Living HIStory

Living HIStory

400+ years of silence from God between the Old Testimate and the New Testimate. The New Testimate starts with John the Baptize just as the Old Testimate had prophesied!

Isaiah 40:3-5; Mathew 11:11

Even Jesus reiterated the significance and importance of John the Baptist in HIStory! What made John the Baptist so great? Out of all the prophets and people before John the Baptist he was the greatest? Abraham, Moses, David and his mighty men, Solomon...etc. John the Baptists was greater than all the other men that had come before him!

There is not much written in the gospel about John the Baptist. You would think that there would be more written about him. So what made John the Baptist so great?

Matthew 3:1-12

This is the lesson that John came to preach and this is what made him great. It was not the belt he wore or the diet he ate but the words that came off his lips. The message that God wanted to delivery to his people and break the silence for over 400 years!

John preached the message of repentance and baptism! This was what made him so great. He was the messenger that God chose to prepare the hearts of Gods people before Jesus!

How important is repentance? We can not be saved without repentance! True repentance! Not an apology and deceleration of change but rather an action of change!

After John the baptist, Jesus preached the same thing. "Repent for the kingdom of God is near" Repentance is the first message of the gospel. Without it we cannot have a relationship with God!

Luke 13:1-5

Everyone will perish without repentance! Repentance does not care who you are, what you have done, or how religious you are. We all must repent in the same way! What did Jesus say to the Pharisees? Whether you have only sinned once or a million times, you need to repent or you will perish.

Repentance must come first. Just like John the baptist came first and laid the ground work for the message of Jesus. We also need to put repentance first to lay the ground work for us to to do what God wants to call us to do.

Although repentance is important, we cannot be saved by repentance! We must have grace! Repentance does not save but it is the beginning. Grace cannot do its work without a start of repentance. Repentance is like a spark. A spark never kept anyone warm but without a spark there will never be a fire!

What role does repentance play in my life! Am I on fire for God? If I am not its not because there is not enough grace to keep me on fire it is because there was no spark of repentance to get the fire going. What role does repentance play in my personal life?

Where do I need to repent the most. What areas in my life do I need to repent the most? Am I looking for specific areas in my life where I am wrong? We should always be repenting of something! There should never be a time when we are not actively repenting of something!

1 Corinthians 15:10

With all the repentance in the world we are still not saved unless we have grace! What role does grace play in my life? We all need forgiveness but grace cannot be without effect. Repentance leads to grace and grace leads to more repentance. Grace cannot just be a feel good idea!

2 Corinthians 5:14; Titus 2:11-12

Grace also requires action and compels us to more repentance. When we try to change without grace we fail. When repentance and grace are brought together...then we are able to truly change and honor God with our lives!

Grace teaches us to say no and repent by teaching us to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives! Grace allows us to become a person that we never would have been possible to become. It allows us to become like Jesus!

So how do you receive grace from God? Acts 2:38!





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