A Shaking and an Awakening (Part 5)

Repentance will prepare you for a fresh move of the Holy Spirit!

1.29.2023

Review

This is lesson 5 in a series on dealing with life during this transition time just prior to the coming of Jesus.

The world seems to be in preparation for Jesus’ return!

God is seeking to prepare us for the days ahead.

His covenant with us will provide for us and give us direction as we navigate the waters of change.

The last two weeks I have addressed the greatest challenge we face today and into our future – deception and delusion.

Deception is truth mixed with a good bit of false information.

Delusion is knowing what is right but being coerced to do the opposite.

Last week I mentioned how many people took the vaccine because they heard it was ok, and they wanted to keep their jobs.

Now, word is getting out that the EUA is causing medical problems in those who took it.

Don’t fear if you have taken the vaccine! Trust God!

Last week, I mentioned the deception surrounding some current events with Covid.

I want to begin today by encouraging you to trust God if you have taken the EUA – called the Covid 19 vaccine.

Three things:

1) Believe that Mark 16:17 is working in you:

Mark 16:17-18 (NKJV)

And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

In history, a person could face poisoning by an enemy. This promise is that we will be protected from harm if we ingest a poisonous substance!

This would also apply to vaccines! Since it is now being revealed that the vaccines are causing problems, if you took it, expect the power of God to work in your body and rid you of the negative effects of it.

God can do this!

2) Turn Roman 8:11 into a daily prayer or confession of faith!

Romans 8:11 (NKJV)

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Pray that:

Every cell of your body is quickened by the Holy Spirit every day!

Every organ and system of your body is given life by the Holy Spirit every day.

3) Turn Deuteronomy 33:25 into a confession of faith:

Deuteronomy 33:25 (NKJV)

Your sandals shall be iron and bronze; As your days, so shall your strength be.

As long as I live, every organ and system of my body will function the way it was designed by God to function. As long as I live, I will be strong and active!

Today – Repentance will prepare you for a fresh move of the Holy Spirit!

There is a promised moving of the Holy Spirit on people just ahead of us!

We will see huge changes in the world that seem so dark and foreboding, but there is also promised by God a moving of the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah and Joel were moved by the Holy Spirit to tell of a fresh move of God during a very challenging time on earth.

Both mention that this will be a time of darkness, challenge, and war.

Isaiah 60:1-3 (NKJV)

Arise, shine; for your light has come! and the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. 2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. 3 The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Joel 2:28-32 (NKJV)

And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. 32 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls.

Repentance is the key to God working in your life in a renewed or fresh way.

Repentance is the doorway into a fresh move of the Holy Spirit in our personal lives, in our nation, in our churches.

Acts 3:19-21 (NKJV)

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

James 4:7-10 (NLT)

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

Both of these verses are speaking of a renewed relationship with God through repentance!

God is calling Christians in America to repent of our disobedience to Him by living like and absorbing the actions and attitudes of American culture that is immersed in self-centeredness, the love of money, the love of ease, sexual immorality in its basest forms, and religious life centered on self-love.

The Apostle Paul nailed it when speaking of culture at the end of the church age:

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (AMP)

BUT UNDERSTAND this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear]. 2 For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane. 3 [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good. 4 [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God. 5 For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NLT)

You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

The first call of the Kingdom of God in every life is the call to repentance.

Matthew 3:1-2 (AMPC)

N THOSE days there appeared John the Baptist, preaching in the Wilderness (Desert) of Judea 2 And saying, Repent (think differently; change your mind, regretting your sins and changing your conduct), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Acts 2:38 (AMPC)

And Peter answered them, Repent (change your views and purpose to accept the will of God in your inner selves instead of rejecting it) and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of and release from your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Definition

Repentance – Greek – Metanoeo

A decision that results in a change of mind, that results in a change of purpose and action.

There is NO life change without repentance.

If you have “accepted” Jesus and there has been no real life change – you have not “repented!”

Many today simply “accept Jesus” and just carry on with life as it has been.

Altar calls began with D.L. Moody. Prior to that, ministers would hold “earnest meetings,” because as they preached day after day in a community, the conviction of sin would rise to a fever pitch in people’s lives, and they needed relief. People were in agony over their sin as they were convicted and they purposely gave themselves to God by changing their minds about their lifestyle! They were “earnest” about their relationship with God!

What the Bible says about repentance:

Acts 3:19 (AMPC)

So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air) may come from the presence of the Lord;

2 Corinthians 7:10 (NLT)

For the kind of sorrow [conviction] God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow [guilt] which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

2 Corinthians 7:10 (AMPC)

For godly grief and the pain God is permitted to direct [again, he’s talking about the conviction of the Holy Spirit], produce a repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil, and it never brings regret; but worldly grief (the hopeless sorrow that is characteristic of the pagan world) is deadly [breeding and ending in death].

Romans 2:4 (NKJV)

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? [if you have conviction when you sin, that is a marvelous thing].

Romans 2:4-5 (AMPC)

Or are you [so blind as to] trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)? 5 But by your callous stubbornness and impenitence of heart you are storing up wrath and indignation for yourself on the day of wrath and indignation, when God’s righteous judgment (just doom) will be revealed.

2 Peter 3:9 (NKJV)

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 (AMPC)

The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.

Acts 11:18 (NLT)

When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

Repentance Implies 3 Things for a Believer

1. Renounce and reverse your sinful lifestyle.

1 John 3:4-9 (AMPC)

Everyone who commits (practices) sin is guilty of lawlessness; for [that is what] sin is, lawlessness (the breaking, violating of God’s law by transgression or neglect—being unrestrained and unregulated by His commands and His will).

5 You know that He appeared in visible form and became Man to take away [upon Himself] sins, and in Him there is no sin [ essentially and forever].

6 No one who abides in Him [who lives and remains in communion with and in obedience to Him—deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] commits (practices) sin. No one who [habitually] sins has either seen or known Him [recognized, perceived, or understood Him, or has had an experiential acquaintance with Him].

7 Boys (lads), let no one deceive and lead you astray. He who practices righteousness [who is upright, conforming to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action, living a consistently conscientious life] is righteous, even as He is righteous.

8 [But] he who commits sin [who practices evildoing] is of the devil [takes his character from the evil one], for the devil has sinned (violated the divine law) from the beginning. The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the works the devil [has done].

9 No one born (begotten) of God [deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin, for God’s nature abides in him [His principle of life, the divine sperm, remains permanently within him]; and he cannot practice sinning because he is born (begotten) of God.

2. Submit to obey God’s Word and become a teachable person.

James 1:21-25

So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth].

23 For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror;

24 For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.

25 But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).

 

3. Continue to allow God to change you moment by moment by yielding to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Malachi 3:2-3 (NKJV)

But who can endure the day of His coming?And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness.

Ephesians 5:25-27 (NLT)

For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT)

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

John 17:17 (NLT)

Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.

Psalms 37:31 (NKJV)

The law of his God is in his heart; None of his steps shall slide.

Psalms 119:9 (NKJV)

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.

 

Psalms 119:1 (NKJV)

Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Repentance begins with God showing us who we really are…so that we can change!

Repentance starts in darkness, with God dealing with you about areas of your life that are not right with Him! It ends in light, with the Holy Spirit cleansing your life and helping you overcome hurtful and sinful things.

It starts in bondage and ends in freedom.

It starts in death and ends in life!

Repentance opens the door to God’s power and life to you personally.

John Milton

Repentance is the golden key that opens the palace of eternity.

St. Ambrose

Before God can deliver us, we must un-deceive ourselves.

Oswald Chambers –

Self-knowledge is the first condition of repentance.

Thomas Carlyle

The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.

William Booth

The greatness of a man’s power is his surrender.

Have you been involved in personal sin against God?

Have you repented, or do you continue in it?

God is calling each of us to a lifestyle of repentance!

Repentance opens a door to the fresh presence of God!

Action points:

1. Has your lifestyle changed?

2. Have you simply brought Jesus into how you are living without change?

3. What are you planning to change as a result of God dealing with you?