Video Transcript: Critical Importance

Hello, and welcome back to church and ministry revitalization with Christian  leaders Institute. I'm John Kenny, and thanks so much for joining. Again, this  next set of lectures, we continue to dive into this incredibly challenging and  rewarding subject of church revitalization. Today, I want to start by recalling a  story in the book of Joshua. It's right after the the Israelites have crossed into  Jordan. And they've, they begin raiding the towns and taking over the promised  land. And when they raid Jericho, one of the things that God tells them to do is  to defeat the city, but not to take anything for themselves. Well, if you recall, in  the story, there was one person who decided that they were going to capture  some of the loot in the treasure of Jericho, and keep it for themselves. And he  did that his name was Aiken, and Aiken did that. And he buried it inside his tent,  like under the ground, he was disobeying God, and he was keeping this stuff for  himself. So the next time the Israelites go out to battle, they end up getting just  destroyed and beaten. It was very demoralizing. And so they come back to  camp. And then there's this sense of why did we lose God was supposed to be  with us. And then the Israelites find out that, in fact, God wasn't with them.  Because somebody had brought sin into the camp that somebody had  disobeyed God and had kept the loot from Jericho under their tent, until there's  this whole process, and then they find out who it is, it's Aiken, and kind of the  tragic end here is Aiken and the family, they get slaughtered, they get killed. And then the Israelites continue, then they go back to battle, and then they continue  winning again. Now, it's kind of an odd story, we might think about revitalization.  And what do these two things have to do with each other? Well, I think there's a  really important principle here that God would not bless His people. While there  was sin in the camp, while there was active disobedience to him, that God would not go forward with the people, he would not bless them. And I think that's a  pretty good story for us to think about in terms of revitalization. That we want to  see God do good things in our church, we want to see God bless our church, we want to see ministry grow, we want to see the kingdom come. But if there is sin  in our camp, if there is active and willful disobedience, that's not going to  happen, the Lord is not going to bring his blessing and His presence and his  favor upon us. So what we're gonna be talking about today, is getting rid of the  sin in the camp. And the word we're using for that is repentance. And we're  gonna be talking about dealing with the things that have led a ministry in  churches into a state of decline. Now, as we talk about repentance in these next  three lectures, we, if there's some way that we could put a big like exclamation  point or or boldface on this, on my words, I would, because this is the most  decisive phase in everything we're talking about in all 36 lectures. Everything  we've talked about up till now has been very important in our first 12. But it really has only just set the stage for what we're going to talk about these next three.  And then after we get through these next three, we'll have 21 more to go. And  the 21 that come after this is all predicated upon the fact that we would have 

repented. So this is the decisive phase in revitalization. And I will be very direct  that I do not believe you can recover Church Health or vitality without  repentance. If you're going to see something happen in, in your ministry. This is  it. This is where the rubber hits the road. So because it's so important, we're  really in over our heads with revitalization. We need to pray and let me pray for  you in your ministry context, and for our time together today. Let's pray. Lord  Jesus, we come before you. We thank you for the gift of ministry. We thank you  Lord for your word with instructs us, Lord for all my dear brothers and sisters  who were watching this wherever they are, Lord, would You bless them with  strength and wisdom? God would you give them a spirit of repentance and God, a divine ability to lead others in that as well. Lord, we love you and we praise  your name, amen. So let's talk about repentance. And we're going to be talking  about repentance on an individual level, but also on a kind of a corporate church wide, congregational level, as well. So let's just begin with the very basic  definition. And we're going to say that, to repent is to turn from sin to God. So we might want to think of sin as like being directional. And as I go in this direction  towards sin, I'm moving away from God who was over there. And so when I  repent, on turning away from my sin, and now I'm moving back towards God,  now my back is to sin, my face is towards the Lord and I'm going in a new  direction. So that's just this idea of repentance is turning around, turning away  from sin, now back towards God. Now, if we asked just folks from our churches  or our ministries, what what do we think of repentance? What kinds of words  would we associate with repentance? We think of like, sorrow, guilt, or shame,  kind of those kinds of things. Repentance does not have a, you know, kind of  upbeat, happy kind of connotation to it. But But what if it did? What if instead of  thinking about repentance, in terms of shame, and regret and sorrow and kind of beating ourselves up? What if we thought of repentance in terms of things like  grace, and mercy, and joy, and fulfillment and happiness. So we're going to talk  today about how we can think of repentance in those terms, that this is a  wonderful, joyful opportunity that the Lord has put in front of us. So let's talk  about repentance, and the gospel. So I'm going to have a bunch of verses up on the screen. And I'm going to read them out of out of the Bible out of my Bible  here. And we're going to see how that repentance really is the heart of the  gospel, that repentance is the call of the gospel. In fact, you don't have a gospel  apart from repentance. So the first one we'll look at is Mark 1:4. And these are  the words of John the Baptist. This is his preaching. He says, so John came  baptizing in the desert region, and preaching a baptism of repentance, for the  forgiveness of sins. So John's message as a forerunner to Jesus. And by the  way, our next lecture, we're talking all about John the Baptist. But for now, we'll  just say, you know, the forerunner to Jesus as the one who is preparing the way  for him. His message was, repent, repent, for the forgiveness of sins. Okay, so  then what about Jesus? Well, just on the next page here in my Bible, verses 14 

and 15, this is an after John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee,  proclaiming the good news of God, the time has come, he said, that the  kingdom of God is near, Repent, and believe. The good news. So Jesus, here,  he's linking obviously, the good news of the gospel with repentance. So  Repentance isn't a bad thing. Jesus says, it's a good thing that God, that the  kingdom of God is near. And there's good news here and, and repenting is just a matter of turning towards that. That good news of salvation. So let's keep going  here. If you want to find these maybe quicker than I can. You're more than  welcome to read along. Luke 24:47. This is Jesus speaking to His disciples, this  is now after his resurrection. And he's really telling them about the you know, the future of their ministry. And he says, This is what is written to Christ will suffer  and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins  will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. So Jesus is  saying that the spread of the gospel throughout all the world is part of this great  commission, that we have, inherently a message of repentance, that there has  to be a turning away from sin, and back towards the Lord, through the work in  the ministry of Jesus Christ, His death and His resurrection, and we have to turn away from sin and to the cross. So Jesus very much had a message of  repentance. Let's keep going. Let's see where else we see this. So in Acts, this  is the first day of the church. This is Pentecost Sunday. And Peter is preaching a message. And he just told them, you know that they crucified the living God, and that his blood was on their hands. And so they're just cut to the heart. The they  understand who Christ is, in a way that they never did previously. And so they  say, What should we do? Knowing knowing who Jesus is and knowing what  we've done in wanting to salvation? What should we do? So here's Peter's  message, Peter replied, Repent, that's the first word of the first sermon ever  preached in the church, repent, repent, and be baptized, every one of you in the  name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the  gift of the Holy Spirit, the promise is for you and your children and all who are far off for all whom the Lord our God will call. So Peter is preaching the same  message, he heard Jesus preach. And it's the same message that John the  Baptist was preaching. So we go over as the next chapter, Acts 3:19, Peter is  again preaching and he says, Repent then and turn to God, so that your sins  may be wiped out that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Okay, so  Peter sticks with the same message repenting. It's the same message Jesus  had. Well, let's keep going on with this. We go to Acts 17. or Now we're into the  section of Acts where we're discussing Paul's ministry. What does Paul say?  This is his famous message when he is in Athens. Speaking, the Areopagus ,  the Areopagus, that's, I always get stumble on that word. But let's look at Acts  17:30. He's preaching to the Greek in Athens and he goes in the past, God  overlooks such ignorance talking about idol worship, and those sorts of things.  But now he commands all people everywhere to repent, you guessed it, repent, 

Paul has the exact same message that to be in a right relationship with God  through Jesus Christ, you need to repent. Okay, let's keep going on Acts 20:21.  This is Paul's farewell address to the Ephesian elders and he goes, you know,  that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you, but  have taught you publicly from house to house, I have declared to both Jews and Greeks, that they must turn to God in repentance, and have faith in our Lord  Jesus. Okay, hopefully, like you're getting tired of this by now. But you're seeing  that the call of the gospel is rooted in repentance. Okay. Now, we might think,  Well, sure, that's like, first time sort of conversion. We repent and then we're in a relationship with Jesus, and then we're done, we're set, then we're good. But if  you recall, we had done some studying earlier in Revelation with some letters to  the churches. Repenting isn't just necessarily a One Time Act. It's an ongoing  Act. The tense used here is repent, now, but then keep on repenting. And so  let's dig into that. In Revelation 2:4-5, This is Jesus speaking to the church in  Ephesus. Because yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken your first love,  remember the height from which you have fallen. You guessed it, repent and do  the things you did at first. And if you recall, last three lectures, we got very  acquainted with the church in Sardis. And we read here, Jesus's words to this  church. And this is in verses 19-20, I'm sorry, this is the church in Laodicea  those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline, so be earnest. And repent. Okay, that was 3:19-20. I don't have that on your screen. But let's go back to three, verses  2-3, which says, you have the reputation for being alive, but you are dead, wake up, strengthen what remains and is about to die for I have not found your deeds, complete in the sight of the Lord. Remember there for what you have received,  and heard, obey it, and repent. So what's interesting about Jesus's use of the  word repent in these letters, is, these aren't. You need to repent for conversion,  if you need to repent. As one who was already converted, you need to, you need to repent of what you've done, since you had a conversion experience. Now that you're a Christian, you're repenting isn't over, because you still have elements of disobedience in your life. So what we see here in these letters from the church,  the churches to Revelation is one, repentance is for people who are already  Christians, as well as people who are not Christians. But two repentance is a  call to a large gathering, not just individuals, right? I mean, because he's telling  the whole church, repent, everybody repent. And so we need to keep these,  these sorts of things in mind. Okay? Let's kind of start pulling this all together.  What does all this repenting really have to do with kind of our life in Christ and  the ministries that we're trying to lead? Well, let's reframe now how we think of  repentance. Repentance, is the call of the gospel. There is no gospel  proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ, and life through the Holy Spirit that  does not have an element of repentance to it. And here's then how we if that is  true, that of repentance is the call to the the call of the gospel into our lives to be in the right relationship with the Lord, then repentance is an invitation into 

intimacy with God. As we're journeying the wrong direction, away from God, and the Lord calls out to us to repent. We should hear that as a, as a loving  command to, to come back to return to the Lord to His, his gracious arms and  His merciful love towards us. So repentance Isn't that awful, horrible, terrible  thing. Repentance is beautiful, glorious thing. From the first time we turn to sin  and turn turn toward the Lord and we we are saved, to any other time where I'm  straying in my life. And I'm not following the Lord as I should. And there's, even  though I'm saved, there's distance between me and the Lord, and I'm not living a spirit filled life and the Lord will continue to just call me back and and then my  relationship with the Lord is, is renewed and restored, and there's intimacy  again. So we really need to think about repentance, as an invitation into intimacy with God. Now, there's a verse that really kind of, I think, shows God's motive as we go through Romans 2:4, which teaches us that it is God's kindness that  leads us towards repentance. It's not necessarily God's wrath. It's not God's  anger. It's kindness. It's the grace in which he meets us in our sin. That leads us  back to repentance. So repentance, as an invitation, by God's gracious  kindness, to be back into right standing with him into a Holy Spirit filled  experience of him. We can think of repentance as the doorway back into  communion with God all these things, I think, you get the idea. Right. So we can understand this on a personal level, okay? How this applies to me. But this is  again, this, this exists on a on a corporate level on the congregational level as  well. So that if, if your whole church is going to have a deeper experience of  God, you need to have repentance. You can't keep going in this way. And then  somehow expect to have the Lord work great things in your presence or in your  midst or in in through your ministry. Like you can't stay where you are, you have  to turn away from that back to God, but again, into his loving and kind embrace  and knowing that he is the one was calling out for us to, to return to Him. And so that's why I said earlier in this lecture, that repentance is the is the critical step, if you do not have a turning around of, you know, real AWAY FROM SIN back  towards God, and, and with confession coming alongside that you're, you're  you're not going to experience any kind of thing. And so this is, this is the really  hard, challenging part of revitalization is getting people on the congregational  level to repent, and we're going to talk about how to do that in a couple of  lectures from now. But I will say, there is no substitute for this. You can't say,  well, we're not going to repent, but we're going to do these five other really great things. That doesn't work. You have to repent. It's just like saying, Well, I want to be saved. And I want to by the blood of Jesus Christ, but I'm not going to repent, I'll do these other things. And it's like, that's not how it works. In the same way,  when we talk about revitalization, you have to you have to go through the hard  work of repentance, in order to get to where you want to go. So I just have a  kind of a final question for us on his lectures. Why do we resist? If, if repentance is the call of the gospel? In it, it's God's gracious invitation is a doorway back 

towards him. If it's, you know, his invitation to enter the city. Why didn't we want  all those things? Right? I mean, that's, that's like the best stuff of life. Why would we resist that? Why would we not want to open up this incredible gift that the  Lord has for us? Well, I think a few reasons we might want to consider I think the big one, as we talked about church revitalization is going to be pride. admitting  our church isn't where it's supposed to be admitting we're not where we're  supposed to be. It's a really humbling thing to to have to repent. It's not easy.  And it is hard work. A good friend of mine who leads a revitalization ministry and  said, the hardest part for him to do in his ministry is getting other pastors and  churches to just simply even admit the need exists because there's this wall of  pride. And he's talked about how hard it is to just kind of like break down that  wall of pride. And until that comes down to there's no repentance, and there's no renewal. So we just need to throw our pride aside. I mean, pride has no place in  the kingdom of God. Right? I mean, we did not come to Jesus, through our  pride, we came to Jesus Christ through our humility, right. So same thing with  church revitalization, we come into this process, humbly, not pridefully. Let's also we mentioned this a little bit different times, but just comfort with our sin. We like where we're at, we don't really feel a compelling reason to change. And we're  just acclimated kind of like how a Lot and his family became acclimated to the  sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, and they became very comfortable around it. We,  we do that? I mean, churches go in the wrong direction, they focus on the wrong things, it becomes very inward centered, becomes about us more than about the ministry or more than and so just pushing past that, that's going to be just a real  resistance. I mean, pride and comfort. Those are just two huge barriers. We  have to really think about how to overcome. And then finally, I think people are  just deceived. We're in the midst of a spiritual warfare, we're trying to bring the  life back to that which is dead. We're trying to build back up the army of God, the witness of Jesus Christ in the world. And there is an enemy who stands against  us, and who has blinded churches, whether it's through terrible theology, or  whether it's through awful practices that just lead them astray. And they are no  longer a witness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so I think we're dealing  absolutely with, with a level of spiritual warfare. And that's why this prayer is so  important. And all these things, you know, I can't make somebody realize their  pride or push them out of their comfort zone, or help them to see that they're  being spiritually deceived, other than by the work of prayer in the Holy Spirit.  That's it. I mean, that's what I have to do. So with that, let me close this lecture  out and pray for you. As you begin this wonderful, hard, beautiful journey of  repentance. Lord, Jesus, thank you so much for this day, and for the opportunity, Lord, no matter where we are in life, to turn back to You. And Lord, I pray for  everyone who is watching this right now. God that whatever areas in their life  that you need to have them repent Lord that they would start right there with  themselves, and come back to you, Lord, and know that you are a God of grace 

and mercy, that you do not deal with us as our sins deserves. But you are a God whose blood covers all our sin, and there's no condemnation in You, Lord. So I  pray that, that that confession of assurance would come upon everybody  listening. And Lord, for all the ministries that they lead. Father, we turn to you  and ask that through the ministry of your son and your spirit, that you would  break down these walls that you would bring Lord the spirit of repentance, so  that we might word turn our faces back to you, Lord, thank you for your  faithfulness in answering these prayers. We love you. Amen. Okay, well, that's it  for lecture 13 and repentance. And we're going to come right back. And as I  mentioned earlier, next time, we're going to talk about John the Baptist, and you  can't really talk about repentance without talking about John the Baptist. So  we're going to jump into that and see how that applies to our challenge of doing  church revitalization today. So thanks for watching.