The Might of Men | 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, Glenn and Ray's grandma, and well, Aiden's a

boyfriend to Glenn as I really don't know where that fits in

the mix, but none the less, 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, Thank

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, as he, you

know, suffered 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 mystery conference or would like to know

what it was like, you can always go to 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

of their home and stuff. That's where our church banks.

And so we gave as a church $1000 toward them for the the

rebuilding of their lives. So I know they'll 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 and

to 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. 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, 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 season 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, it

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

the 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 at 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 them in verse #8 if you back up a little

further, he tells them, 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 realized 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 have 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 he were made sorry, 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 sorry for 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 thee, 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 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 that 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, 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

Hosea 14 · chapter mention

14 and verse #1 the Bible says, 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 7.

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

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 summarize 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 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 way

in the means where we can become at one or atonement with God at

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 day 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 weak, 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.

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, extort with all long-suffering and 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 unto 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 an 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 Zack McGee. But I can't turn away from Zach

McGee without turning toward something else.

It's a impossibility 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, 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 said 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.

The word 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.

And if 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, then

filling 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 it's old

makeup 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 shoe 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 and 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 have 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, make merry every time someone repents.

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

we'll celebrate at the infilling 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 shaking 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.

See, 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 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 like

differently Lord God than when I approach like this 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 willing 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. Thank you for listening.

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