PREACHING REPENTANCE

 
PREACHING REPENTANCE
by David Wilkerson

What was the first message Jesus delivered after He emerged
from the temptation in the wilderness? Scripture says, "From that
time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17).

Jesus called people to repent before He even called them to believe.
Mark writes, "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the
kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom
of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:14-15).
Christ preached, "Repent first-and believe."

Elsewhere Jesus says of His mission, "I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:13). And He told
the Galileans, "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all
likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).

Jesus´ gospel was all about repentance!

John the Baptist also preached repentance, to prepare Israel for
the coming of Christ. John´s message to the Jews was simple
and straightforward: "In those days came John the Baptist,
preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:1-2).

People came from everywhere to hear John preach. And he told
them in no uncertain terms: "The Messiah is soon to appear in
your midst, so you´d better get ready to meet Him! You may feel
excited that He´s coming, but I´m telling you, your hearts are not
prepared because you´re still holding on to your sins.

"Outside you appear clean and holy. But inside, you´re full of dead
men´s bones! You´re a generation of vipers, snakes, with absolutely
no fear of God [see Matthew 3:7-12]. Yet you have no concept that
you´re even sinners. I warn you-you must deal with your sin before
you can believe on the Savior and follow Him. So, repent, turn from
your sin and live in a way that reflects genuine change!"

-Source-

http://davidwilkersontoday.blogspot.com/2014/02/preaching-repentance.html

GREAT QUOTES from TOZER

GREAT QUOTES from TOZER

"We can be in our day what the heroes of faith were in their day -
but remember at the time they didn't know they were heroes."
- A.W. Tozer

"When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection."
- A.W. Tozer

"The man who would truly know God must give time to Him."
- A.W. Tozer

"The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and
has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly
unworthy of thinking, worshiping men. This she has not done
deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her
very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic."
- A.W. Tozer

"The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the
Church is famishing for want of His Presence."
- A.W. Tozer

"Secularism, materialism, and the intrusive presence of things
have put out the light in our souls and turned us into a generation
of zombies."
- A.W. Tozer

HOLY GROUND

HOLY GROUND - The Only Way To Become Holy
by David Wilkerson

God can´t use a man until He gets him on holy ground. A holy
God must have a holy man on holy ground.

Holy ground is not a physical place, but a spiritual one. When God
commanded Moses to take off his shoes because he was on holy
ground, He was not referring to a two-by-four piece of real estate.
He was talking about a spiritual state.

God called Moses from the burning bush, commanding him:

"Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou
standest is holy ground. . ." (Exodus 3:5).

The place was holy! What place? The spiritual condition he had
finally come to. Moses had arrived at a place in his growth where
God could get through to him. He was now at the place of reception,
ready to listen. He was mature and ready to be dealt with by a holy God.

Please don´t think for a moment that Moses alone was on holy
ground. So was all of Israel, even though they were at the end of
their hope. I have never believed God would keep an entire nation
under slavery just to give Moses time to mature into a gracious
leader. Our Lord is no respecter of persons. God, in those 40 trying
years, was preparing Israel as well as Moses. By way of loving
judgment, the Lord was driving Israel back to holy ground - back
to a hunger for Jehovah.

While Moses was on the mountain being stripped of all his rights -
because that is what was meant by the removal of his shoes -
Israel was in the valley being stripped of all human strength. Moses
would have no rights; Israel, no strength. God could prove Himself
strong on their behalf in no other way. The great "I AM" was being revealed!

-Source-

http://sentinellenehemie.free.fr/wilkersondavidw1_gb.html

DO NOT QUENCH THE SPIRIT

DO NOT QUENCH THE SPIRIT
“In the flow of the Spirit, it actually requires more mental gymnastics to walk down the wrong path than to walk down the right one. We disguise most of these gymnastics from ourselves, but they are there all the same. The first thing we must do if we are going to give in to temptation is wrapped up in the single word quench.

“God will never lead us to manage a desire in a sinful way. If I want to walk down the wrong road, I must begin by silencing God's divine voice within me. I must be careful not to pray about this desire with a submitted spirit. I must make sure I don't talk about this desire with wise friends who will hold me accountable. I must make sure I don't look carefully at passages of Scripture on the subject and reflect on them. I must do all these things without recognizing I am doing them. I must keep myself in a state of spiritual and mental vagueness where God is concerned.

“Do not quench the Spirit,” Paul says. Any time I have a desire, the Spirit will prompt me to set it before God and ask the question, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do with this?’ Or I can simply ask regarding any course of behavior, ‘If I walk down this road, where will it lead in the long run -- toward or away from the me I want to be?’
- John Ortberg, The Me I Want To Be

THE WELSH REVIVAL of 1904-05

THE WELSH REVIVAL of 1904-05
by Oliver W. Price

During the spring of 1904 a young Welshman named Evan Roberts
was repeatedly awakened at 1:00 a.m. He met with God until
5:00am. The Welsh revival followed. Churches were packed for
prayer meetings. In a prayer meeting for young people, Pastor
Joseph Jenkins asked for testimonies. A young girl named Florrie
Evans, who had only been a believer a few days, rose and with a
trembling voice said simply, "I love Jesus with all my heart." The
other young people's hearts were melted. A powerful spiritual
awakening that brought 100,000 people to Christ was under way.

On November 7th, 1904 Moraih Chapel was filled to capacity for
a prayer meeting that lasted until 3:00 a.m. Soul winning spread
through the coalmines. Profane swearing stopped. Even the miners'
horses were puzzled when their masters stopped cursing. Orders
to the Bible Society "for Scriptures from Wales during November
and December, were over three times the amount for the
corresponding months of 1903..." The Times said this resulted
from the Welsh revival, adding that this demand showed no sign
of falling off.

"The mighty and unseen breath of the Spirit was doing in a month
more than centuries of legislation could accomplish" the pastor of
Saint John's-Wood Presbyterian Church declared on Sunday,
January 1st, 1905 according to the London Times.The Welsh revival
"had a great effect" in healing spiritual carelessness among Christians
and "the growing bitterness which has accentuated our unhappy
divisions", the Bishop of Bangor declared on January 2nd, 1905.
He called "congregations to meet together often for united prayer."

The Times added that "the religious revival in Wales continues...
with unabated zeal." Huge crowds were attending the meetings.
Bible verses covered the doors down in the coalmines. "At
Swansea the Poor Law guardians...dealt with revival cases in
which people...have taken their parents from the workhouse. The
Welsh revival movement has shown no sign of flagging...", The
Times pointed out on January 10th. Entire congregations were
on their knees in fervent prayer and "for the first time there was
not a single case of drunkenness at the Swansea Petty Sessions."

The Times observed that "The whole population had been suddenly
stirred by a common impulse. Religion had become the absorbing
interest of their lives. They had gathered at crowded services for
six and eight hours at a time. Political meetings and even football
matches were postponed...quarrels between trade-union workmen
and non-unionists had been made up... At Glyn-Neath a feud had
existed for the past 10 or 12 years between the two Independent
chapels, but during the past week united services have been held
in both chapels, and the ministers have shaken hands before the
congregations."

The Salvation Army set apart January 19th, 1905 for a day of
confession, humiliation, and prayer throughout England, Ireland,
Scotland, and Wales. All day prayer meetings were held in many
of the principal cities of the British Isles, according to the London
Times. The meeting was marked by "fervent prayer and any one
who felt called upon to pray." Fires of spiritual revival and moral
recovery were spreading.

The revival fires burning in Wales in 1904-05 spread through
England, Ireland and Scotland. Prayer meetings multiplied. As
many as 2,000 attended a prayer meeting in the city of Bradford.
In the City of Leeds, Samuel Chadwick reported that his church
was never empty all day...

APOSTLES Preach REPENT!!

 
ON THE DAY of PENTECOST
by David Wilkerson

What gospel did Peter preach to the masses on the Day of Pente-
cost? The Bible tells us that when the people heard the apostle
testify, "They were pricked in their heart, and said . . . Men and
brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent,
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost" (Acts 2:37-38).

Peter did not tell these people just to "believe and be saved." Nor
did he ask them to merely make a decision, to cast a vote for
Jesus. No, he told them to repent first, and then be baptized in
obedience to Christ!

What gospel did Paul preach to the pagan Athenians on Mars
Hill? He told them very directly, "God . . . now commandeth all
men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30).

These Greek intellectuals had no trouble believing in God. In fact,
you could say their very pastime was "believing" in many gods-
first this one, then that one. Whenever someone came along
preaching a god persuasively, they believed in it. So, they
believed-but they did it while living in sin. Simple belief was not enough!

Paul told these men, "No! No! Jesus cannot simply be added to
your list of gods. You may believe in them all, but you can´t do
that with Jesus. He has come to save you from your sins and He
commands all His followers to repent and be cleansed!"

Later, Paul preached the same gospel of repentance to King
Agrippa: "I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: but
shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and
throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that
they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for
repentance" (Acts 26:19-20).

Paul is saying, "Everywhere I´ve been, I´ve preached repentance.
And genuine repentance proves itself by its actions!"

These passages make clear to us that the apostolic church
preached unabashedly the same gospel John and Jesus preached:
"Repent for the remission of your sins!"

-Source-

http://sermons.worldchallenge.org/en/node/26641

© 2012 World Challenge. All rights reserved. PO Box 260, Lindale,
TX 75771-0260, (903) 963-8626.

GREAT QUOTES

More GREAT QUOTES
-Sermonindex

"I can get more out of God by believing Him for one minute than
by shouting at Him all night." - Smith Wigglesworth

"What is Christianity all about? It is about an intimate relationship
with God. And I HATE a christendom, a churchianity that God is
not big enough and glorious enough so that we have to give them
other things."
-Paul Washer

"Let us be ever careful that we not pursue the Cross-centered life
without returning frequently to the Cross itself."
-anonymous

"Trying to do the Lord's work in your own strength is the most
confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are
filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out
of you."
--Corrie ten Boom

"Such words as amen, hallelujah, glory and others of like sacred
association are repeated endlessly and meaninglessly in the
apparent belief that they have in them some strange power for
good. This can be no more than high-grade magic. It will pay us
to search our own hearts thoroughly to discover just why we use
these words."
-A.W. Tozer

"It is easier to speak about revival than to set about it."
-Horatius Bonar