| Time | Text |
|---|---|
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Repentance Is the Birth Canal
00:03:04
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|
| Tell us about that brick that's on the cover of the book. | |
| Would you do that? | |
| Well, it's just an example of a brick. | |
| You know, you've got to put the bricks in the foundation brick by brick in order to build a strong wall. | |
| And that is the same with our faith. | |
| You've got to build your faith has to be brick by brick. | |
| But, Brother Jim and Lori and Mondo and Maricel, I want to tell you, it's amazing that a lot of people who have read this book and who have seen this series have found out they're not saved. | |
| They've been going to church, but when they really heard what it means to repent, which by the way, repentance is not preached today in the church. | |
| When they really heard what it meant to repent and how essential repentance is for foundation, many people have said, you know what? | |
| I never did that. | |
| I never really did that. | |
| I'm not really saved. | |
| And we have seen a lot of people saved by simply reading that book. | |
| You know, foundation of repentance from dead works. | |
| I mean, that is the very foundation of our faith. | |
| Jesus preached repentance. | |
| John the Baptist preached repentance. | |
| Peter preached repentance. | |
| The Apostle Paul preached repentance. | |
| And I say the repentance is the birth canal through which you enter the kingdom of God. | |
| And if you don't come through the birth canal of repentance, then you never come into the kingdom of God. | |
| And there are people who come to church and they like the music and they feel encouraged by the positive preaching and they like the environment. | |
| But you know what? | |
| That's not a transforming experience that brings you into the kingdom of God. | |
| You've got to come to a place of repentance. | |
| And Denise and I were traveling across the United States and we were preaching for two months on the subject of repentance. | |
| And Brother Jim and Lori, I cannot begin to tell you how many people came to me and Denise and said, we have never heard this before. | |
| We have never heard about repentance. | |
| And I thought, what in the world have they been listening to? | |
| This is absolutely foundational. | |
| And if you don't get this one right, you never even came into the kingdom of God. | |
| So you need to know what repentance is. | |
| You need to know what it isn't. | |
| And you need to know how to do it. | |
| This is the bare bones foundation before you can go anywhere else. | |
| And Hebrews chapter 6, it says, let's leave the foundational things and go on. | |
| Well, we want to go on, but you can't go on until you get these things put in place first. | |
| And it's healthy for me, for Denise, for every one of us watching the program today to go back to the foundations and look at the word repentance, make sure we did it right, make sure we're still doing it when we need to, and to find out what repentance is not, because people are confused about what is repentance. | |
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Decisions to Follow Christ
00:01:42
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| We need to know what it is, what it isn't, and how to do it. | |
| That's just one example of a foundation that we have to put in place in our life, one of those bricks. | |
| Well, how can we grow as a Christian if we don't know that we're supposed to repent? | |
| I mean, to repent, turn around, make the decision to follow Jesus. | |
| But what if the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and we don't know we're supposed to repent, make a decision, turn around, go the other way? | |
| That would stop our growth in Christ. | |
| But Denise, what is confusing is today there are so many voices out there who are even saying Christians don't need to repent, though you don't need to do that. | |
| What a confusing message to send to people. | |
| And it shows a great lack of understanding about something so very foundational. | |
| Repentance didn't have anything to do with feeling bad. | |
| It didn't have anything to do with condemnation. | |
| It is about making a decision. | |
| In fact, when we were growing up as Baptists, when people came forward and gave their lives to Christ, Brother Jim, remember what we used to say? | |
| How many decisions were at the altar? | |
| We didn't say how many people repented, we said how many decisions. | |
| Because repentance is making an intellectual, rational decision to leave something and to follow the Lord in the right way. | |
| It is a decision. | |
| And if you don't engage your mind to follow Christ, then you're not following Christ. | |