19 NKJV) Therefore, obedience to the Lord is yielding to the conviction of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:37).

The Bible says repentance involves a complete change in the heart, soul (mind, will, and emotions), and spirit of a believer (Ezekiel 11:18-20). It is more than just mere sorrow for sin; it is a total surrender to the Lord. True repentance is acknowledging our sins as deserving God’s judgment and turning from that sin to ask for the Lord’s forgiveness (1 Kings 8:47-50). If we feel sorrow for our sins and ignore the Lord, we act on self-pity. It is written, that Godly sorrow leads to repentance and a new life in Christ (2 Corinthians 7:9-10; Psalm 51:1-17). Our repentance proves its genuineness in a complete change of behavior (Luke 3:8-14; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 John 2:4-6).

In my daily witnessing, I have come across a lot of people who express great sorrow for their sins. Some even use this Scripture: “… God have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13-14 NIV), but they continue in their sin. This tax collector in the above Scripture repented unto obedience. How many of us reading here have sorrow for our sins but never repent? Will you only feel sorry for your sins and even confess them to others in self-pity, but not act by faith coming from the Holy Spirit’s conviction and repent? We know the consequences of sin brings about God’s judgments (Romans 6:23). This message of repentance is for today, so come to the Lord today! Repent and follow the Lord in fearful obedience. Don’t give up on life; Christ is that life (John 14:6).  Accept Him, see He is calling you to Him in love (Matthew 11:28). Let me repeat what the Lord once told us: He said, “I will always love all people equally”. I, therefore, encourage you: don’t just sit there and say, "yes He loves me." Show Him love too by repenting of your sins and following Him in obedience (John 14:15).

We Must Be Committed and Faithful

The Lord told us that there are countless Christians who will miss Heaven. He attributes this to their disobedience to Him, further saying they are leading unholy lives. While people are being encouraged to confess and repent daily, continuing our sinful actions is dishonoring the Lord.

I had a friend to whom I witnessed the gospel, and he told me that he takes out the ‘sinner’s prayer every morning as a prayer and reads it out loud to himself, while he continuously lives in sin with his girlfriend. I am not condemning him here or judging him; as a preacher of the gospel, I am Scripturally charged and called upon to preach against sin (2 Timothy 3:16). This is the trend today: people are confessing their sin(s) every day, but they go back to their sin. That is not true repentance; if that is you, my brother or sister, then you are playing with your salvation and not taking it seriously.

In our ministry, we had people whom the Lord rebuked for willful sinning (Hebrews 10:26). The Lord warned them about HELL for their disobedience. The Lord told me personally that He does forgive us if we make mistakes, but He will punish us for our purposeful disobedience.  In His rebuke of a young girl aged 9, the Lord told her that she loves sinning and then goes back to repent of her sins, and this was not pleasing to Him. Brethren, the Lord gave this message saying: “Many people say they have repented, but they repeat their sins without regard to My warnings”.

Recently, the Lord sharply rebuked a young man in our ministry for willful sinning. While this young man was attending regular fellowship service and witnessing with us, he lived a double life. The Lord said if He was to come at the time of the message He gave him or if he had died at that time, that young man would have missed his salvation and gone to HELL. I will share this young man's rebuke with you right here. Again this I share out of obedience to the Holy Spirit for your benefit.  It is not intended to "expose" or embarrass but through his rebuke, we are appealing to you to walk in true repentance. Here follows the Lord’s rebuke of Sam (Not real name): “My son Sam is worldly, and My son Sam is busy with wrong things. My son Sam is an unfair person and My son Sam loves lying. My son Sam loves making empty promises and My son Sam is lustful”.

In light of this rebuke from the Lord, how many of us can identify with some of the sins mentioned here? This message was given to a born-again Christian. I have withheld parts of the full rebuke and only mentioned the most common things we are all familiar with. The Lord repeated this rebuke in a separate vision to Charis, adding more sins. This message was given to Sam as a warning to us.

Brethren, I encourage you to live your repentance daily remembering that “…without holiness, no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Seek true repentance and live true repentance by honoring the Lord through obedience.  Here is a Prayer of Sincere Repentance to get you started. For any questions or comments on this article or our ministry, please contact us.

Be Blessed in Repentance,

Brother Glenn.

Being A Good Samaritan

 Doing Good Works

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him” (Acts 10:38 NIV).

On Friday 9 October 2020, I received a message from the Lord Jesus through a dream that He made me understand that He has anointed and called all Christians to do good, but many ignore the direction of the Holy Spirit when the Lord opens an opportunity for them to do good. Furthermore, the Lord added that no selfless effort a Christian employs in doing good to others will go unnoticed (Mark 10:30).

Kindly allow us to share some of our experiences here. Since my wife’s mother and my father live about 300KM away from us, as a family, we often set out to visit them and on about six or seven occasions we experienced problems with our car with some mechanical issues even after we had it fully serviced before we would embark on our journey. However, driving an older used car and acquiring the services of backyard mechanics (we are not being ungrateful here) there would always be some additional mechanical issues that would remain unresolved.

Like the Apostle Paul and Luke (Acts 21:5), we never go on our journey without praying and the Lord has preserved our lives on all our journeys Praise be to Him!  Now, of all those unfortunate situations only one ‘Good Samaritan’ (without us asking for help) came our way on a very cold, windy, and rainy day may the Lord bless that man and his precious family for opening their hearts and their home for me and my wife and children. On that cold day, that man was in a hurry to go fetch his wife at work after that he suspended all his activities and got his wife involved and they invited us to their place while he arranged for someone to get our Van fixed (Matthew 25:31-40).

Do Not Grow Tired of Serving Others

Again, in August this year (2020) we had another incident with our Van and the same family ungrudgingly opened their hearts again and helped us with accommodation, however this time the Lord wanted them to hear the Precious and Priceless Gospel from me and that was God remembering the good they did to me and others (Acts 10:4-5). Therefore, if we help others or give grudgingly we forfeit our blessings and we hinder the Lord to save others (Matthew 16:23) and we deny God the glory  (Colossians 3:23).

In addition, we should remember that the bible says that if we ignore the cry of the poor for help when it is our turn to ask for help from God Almighty, He will ignore our cries too (Proverbs 21:13). In 2009 when I attended a Bible School pastoral course, I was unemployed and as a result, I was unable to pay my tuition fees so a brother in the Lord paid on my behalf about two installments without letting me know and when I approached the dean to explain my situation to him he told me that someone paid for me. Now that was God!

In conclusion, we can recall how happy the Lord was with a dear sister in our ministry who showed kindness to a needy person and for her effort, the Lord promised to bless the sister for her selfless efforts and that her good works of ministry will serve as a testimony on the day of the Lord and we know that day is very near (Revelation 14:13). Let us be eager and remember our poor brethren amongst us our giving serves as thanks offering to the Lord (1 Chronicles 29:14).

Brethren as a final encouragement, we all still have an opportunity to change the lives of others around us. The Lord has not just called those in ministry but everyone to work for the good of others and you too will be rewarded even if you start today please consider this scripture (Matthew 20:6-14).

 Blessed Grace

Brother Glenn

Don't Follow The Crowd In Wrong-Doing

 Siding With The Truth Only

“You must not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you are called to testify in a dispute, do not be swayed by the crowd to twist justice"(Exodus 23:2).

It is often so easy to fall into the wrong by simply believing what someone may have said or following some practice without having verified the truthfulness thereof (Acts 19:32). some time ago, a very good friend of mine related to me how he innocently followed a group of his friends in committing a serious crime. 

During the commission of the crime, he did not consider it a crime or serious enough that it could lead to imprisonment. Being 18 years at the time, the reality and severity of the crime only dawned on him when he was arrested. The brother recalled that when he stepped into prison, he felt that he lost his innocence and that every dream of being a good person and a responsible person has been taken away from him. What hurts him the most he said, although the crime was committed and initiated by his friends, he was the only one left in prison to face the consequences. Now for the few months, he spends in jail he realized that his 'innocent' decision to follow and participate in a crime unquestionably, almost led him to receive a criminal record which would have contributed to him leading a destructive life.

Furthermore, having been a non-believer when he was incarcerated, the brother was enticed to faith in God when he looked at the drawing of two white doves and the image of praying hands while in there. He could still vividly remember a dream from God about two strong bulls and two raindrops that fell beside him which he shared with one of his inmates who rightly gave him a correct interpretation that he was going to be released and discharged from prison and it happened that way. God used his faith to save his friends from prison as well (Genesis 40:13-23). 

The Dangers Of Crowd Influences

Brethren, the story above is true in every respect. We need to realize that God is always judging us as individuals for our actions (Genesis 3:14-19), while we might be hiding behind the crowds to engage in evil behavior our participation will be judged by our intentions. It is easy to simply just agree to please others, remember when we know right from wrong we will be held accountable so think before you say something or decide to join in some activity or discussion, the Lord see the contribution of your intention(s) (1 Corinthians 4:5; Romans 2:16). As it was, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram took many 'innocent' souls with them when they rebelled against Moses and Aaron (Numbers 16:4-35). 

Similarly, when the Spies returned from spying out Canaan, only Joshua and Caleb gave a good report while 10 men sowed fear, discord, and rebellion which resulted in countless people losing out on entering the promised land while facing God's judgment in the desert (Numbers 13:26-33;14:1-45). It is therefore in the nature of evil men and women to sow divisions in a community or country to advance their own interests, but discerning and praying men and women of God should always be led by the common good of all which discourages any form of evil intent. 

In conclusion, let us guard against crowd influences and pray for discernment before we join in a discussion on social media or in some action. If our contribution is to impress or show off and so fanning the flames of hatred God will 'sift' our contribution out and accordingly retribute (Colossians 3:25). As Christians, we are called to pray and to provide Godly counsel to our leaders and fellow men in society (Jeremiah 38:14-23; Acts 27:21-26). Let us act with sober judgment in our decisions, salvation is precious!

Blessed Grace

Brother Glenn