John K. Jenkins Sr - Seven Acts of Repentance, Part 1

Grab the Word of God. Turn to James chapter 4, James 4 . I want to start with verses 7 through 10 . I know it's been read once already by Barbara and Dawson, but for this crowd, I need to read it maybe two or three more times. Verse 7: "Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up." Amen.

I want to talk about seven acts of repentance. Somebody say, "seven acts of repentance." Look at your neighbor and say, "You need to repent." Go ahead. I don't know what for, but I can look at your teen; there's something you need to repent from. Now, how many of y'all would acknowledge there's something in your life you need to repent from? Let 's see that-whose hands are down? Okay, alright. Y'all can be seated. Thank the Lord.

I noticed that when I mentioned the subject today, there wasn't a whole lot of celebration about it . If I ever speak about prosperity , people say, "Woo! Praise the Lord! Amen!" But the reality is that the subject today is even more important than prosperity because repentance is one of those essential areas in our Christian walk . To experience the prosperity of God , you must have a lifestyle of repentance. In fact , if you do not have a lifestyle of repentance , it is impossible for God to bless you .

As a matter of fact, here's what the Bible says : "No good thing will God withhold from those who walk upright before Him." You do the right things before God, and it positions you to be in a place for God's favor and power to rest in your life. We live in the midst of a culture today where people want the blessings of God without repentance in their lives. We want to do what we want to do, live the way we want to live, make our own choices, make our own decisions, be our own boss, and still expect God to shower us with His blessings. But I hate to tell you, it doesn't work that way. Amen.

I see what kind of message this will be for the rest of the day . I thought I ought to talk about it because some people don't even know what repentance means. Repentance doesn't mean that you're sorry you got caught. Let me let that sink in right here. That 's not what repentance means. It doesn't mean, "I'm sorry I got caught ." Repentance means that I realize the way I 've been walking , the direction I've been going in, and I need to make an about-face. Repentance is a 180-degree turn, not a 360. A 180 is turning this way; a 360 means I'll be right back, still heading in the same direction.

Repentance means I make a 180-degree turn. I get off the road I'm going in and get on a different road. I stop hanging with the people I'm hanging with and associate with different people. Repentance means I stop and make a change, and it is an important ingredient that God is calling us to engage in. Our nation lacks repentance. In fact, we brag about our sin, boast about it. We make our sin legal, legalize it, promote it, and run on a platform about it. Amen. I can see I have to encourage myself, pastor!

It's troubling to me that our nation is now rapidly, month after month and year after year, on the fast track to do everything we can against the Word of God as quickly as possible. Y 'all are too slow ! Stop being too slow! We are about to legalize-some states have already legalized marijuana, weed. What else do y'all call it? Are there other names for it?

Yanni Crawford, gospel singer, come and tell me where all the names are ! Winner of Sunday's Best, here she is right here-give us all the names! Laud, laud. Oh, you did? Oh, you did! Draw, draw, D-R-O? I don't know how to spell it. Okay, um, ganja, dunja, ganja, ganja. It 's some kind of creepy-creepy, uh-huh, fighter, spider? I don't know, and you got all the flavors and everything all lined up here. Wow! Wow!

Thank you for the courage to share with us the extent of your knowledge. I'm proud of you! Here 's what's amazing to me: We haven't learned the tragedy of what happened to our nation when we legalized alcohol , where millions of people have been killed or affected by drunk drivers. Amen? People have ruined marriages, become addicted to alcohol , and have had their families , marriages, and lives destroyed. So rather than us getting rid of it, we are now expanding and deciding to legalize another addictive substance . Now people want to get high and go out and drive? Are y'all listening to me ? Do you see how many lives are going to be lost? Some lives are going to be destroyed. It will lead people down a harmful path because marijuana is the introductory drug. We haven't learned our lesson, so repentance is not the order of the day for our country. The order of the day is ...