From Regret To Renewal | Pastor Paul McGee

Welcome to the first Apostolic Church podcast.

Our church mission is to love as God loves, showing compassion

every soul, thus winning those souls and equipping them to be

sent out to plant and to harvest.

Thank you for joining us today and we hope that you are blessed

by today's podcast, the House of the Lord.

Glad to see you here. Amen.

Glad to have Carolyn with us today.

Tracy's mom, Glenna, and Ray's grandma.

And well, Aiden's a boyfriend to Glenna, so I really don't know

where that fits in the mix, but nonetheless, Amen.

Glad to have her with us today. She watches pretty faithfully

online, Amen. But it's glad to have her in

person this morning. Amen with us.

We appreciate her, Amen. Also want to thank all those

that helped this past week as far as connect groups, think

Brother Zach McGee for our men's group and then Sister Sheila for

our women's group. And also just thank the church

for praying for my wife's father as we were gone and see, you

know, suffer from a mild heart attack while we were down there.

And so we're thankful for your prayers.

Amen. And support concerning that.

Grateful today for we're looking forward to our missionaries

being with us tonight. You please don't miss that

service. Come and support them.

Mark and Wanda Stumbo, I can't even remember how many years

they've been missionaries for years.

I know that in our Connect dinner last week down there that

he received some type of award for being licensed with the

Assemblies of Lord Jesus Christ for an excess of 40 years.

So and he's been a missionary for several of those years.

I know and so we appreciate Amen them and such.

So and if you wanted to be a part of general ministry

conference or would like to know what it was like.

You can always go to the assemblies of Lord Jesus Christ

at YouTube and you can look at all those services and view

those worship services and set there and whip your Bible in

hand and raise your hands and just be a part Amen.

What we were part of last. Week, if you'll stand with me

today, we're going to turn to the book of Acts.

I'm going to teach here this morning.

We'll turn to the book of Acts teach the here today and again

often whenever we usually have a year in business meeting.

Sometimes I share stuff that we did throughout the year and I've

tried to be more proactive about telling you stuff that happens

throughout the year rather than waiting for that moment.

As many of you know, they're at First Bank.

One of the ladies that worked there, they had a fire while

they was on vacation, their home and stuff.

That's where our church banks. And so we gave as a church $1000

toward them for the rebuilding of their lives.

So I know they have insurance money and such, but their stuff

in the interim time that can just be overwhelming sometimes

to contend with. And so also this past week,

initiative for World Missions was the Asia Pacific region

trying to get to headquarters built, one in Papua New Guinea

and another one in the Philippines to be a headquarters

for those two places and also a touch point for the Bible

colleges. And so as a church, we gave

$1000 toward that initiative as well, Amen, toward those

headquarters until the whole world knows, Amen.

And so just to keep you apprised of some of the things, Amen,

that we invest in beyond the walls of this assembly, right?

So a lot of the money doesn't just come in and mound up here.

We have stuff that we keep going, but we want to be a piece

of conduit, Amen, for other places as well.

Acts 2 this morning. Acts chapter #2.

You know my spiel, don't you, That throughout the year there

are just things that I think that a church needs to touch on

every year. Every year there are certain

things I have a list that I've made over the years that I

believe should be touch points every year at somewhere along

the journey. And so far this year, we've

talked at one time we talked about.

A faith. You know the whole concept of

that he that cometh to God must believe that he is and he is a

rewarder of them, that diligence seek him.

We talked about the Holy Ghost on one Sunday.

We have talked about baptism this morning.

I want to back up in the plan of salvation.

I want to talk about repentance today.

Amen. Repentance.

But our heading today is from regret to renewal.

From regret to renewal. Acts chapter #2 no better.

Springboard from Act than Acts chapter #2.

Verses 37 and 38 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in

their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the

apostles, men and brethren, What shall we do?

Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized, every

one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of

sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost again.

My heading today is from regret to renewal.

From regret to renewal. Let's ask the Lord to help us in

the next little while. Father, we need you Jesus today

I pray Lord, you would open our minds and understanding God of

this great Lord gift that's granted, Lord, the gift of

repentance. I pray Jesus, we understand it

to be very much so integral Lord God to our initiation into this

body, Lord into this bride of Christ, Lord along with the gift

of the Spirit, but God that is also a daily Lord God thing that

we interact with. Lord Jesus to keep our slates

clean. The Lord God to keep us the Lord

Jesus in good standing. Lord with you.

We love and appreciate you Lord today God anoint us the Lord for

the next little while and will not fail to thank you, Lord for

what you accomplish and do in this place in the name of Jesus

Christ that I pray, Amen. The church say Amen, Amen.

You may be seated this morning a Sunday school teacher to ask the

class what the word repentance meant.

And a little boy eagerly put up his hand and said, it's it's

being sorry for your sins, he said.

And then a little girl also raised her hand and said, well,

it's being sorry enough to quit. And when we think about the word

repentance, we think about the topic of repentance.

Many equate repentance only with being sorry, or they equate it

only with apologizing to God. And sometimes people equate

repentance, well if they cried then they repented.

If they had some type of tears or a certain degree of sorrow,

then then they repented. However, true repentance in many

regards is none of those things. Many of those things may

accompany repentance, saying I'm sorry or apologizing or tears or

some type of sorrow, but they must not be used as so

indicators that a person has repented.

Repentance is this according to the word of the Lord.

Repentance is to think differently or to think

afterwards. The word actually can convey and

is defined and acts as an afterthought.

Repentance is an afterthought. You know how it is in your real

life. You sometimes have afterthoughts

about things, right? You think differently than what

you thought before about the very same thing.

Repentance is that it's a afterthought or a second thought

about something for us in our lives concerning coming to the

Lord, that afterthought or that second thought is how we thought

about life and how we should conduct life was one way before

coming to the Lord. But when we when we go to a

seasoned repentance, we have an afterthought or a second thought

in our whole view of how we would approach life is different

than what it was before. How we approach life is

different than how we would go at it.

It is in Scripture a change of mind, a change of mind many

times even throughout the New Testament.

It is a regret for sins that that result in a change of

conduct. Because when you have a mindset

change, it affects your behavior, right?

You have a mindset change that affects your behavior.

And we have said this many times before, there's nothing that you

do that doesn't first cross your mind 1st.

And so if I'm going to touch my nose right now, I thought about

that before I did it. My mindset effects my behavior.

And so when there's a change of mind, which is repentance, it

will, it will impact the way in which we behave.

And so it's important because repentance isn't just a regret

for our past life or regret for sin.

It also then will affect our mindset and our behavior.

In the book of Acts chapter #2 many of you maybe are familiar

with, but Peter has just finished preaching the masterful

sermon on the day of Pentecost. He has talked to the crowds that

day about basically the death of Christ, and he brings it close

to home whenever he lets them realize that they indeed

crucified what they were looking for.

They were awaiting and anticipating the Messiah to come

that had the answers to their troubles and to their struggles.

And Peter just basically let them know and drew the line of

connection for them. This man Christ Jesus that you

crucified, that was your Messiah.

And so as a result of this realization, the people are

having an afterthought, having a second thought over what they

had done, right, the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so they turned to Peter, wanting to know what, what shall

we do? They were in the moment dealing

with regret, right? I can't believe we did this.

We crucified the very one that we had been waiting for that

Isaiah had prophesied about. And so they were dealing with

regret. And so they're having a second

thought or an afterthought about what needed to be done.

And so Peter told them very plainly what needed to be done.

And it all started with repentance, that they needed to

repent. When when they realized that

they had been responsible for this deed, they wanted to think

differently about the actions that they had taken.

What shall we do? I know Peter, no doubt, is

trying to assuage them. I know you're dealing with

regret right now, but the cure to your regret is to repent, is

to have a change of mind, is to have a change of attitude, a

change of reproach, of approach. Amen.

Because there's got to be a conduct that's going to and a

behavioral change that will take place in your life.

Look what the Bible says. We have several scriptures

today. Look what the Bible says in 2nd

Corinthians 7 and verse #9 the apostle Paul speaking to the

church at Corinth. He says, Now I rejoice not that

ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance, for ye

were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive

damage by us in nothing. Verse 10 Four.

Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented

of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

The apostle Paul again writing to the church back Corinth.

And he, he, whenever he says that I've written to you before

or that I've made this known unto you before, this is Second

Corinthians. He may be referring to the 1st

letter of First Corinthians. But nonetheless, he tells him in

verse #8 if you back up a little further, he tells him, I realize

that I made you sorry with my first letter.

I realize I made you sorry. And so he, he wrote the 1st

letter, which is Corinthians, First Corinthians.

And he deals with all kinds of problems.

There's, there's divisions, there's dissension, there's

fornication, there's all kinds of things that he deals with in

that first letter that he addresses them.

And he says, I realize I may have made you sorry because of

addressing those things. But he says I, I don't repent.

I don't have a change of mind over having made you sorry.

I don't have a second thought over having made you sorry.

Because I realize, he says, I realize that that sorrow that

came upon you has LED you and guided you to a godly sorrow

that has led to repentance in your life.

Amen. A repentance that led unto

salvation. So I don't regret over having

written this. I don't regret at all.

He's rejoicing. As a matter of fact, the Bible

says, he says, I rejoice that you were made sorry.

I rejoice that you were made sorry.

Amen. But that ye sorrowed to

repentance. In other words, you didn't just

sorrow with all the impacts and effects of feeling guilty or

feeling shame because that sometimes accompanies us feeling

sorry, he says. But it went further than that.

It, it impacted your actions. It impacted the way that you

thought about what you had done. You, you, you had regret, yes,

but that regret materialized into a change of mind, which in

the end affected your behavior. You, you repented over what you

had done, Amen. Because being sorry and

experiencing sorrow in First Corinth, Second Corinthians, is

not just the same as repentance. He distinguishes the two.

The apostle Paul does, He distinguishes the two.

He says you were made sorrow, he said.

And then you sorrowed to repentance, right?

Because you can feel shameful and guilty without having a

change of mind toward what you have done.

Amen. You, you, you.

You can feel shameful. The boy caught by his mother

with his hand in the cookie jar can feel guilty in the moment

that mom caught him, but you know, a few hours later have his

hand in the cookie jar. You understand what I'm saying?

So you can feel guilty and sorrowful over something, but

repentance is a attitude and behavioral change.

Amen. Attitude and behavioral change.

Even in the Old Testament, we read of the story like the book

of Roof and her sister Orpha, and we understand that Naomi was

going to go and these two girls were going to accompany her.

And both of them, the Bible says they left, lifted up their

voices and that they wept and they hugged Naomi.

But the Bible says Orpa that she hugged her and wept, but she

stayed with her family and with her little GODS, gods and, and

her ways. But the Bible says Ruth, after

having claved to her, she went with Naomi all the way to

Bethlehem, Judah to serve the Lord.

Both had tears, both had remorse, but the outcome of both

was vastly different because there's a difference just

between and then having a change of mind.

One was sorrowful for it all but went back to their gods, but

another was sorrowful and went on to adopt the God of Israel as

their God. All right, so there is a vast

difference. Paul said what he said to them.

He didn't say it to injure them. Paul said what he said to them

in his first letter to benefit them because surely, no doubt,

because of what he said, addressing those different

things of dissension and division that was in the church

at Corinth, no doubt they felt a certain amount of conviction

about what they had done, Amen. And about ultimately what took

place. And so they were sorry, yes, but

he says you were even then sorry after a godly manner.

And this happens whenever I understand and realize that my

actions on the surface are more than just actions that was

against another individual. Dissension, right?

Division among people. Yeah, that seems to be like a

wrong between me and another person.

But anything in this world that appears like that goes further

than that. It's a wrong between me and God.

Huh. David understood it in his

Psalms 51 prayer. Whenever he talked about that,

he acknowledged his transgression and that his sin

was ever before me. He says my sin is ever before

me. He said in verse #4 Psalms 51

Against thee. He's speaking to God.

He's praying to God, he said, against the God, the only have I

sinned and done this evil on thy sight, that thou mightest be

justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judges.

David understood that he had done some things in his life

that was against a man and involved different people right

there. There have been murder.

There'd been other things in David's life that he had done

that no doubt was an offence to other people.

But whenever David really backed up, he says, I understand that

this just wasn't against this one or against that that one,

but in reality that the real target sources, this was a sin

that was against God because sin of whatever level it is, is

always against God. It's always against God.

Amen. And so David, sorry here in

Scripture, he's sorry after a Godly sort.

Why? Because it's leading him to

repentance, it's leading him to a change of mind and a change of

behavior. Those things that were in

opposition against God. He doesn't want to repeat that.

He doesn't want to have a reoccurrence of that.

He's wanting to go beyond that. So the sorrow of the world that

that the apostle Paul speaks of Corinthians, the sorrow of the

world is just a sorrow again of the feelings of the guilt and

the shame. But a godly sorrow will move you

from that that degree to a place of repentance, a place of

repentance with the Lord. Amen.

William Barclay said this. He said many of men is

desperately sorry because of the mess that sin has got him into.

But he very well knows that if he could be reasonably sure that

he could escape the consequences, he would do the

same thing again. It is not the sin that he hates,

it is the consequences. I think.

I mean, I really like doing some of the stuff I did growing up

and I got, you know, my backside thinned out as a result of it.

I would probably still do it if I didn't live with the

consequence of my backside being thinned out over.

And it took five or six times for that even to get through.

I'm thick skinned, I guess, but it's the consequences.

Repentance, though, isn't just a New Testament idea.

We see it stated very plainly as repentance in the New Testament,

but it's also found in the Old Testament as well.

In the Old Testament it takes on a, a, a different shade.

It's not just blatantly spoken of as repentance in the Old

Testament. It's often in the term when you

see the term return or turning away or turning from.

That's the way repentance is depicted in the Old Testament.

And you see people in the Old Testament, they may repent about

something good or they may repent about something bad.

They may turn away from something that was good or turn

away from something that was bad.

There are people that turned away from the Lord.

Well that that turning in itself is is a a repentance, a turning

away from something that that is good as a God, a dog, not a God

backwards. That's what it spells a dog

returneth saying Hebrew word used for repent in Ezekiel that

a dog returneth to his vomit. So there is this turning that is

the concept of repentance in the Old Testament.

It meant to retreat. It was 180° turn.

It was an about face, if you will, a change in direction, a

change in direction from where you opposite from opposite

direction of what you were going.

It's that turning. So whenever we read in the Old

Testament the word repent in our in our English Bibles.

Again, the idea many times is not that word repent, but the

turning or the returning that's taking place, which is

indicating to us there is repentance that is happening.

Someone is turning around, returning, turning back.

For instance, in Hosea chapter 14 and verse #1 the Bible says,

Hosea 14 · chapter mention

O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by

thine iniquity. Verse two he says, take with you

words, and turn to the Lord, say unto him, take away all

iniquity, and receive us graciously, so we will render

the calves of our lips. Another example of the Old

Testament in the minor Prophet of Malachi chapter 3 and verse

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

7. It says, even from the days of

your father's, ye are gone away from my ordinances and have not

kept them. He says, Return unto me,

Speaking of repentance, there return unto me, and I will

return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.

But ye said, wherein shall we return?

So scholars have concluded that there are a total of about 164

uses of repent as turning or returning in the Old Testament

text. All right, that turning back,

that returning, that turning away from God or turning back

toward God, most of them are found among the prophets.

Jeremiah leads the way. Most of them are in the book of

Jeremiah because he is constantly urging the people to

return unto the Lord, to repent. He's a constant herald to the

people of his day of warning, right?

He's given. He's called the weeping prophet

number one because he gives a warning that most people do not

heed. And that's what grieves his

heart. He's trying to be a staple of a

warning. He's pleading with them to turn.

He's pleading with them to return to God.

But most of many of them do not turn.

And so he even gives them some detailed information on how to

change their ways, But again, many of them refused.

Jeremiah then summarizes, if I, if I can, he summarized

repentance in one verse. He summarizes it.

It's kind of like encapsulated in Jeremiah 18 and verse #11

this is what Jeremiah says. Now therefore go to speak to the

men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

saying, Thus saith the Lord, behold, I frame evil against you

and devise a device against you. Now note the instruction.

Return. He's telling us what to do

Repentance return ye now he's telling us when to do it, Huh.

You should repent and you should repent now.

Let me even say this this morning.

Repentance is not anything to delay about.

Repentance isn't anything to delay about.

Do it now. Then he encompasses who should

do it. He said everyone, everyone, we

all guess what, we all have sinned and fallen short of the

glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not

one. The scripture says all should

repent. Now, according to Jeremiah, look

from what? From his evil way and make your

ways and your doings good. So you need to turn from that

and you need to turn toward this.

It's that about face. I'm turning away from the evil

way and I'm turning now and that's repentance.

And so I want to turn to the good way and I need to do that

now and everyone needs to do it. It's not as though I need to

repent and brother Malone doesn't need to repent.

It's not as though, you know, the person that has, you know, a

parent, all this bad stuff, they need to repent.

And someone that's just a good moral individual that has good

devotion doesn't need to repent. It doesn't matter.

Amen. Cornelius, who gave alms to the

church had to repent. Amen.

No one, no one is no one is afforded a do not have to repent

card. We are all ever since Adam,

we've all been born into this Adamic nature and so there is a

sin nature then that comes with that we need repentance.

And for that matter, it's not just a need, It is a gift.

Just as the the receiving the Holy Ghost is a gift.

Repentance is a gift for us as well that God is extended unto

us that we couldn't have a a a a way and a means where we can

become at one or atonement with God that one with God again they

turning around. Listen, if you find yourself in

a bad place in life. God through repentance is

providing you a turn around. Have you ever been anywhere that

that that you really wasn't familiar with you took the wrong

Rd. been in those cities that downtown all it is in one way

streets and you found yourself driving the wrong way on a one

way and you're like I need to find somewhere that I can you

know get this thing switched. It's a parking lot some other

street where I get this thing turned around.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you are in a position today where you

are in the wrong place at the wrong time, it seems repentance

always provides a turn around, Amen.

It provides a turn around to you, Amen.

So there's, there's, there's, there's no, no options.

I know, I know, Jeremiah was here speaking to the men of

Judah and the men of Jerusalem, the inhabitants, but he's really

speaking to us all. Paul told them in the book of

Acts on Mars Hill as he spoke to people of different, different

beliefs and such. He said now he said that God

commendeth all men everywhere to repent.

He said he winked, he winketh at ignorance once so, but now he

commandeth all men everywhere to repent.

So there's no options to repentance.

It is a mandate of Scripture, such a mandate you read in Luke

and some of the other gospels. The mandate is this repent or

perish. Now that's bold, that's heavy,

but that undergirds the importance of repentance.

And so there is a way that God brings then repentance into our

lives. Everyone probably has felt it at

a time or another. It's called conviction.

If you ever felt in the service, something being said, taught,

preached, whatever, maybe none of that, but you just kind of

felt something come on you about maybe some change or alteration

you need. Just like man, I just need to go

to the altar and pray conviction.

You don't find the word conviction in the King James

Version of our Bible, but there are some Greek words in the

Bible that mean conviction or to convict.

John 16 and verse #8. And when he is come, the he that

is being referred to is the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God.

He will reprove that word. Reprove means convict the world

of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

Paul also was writing in a letter to Timothy, his protege

in the gospel, and he wrote in Second Timothy 4 and verse #2 he

tells Timothy, he said, preach the Word, be instant in season

and out of season Again, reprove.

That's the word, convict, all right, meaning convict, rebuke

ignored with all long-suffering in doctrine.

And so he said, Timothy said, when and when men of God handle

the Word and preach the Word, Amen.

And even at the day of Pentecost, whenever the Spirit

of the Lord come down, it will come, and it will bring

conviction, and to the hearts of humanity, to the hearts of those

that hear it, if they will allow it.

And so repentance may start then, after someone feels

conviction and has a afterthought or a second thought

about the way that they had been living life.

A man will not repent until there's something that provokes

him to think differently about the way that he has lived.

Absolutely. Unless there's something that

provokes you to start thinking differently about the way that

you've lived life up to that point of time of conversion, you

won't do anything about it. That's the reason why I called

this a gift from God. God is in every step repentance,

baptism in the infill into the Holy Ghost.

He is in every step of the plan of salvation.

The Bible tells us in Acts 11 and verse 18.

Then hath God also to the Gentiles, granted, that's the

operative word, granted repentance unto life.

Repentance is something that God grants.

It says also in second Timothy 2 and verse 25, there's a phrase

there that says if God pre adventure will give them

repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, what God pre

adventure will give them, he grants it.

He gives it all right, Romans two and four again, a phrase

there not knowing that the goodness of God, the Scripture

says, leadeth thee to repentance.

God sometimes is wooing you. God woos you through his

goodness. God woos you through his mercy.

God woos you through his grace because you're like, I shouldn't

really be accepting this from God.

God's doing this. I, I can't believe he's such a

merciful God. I, I can't believe he's being so

gracious over this. And what does that do?

That it draws us to God because we're receiving something we

shouldn't be deserving, and we're drawn to that.

You know what God's doing? He's leading us.

He's leading us to a place of repentance.

Amen. Second Peter chapter #3 and

verse number lot 9. The Bible says that the Lord is

not slack concerning His promise that some men count slackness,

but is long-suffering. Someone needs to say Amen right

there. Thank God, He's long-suffering

to us. Word not willing that any

everybody say any, not willing that any should perish, but that

all should come to repentance. Peter is addressing something

right now in this hour. There have been some some things

going on among the people speaking about how everything

had just been the same since creation.

Nothing's really changed. People's talked about the Lord

to come back and he's not coming back yet.

And so Peter stood up to address the situation.

He says, I know you're saying well all things have just

remained the same. Nothing has changed and people

saying the Lord's supposed to come back, but you've not seen

you know him a robe of him. You know coming back yet he

says, but let me tell you something.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise He is and will

indeed come back. What you are, what you are

experiencing and believe is delay is God's mercy says what

your terming as well. He's late.

Is God being patient? He's not slack concerning His

promises. Something count slackness.

You're experiencing the long-suffering of God, the

long-suffering of God. That's towards humanity because

he don't want to see anybody perish.

If he could, he would love just to back them all up and take him

with him. But we know that's not the case.

We know that's not going to happen.

Many are called fear chosen. We know that the gate in the way

it's straight, it's narrow, right?

And few there be that find it. But if he would he don't want

any to perish. So he's a patient God.

He's a long-suffering God and we wait from generation to

generation and time and time. Why?

With hopes that somebody else would find the place of

repentance with hopes that somebody else would be wooed by

that grace and wooed by that mercy and find a place

repentance. That's not God being late.

That's not God. That's not God forgetting the

appointment. That's God being merciful twins

you singing New Years ago. We cry away a little longer

please Jesus. There are so many wander now and

sin. You know what that is.

That's second Peter 39, whose long-suffering toward us, Amen.

So he really desires all, listen us each, every one of us all to

come to a place of repentance. The word come there in second

Peter 39, but that we all should come.

That is the Greek word which means to make room for something

or to give place to to receive it.

So it's his desire that all should come.

He's making room for us, huh? He's given place for us to

receive that repentance that. Burial in Jesus name that.

Infilling of the Holy Ghost. Don't you know that God really

wants to prepare a place for you?

He wants to do that. He wants to give a place for

that. It's more than repentance then

is more than an afterthought. It's more than in a mental

change of attitude or mind. It's more than just feeling a

remorse. Ultimately it is going to impact

again our actions. The Bible says in First

Thessalonians one and verse #9 for they themselves show of us

what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned

to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

Again repentance played out. You turn to God.

What did you turn from? You can't turn towards something

without turning away from something.

It's an impossibility. I've said this for years, but

it's an impossibility. Right now, I am turned toward

Zach McGee, but I can't turn away from Zach McGee without

turning toward something else. It's a impossibility, huh?

With the same reasoning is I can't turn, I can't turn away.

So if I turn away from idols, if I turn away from false gods, and

I'm turning toward God, I've turned my back.

Then on everything else, Sister Jim Cruz, huh?

Whatever is in front of me has my undivided attention.

That's where my focus is. My mom used to tell me, Christy,

Paul, Robert, look at me. You know what she wanted?

She wanted my undivided. I'm sitting there.

You know she'd want my undivided attention.

They even say if you're talking to somebody and your feet are

not pointing toward them, but diverted in another direction,

you're really not interested in what they have to say.

Now everybody around the church is going to start looking at

other people's feet as they're talking.

We just created a problem. Well, God help me, but the

reason why I say that I found myself doing that a few times

this week. I like I was going to turn the

inter direction by someone's talking like McGee straighten up

there, you know, just in case somebody else knows.

Amen. But you, you you turn you you

you turn away from things as you turn toward God.

And when you turn toward God, you are turning your back on

many other things. So what was life prior to God?

When you turn toward God, you're turning your back on some of

those things. Matthew 3 and verse #7 the Bible

says But when He saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to

His baptism, He said unto them, O generation of Vipers, who hath

warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Verse eight He said Bring forth therefore fruits meet for

repentance he says bring forth notice there's an urgency here

there's that now you know urgency that's there bring forth

he says what fruit bring forth fruit and we we have in the very

natural world we have fruit trees yes and we can identify

the fruit trees predominantly by the fruit that they bear we know

it's an orange tree because it has an orange on an apple tree

because. It has an apple tree on it.

Right. What we produce that other

people can see and then we can categorize that by the fruit

that is being born, he says. Bring forth fruit, he says.

Something that something that's tangible, something that can be

observable. Fruits, meat, where meat there

is interesting. It's the idea of that whatever

fruit you're bringing forth has equal weight or worth to a

repented life. Someone hear me right now that

whatever you're bringing forth has equal weight or worth to a

repented fruits meet for repentance.

I'm bringing forth fruit that that has an amended, if you

will, outcome that equalizes the repentance and the turning and

the change of mind and the change of behavior that I'm

participating in. And for that matter, whenever we

talk about that second step in the plan of salvation in Acts

238, repent and be baptized. John said, he said, if you've

come for baptism, he said, then you must have repented.

Now, John, he said, you're coming out here.

You brood of art. What did you, what did you come

out here to see her? Do you plan on being baptized?

If so, bring forth fruits, because there ain't no baptism

going to take place unless there's been a repentance that

has happened. Amen.

Unless there's some, some evident product that is equal in

weight and worth to your repentance, your, your fruit,

your fruit must smear a life that is turning from the old

right toward the new. That, that, that desire should

be there. That, that, that, that, that you

know, you see it in people whenever they start wanting to

attend church more faithfully and they seem to be leaning in a

little bit more and they're start having questions about

baptism and other things. What do they do under?

There's that leaning in. There's, there's fruits that are

starting to be bored in their life.

No one hears the fact of the matter.

Nobody can repent for you. I know God fills us with the

Holy Ghost and we usually have the participant of another

person that places in us in the water and evokes the name of

Christ over life and repentance. Yes, He grants that to us, but

nobody can repent for you. His Spirit and His Word can

convict us, but it's still on our shoulders to repent, to

turn, to change our mind In Scripture.

Repentance, you read of it in Romans, but repentance and

baptism, infilling the Holy Ghost mirrors and parallels the

gospel or the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Repentance is parallel to the crucifix of Jesus Christ.

We are dying to the old life. We're dying out to the old ways.

They said, well, Brother McGee, people crucified the Lord.

Wait a minute. They couldn't take his life if

he didn't give his life. I know from this stance we're

looking at. They crucified him.

Nobody could have taken the Lord's life if he had not given

it to be taken. What are you saying?

Repentance involves you. Repentance revolves in your will

letting go. It involves in you surrendering,

right? No one could take Christ's life.

He gave it for them to take. And so we surrender our old

selves, our old ways, our old tactics, our owed acts.

What to the process of a dying out to the process, if you will,

of a crucifixion, Amen. That's repentance.

And the glorious thing is this, when you're baptized in Jesus

name, you don't come up the same person that you were before you

went down in Jesus name. The Bible talks about this, this

whole concept of of a resurrection that takes place,

which is similar to our baptism, that the thing that is planning

is not like the thing that shoots up.

It speaks in Scripture that you you take a seed and you put it

in the ground. That which comes forth from the

ground isn't just like the seed. Yeah, you might have corn on the

cob and stuff like that, but it is absolutely, it's a different

thing. The oak, that that little acorn

that's put in the ground, that oak tree looks a whole lot

different than the acorn. There's a different that happens

in the resurrection. What happens in the ground, The

shell of that acorn is surrendered to the ground.

It's buried in the ground. It's surrendering its old make

up to the ground. And what happens through

germination, The shell of that seed is cracked open and

something starts to surface and grow out of that, this little

green chute that's going to turn into a formable oak tree.

Amen. It's not the same as it was.

It's different, Amen. Old things are passed away.

Behold, all things become new, Amen.

Be a horrible thing just to be the same.

Oh, same old, huh? But there's power in his name

and his blood to take care of all that.

And I might not have it all together.

I realize that I might not have it all together, but there's

aspects of my life that I understand that my former way of

living is not acceptable in the sight of God as well.

There's things every day that Paul McGee realizes about Paul

McGee as I take daily portions of his Word.

I show up then for service and hear the Word talk and preach.

I mean, for years now as a kid, I was brought up, you know, to,

to read the word, to pray, to attend church and all that.

And after all these years, there are still things that Paul McGee

is finding when I read the word that needs course correction,

that needs adjustment, or that I've, I've lost ground on.

And you know what that allows me for even after my initial

experience of repentance, I can repent every day and say, God in

this area and that area, I reckon I have failed today.

I have failed today. But I know, I know that your

work is a good work and that you don't have to go to the cross

again in order to take care of what I did today.

Your work is good enough to take care of what I did today, today

anyway, although it's thousands of years old.

And so I go to the Lord. That's what Paul meant when he

said that he dies daily. He goes to a place of

repentance, that dying, that equalization.

And so I realized that, Amen. Stand with me today.

Repentance, it's important. It's important, It's important

for salvation. It's important for Christian

living, All right, for salvation and for Christian living.

And we need not, we need not minimize the importance of

repentance in our lives, all right?

We don't, we don't want to join the ranks of the elder brother,

brother of the prodigal story, All right, repentance is

important. You read in Luke 15 all the

different stories of, of the lost sheep, that the man who

left the 99 went and found the one and brought it back.

And the Bible talks about how there's joy in heaven over one

who repents. You read then the other story.

The woman had 10 coins and she lost one of those coins.

She swept all the house very diligently to find that one

coin. When she did, she rejoiced.

And again there is the the initiation that there is joy in

heaven over a Sinner that. Repents heaven.

If heaven rejoices over repentance, earth needs to

rejoice over repentance. And then there's the two sons

and one. He asked everything of his

Father and he leaves and he does all these things in a far

country and he comes to his awareness that is there not even

bread to spare in my father's house while he's here at a pig

through so to speak. And he goes back home and his

father wants to celebrate and have this celebration because

his son has come back. But it's in all of that that

what we had the elder brother that didn't want to join in on

the celebration because his brother had an afterthought or a

second thought. It's important.

Don't, don't, don't join the forces of the elder brother that

doesn't want to celebrate and make merry.

We need to celebrate and make merry every time someone repents

before they're bad. We'll celebrate at baptism,

we'll celebrate at the end of the Holy Ghost, but we need to

celebrate at repentance. We need to celebrate at the

exercise of faith. There is no, there is no degree

or level that we don't need to be celebrating over people's

conversion. Amen.

Repentance is important. It's a part of our daily.

If I could call it that maintenance program with the

Lord. And we never get into a place

where we are above or beyond repentance.

We all need it, Amen. And there's probably something

I'm going to do today that's kind of stupid.

Welcome to this classification called humanity, Amen?

I'm not yet shaken a hand of a perfect person.

And if I did it, it'd rub off on me.

We need a spirit of repentance. We need a spirit of repentance

in our church. Because I believe if I, if I'll

approach my life as a Christian knowing that, you know what, I

don't have it all together in a bag of chips, then I think that

creates an environment for other people to have a similar feeling

and a greater likelihood that we all can be open with God about

where we really are. If we could just bow our heads

in this place. I'm just wondering if there's

anybody that would join me in this altar today, say, Brother

McGee, I'm having some afterthoughts, some second

thoughts about the way that I have maybe approached life in

certain areas of life. And I have sorrow, yes, but I

want it to be a godly sorrow that that initiates a change of

thinking that then spawns into a change of behavior.

Can we today as people, can we come for those that will say,

Lord, I'm coming to you today because I understand that my

righteousness is as filthy rags. I understand that, Lord.

But God, I want to bring this to you today.

This is more than just me with sorrow or me with an apology.

This with this is me, God with a turn around.

This is me with a turn around in my life.

I pray, O God, today, Lord, I, I have failed and I have made

mistakes and I have faltered and I have misstepped, but God, I

come to you, for you know me, God, you know that I am but

dust. You know my friend, I pray, O

God, today I surrender all unto you this morning, Lord.

I surrender all unto you this morning, Lord, Hallelujah.

Repentance is important, ladies and gentlemen, again, I, I can't

repent for you, your neighbor, your mother, your father, your

sister. No one can do it for you.

We got to approach the Lord all hey man, by ourselves, so to

speak and say, God, here am I. I'm a man of unclean lips and I

dwell among the people of unclean lips.

Oh Lord, God, purge me, Jesus, purge me.

Jesus, I want to live the way that you want me to live.

I want Lord Jesus, to offer myself unto you.

I know God, it's impure, and I know God, it's imperfect, but

God, can you just touch me afresh and anew?

If you've never received the gift of the Holy Ghost, have you

never been baptized this morning?

Repentance is a very good at first step.

Amen toward all of that. It's a necessary step before

baptism. Amen.

God this old flesh God help me Lord crucify this old flesh.

I want to approach life differently Lord God than when I

approach life thus far. God, if you'll help me, if

you'll enable me, if you'll empower me I pray Jesus you're

able Lord today to help us. Brother Mason, as you prepare a

song I I wish that you'd be praying in your Pew this morning

right where you're at. You don't necessarily have to

come up here, but right where you're at.

You can make a petition to God say here am I God understand

God. It's not that you're late, you

are going to come back. You're just being long-suffering

for people that still yet need to find a place of repentance.

You're just being merciful and gracious.

You're wooing them. You're trying to lead them to a

place of repentance. That's really what it's about,

the long-suffering of God. Hallelujah.

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