The Gospel Of Repentance

                                                     Most people think when Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God, that being born again is something we can make happen-that Jesus was giving Nicodemus a command.  No. Rather Jesus was making a declaration to Nicodemus; giving him a revelation. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin which was a Jewish Supreme court, and the teacher in Israel (John 3:10). An expert in Mosaic Jurisprudence. He believed he could get to heaven by the deeds of the law, and their oral traditions (Matt 15:3,6). Being born again obviously presupposes prior birth. In our case natural birth. In John 3:3,7-8 Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be born from again (literally being born from above) in order to even see the kingdom of God. We all have had a physical birth which we had nothing to do with. Our spiritual birth is the same way – we have nothing to do with it. In other words, there are

Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets , Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. -Ephesians 2:20 Let’s define the apostle, and what was qualified to be one. The Greek word is apóstolos ; means one sent forth. A compound word. Apo means “from”, and stello, “to send” . Jesus is called the Apostle and High Priest of our confession (Heb 3:1). Why was Jesus called an Apostle? Because He was sent to the earth by God the Father (John 3:17,34; 5:36-38;6:38-40;8:42;17:3). The twelve that Jesus handpicked were apostles along with the apostle Paul whom He chose after He ascended into heaven (Matt 10:1-4;Mark 6:7; Luke 9:6; Acts 9:15). There were others that were called apostles such as: Barnabas (Acts 14:4, 14), Epaphroditus (Phil 2:25), and others  messengers/apostles of the churches that were not mentioned by name (2 C

The Greek word for prophet is prophētēs means one speaks forth or openly. Another Greek term is prophēteia which means speaking forth the mind and counsel of God. The prefix pro means “forth”, and phēmi,, to speak. In the N.T. we are talking about the prophet as an office and a gift in the church. The role of the prophet in the church was to exhort, edify, and comfort those in the body by speaking God’s revealed word to the congregation. Whatever prophet was speaking was to be judged by the other prophets in the assembly. Paul instructed that two or three prophets were allowed to speak in a worship service (I Cor 14:29).  The prophet along with the apostle received the mystery revelation of the church according to Eph 3:5. The prophet along with apostle were the foundations of the church (Eph 2:20). The specific role of the prophet was more pronounced in the O.T. than in the new. The main prophet during the time of Christ was John the Baptist who was the forerunner of Jesus

What if God willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction                                                                                                                                -Romans 9:22 What is a vessel of wrath? Well to understand the opening verse, let’s go back go verse 21: Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? Paul in this illustration is contrasting two types of people, vessels of honor (the righteous), and vessels of dishonor (the wicked). The point of this brief parable is God in His absolute sovereignty chooses how He wants to use each human being He has created, and how He wants to bless them. In chapter nine of Romans Paul recounts that God exercised His sovereignty when He chose Jacob over His twin brother Esau. Jacob was a vessel of honor, Esau was a vessel unto dishonor – God’s sovereign ch