Repentance and Kingdom Mentality

The First of the Kingdom is to Repentance

Matthew 3:1,2 “and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Mark 1:2-6 “As it is written in the Prophets: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.” “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ” John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.”

Luke 3:1-6 “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ””

Declaring the kingdom of heaven “at hand,” ‘drawing near,” John was announcing that the rule of God’s King was about to overthrow the power and rule of all evil—both human and hellish. The Kingdom of Heaven was near because the King was here. And His presence, introducing the power of “the kingdom of God,” meant a new world no more need to be held hostage to either the rule of death over mankind, resultant from human sin and sinning, or to the deadening rule of oppressive human systems, political of otherwise.

What is meant by Baptism of Repentance?

2 Kings 5:8–14 NKJV

So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

The story of Naaman provides a parallel to what happens to those who come to Jesus for salvation.

The ministry of John the Baptist is a clear example of this type of baptism of repentance.

In fact, according to Jesus, John’s ministry marked the end of an era between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant

Matthew 11:13–15 NKJV

For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Jesus restated this important shift in Luke 16:16 ““The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.”

The Law and the Prophets therefore constitutes the foundation on which the Gospel of the Kingdom is erected. Walls without a foundation cannot stand, and foundations that do not support walls betray their purpose. Both are essential, which is why it is vital to understand what each one represents and contributes

By contrasting the two in Luke 16:16, Jesus highlighted an evolution in the message that people were hearing. The Law and the Prophets was proclaimed up until John the Baptist, marking a season that came to an end to make way for the new message: the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Matthew 4:17 NKJV

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

“From this time” (the Law and the Prophet era), we see the verb is at hand means “has come,’ has arrived,” or “is here”, and suggest the inauguration of the reign of God.

Our Call, RECONCILIATION

Our first assignment in the ministry of reconciliation is to answer God’s call for repentance regarding our own separatism. Left to our own devices we tend toward self-centeredness and chaos (Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?; Romans 1:21-32), but coming to God in a spirit of humble repentance opens up a way for peace and reconciliation to flow (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Then we may focus on helping people to be reconciled to God and with others as well—all as a result of the Cross (Colossions 1:20) and the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23) being at work in our lives (2 Corinthians 5:18,19)

Now let’s discuss more about Repentance.

Jesus begins his mission first with an attack on our mentality.

The first thing He attacked was our mind. Your spirit can only receive what you mind allows;

3 John 2 (NKJV)

2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

The first public statement of Jesus Christ

Matt 4:17 – From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near (arrived)”.

Repent (Webster 1828 Dictionary) – To change the mind in consequence of the inconvenience or injury done by past conduct.

Repent means, Change mentality; Change mental conditioning; Change concepts; Change what you were taught, Change your attitude of mind; Unlearn what you know.

It means to change your mind.

Physical location does not change your attitude. Relocation does not mean transformation.

What is Mentality?

The psychological frame of mind produced by the collective accumulation of ideas through which one interprets his or her experience with the environment.

Mentality is more important than spirituality.

Your mentality determines your spirituality.

Whether it is information coming to you and an event you are observing or whether it is a tragedy you are facing.

2. Mentality is the state of mind produced by your culture.

3. Mentality is the attitude of your mind that influences your behavior response to life. You respond to life out of an attitude that is a result of our culture that which cultivated us. We respond to life out of an attitude that was a result of our culture that which cultivated us. The word culture means, “to grow”.

Culture is the environment in which you grew, and that never stops. So you are a product of an environment that produced the way you think, and that is called mentality.

4. Mentality is the psychological perception created by ones belief system.

You may have a certain mentality about a certain ethnic group. That mentality is a perception of a people that is produced by your belief system that came from the collective accumulation of ideas that you have received as truth from your culture.

Racism is a mental problem. Your mentality is racist, but it comes from a collective bank of ideas that came from a culture that you were brought up in. That is why it is so difficult to change a mentality.

It is very difficult to change a mentality.

Kingdom mentality is talking about unlearning some things; to discard some things that you love; reject some old concepts that you have adopted.

Repent is not an religious experience, it is a psychological one.

As a man thinketh in his heart (continuing occupying something in his heart), so is he

Heart – refers to the mind. It is means the inner man, the hidden man; the center of reasoning.

It is the hard drive of the human.

The place that you store all of the ideas that you consider truth. The common word for heart is subconscious mind. Subconscious mind means the mind below the mind. You are a conscious mind and subconscious mind. You are not all you listening to, you are what you pull down and accept.

Whatever you pull down and store is very dangerous because that is what you become.

Proverbs 23:7 For as a man (continually) thinks in his heart, so is he

Heart – inner man, hidden man, center of reasoning, hard drive.

Your struggle in life is your mentality

If you are going to enter into kingdom mentality, your greatest struggle in life is to unlearn religion.

Your greatest enemy is your mind because your mind can protect your ignorance.

Hosea 4:6a - My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Your subconscious mind can defend it own enemies. It will set up walls and say don’t you cross my mental barriers.

In conclusion, in order to understand God’s Kingdom, we have to develop am Kingdom Mindset. A mindset is a fixed mental attitude, disposition that predetermines or decides in advance a person’s responses to and interpretations of situations. We all grow up with family and cultural traditions and ideologies. Growing as a believer with Jesus and through renewing our minds, studying the Word of God, we begin to have our hearts opened to the Kingdom of God!