Paul asked some disciples at Ephesus: “‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard there is a Holy Spirit.’ So Paul asked, ‘What baptism did you receive?’ ‘John’s baptism,’ they replied. Paul said, ‘John’s baptism is a baptism of repentance…'” (Acts 19) Peter, recounting the events at the house of Cornelius, said: “Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'” (Acts 11) John the Baptist preached of one who would give what he could not: “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire…” (Matthew 3)<\/p>\n
But Jesus also preached repentance. “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.'”<\/p>\n
Here’s a familiar story, but an important reminder of God’s will and our choices. A young man, probably raised in a God-fearing, successful home, came to Jesus and asked what he should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus, knowing very well the state of man and the purpose of the Law, answered, “Obey the commandments.” The man asked, “Which ones?” Jesus listed half of the Ten Commandments and one more: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man replied, “I’ve kept all these. What do I still lack?” Mark wrote that Jesus looked at this man and loved him and then said, “One thing you lack. Go sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”<\/p>\n
Jesus loved the rich young man enough to bluntly tell him the Father’s will for his life. “Follow the Christ! I am the Messiah, predicted to come by the prophets of old. One day I will give you the greatest gift you could ever have on earth – the Holy Spirit will dwell in your heart and give you power to live an abundant life. I love you, but right now your mind is clouded and you can’t comprehend my love. Follow me and you will! But first I’ve got to tell you what prevents you from possessing true life. Your stuff hinders you. Your wealth is more important to you than God. You’ve followed the commands on the exterior, but you know there’s something wrong on the inside. I’m your answer. But you must repent! Turn from what is destroying you! I see it plainly and I’m telling you what to do. Sell your possessions and follow me.”<\/p>\n
But Jesus will never take the choice from a person. We know this man hung his head in sorrow and sadly walked away because he had great wealth. We, like the disciples, might be troubled with Jesus’ teaching on the difficulty of the rich entering the kingdom. “Who then can be saved? What about all my stuff… I admit I have too much. I’ve tried to live right, but deep down I know I’m in need. I’m afraid I put other things before God quite often. Is there hope?”<\/p>\n
“With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” This tells me God can even bring about repentance. He can soften a heart hardened by materialism. He can plant a desire for God where no desire exists. He can convict a soul of sin and bring godly sorrow… which leads to repentance. He can bring such clarity that a relationship with Christ becomes all-consuming and a person will be willing to do anything the Master says. As John the Baptist, we must humbly declare: “He must become greater; I must become less.” Help me, Lord.<\/p>\n
“I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.” Acts 26:20<\/p>\n
“So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.” Acts 11:18<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paul asked some disciples at Ephesus: “‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard there is a Holy Spirit.’ So Paul asked, ‘What baptism did you receive?’ ‘John’s baptism,’ they replied. Paul said, ‘John’s baptism is a baptism of repentance…’” (Acts 19) Peter, recounting the events […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=669"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1316,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669\/revisions\/1316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}