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

“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make and end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity; to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublesome times. And after sixty two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poure

The apostle Paul is explaining to his readers in vivid detail his ongoing battle between his flesh, mind and spirit. This is a struggle we all must suffer as Christians and it is a most painful struggle! In Romans 7:15-25 we read: “ For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.                                                                                                 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For

It was the German Protestant Reformer Martin Luther who said, “ We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.” If one has been truly justified by his faith, that same saving faith is also a practical faith that manifests itself in good works. Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” When we believed the gospel of truth, we were justified (i.e. declared righteous) by faith in the propitiating work of Jesus Christ sacrifice for sin on the cross. However, we are justified by our works also proving our faith is the real thing. As James said, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). So what that means is to declare that one who says they have true faith without any works has a dead faith, or no faith at all. If we do not have works coupled with our faith, then we have proven that not only is our faith a sham, so is our justification.  This is what M