Posts Tagged ‘ Repent ’
The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He saves those crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18, HCSB
With faith in Christ alone are we declared righteous, and our realization and sadness over our sin is what drives us to our Savior who lifts us from sin and shame.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
Romans 8:18, HCSB
With faith in Christ alone are we declared righteous, and the world will try to suppress God’s righteousness. Yet, we have the blessed hope that Christ is making all things new and will make the struggles now appear insignificant, like the pain of childbirth and holding the newborn.
But let justice flow like water, and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.
Amos 5:24, HCSB
With faith in Christ alone are we declared righteous, Christ taking on God’s wrath for us so that justice was fulfilled and we receive His righteousness through the Holy Spirit.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
Matthew 6:33, HCSB
With faith in Christ alone we are declared righteous and sons and daughters of God. We seek His righteousness alone, infused by the indwelling Holy Spirit from the moment of faith.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
Psalm 103:13, HCSB
With faith in Christ alone are we declared righteous, from that moment we fear God’s wrath more than our sin, when we love God for who He is and all He has done more than our own desires.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9, HCSB
With faith in Christ alone are we declared righteous before God, when we are able to confess that we are sinners in need of His righteousness to attain eternal life.
“Repent,” Peter said to them, “and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 2:38, HCSB
When we put our faith in Christ and His work on the cross, He gives us the Holy Spirit who leads us into repentance and Christ-like living, including turning from sin, being baptized, and leading others to repentant faith.
For godly grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation, but worldly grief produces death.
2 Corinthians 7:10, HCSB
God is always faithful, and when He reveals our sin He also shows us grace and love. Trust Jesus and His forgiveness, letting go of the sins of the past.
One evening in 2025, I was driving down a road in town that had recently gone through work expanding the road and adding a median. At one point there is a place for northbound cars to make a u-turn.
I was approaching this section of road heading south, and up ahead I saw someone get into the u-turn lane. He then proceeded north on my side of the road.
Needless to say, I stopped and flashed my lights, and he realized the problem and quickly turned around (in an awkward 4-point maneuver.)
It got me thinking about the Church, and it was controversy over the 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show and it’s alternative from TPUSA as well as Jelly Roll’s Grammy acceptance speech that brought back to mind. Some question Jelly Roll’s and Kid Rock’s repentance and Christian faith.
We often teach how repentance is like a u-turn in our life, and there is good reason.
Acts 3:19, HCSB
Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord
Proverbs 28:13, HCSB
The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
How many fall into the “easy believism” of saying a simple prayer and never changing the way they live?
I don’t know what is going on in the hearts and souls of Kid Rock and Jelly Roll, and this is not really about them.
I am also not saying anything about anyone in particular. This a call for each of us to make sure that we have not made a false u-turn, that we said we believe in Jesus but never changed anything about the way we think or act.
2 Corinthians 13:5, HCSB
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless you fail the test.
It would be like that car that used the u-turn lane but was then heading toward oncoming traffic, only we would get to the end of our life or see Christ return only to hear Him say He never knew us and we miss eternal life.
Matthew 25:44-46, HCSB
“Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help You? ’ “Then He will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.’ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
So, don’t complain about what people claiming Christ may or may not be doing.
You might be with those going the right way, but you might be going the wrong way and endangering others.
On this day 26 years ago, at 6:46 PM CST, I bent my knee to Jesus as Lord and Savior. (If you do a search on this site for “birthday”, you will see the various explanations.)
I like to call it my Re-Birthday, as we call faith in Christ being born again. This comes from John 3 and 1 Peter 1. I encourage everyone to remember their own re-birthday (and if you aren’t sure/can’t remember, just claim your baptism day or your birthday.)
I also like to bake some sort of cake and then serve it to others as a way to teach self-sacrifice and becoming a servant to all as our shared salvation is celebrated.
Sometimes it’s messy, or we’re still a little crisp on the sides, but we have a sweet salvation.
This year, I am still helping teach Christian Worldview and Intro to Philosophy courses with 270 students (+46 for a CWV class I am covering for 2 weeks for a friend who had surgery) who were all born after this momentous day in my life. (I am also taking classes with fellow seminarians who also were mostly [not 2 of about 100] born after this date!) It is also in April that I am set to finally graduate with my M.Div.
There is a good probability I will be serving at a new congregation this year, but (as of today) it is still purely in God’s hands.
It is a little weird to think that I have been a Christian so long, especially having come to Christ as a teenager and now working with teens and 20-somethings as a youth pastor and college instructor.
God is so good.
Also, it is my mother-in-law’s birthday, so join me in wishing her a happy and blessed day! If not for her, I would not have my wife!
Also also, it is my friend Fletcher’s birthday. We met in seminary. He’s a TheoBro of the highest order.
God bless you, and remember that Jesus Christ is the reason we live and move and breathe and have meaning and being!
Be excellent and party on!
a simple man of God 