Repentance Commissioning Service

I am excited and humbled this morning as we take part in a dream becoming reality once again here at Bridge of Faith. We have been talking about the Kingdom of God and I believe OneHeart Holistic Center is a big part of bringing the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth as it is in Heaven.

This new center exists in Rockaway Beach, MO and the grand opening is this Thursday night!

I am so excited that this is happenings! The most important thing these Biblical counselors do is to call people to repentance.

Matthew 3:1–2 HCSB

1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!”

Matthew 4:17 HCSB

17 From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!”

I have learned over the years that repentance is a key to experiencing the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth.

Repentance:

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Repentance)

Literally a change of mind, not about individual plans, intentions, or beliefs, but rather a change in the whole personality from a sinful course of action to God.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Repentance)

A change of attitude and action from sin toward obedience to God

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Repentance in Hebrew

The Hebrew word that most closely approximates “repent” or “repentance” is translated into English as “return,” which basically means “to turn around and go in the opposite direction.”

The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Repentance in Greek)

The Greek word for “repentance” derives from a verb meaning “to radically change one’s thinking.” “Repentance” refers to an event in which an individual attains a divinely provided new understanding of their behavior and feels compelled to change that behavior and begin a new relationship with God (Heb 6:1; Acts 20:21).

Let me be real with you for just a second. Pastoring has its challenges. I have not pastored anywhere else but in my time pastoring here at Bridge of Faith there have been many challenges. I have faced challenges from the outside and experienced Spiritual warfare. The greatest challenges for me have not been the attacks from the outside but it has been when I have faced attacks from those that are closest to you or the ones that I have poured into the longest.

I will not give any detail on these but I am telling you they hurt and they can hurt bad.

I believe God ordained for me to encounter Biblical counseling very early on in pastoring here so that he could keep myself and my family going in ministry. I am fully confident that if it was not for the message of repentance and the healing power of the Word of God that I would not be standing before you today.

I am a product of the message of repentance and the healing power of the Word of God.

I can guarantee that every message I preach would be full of unforgiveness, rage, anger, bitterness, hurt and pain if it was not for the message of repentance and Biblical Counseling.

The Gospel is good news and I am a product of the healing power of Jesus.

This morning I want to show you the power of repentance through scripture.

2 Samuel 11.

In 2 Samuel 5 David is anointed as King of Israel (God’s Chosen People) at the age of 30. Scripture tells us that he reigned as King for 40 years. He started at 30 and led till he was 70 years old.

Before 2 Samuel 11 David has experienced the goodness of God. He has seen the Lord spare his life on numerous occasions when Saul was trying to take him out. So David has experienced victories and is mature in the faith when we get to 2 Samuel 11.

This morning you may be dealing with sins from your past, but note that David is mature in the faith and King of Israel when this major sin comes into his life.

2 Samuel 11:1 HCSB

1 In the spring when kings march out to war, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

He should have been out to war with his men.

2 Samuel 11:2–3 HCSB

2 One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman. 3 So David sent someone to inquire about her, and he reported, “This is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

Uriah is a soldier that is on the battle field and fighting on behalf of David and the Nation of Israel.

David ask for Bathsheba to come visit him and he sleeps with her and commits adultery.

Bathsheba gets pregnant and tells David.

David tries to cover this up and calls for Uriah to come home and spend some time with his wife.

Uriah is too loyal and won’t go home and spend time with his wife.

So David gets Uriah drunk and tries to use this to get him to go home and sleep with his wife to cover all this up.

Uriah does not do it.

David orders to put Uriah on the front lines of the battle and when the battle gets intense have every one pull back.

2 Samuel 11:14–15 HCSB

14 The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote: Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest fighting, then withdraw from him so that he is struck down and dies.

This is normal behavior if you are watching it on TV. Some might say this is good entertainment to see what David did and how he acted.

Can you imagine the outcry on social media if this story came out today? I think this could upset all political parties. The Leader of God’s chosen people. The Leader of the nation of Israel does not go out to war like he should. He sleeps with one of his loyal soldiers wife. She gets pregnant. He gets the soldier drunk and then has him killed.

David gets away with this sin for a year and then he gets some Biblical Counseling.

2 Samuel 12:1–10 HCSB

1 So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he arrived, he said to him: There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up, living with him and his children. It shared his meager food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man could not bring himself to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest. 5 David was infuriated with the man and said to Nathan: “As the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb.” 7 Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more. 9 Why then have you despised the command of the Lord by doing what I consider evil? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife—you murdered him with the Ammonite’s sword. 10 Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house because you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own wife.’

David’s response Repentance

Psalm 51.

Psalm 51:1 HCSB

1 Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion.

Lord don’t give me what I deserve. I deserve to die for my sin and rebellion but David cries out and says be gracious Lord and don’t give me what I deserve.

That worthless feeling is accurate in our sinfulness in that we recognize that we deserve to die in our sin. We are unworthy. We deserve to die but the cry for grace is Lord don’t give me what I deserve.

Be gracious according to your faithful love

Be gracious according to your abundant compassion or mercy. The Lord gives us what we don’t deserve to have. He offers us forgiveness although we do not deserve it.

Step 1 I am Wrong

Blot out my rebellion or Erase My rebellion

My crime, my offense the thing I have done wrong.

Psalm 51:2–4 HCSB

2 Wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against You—You alone—I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight. So You are right when You pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge.

I am conscious of my rebellion.

My sin is always before me

The first step in finding freedom is to first believe the sin that we have committed is actually wrong.

We can justify sin for so long that what is wrong begins to feel as though it is right.

v.4 Against you and you alone I have sinned.

Step 2 God I am Sorry

This is Godly sorrow that leads to repentance. We may not be truly sorry we are just sorry we got caught. Sorrow that leads to freedom is a sorrow that recognizes that it is God that we have sinned against.

God you are right when you pass sentence and you are blameless when you judge. I am sorry

Psalm 51:4–6 HCSB

4 Against You—You alone—I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight. So You are right when You pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge. 5 Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me. 6 Surely You desire integrity in the inner self, and You teach me wisdom deep within.

Step 3 God Forgive Me

Psalm 51:7–9 HCSB

7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice. 9 Turn Your face away from my sins and blot out all my guilt.

Purify me with hyssop. The word hyssop signifies the shedding of blood. Remember the Israelites were to dip Hyssop in blood and put it over the door post of their homes so the angel of death would Passover them.

Forgiveness is available not based up on what we do but up on the blood shed of Jesus Christ. He died so that we might have forgiveness of sin. His innocent blood was shed so that we might be set free!!

v.9 Blot out my guilt. Take the eraser and remove it. Take the casenet file and delete it off the internet. Remove it all Lord take it away

1 John 1:9 HCSB

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Step 4 God Cleanse Me

Psalm 51:10–11 HCSB

10 God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not banish me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Create in me a pure heart and renew a Steadfast spirit within me. There is no amount of sacrifices the we can make or things we can do to get right with God. It takes his cleansing work on the cross.

This is also to say that I no longer want this in my life. I want it gone.

Step 5 God Empower Me

Psalm 51:12–17 HCSB

12 Restore the joy of Your salvation to me, and give me a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach the rebellious Your ways, and sinners will return to You. 14 Save me from the guilt of bloodshed, God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness. 15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. 16 You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it; You are not pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart.

I am absolutely dependent on you to restore the joy of your salvation to me. Give me a willing spirit.

My spirit is not willing and I am forever dependent on you to have a willing spirit.

Humbleness and brokenness comes from realizing you are forever dependent on a Holy God to cleanse and purify us.