The Gospel Of Repentance

All of us often wonder why we go through hard times don’t we? Yes we do. Some of it is our own doing, bad choices we make. Some of it is sovereignly brought about by God Almighty to test, try and prove us in a particular area of our lives – that our faith in Him might increase (Gen 22; James 1:2-4,12). And sadly, there are times that people do harmful things to us, and our love ones that bring suffering in our lives.  The word suffer has various meanings in the Bible. One meaning is to permit. Another meaning is to be ill-treated, to suffer injustice, to bear up under, to endure hardship, etc. Well, let’s look at some examples in God’s word of those that suffered. Job’s Suffering In the book of Job, God allowed Satan to afflict Job (Job 1 & 2). This suffering was divinely ordained. Oddly though, Job never knew why he suffered so much although his so-called friends claimed they had the answers to why he did.  Neither Job nor his companions knew God and Satan had a di

Let me ask the reader a question. Is it easy or hard to get into heaven?  A lot of preachers tell parishioners to walk down the aisle of the church if they want to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Someone in a prayer/counseling room will pray for them using what Is called a “Sinners Prayer”. Is this Biblical? Others just tell someone simply to “believe in Jesus”, and they are saved. Is it that simple? Just believe in Jesus? There is essentially nothing wrong with any of these methods as long as all the blanks are filled in. That is what I will attempt to do in this article. The best sermon ever preached on how one enters heaven was by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. To find out what he preached, we need to go what is called the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:3-11 Jesus teaches on what are called the Beatitudes. In verse 3 Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. What does this mean? It means someone who knows t

Many believe hell is not a real place. Some say heaven and hell are right here on earth. Others say hell is a state of mind; while others are appalled at the idea that God would send anyone there because God is a God of love, and man is basically good. And then there are some that actually say they want to go to hell because all their friends will be there and they can party forever. Really? As always our guide for all truth is the Bible. The Bible declares hell to be an actual place. The Hebrew word of hell is the word sheol. It means the abode of the dead. It also means the grave and also for those who are being forever tormented for their sins. The main NT Greek word for hell is Gehenna.  Hell is eternal separation from God whereas heaven is eternal life with the Father God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit all the redeemed, and the holy angels.                                                                   Did Jesus teach on hell? In a word yes. This may shock most people, but J

                                                Jesus is using agricultural imagery in John 15. The phrase “I AM” makes reference to Jesus’ deity – His pre-existent nature. In layman’s terms He is God. Jesus regarding Himself as the True Vine was the last of His 7 “I AM statements in John’s gospel [1] . This phrase was first used way back in Exodus 3:14 when God spoke with Moses through the burning bush and revealed Himself as the Great I AM! The one to deliver Israel out of Egyptian slavery. Jesus speaking to the disciples directly (minus Judas Iscariot for he at this point had betrayed the Lord), and by extension every believer born into the family of God thereafter explained to them the relationship between the Father, Himself, believers, and non-believers. Jesus begins by declaring, “I am the true vine”. True obviously meaning genuine and authentic. He also says, “My Father is the husbandman, or vinedresser or gardener, and we are the branches. He continues in verse 2, “Eve

All of us are born naturally once of course. And, everyone of us is born dead (Eph 2:1). Spiritually dead that is due to the transferring of Adam’s original sin to the whole human race. All of us are under the wrath of God when we are born due to our first father’s transgression or sin of omission. The Bible describes what happened to us in Romans 5:12, wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for all men have sinned. What this verse is describing is because of the sin of Adam all of his descendants; the entire human race are sinners because God has transferred or imputed Adam’s sin nature unto us therefore all have sinned for we were in Adam’s loins when he committed the sin making us all guilty. As we fast forward  4,000 years in time to Christ, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again to see the kingdom of God (John 3:3,5,7). In order for us to be born a second time, we MUST go through a rebirth, a re

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. -            Romans 8:29-30 The word justified (verb form) is the Greek verb dikaioō which means to make right or righteous. This is the first level of our salvation. In the area of justification, God is making us right with him, and the same time granting us His righteousness. Those whom God called in eternity past to be conformed to the image His Son will by the power of God be regenerated (made spiritually alive, Eph 2:1; Col 2:13), have an awareness of their horrible sin and guilt towards God. In God’s precise timing the Lord will open their hearts (like Lydia Acts 16:14),  they will be given the willingness and ability to believe the gospel message and be saved. The reason why we can be justified is bec