Embracing Reconciliation: The Path to True Repentance

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"Before you confess to God, first be reconciled to your brother. You've hurt your brother, you've hurt your sister, you hurt your wife, perhaps you hurt your husband. Go and ask forgiveness. Be specific: 'I'm sorry, brother, sister, I'm sorry, darling, I did this. Please forgive me, it's my fault, please forgive me.' That's it. Your pride will prevent you from saying it, and your pride will keep you from the kingdom of God." [00:21:12]

"If you don't forgive others, you will not be forgiven. If you have hurt somebody, you must ask his forgiveness before you can expect God to forgive you. Don't blame others, take the blame yourself, turn around, repent, and you'll be forgiven. The other thing I want to mention is take the blame and acknowledge our sin, ask forgiveness from others, and forgive others." [00:22:09]

"I proclaim repentance and faith everywhere I go. Repentance toward God—this is Acts chapter 20, verse 21. He says to everybody in the world, the Jews and the Gentiles, I proclaim the double message of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. God has joined repentance and faith together for forgiveness of sins, and what God has joined together, let no one put asunder." [00:22:48]

"Repentance does not mean I overcome sin. It doesn't mean I've finished with it. It means I've turned away from sin. I've turned my back to sin and turned towards God, turned my back to the lusts of this world, and turned towards God. That's repentance. I may still struggle to overcome areas in my life, but I have turned, I've turned around." [00:23:19]

"I heard a story once of a king in the olden days who wanted to set some of the prisoners free from the prison. So it was his birthday, and he decided to set some prisoners free, and he went to the prison and asked each prisoner one by one, 'What did you do?' The first one said, 'Well, I never did anything wrong; they just found something to falsely accuse me of and put me here.'" [00:24:04]

"The principle is true: God forgives those who take the blame themselves. So that's the first aspect of freedom: you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free, cleansed, forgiven, past blotted out. But there's another aspect of freedom also, and that is to be free from the power of sin. First is to be free from the penalty of sin, and now to be free from the power of sin." [00:25:23]

"The first promise in the New Testament is 'Call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.' You know, that's the first promise of the New Testament—not he will forgive their sin, but he will save his people from their sins. And that's the second part of the gospel, which is very often ignored." [00:25:54]

"Jesus has come to save us from our sins, not just forgive us and justify us, but save us. He forgives us through the blood that he shed on the cross. He saves us through the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that's why the Bible urges us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. God's given us two gifts: one is the blood of Christ to deal with our past, and second, the power of the Holy Spirit to help us to face the future." [00:26:46]

"You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and that's what they receive on the day of Pentecost. Power for what? Power to be my witness, he said in Acts 1:8. And if I'm living in sin, I'm not being a witness for Christ—not a good witness anyway. If I'm always falling into sin and just going to the Lord and asking him to forgive me, again falling into sin, going into the Lord asking forgive me, I'm not a witness for Christ." [00:27:41]

"In the Old Testament, this is pictured in the children of Israel coming out of Egypt and entering Canaan. If you read the Old Testament, you know that to come out of Egypt, they had to put the blood outside the doorposts, and all those who put the blood outside the doorposts, death did not enter that house. And then they came and went into the river into the Red Sea and came out, which is a picture of water baptism." [00:28:36]

"Grace is not only to forgive our sin; grace is to give us power to overcome sin. The Lord told Paul, 'My grace is enough for you,' because that is my power. Grace is God's power to deliver us from sin. So go to God today, take the blame for all your sin, release all the people you have not forgiven, and say, 'Lord, I want to believe that you've forgiven me, cleanse me in the blood, and now I want to seek you for the power of the Holy Spirit.'" [00:31:30]

"Please remember these two sides of the coin of freedom, emancipation. What June 10th should remind you of. Let us pray. While our heads are bowed in prayer, I want to encourage you to think of the one thing God spoke to you. Say it back to the Lord and say, 'Lord, I want to acknowledge that. Help me to experience that freedom.'" [00:32:44]

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