Welcome to day 4 of our Launch with Jesus series.

Today we are going to look at the important concept of repentance.

This is an important fruit of Salvation, this should be the outworking of our now being in God’s Kingdom.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

One of the first phrases seen in the Gospel’s and repeated by both John the Baptist and Jesus is ‘Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near’. 

When we recognize the wrongs that we have done and we come to Jesus, it is important that we come with a repentant heart. 

Jesus has redeemed us and paid the penalty of our sin, of the wrong we have done. And when we ask for and accept His forgiveness,

we have been made clean and are now justified before the Judge (God the Father).

We must now turn away from our old ways of living and follow God’s way.

This is what repentance means – it is doing a 180 degree turn from the kingdom of darkness / the kingdom of self that we were living in

and turning to God’s Kingdom of life and love. Repentance involves turning from sin and turning to make Jesus the leader of our lives.

Now it is the Holy Spirit Who is the One Who convicts of the sin in our lives.

It might be something like, ‘Damo, the way you are treating your wife is not right, you need to honour and respect her"

Then we come to Jesus in humility and ask for Jesus’ forgiveness for our sin, we are forgiven!

After being convicted, I now come to God and says, “Jesus, forgive me for my sin, my wrongdoing”

and if you can name it that’s even better, “forgive me for not treating my wife with honour and respect”. 

The Bible says that when we confess our sins that Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  

Jesus makes us clean and right before God. 

But it doesn’t just stop there. We now can by the power of the Holy Spirit, turn from the desire or wanting to do wrong and now live in accordance to God’s way. 

The Bible says, that if anyone is in Christ, he/she is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

When we join God’s family, our old ways of living or our ‘old man’ is gone – it is dead and buried on the cross with Jesus. 

We now have been ‘born again’, God has made our spirits alive and new!

With the help of the Holy Spirit we can now live out the fruit of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. 

We don’t try to live in a right way to earn God’s grace or love; but rather God’s grace and love empowers us to live for Him.  

So in regard to my illustration with my wife, I have now been empowered to live right. I can go to her and ask her forgivingness. 

I will then constantly live out that I’m not the same person I was before, but I have been equipped to love my wife, to be kind and have self-control.

This is an ongoing process and the Holy Spirit will continue to change us little by little – working on various areas in our heart and life. 

And yes, we will not be perfect, we will fail – the old man keeps trying to make an appearance again. 

All we need to do is stay in this spirit of repentance. Ask God for forgiveness, and then life out His grace.

Pray: Jesus, help me to no longer live in darkness, but turn and live in the light. Amen

Here are some questions to help you journey through what has been shared above.

If you have been given a Bible in your New Christians Gift from Twin Rivers you can refer to the page number to help you find the Scripture references.

Feel free to highlight or underline the verses in your Bible so you can find them later on.

Read Acts 2:36-38 (Page 145) and answer the following:

Who did Peter say Jesus is?

How did the people listening to Peter respond?

How did Peter respond?

What did Peter say they would receive?

What kind of sorrow does God want us to experience?

Where does godly sorrow lead to?

You can find the answers in 2 Corinthians 7:10 (Page 222)

Small Passage to Read - Luke 15:11-32 (Page 97)

What happens when we repent and turn to God?

You can find the answer in Acts 3:19 (Page 146)

Application & Reflection

Summarise what you believe repentance is.

Have you repented to God and turned to live His way?