227 Sermon Illustrations on Repentance

There is a story of a rabbi and a cantor and a humble synagogue

cleaner who were preparing for the Day of Atonement. The rabbi beat

his breast, and said, "I am nothing, I am nothing." The cantor beat

his breast and said, "I am nothing, I am nothing." The cleaner beat

his breast, and said, "I am nothing, I am nothing." And the rabbi

said to the cantor, "Look who thinks he nothing!"

- James A. Feehan, {Story Power!, }(San Jose, CA: Resource

Publications, Inc, 1994) 3

Two men, who had been friends, became enemies over some minor

disagreement. One was sick and dying. The other came to visit him,

feeling it was his duty. The dying man apologized, "I'm sorry for all

the unkind things I've said."

The other accepted his apology.

Then added the dying man, "That's just in case I die."

Some people change their ways when they see the light; others when

they feel the heat.

- Caroline Schoeder, {Milwaukee Journal}

I thought I had spoken my last words about the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. Like most Americans, I'm sick of it. Then, on the eve of his farewell address to the Democratic National Convention, President Clinton discussed the subject before 4,000 pastors assembled at the Willow Creek Church in Illinois.

Now these comments today are not so much about the President. He will soon be out of office and we wish him well. But his appearance last week gives us a revealing insight in how American culture has redefined sin and repentance.

Mr. Clinton's remarks were delivered in a Q-and-A with Bill Hybels, the gifted pastor of Willow Creek Church. Clinton told the pastors, "... I wake up every day ... with this overwhelming sense of gratitude, because maybe if I hadn't been knocked down in the way I was and forced to come to grips with what I'd done and the consequences of it, in such an awful way, I might not never have had to really deal with it 100 percent."

In other words, the Lewinsky affair was, ultimately, a good thing, because he emerged stronger for having gone through it.

Mr. Clinton then summed things up: "I feel much more at peace than I used to. And I think that, as awful as what I went through was, and humiliating as it was-more often to others than to me, even, sometimes when you think you've got something behind you and then it's not behind you, this sort of purging process, if it doesn't destroy you it can bring you to a different place...."

Pastor Hybels, whom I respect greatly for his ministry -- and his ministry to President Clinton throughout his presidency, which I know he did without compromise -- rightly tried to keep the focus on issues like sin and repentance. He reminded Clinton of his remarks at a White House prayer breakfast when the President said he had sinned and wronged his family, his cabinet, and the country.

But the President didn't pick it up. There was little mention of God and no mention of sin. The emphasis was almost entirely on how the scandal and its aftermath affected Bill Clinton personally -- which, of course, entirely misses the point, but does reflect how dramatically our culture's attitude toward sin and forgiveness has changed.

Over these past thirty years, we have witnessed what sociologist Phillip Rieff calls the "triumph of the therapeutic." Psychotherapy, with its emphasis on individual fulfillment, crowds out concern for others. All that matters is that, through something like this, individuals "find themselves." It doesn't matter what's happened to God or to others.

The President's words were steeped in this therapeutic language. If you didn't know that he was speaking to pastors, you could have mistaken the setting for the "Oprah Winfrey Show." Winfrey has indeed become the high priestess of the therapeutic culture.

The President's remarks stand in marked contrast to the words of another leader caught in sexual sin 3000 years ago. David wasn't thinking of himself when he wrote "have mercy on me, Oh God, according to your unfailing love.... Against you, you only, have I sinned." David, you see, understood that true repentance leads to anguish over how God and others are affected by one's individual behavior.

We don't know why the President chose to appear before the pastors at Willow Creek, but we do know what he accomplished: a graphic demonstration of the Oprah-izing of American values.

___________________

Copyright (c) 2000 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

In the Bible the story of King David reads much like a modern day epic. He inspires us with his bravery and we root for him when he is struggling. But perhaps the most profound lesson we can learn from David is how to truly deal with the guilt in our lives. I am referring to the story of David when Nathan confronted him about his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba.

After Nathan presented the parable of the man with many sheep who had stolen the only lamb of another, David could not resist declaring, "That man should surely die." Without him realizing, he had passed the right judgement upon himself. Nathan’s stare must have been devastating to David when he said, "You are the man."

Think of the number of ways that David could have dealt with his guilt. He could have had Nathan arrested and killed. He could have blamed Bathsheba. He could have claimed the divine right of kings. Arrogance could have found ways of self-exoneration. Murder and adultery were incredibly seriously offenses. Instead, he fell on his face before God and cried out with these heart-wrenching words found in Psalm 51:

"Have mercy upon me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity

And cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,

And my sin is always before me.

Against you, you only have I sinned

And done what is evil in your sight...

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;...

Cleanse me...wash me...Create in me a clean heart, O God

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it...

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

There is not a more familiar psalm of contrition. Here the worst of wrongdoing and guilt found forgiveness and peace. This is not a cheap prayer seeking escape. David did pay a price for his sin. But David’s heart was mended by understanding the destructiveness of sin and by the restoring touch of God.

Immediately after he prayed that prayer, he wrote in Psalm 32, "Happy is the person whose sin is forgiven." You see, when guilt is surrendered to the grace of God, it makes the sin forgivable. Rather than hearing you are "that" man or woman, we can now hear, "you are forgiven." How thrilling it is to hear those words and find a fresh start in life. Jesus offers that to you and to me.

_________________________

Copyright © 2002 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

*

When you've done youth ministry as long as I have, you have seen a lot of volleyball. Some of the dramatic moments in a volleyball game come when one player slams that ball over the net and right into the ground before any opponent can touch it. He or she just spikes it in. But often, there's an important move that precedes spiking it in - that's when another teammate lofts that ball up and into perfect position for someone else to spike it in. That's how to score points - first, you set it up, then you spike it in.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "How Satan Sets You Up."

Satan scores his points in much the same way a volleyball team does. First the setup, which then makes it easy to spike it in. And he may be setting you up right now for a defeat you'd never dream you could fall for. But if you allow him to continue to set you up, it's only a matter of time before he spikes it in - and you lose.

There's an example of one of Satan's favorite setups in our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 3, beginning with verse 7. As crowds gathered to hear John the Baptist, the Bible says, "John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.'" John is calling people to turn from their sinful ways to commit themselves to a major life change.

But there was a group of people who thought they were above that, people who didn't think they needed to repent or to change. John addressed them directly: "And do not begin to say, 'We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham ... every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

Some of the people who heard John's call to repentance said to themselves, "We're God's chosen people ... we're in a privileged position. The same rules don't apply to us. We don't have to repent!" John said that attitude put a person in a position to be one of the trees God would cut down.

Entitlement - that's the attitude that Satan uses as his setup shot to spike a life-shattering sin into your life. You feel "entitled" to some relief ... to some pleasure ... to some affection ... to some sin ... to get even ... to be bitter. I have a friend right now who's abandoned his marriage and his ministry, believing that he's "entitled" to some love from someone else. He says, "Why are so many other people entitled to get a divorce and I'm not?" He's bought the entitlement lie - and Satan is using that to leave behind a trail of scarred and bleeding lives.

Be careful - the setup shot of feeling "entitled" is subtle. It's expressed in feelings like these - "I deserve it after all I've done" or "after all I've been through" ... "I need it - I'm entitled to look after my needs for a while" ... or "Others are - why can't I?" If you're entertaining feelings like those, listen to the alarms going off today. You're being set up for something you never thought you'd do - or become. Satan uses the entitlement lie to give people an excuse for adultery, involvement with pornography, getting a divorce, sexual involvement, for harboring bitterness. All things God hates. All things Jesus died to rescue you from. Remember, "He bore our sins in His own body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness." (1 Peter 2:24)

Nothing entitles you to defile the temple of the Holy Spirit ... to defy the laws of God ... to break the heart of Jesus. Don't buy the entitlement lie - it's Satan's setup shot to spike something devastating into your life.

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

*

It was a "slack day" in the confessional, with "only 88" parishioners receiving the sacrament of penance, a New York City priest recorded in his diary for 1899. Another day was even slower, when he heard a "few" confessions -- 71 at one sitting.

Several generations later, National Opinion Research Center surveys in 1965 and 1975 found that monthly confession among American Catholics fell from 38 to 17 percent during that interval, while those who never or almost never went rose from 18 to 38 percent. A decade later, noted historian James O'Toole, a University of Notre Dame study found that 26 percent of active, "core Catholics" never went to confession and another 35 percent went once a year.

Today, a typical parish priest may hear a dozen confessions a week.

"Catholics just don't want to do this anymore," said O'Toole, who teaches at Boston College. "They go to communion week after week and they simply don't go to confession. They no longer see a connection. ... Some people think that everything would change if the priests got tough again and started talking about sin and confession and hell. The reality is more complex than that."

This is Lent, when Catholics should be lining up to say their confessions before receiving Communion on Easter, which is April 15th. Even though this ancient tradition remains in effect, "I have never heard a priest point out this duty in Mass, not even in the days before Holy Week," said O'Toole. "This canonical standard ... seems to have vanished."

What happened? Writing in Commonweal, O'Toole noted that some women don't want to confess to males. Many Catholics now prefer to discuss institutional and societal sins, rather than personal ones. Some believe the Vatican II reforms undercut the need for private confession. And who believes in hell, anyway?

But while confession has faded, there has been a sharp rise among lay people in a practice called "spiritual direction." For centuries, priests, monks and nuns have met regularly with individual spiritual directors to receive spiritual guidance. This can include confession, but now the emphasis is on advice and mentoring.

"It's hard to talk about this without psychoanalyzing it a bit," said O'Toole. "The key is that a spiritual director is supposed to help you, quote, 'work on the spiritual issues in your life,' unquote. There are elements of the patient-counselor relationship in this. This is what people are going in for, these days."

Traditionally, spiritual directors have been monks and priests. In a convent, a sister would take spiritual direction from a mother abbess, then go to a priest to confess. Now, more nuns and lay people are assuming the role of spiritual directors and O'Toole said the students enrolled in seminary programs teaching this skill are overwhelmingly female. For many, counseling from a layperson has replaced confession to a priest.

Nevertheless, "working on your spiritual issues" is not the same thing as "confessing your sins," said O'Toole. Part of the problem is that, for generations, Catholics were expected to come to the confessional with lists of specific sins to confess as quickly and efficiently as possible. The emphasis was on the kinds of sins that could be counted on one's fingers. "Sin" was a highly legal, technical concept.

"Confessing your sins meant saying, 'I was angry with my kids five times. I kicked the cat three times,' " he said. "Today, Catholics are telling their spiritual directors, 'I've been angry and I don't know what's causing me to be so angry. Can you help?' ... The bottom line is that sin -- especially those embarrassing, specific sins -- just don't come up very often in what most people call 'spiritual direction.' "

So repentance is out and sympathy is in. People want spiritual advice, rather than penance. Once, confession was one of the rites of life that separated Catholics from Protestants. Now everybody goes to counseling.

"People want help," said O'Toole. "But what people are not doing is going to a priest and saying, 'I committed this sin and I know that I need to be forgiven.' That's not how they think, anymore. ... At some point, American Catholics stopped seeing the world that way."

Terry Mattingly (www.tmatt.net) a senior fellow for journalism at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C. He writes this weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service.

Sermon in Spiritual Recovery series Luke 19:1-10

WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH

====================

Step #8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became

willing to make amends to them all.

Step #9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible,

except when to do so would injure them or others.

I. Climbing trees can be expensive.

II. The ancient practice of penance.

A. Old Testament principle of restitution. Leviticus 6:5

B. Later Christians adopted this concept.

C. Penance became formalized and stagnant.

D. Some think we should bring penance back.

III. Concrete amends has a place.

A. Recovery movement recognizes its power.

B. Bob Smith and the roots of amends.

C. Properly understood, making amends is a powerful spiritual tool.

IV. Amending torn relationships.

A. We need amends in the justice system.

B. We need amends in our own relationships.

V. Not penance, but penitence.

A. Can we pay for our sins?

B. Only Jesus Christ can pay the price of our sins.

C. Our repentance must be inward and outward.

By teaching forgiveness without discipleship, many churches are distorting Christ's message and creating “nominal Christians,” according to author and professor Dallas Willard.

Pastors are preaching alternative “gospels” that do not reflect the true meaning of Christ's message, Willard said. Conservative ministers present Christ's work as one that provides forgiveness of sins. Liberals emphasize a “gospel of liberation.” Other ministers present a “gospel of the church” that says the church will take care of believers if they take care of the church.

Christ's work is liberating and enables the forgiveness of sins, but the gospel is that salvation brings “life now in the kingdom of God,” where God's will is followed, said Willard, professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California. Jesus called people to rethink their lives because they can now move into “God's effective will.”

“The root of nominal Christianity is people have moved away from a gospel of life and replaced it with something else,” Willard said. “If you're preaching the gospel as forgiveness of sins because Jesus died for you, what you will have is nominal Christians you will have to prod to get going.”

The availability of the kingdom is the only message that leads to character transformation through discipleship, Willard said. The gospel encourages people to trust Jesus for life in God's will.

“I think there will be a lot of people who will be in heaven who believe that [Jesus died for their sins],” Willard said. “I think they will have a lot of catching up to do because they are not all that different from those in the other place.

“Who he was is much bigger than that. What he offers and calls people to do is trust Jesus.”

Trusting Jesus involves rethinking one's life, becoming humble and being born from above, Willard said. God will assist people in following his will and changing their lives through grace, a term the author described as God helping individuals accomplish what they could not do on their own.

Churches can correct the creation of nominal Christians by intentionally forming disciples, which Willard described as apprentices of Jesus. This is done by depicting a clear picture of “new life” through trusting Jesus, including many of the disciplines - prayer, Scripture memorization, fasting and worship - that strengthen spiritual lives.

“As a disciple of Jesus I am to lead my life in the kingdom of heavens as he would lead my life if he was I,” he said.

To accomplish this goal, many churches need to rethink what they are doing and focus all efforts on following the Great Commission of sharing the gospel and creating disciples, Willard said. “What we need is people who are more Christ-like,” Willard said.

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #1862]

For months, a teenage gang had been breaking into homes all over town, and the community was in an uproar. When the perpetrators were caught, everyone wanted the judge to throw the book at them. But Judge Nelson was no knee-jerk judge. He saw that this was the first arrest for one defendant -- eighteen-year-old Stephen Williams. Instead of throwing Stephen in prison, the judge threw the book at him alright -- the Bible. He applied biblical concepts of justice with remarkable results.

"I'm not going to put you in prison -- but you did break the law and must be punished," Nelson told Stephen. "So my sentence has three parts."

First, Stephen had to spend every Saturday performing community service -- doing things like painting buildings and cleaning parks.

Second, he had to pay restitution to his victims. The judge gave him time to get a job, but he had to pay most of his paycheck to those he'd robbed. Nelson even made Stephen sell his own property to make restitution; he wanted him to know what it was like to lose his most precious possessions -- things like a track trophy and his baseball glove.

The third part of the sentence was the hardest. Stephen had to sit down with each of the people he robbed. Not surprisingly, they were quite angry. One couple had lost a valuable Ming vase, a souvenir of a long-ago vacation.

"Do you understand what you took from us?" they asked. "It was more than a beautiful vase. It was a reminder of our trip."

Stephen was genuinely remorseful and really wanted to make it up to the couple. He went to an antique store and bought a beautiful oriental coffee table. He then gave it to the couple as a symbol of his repentance. The three of them have since become friends.

This unusual sentence is an example of what's known as restorative justice, a concept pioneered by Prison Fellowship. It echoes the biblical model of justice. True justice, you see, goes beyond catching and punishing criminals. It involves making innocent victims whole.

In Old Testament times, when a crime was committed, the law called for restoring the peace -- or shalom -- of the community. For example, when a thief was caught stealing, he didn't sit passively in jail. Instead, he had to work to pay back what he had stolen. He had to restore his victim. And shalom means more than the absence of hostilities. It is God's peace -- the harmony of people living together in God's order.

This kind of justice requires the cooperation of the whole community. ... Christians, like most responsible citizens, are concerned about peace and order in our communities. Most things that have been tried by governments over the years have been costly failures. But the Bible has the answers.

For further reading:

Daniel Van Ness and Karen Heetderks Strong, RESTORING JUSTICE, second edition (Anderson, 2002).

_________________________

Copyright © 2002 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. 'BreakPoint with Chuck Colson' is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

Sermon in series on Beatitudes Matthew 5:4

HAPPY ARE THE UNHAPPY

=====================

I. Are funerals fun?

A. Possible meaning of mourning.

II. Loss of loved ones.

A. This would be the most literal view.

B. Death is not fun, but Christians have hope.

III. Grief over sins.

A. In the Bible, mourning is not limited to death.

B. Weeping is the second stage of repentance.

C. Have you ever wept over your sins?

IV. Our world is broken.

A. Mourning goes beyond death and sin to focus on brokenness.

B. Clues from the Old Testament. Isaiah 61:1-3

C. Are you mournful over the condition of the world?

V. Comfort is coming.

A. Important Old Testament term for Messiah - "The Comforter."

B. God sustains and renews the brokenhearted.

C. Our world is hurt-filled, but there is comfort in knowing God.

*

Christopher D. Green writes:

"You could say that it was part of the environment surrounding our house. It was an unwritten code held sacred to all in the family. From the time I can remember being able to remember things, I grew up understanding what it meant to say, 'I'm sorry.'From childhood, I recall my parents instilling in me and my sister that if we were truly sorry for something we had done, we could always ask for forgiveness and we would be forgiven. It was a mutual obligation both parties (the inflicter and the inflicted) had to accept. Through the realization we had wronged another member of the family, unity could be restored with those simple words, 'I'm sorry.'

"I remember a time when this worked amazingly well, until I abused the system. I still remember breaking my sister's baton over my knee when I was about eight years old. It was then I learned about the power of repentance. As I forced the midpoint of that lightweight baton over my knee, I remember thinking, 'Saying "I'm sorry" will fix this!' Repeated 'I'm sorry's' were declared in my defense, but Mom saw through the veil of charade. I had abused the right to say 'I'm sorry'! Finally, after a long discussion, I was forgiven. Not for breaking the baton as much as I was forgiven of abusing the ability to repent and say I was sorry.

"There are times now when I think of how I have abused the repentance God has provided through Christ. Have I taken advantage of our relationship?"

A man named Henry Milans lay in a ward of Bellevue Hospital in New York. A group of students stood around his bed, while the instructing professor remarked: "We have discovered in this man all the marked indications of the incurable inebriate. Note the dancing eyes. Note the trembling of the hands and other members of his body. This man can never be cured. He must die as he has lived, a drunkard. Nothing can save him."

Not long after that, Ensign Hall of the Salvation Army describes what happened. "Amid the fervent 'Hallelujahs!'of Christians in the hall, Milans stumbled forward. The change that took place in him was remarkable. What science was unable to do, Christ accomplished in a moment."

Nineteen years after his conversion, he testified: "From that moment to the present I have never been tempted to take a drink of anything with alcohol in it. I should have to learn all over again to love the drink that was for 35 years the greatest love of my life."

A Hindu said to a native missionary, "I am sure if I lead a good life and do what is right, giving up my bad habits, God will be pleased with me and receive me into heaven." "That is the way most people reason today," replied the missionary. "You know the babul tree (a tree with long, sharp thorns). Now, suppose you break off from its branches a hundred or more of the nasty thorns, then will the tree cease to be a babool tree?" "Certainly not." "Suppose you should apparently stop one or another or even many of your evil ways and habits, you would still remain the same like the babool tree. You must have an entirely new nature, must become a new man, in order to please God. Only Christ can give you a new heart." The missionary's reply was sound and scriptural. The message of Christ, His first and only message to sinful man, is his need of repentance.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the current world-wide movement of the Holy Spirit has been a reawakened sense of the awe, mystery, and wonder of God. Within the last several years, events such as the revival in Argentina, the Toronto Blessing, and the Pensacola Outpouring — not to mention numerous lesser-known revival activities — have caused Christians world-wide to grapple with the controversial phenomena surrounding the work of the Holy Spirit.

Most of us create within our mind a picture and concept of God that fits neatly within a three-volume systematic theology that we can proudly display on our bookshelves. Along the very noble path of attempting to explain God and His ways, we tend to domesticate His awesomeness and attempt to create Him in our image. This approach usually works well until God shows up in our midst with His manifest presence. At that point, we quickly discover our faulty misperceptions of God — namely that He is manageable and that His ways are fully rational to humans.

According to the Barna Research Group, a majority of people who attend Christian worship services leave without feeling that they experienced God’s presence. Less than one-third of the adults feel as though they truly interacted with God. Stunningly, one-third of the adults who REGULARLY attend worship services say that they have NEVER experienced God’s presence at any time during their life. According to George Barna, “The research shows that while most people attend church services with a desire to connect with God, most of them leave the church disappointed, week after week. Eventually people cease to expect a real encounter with God and simply settle for a pleasant experience.”

So what happens when the pleasant experience is replaced with the real encounter? “God is, of course, present everywhere,” writes author John White. “But there seems to be times when He is, as it were, more present — or shall we say more intensely present. He seems to draw aside one or two layers of a curtain that protects us from Him, exposing our fragility to the awesome energies of his being.” Theologian Guy Chevreau explains: “Theologically, what we are talking about is the omnipresent and eternal God localizing and actualizing His presence, in space and time.”

The theological works and journals of men such Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley have been studied and analyzed within the last five years by curious Christians in search of some way to gain a theological grasp upon the phenomena of falling, crying, trembling, and laughing. While I had assigned these kinds of manifestations to Pentecostal and charismatic Christians, it has been interesting to discover that many of these curious responses to God’s presence appear within my own Methodist and holiness roots, long before Azusa Street. This often comes as quite a surprise to the heirs of the 18th century Wesleyan revival. Over the decades, our history has been written in such a way as to make it more palatable and acceptable to modern sensibilities. In the process, unfortunately, we have lost sight of the marvelous wonder of God’s dynamic presence.

With the Scripture and Church history as our guide, it becomes very evident that when a holy God encounters sinful people three things usually occur: 1) Sinners are radically converted, 2) Christians are transformed and renewed, or 3) The mind of the saint or sinner is offended and the state of his heart revealed. Just as a storm is produced when high and low fronts converge, so too a storm of a different kind emerges when the glorious and radiant presence of the Lord comes near.

1. THE RADICAL CONVERSION OF SINNERS

How different would our perception and understanding of God be if we had been one of Saul’s companions on the road to Damascus? As you were traveling with him, “suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’

“‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked.

“‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’”

Luke says that the “men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything” (Acts 9:3-9).

Without wanting to make this a normative conversion experience, it is safe to say that witnessing the holiness and awesome power in that one encounter would forever shatter your one-dimensional, flannel-board-Sunday-school concept of Jesus. Conversion, in this instance, was not merely an intellectual ascent to the doctrinal positions of Christianity. Nor was it an emotionally cathartic event. It was just plain terrifying!

As one reads the testimonies of early Methodist converts who eventually became preachers, it is not difficult to see a pattern of anguish and terror as they wrestled with Holy Spirit conviction that literally shook their body and soul.

Philip Gatch describes his encounter with the convicting power of the Holy Spirit at his conversion on April 26, 1772. “Immediately I felt the power of God to affect me, body and soul. I felt like crying aloud,” he testifies.

God said, by his Spirit, to my soul, ‘My power is present to heal thy soul, if thou wilt but believe.’ I instantly submitted to the operation of the Spirit of God, and my poor soul was set at liberty. I felt as if I had got into a new world. I was certainly brought from hell’s dark door, and made nigh unto God by the blood of Jesus. I was the first person known to shout in that part of the country. A grateful sense of the mercy and goodness of God to my poor soul overwhelmed me.

Benjamin Abbott began preaching in New Jersey in 1773. He describes his conversion like this: “The word reached my heart in such a manner that it shook every joint in my body; tears flowed in abundance, and I cried out for mercy, of which the people took notice, and many were melted into tears.”

Peter Cartwright (1785-1872) attended a meeting in early 1801 where the “power of God was wonderfully displayed” and “Christians shouted aloud for joy.” He wrote:

To this meeting I repaired, a guilty, wretched sinner. On the Saturday evening, I went with weeping multitudes and bowed before the stand and earnestly prayed for mercy. In the midst of a solemn struggle of soul, an impression was made on my mind, as though a voice said to me, ‘Thy sins are all forgiven thee.’ Divine light flashed all around me, unspeakable joy sprung up in my soul.

Austin Taft was taught that Methodist preachers were “full of wild fire” and that it was very dangerous to hear them preach. At a prayer meeting in Huron County, Ohio in 1833, Taft writes, “Eternity with all its dread realities opened up before me and it’s impossible for any pen to describe the awful agonies of my mind. It is beyond all human description.” Taft continues:

It seemed to me I had already entered the dark abodes of eternal night, and right here something seemed to whisper to me — that there was mercy for me. I stopped and listened for a moment. What a word — mercy for me. It was the best news I ever heard. From that moment my faith laid hold upon the Savior’s promises with an unguiding grasp, and I saw a light in the distance far above my head, which grew brighter as it came near, and when it reached me I fell to the floor as quick as the lightning flash, and that moment was filled with the fullness of God. Old things passed away and all things became new. My happiness was complete....And I remained motionless for 45 minutes without power to move a muscle. My good Presbyterian father thought I was dead and talked of sending for the doctor.

Although these testimonies may strike some modern observers as highly-charged exaggerations, it seems very clear that they were exposed to the terror and joy of a God who shakes mountains and blesses children.

How would our perception of God be different if we were friends of the prophet Isaiah? What would we say to the friend sitting in your living room explaining that he saw “the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory’” (Isaiah 6:1-3)

As he attempts to retell the experience, he tells you that at the “sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke” (v. 4). You can see the holy terror in his eyes even as he tries to describe the indescribable. Then he blurts out with a cry, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (v. 5).

Once again, the explanation for such an encounter is difficult to process. How do we explain Daniel’s breath-taking encounter with an angel (Daniel 10), the glorious radiance on the face of Moses (Exodus 34:29-35), or the life-giving anointing on Elisha’s bones (2 Kings 13:21)? Rather than embracing the mystery and sovereignty of the God of the Bible, we often work overtime to domesticate him so that we can comfortably maintain the illusion that somehow we hold the upper hand in the relationship.

“It is time for Christianity to become a place of terror again,” writes Michael Yaconelli in his recent book DANGEROUS WONDER, “a place where God continually has to tell us, ‘Fear not’; a place where our relationship with God is not a simple belief or doctrine or theology, but the constant awareness of God’s terrifying presence in our lives. The nice, non-threatening God needs to be replaced by the God whose very presence smashes our egos into dust, burns our sin into ashes, and strips us naked to reveal the real person within.”

Yaconelli points out that religious leaders in the days of Jesus had the same tendency we have today. “The Pharisees wanted Jesus to be the same as they were. His truth should be the same truth that they had spent centuries taming. But truth is unpredictable,” he writes. “When Jesus is present, everyone is uncomfortable yet mysteriously glad at the same time. People do not like surprises — even church people — and they don’t want to be uncomfortable. They want a nice, tame Jesus.”

Over the years, Jesus has been re-formatted into a cross between Ghandi and a sentimental, doe-eyed host of a Saturday morning children’s show. We superimpose his image upon our pet political dogmas or water him down so that our sin does not seem so bad. “How did we end up so comfortable with God?” asks Yaconelli. “How did our awe of God get reduced to a lukewarm appreciation of God? How did God become a pal instead of a heart-stopping presence? How can we think of Jesus without remembering His ground-shaking, thunder-crashing, stormy exit on the cross? Why aren’t we continually catching our breath and saying, ‘This is no ordinary God!’?”

2. THE TRANSFORMING AND RENEWING OF CHRISTIANS

As the former president of Syracuse University, Daniel Steele was one of the leading theologians for the 19th century holiness movement. On November 17, 1870, he had a powerful experience that shifted his priorities and transformed his life. In describing his baptism in the Holy Spirit, Steele says that he “became conscious of a mysterious power exerting itself upon my sensibilities. My physical sensations, though not of a nervous temperament, in good health, alone, and calm, were indescribable, as if an electric current were passing through my body with painless shocks, melting my whole being with a fiery stream of love. The Son of God stood before my spiritual eye in all his loveliness.”

Have we experienced the “fiery stream of love” Steele describes? While each of our experiences will differ greatly, there can be no question that all of heaven longs for us to know and experience divine love.

“I know for the first time I realized ‘the unsearchable riches of Christ.’ Reputation, friends, family, property, everything disappeared, eclipsed by the brightness of his manifestation,” maintains Steele.

He seemed to say, “I have come to stay.” Yet there was no uttered word, no phantasm or image. It was not a trance or vision. The affections were the sphere of this wonderful phenomenon, best described as “the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost.” It seemed as if the attraction of Jesus, the loadstone of my soul, was so strong that it would draw the spirit out of the body upward into heaven. How vivid and real was all this to me! I was more certain that God loved me than I was of the existence of the solid earth and of the shining sun. I intuitively apprehended Christ.

In the manifest presence of God, we are given a more accurate understanding of his penetrating and extravagant love. We are given the grace to intuitively apprehend Christ, and our concept of his holiness deepens.

The prolific Methodist evangelist E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973) was one who discovered the palpable presence of God. Before graduating in 1906 from Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, he experienced a remarkable event.

“Four or five of us students were in the room of another student, Jim Ballinger, having a prayer meeting about ten o’clock at night,” recalls Jones. “I remember I was almost asleep with my head against the bedclothes where I was kneeling, when we were all swept off our feet by a visitation of the Holy Spirit. We were all filled, flooded by the Spirit.” Although none of the students there spoke in tongues, he emphatically states: “Everything that happened to the disciples on the original Pentecost happened to us.”

He admits that he was “tempted to tone down what really happened, or to dress it up in garments of respectability by using noncommittal descriptive terms. In either case it would be dishonest and perhaps worse — a betrayal of one of the most sacred and formative gifts of my life, a gift of God. To some who have looked upon me as an ‘intellectual’ it will come as a shock. But shock or no shock, here goes.”

Being willing to be misunderstood, Jones writes, “For three or four days it could be said of us as was said of those at the original Pentecost. ‘They are drunk.’ I was drunk with God. I say ‘for three or four days,’ for time seemed to have lost its significance.”

Basking within the glorious presence of God, E. Stanley Jones — who would later become one of Methodism’s most cherished cross-cultural missionaries to India — was swept off his feet and became inebriated within the love and peace and righteousness of a merciful God. What was the fruit of the experience? “I was released from the fear of emotion. I had tasted three days of ecstasy — drunk with God,” testifies Jones. “And yet they were the clearest-headed, soberest moments I have ever known. I saw into the heart of reality, and the heart of reality was joy, joy, joy. And the heart of reality was love, love, love.”

This life-altering revelation of the love of God draws us into a deeper walk and a more fruitful ministry. Take, for example, the extraordinary example of Phineas F. Bresee (1838-1916), one of the co-founders of the Church of the Nazarene. He describes an unforgettable encounter with a holy God one evening while he was sitting near the opened door of his parsonage.

As I waited and waited, and continued in prayer, looking up, it seemed to me as if from the azure there came a meteor, an indescribable ball of condensed light, descending rapidly toward me. As I gazed upon it, it was soon within a few score feet, when I seemed distinctly to hear a voice saying, as my face was upturned towards it: “Swallow it; swallow it,” and in an instant it fell upon my lips and face. I attempted to obey the injunction. It seemed to me, however, that I swallowed only a little of it, although it felt like fire on my lips, and the burning sensation did not leave them for several days.

Taken as an isolated incident within the life of this holiness preacher, this experience would leave us all with a great deal more questions than answers — something that God seems quite content to do within our lives. Nevertheless, Bresee goes on to explain that there came within the experience “into my heart and being, a transformed condition of life and blessing and unction and glory, which I had never known before. I felt that my need was supplied.” Although he admits that he said very little publicly in relation to the encounter,

there came into my ministry a new element of spiritual life and power. People began to come into the blessing of full salvation; there were more persons converted; and the last year of my ministry in that church was more consecutively successful, being crowned by an almost constant revival. When the third year came to a close, the church had been nearly doubled in membership, and in every way built up.

Interestingly enough, Henry Clay Morrison (1857-1942), the founder of Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, had a very similar experience. He was outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, with his friend, Dr. Young. After debating whether or not to draw some revival meetings to a close, Morrison felt the presence of God.

“Doctor,” said Morrison, “I feel the power of God here in this room right now.”

Later he testified: “At that instant the Holy Ghost fell upon me. I fell over on the divan utterly helpless. It seemed as if a great hand had taken hold upon my heart, and was pulling it out of my body. Dr. Young ran across the room caught me in his arms, and called aloud, but I could not answer.”

Morrison says that just “as I came to myself and recovered the use of my limbs, a round ball of liquid fire seemed to strike me in the face, dissolve, and enter into me. I leaped up and shouted aloud, “Glory to God!” Dr. Young, who was holding Morrison in his arms, threw him back on to the couch and said, “Morrison, what do you mean? You frightened me fearfully. I thought you were dying.”

“Why did you act that way?” asked the doctor. “I did not do anything, Doctor,” said Morrison, “the Lord did it.” Morrison testifies to being “lifted up so closely in touch with the supernatural that I had but little thought of material things. I was floating in what seemed to me a fathomless sea of peace and joy.”

Dr. Young was indignant and cautioned him not to become a fanatic. Nevertheless, Morrison’s ministry was transformed. He reveals that “under my preaching, while I was under the baptism of the Spirit, there was an almost irresistible power. It was never so at any other time. And if we as preachers would keep so close to God as to be ever under this influence, would not his word truly ‘run and be glorified’ and a veritable Pentecost be repeated in these later days?”

3. OFFENDING THE MIND TO REVEAL THE HEART

Whenever I hear the call for the return of New Testament Christianity I am always reminded of the haunting story of Ananias and Sapphira found in Acts 5. This is the story of the husband and wife who sold a piece of property in order to help out the church. In the process, they both lied to the Apostles (and to the Holy Spirit, according to Peter) about how much money they were keeping for themselves. When Ananias heard Peter’s rebuke, he fell down and died. About three hours later, the same thing happened to his wife, Sapphira. “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events,” says the Scripture.

Now, this is New Testament Christianity. And quite honestly, it is terrifying. The holiness of God is not something to be treated lightly. I recalled the Ananias and Sapphira story as I was reading Abel Steven’s HISTORY OF AMERICAN METHODISM, published in 1867. He writes about the persecution that early Methodist preachers faced in Salem, New Jersey, during the Revolutionary War.

A profane club of the town continued the persecution, in burlesque imitations of the Methodist worship, but was suddenly arrested by an appalling occurrence in one of their assemblies,” reports Stevens. “While they were amusing themselves with jocular recitations of hymns and exhortations, a female guest rose on a bench to imitate a Methodist class. “Glory to God!” she exclaimed, “I have found peace, I am sanctified; I am now ready to die!” At the last word, she fell to the floor a corpse. The club, struck with consternation never assembled again, and Methodism became eminently influential in the town and all its vicinity.

Two-hundred pages later, in the chapter dealing with the period of 1796-1804, Stevens recounts another similar incident. This time, Henry Boehm is quoted as reporting on the opposition the Methodists faced in Reading, Pennsylvania. He says that while some men were meeting together,

a young man undertook to mimic the Methodists. He went on to show how they acted in their meetings. He shouted, clapped his hands and then he would show how they fell down. (The Methodists in that day would sometimes fall and lose their strength.) He then threw himself down on the floor, and lay there as if asleep. His companions enjoyed the sport; but after he had lain for sometime they wondered why he did not get up. They shook him in order to awake him. When they saw he did not breathe, they turned pale, and sent for a physician, who examined the man, and pronounced him dead. This awful incident did two things for us: it stopped ridicule and persecution; it also gave us favor in the sight of the people. They believed that God was for us.

It goes without saying that these are not exactly the kinds of stories that we want to share with non-believers in order to persuade them to turn to Christ. Nevertheless, this kind of ominous power is part of the package. “The same love that can ravish us can also consume us by its flames,” observes John White. “And though the idea of being ravished in the flames of holy love may sound poetic, even romantic, we are not sure whether we want such a dangerous kind of love.”

The perilous nature of God’s presence in our midst is still true, even if it makes us uncomfortable. “On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of the conditions,” observes novelist Annie Dillard. “Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.”

There is no telling what Annie Dillard would have thought of the Cane Ridge camp meeting held in Bourbon County, Kentucky. In August of 1801, there were crowds estimated from 10,000 to 25,000 gathered. The Methodist circuit rider Peter Cartwright testifies that he saw “more than a hundred sinners fall like dead men under one powerful sermon, and I have seen and heard more than five hundred Christians all shouting aloud the high praises of God at once; and I will venture to assert that many happy thousands were awakened and converted to God at these camp meetings.” What was the response of the onlookers? “Some sinners mocked, some of the old dry professors opposed,” recalls Cartwright, “some of the old starched Presbyterian preachers preached against these exercises, but still the work went on and spread almost in every direction, gathering additional force, until our country seemed all coming home to God.”

Cartwright reminds us that God will do it however he wants to do it. No matter what the mockers or theologians say or think, God is free to do it however he wants. In describing the common revival phenomena of involuntary bodily jerking, Cartwright stated: “I always looked upon the jerks as a judgment sent from God, first, to bring sinners to repentance; and, secondly, to show professors that God would work with or without means, and that he could work over and above means, and do whatsoever seemeth to him good, to the glory of his grace and the salvation of the world.”

Marching under the banner of “Blood and Fire,” the Salvation Army insisted on going to the least, the last, and the lost. Founded by William and Catherine Booth in the slums of London in 1865, they pursued holiness in their private lives and preached Jesus in the streets. Within Salvation Army history, there emerged a peculiar phenomena known as the “glory fits.” During one meeting led by Commissioner Elijah Cadman, “about a hundred persons were in ‘glory fits.’” According to Cadman, people came up to the leaders saying, “I don’t believe in this,” and while speaking “fell under the strange manifestation of the Divine Presence.” Cadman explains that the “glory fits” were “ecstacies during which the individuals affected were insensible, usually silent, and remained thus for one, or many hours....The prostrations were commoner in Holiness services and nights of prayer. Medical and other means devised to control or restrict the symptoms were useless.”

Cadman described the experience as:

nothing but a complete conquering of the body by the soul in its reach upward to its Creator and Redeemer. It is the condescension of Infinite Love in Christ to so uplift it to Himself for a foretaste of joy with Him in Heaven.”...We could not say when, where, or how they would occur, and we certainly did not know how God worked — we only saw them as signs of His Presence. People were more curious and bothered about them, of course. That’s the way of the human mind. But conversion is much more of a miracle; that is the entire change of a nature and its inclination in a moment, the instantaneous shutting of the door on the power of the Devil and sin, and the opening of blind eyes to the reality of God, His Christ, and Salvation.

Cadman resigned himself to the fact that a sovereign move of God was bursting out in his midst and that it is best to allow the Lord to have His way. He also realized that God was more than willing to offend the mind to reveal the thoughts of the heart.

THE FRUIT OF GOD’S PRESENCE

It is not my intention to make the case for curious revival phenomena such as jerking, laughing, trembling, or falling. It is my intent, however, to make clear that there is a certain unpredictability when we encounter the holiness of God. Strange things can and often will occur. Nevertheless, the most important element of the power encounter with God is to produce good fruit in the lives of those whose hearts are steadfast after him (Matthew 7:20).

Within particular seasons throughout John Wesley’s entire life, he saw people weeping, violently shaking, crying out, losing consciousness, falling down, and occasionally becoming uncontrollably agitated during his meetings. In response to one who was concerned about the “strange work” that occurred in his meetings, Wesley testifies: “I have seen (as far as a thing of this kind can be seen) very many persons changed in a moment from the spirit of fear, horror, despair, to the spirit of love, joy, and peace; and from sinful desire, till then reigning over them, to a pure desire of doing the will of God. These are matters of fact, whereof I have been, and almost am, an eye or ear witness.”

Wesley continues: “I will show you him that was a lion till then, and is now a lamb; him that was a drunkard, and is now exemplarily sober; the whoremonger that was, who now abhors the very garment spotted by the flesh.” Wesley judged by the “whole tenor” of their lives and called these people his “living arguments.”

He then offers the following remarkable explanation for the outward signs:

Perhaps it might be because of the hardness of our hearts, unready to receive any thing unless we see it with our eyes and hear it with our ears, that God, in tender condescension to our weakness, suffered so many outward signs of the very time when he wrought this inward change to be continually seen and heard among us.

Wesley was 81 years old when he recorded the following episode at one of his meetings: “After preaching to an earnest congregation at Coleford, I met the Society. They contained themselves pretty well during the exhortation, but when I began to pray the flame broke out: many cried aloud; many sunk to the ground; many trembled exceedingly; but all seemed to be quite athirst for God, and penetrated by the presence of his power.”

What a scene that must have been in 1784, fully 45 years after the Wesleyan revival began to set England ablaze with the fiery holiness and love of God. Wesley records the phenomenal occurrence almost nonchalantly, as if it was merely one more Methodist meeting.

When Wesley prayed, he says that the flame broke out. That same fire of God’s holiness is available to us today. But we must be like the men and women in Wesley’s meeting: “athirst for God, and penetrated by the presence of his power.”

______

Steve Beard is the editor of Good News magazine and the founder of Thunderstruck Online. This essay first appeared in the book, Power, Holiness and Evangelism: Rediscovering God’s Purity, Power, and Passion for the Lost (Destiny Image Publishers 1999). The unpredictability of encountering a holy God

*

[Original illustration at this number was deleted for being obsolete]

1. Pass me not, O gentle Saviour–

Hear my humble cry!

While on others Thou art calling,

Do not pass me by.

Chorus:

Saviour, Saviour,

Hear my humble cry!

While on others Thou art calling,

Do not pass me by.

2. Let me at a throne of mercy

Find a sweet relief;

Kneeling there in deep contrition–

Help my unbelief.

3. Trusting only in Thy merit,

Would I seek Thy face;

Heal my wounded, broken spirit,

Save me by Thy grace.

4. Thou the spring of all my comfort,

More than life to me!

Whom have I on earth beside Thee?

Whom in heav’n but Thee?

It is sad to say, and yet I am convinced that I am right, some people who seek counseling today, do not seek truth, they seek someone to affirm some error.

C. S. Lewis pointed this out many years ago. “Much of the time” he said, “when we say, ‘Please forgive me,’ what we’re really asking is, ‘Please excuse me.’ We’re not asking for forgiveness, but to be excused. We don’t want to admit that what we did was wrong; we simply want to be let off the hook.

But God does not offer to excuse us; He offers to forgive us. And the first step toward receiving His forgiveness is to admit that we have sinned. No excuses, no justifications. We simply say, ‘Lord, I have offended You by my actions. I have chosen to displease You, and I have dishonored Your holy name by what I have done. I have sinned.’”

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #22571]

In Matthew 4:17 we have recorded the text of Jesus’ first sermon. What do you think it was? “Repent!” In many churches you may get the impression that the concept of repentance is outmoded since you don’t hear much about it. Trouble with that is that the concept of repentance is still as much a part of God’s word as it ever was. It may not fit in with today’s “feel-good gospel”, but to ignore it is like telling God that we know more about man’s needs than he does. That would be rather arrogant, wouldn’t it?

The concept of repentance is found frequently in both testaments. A common dictionary gives this as one definition: “To feel such regret for past conduct as to change one’s mind regarding it.” The concept is not isolated to the non-Christian — it also includes believers who step outside God’s prescribed boundaries.

The overpowering concern of a true believer should be a desire to please God. Sometimes that will require the painful surgery of repentance. Repentance doesn’t just say, “I’m sorry.” It says “I’ll try, by God’s grace and help, not to do it again.” I John 1:9 (NIV) says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” To the best of my knowledge, that was written to Christians — that’s us. Something to think about!

Caterpillars are, well, ugly. Butterflies are beautiful! I have known people with butterfly collections. I've never known anyone with a caterpillar collection, actually. My guess is that every caterpillar gets pretty fed up inching along instead of flying. They get fed up with being hairy and ugly instead of being colorful and eye-catching. But, fed up won't do it. The caterpillar actually has to get into this cocoon and get metamorphed. Now, it's a word that we have for that miraculous process. It means changing your form - metamorphosis - right? There's something for you in that cocoon, by the way, especially if you're tired of crawling spiritually or if your spiritual experience gets pretty hairy sometimes.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Don't Forget the 'Meta' in Your Morphosis.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 7, beginning in verse 9. Paul says of some early Christians, “I am happy now, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance.” Here's one of the most misunderstood words in the Christian vocabulary, probably one of the most neglected experiences in the Christian life. This word “repentance.” It's vital if you want Christ's peace and His power. It's the key; it releases His power. Repent obviously means more than just “I'm sorry,” because these people said they were sorry, but he said repentance is more than that.

Listen to verses 10 and 11. “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this Godly sorrow has produced in you.” Listen to what He says about the repentance now. He talks about what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourself, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. When you repent of a sin, you're not just saying, “Oh, I feel so bad about it.” You say, “I feel so bad about my sin, I'm going to stop doing it. I'll set up my life so I don't do it again.” This is abandoning your sin, forsaking that sin, throwing it in the fire so you can't do it anymore.

The Greek word for repentance is “metanoia.” Well, meta, of course we know that word. It means a change. It means like a change of shape - that's what metamorphosis is. Metabolism is what changes your food. Metanoia, or repentance, is changing. It's not just feeling guilty. A caterpillar might say, “I'm sick of feeling ugly. I don't like being like this anymore. I want to be different.” Well, that's not enough. He has to submit to a transforming process that makes him totally new. Maybe you've told God you're sorry, but it's time maybe to go a step further and say, “Go ahead God and break my heart over my sin.” It says when Peter realized what he had done to Jesus in denying Him, when he looked in Jesus eyes and Jesus turned and looked at him, he went out and he wept bitterly. When's the last time you had that kind of passion over hurting Jesus? It isn't because you've broken a rule; it's because you've broken Jesus' heart. And then, you repent specifically, not “Lord, forgive my many sins.” You name it. You repent emotionally and passionately. You get in that cocoon where sorry can lead to a change. That's when the power is released.

You've got to burn the bridges to all the things that have helped you do that sin, and the people who have helped you do that sin, and the influences. You go back and make it right with the people who have been affected by that sin and you ask for their forgiveness, and you look for some accountability people to check up on you. God is as tired of your spiritual crawling as you are. He wants you to fly, and repentance is the missing difference. Ask God right now to forgive that sin, and then to change you. Don't forget the meta in your morphosis, and then you can become in Jesus a new person.

________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

*

There’s a Peanuts cartoon that I’ve kept for years that I think speaks to this text.

In the first frame, Lucy is standing next to a tree. Looking up, she shouts to Linus, “What are you doing in that tree?”

Linus answers from the branches of the tree, “Looking for something.” Then he adds, “Can you see Snoopy? We climbed up here together, but now I don’t see him.”

Lucy unsympathetically shouts back up the tree, “Beagles can’t climb trees.” The next frame shows Snoopy falling out of the tree right on his head with a loud “klunk.” “You’re right!” Snoopy concludes.

Then Lucy lets Snoopy have it, “You stupid Beagle, what are you doing climbing around in a tree?” Snoopy’s sore head is still spinning.

Linus interrupts from the tree, “Don’t yell at him… We’re trying to find a strange creature in a nest… “

Lucy walks off saying, “You’re both crazy! Go ahead and knock yourselves out! I couldn’t care less!!”

Then Snoopy with his head still sore and spinning things, “Rats… I was hoping for a hug!”

When we’ve been stupid and we have hurt ourselves we generally like to be hugged. Children know this; snoopy knew it; but we adults sometimes get it wrong. We don’t like to admit our faults. God help us if there are a lot of Lucy’s around. Jesus looks out over the city of Jerusalem, badly in need of divine comfort. In their stupidity they have killed the Prophets and stoned the messengers of God. They need to experience God’s forgiveness but they are doing it again. Jesus has come with a word of grace and they will not listen. As a result the house of Israel will be left desolate.

Sin is the best news there is. Because with sin there's a way out. You can't repent of confusion or psychological flaws inflicted by your parents -- you're stuck with them. But you can repent of sin. Sin and repentance are the only grounds for hope and joy, the grounds for reconciled, joyful relationships.

________

John Alexander (quoted in Student Leadership Journal, Fall 2000, page 23); submitted by Craig Watters, Senior Pastor First Baptist Church of Louisville, Colorado

Acts 3:17–26 — Repent, A Prophetic Message — (outline by F. F. Bruce, NICNT) « Leader information shown in this fashion »

A. The Birth of the Church (1:1–5:42)

1. The Forty Days and After (1:1–26)

2. The Day of Pentecost (2:1–47)

3. An Act of Healing and its Consequences (3:1–4:31)

A. A Cripple Cured – What has gone on before …

Last week we were looking at the first part of Acts 3, verses 1–16. There we saw Peter and John going to the temple at 3:00 p.m., which was the hour of afternoon prayer. At the Beautiful Gate they were accosted by a man begging; a lame man; a man lame from birth; and this man was healed at the name and by the power of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. His leaping and known situation quickly attracted a crowd, to which Peter spoke.

B. Peter’s Address in Solomon’s Colonnade; his subject was

1. “The Power of Jesus’ Name,” Acts 3:11–16

To these, then, Peter disclaimed himself and John and acclaimed the name of Jesus Christ as having done this miracle. And again, as at Pentecost, he depicts the contrasting treatments of Jesus, between their’s and God’s Himself. This was an apologetic, or defence, of the Name (and Person) of Jesus Christ. He now goes on to a …

2. Call to Repentance Acts 3:17–21

a. 17 “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth * of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore and *be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who * was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

(A) Notes:

(1) the Greek texts read:

(a) verse 18: “…of all the prophets, that His Christ…”

(b) verse 19: “…turn around…” – active, not passive

(c) verse 20 “…was appointed beforehand to you.”

(2) “all … prophets” (also verse 24) a major theme here

b. By what two ways does Peter conciliate his audience?

(A) he calls (cf. Romans 9:3): « them brethren, a reminder of their commonality in family; children of Israel »

(B) he recognizes (cf. Luke 23:34) « – that they didn’t understand what they were doing »

c. Their ignorance: of what accusation

(A) were they not excused? (Luke 23:14-15, Acts 3:14) « – for their treatment of an innocent, just man »

(B) might they be excused? (cf. Matt 16:16, 20, Acts 2:36, 1 Cor. 2:8) « – of knowingly do this to God’s Messiah »

d. Why was their repentance possible?

(A) from Numbers 15:30–31? « – as a generality, their sin had been unwitting rather than deliberate »

(B) Verse 18? « – their sin and ignorance were in God’s plan to provide to them His salvation »

e. What is the theme of these memorable prophecies concerning the suffering of the Christ?

(A) in Psalm 22 « – the description of the Messiah’s death (but understood by Jews to be of David himself) »

(B) in Isaiah 53 « – the suffering Servant (but understood by Jews to be of Israel as God’s servant) »

(C) Prophecies of Messiah’s suffering quoted in NT are: Ps 22:7 (Lk 23:35), Ps 69:21 (Lk 23:36), Zech 12:10 (Jn 19:37, Rev 1:7), Ps 69:9 (Rom 15:3)

f. In verse 19, what two responses are urged?

(A) « repent which is to turn from sin »

(B) « be converted which is to turn to God »

(C) these together mean to change our former attitude toward Jesus, aligning it with God’s attitude; how do we know what God’s attitude is (Acts 3:15)? « – as is evidenced by the resurrection and exaltation »

g. how does God’s “ink eradicator” work?

(A) Psalm 51:1–2, 9–10? « – through cleansing the heart of our underlying sin »

(B) Isaiah 43:25, 44:3, 22? « – to satisfy His holy love through redemption and the work of the Holy Spirit »

(C) Colossians 2:13–14? « – through the nailing of sins (in the person of Jesus Christ) to the cross »

h. The word “refreshing” is literally a “spirit from above” or a “new breath” and there may be an echo here of Ezekiel 11:19, 18:31, 36:26: what brings this refreshing? « — the presence of the Lord, both now, and in future parousia »

i. In verse 21 the word “restoration” is the same Greek root used in the disciples question in Acts 1:6, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” How has Peter’s thinking changed? « – he now knows that Jesus must stay in heaven until the end of the last days, the parousia »

3. Witness of the Prophets Acts 3:22–26

a. 22 “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ 24 Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. 25 You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ 26 To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

(A) Note in verse 26, sons is to be understood as applying to both of the prophets and of the covenant

b. In Peter’s words, the Holy Spirit here applies a loose rendering of Deuteronomy 18:15–19 (with perhaps a bit of Leviticus 23:29); read Deut 18:20-22;

(A) what was the reason given that God would do this? « – because the people feared to hear God directly »

(B) how did God first fulfil these words? « – by prophets that He sent from time to time (2 Chronicles 36:15) »

(C) see John 1:21, 25-26; how did Jews understand it?

(1) that it referred « — to a specific Prophet »

(2) that Christ « — and the Prophet were different »

(D) see John 6:14, 7:40 – what was the Jews perception here as the Jesus? « – that He was the Prophet but not necessarily that He was Christ »

(E) Moses words are a prophecy in both facets:

(1) fore-telling « – that this Prophet would come »

(2) forth-telling « – you are to obey Him »

(F) what would happen to the Jew who did not repent and obey the Prophet? « – utter destruction »

(G) How is this relevant to people today (Acts 17:30-31)? « – they are likewise under a command. »

c. “All the Prophets” The books of Joshua through Kings were known as the “former prophets.” Samuel is representative of this group of prophets which was to include Nathan, Micaiah, Elijah and Elisha, who preceded the writing prophets and are called “the sons of the prophets” in 1 & 2 Kings. Though we do not find a specific Messianic prophecy by Samuel, he heads the body of prophets proclaiming Messiah and salvation

d. what was the sonship that these people had in common with both the covenant and with the prophets?

(A) they were heirs to « – the promises »

(1) that were given to « – Abraham »

(2) that were explained by « – the prophets »

(B) Galatians 3:8–9, 26–29; what is the condition for the receiving of this promise? « – faith in Christ Jesus »

(C) so what is the basis of our witness? « – Nicki Gumbel? No! Rick Warren? No! … only God’s own Word »

e. The special place of the Jew; what do you note in …

(A) Acts 3:25? « – they were source of blessing to Gentiles »

(B) Acts 3:26? « – this message first presented to them »

(C) Acts 13:46? « – it was a privilege, not a right »

(D) Romans 1:16–17? « – it required their faith response »

f. where have we heard this theme at the end of verse 26 before today in this chapter? « – check out verse 19 »

g. What aspect of the Messiah is presented in

(A) (at Pentecost) Acts 2:30 (Ps 132:11) « – Son of David »

(B) Acts 3:22, 23 (Deu 18:15-19) « – the Prophet like Moses; fulfilling of Matthew 24–25 in Jerusalem’s destruction is evidence of Jesus’ prophetic office »

(C) Acts 3:26 (Isa 42:1, 52:13-53:12) « – the Servant »

After please and thank you, the words I'm sorry are among the first parents teach their children.

But how quickly lessons can be unlearned - at least judging from the bevy of professionals at a Boston panel on how, when, and why to atone.

The forum, hosted last week by the Boston public relations firm Solomon McCown & Co., was not of the “I'm sorry for stepping on your foot” variety.

Rather, this was a discourse on the fine art of the public apology: How to express remorse, restore reputations, or otherwise untangle organizations from PR nightmares - all without making a litigious mess.

The apology has been all the patter among politicos and other public figures in recent years. They've asked repentance for everything from the worst atrocities of the 20th century to misguided personal choices.

Aaron Lazare, author of “On Apology” and a dean at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, says research he conducted - though by no means scientific - showed that public apologies doubled from 1990 to 2002. “Apologies across the world are getting more popular,” he says.

Lawyers and hospital executives have long lost sleep over “admissions of guilt.” Craig Dallon, a law professor at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, says that when he practiced law years ago, he advised clients to keep mum.

“It's not that we want them to be bad people,” he says. “We don't want it to come back and hurt them later.”

In a post-Enron world, the apology is baffling, well, just about everyone. Dr. Lazare says he receives calls from churches and synagogues wanting to learn more about repentance; law schools looking at alternative dispute resolution; and executives at hospitals and businesses seeking to relearn the skills they absorbed with their ABCs. “The diversity of audiences is just dramatic,” he says.

Why? Lazare hypothesizes that more women in the workforce has played a role. Women, he says, have always been more effective in this realm.

Technology, too, has changed the rules of apology engagement. Take Abu Ghraib. Prisoner abuse isn't new, says Lazare, but photos of that scandal were circulated via Internet and cellphone within minutes. The resulting outcry quickly compelled President Bush to apologize. “Everybody knows what everybody is doing,” Lazare says.

Apologies can also be powerful deterrents - something which professionals, politicians, and legislatures are increasingly recognizing. Professor Dallon says that despite the bad rap given to those who sue, not everyone is looking for cash.

Many want to express their side of a story, or simply to know that someone is listening. “Sometimes an apology can actually make litigation go away,” says Dallon.

In recent years, several states have passed laws to encourage doctors to make apologies by making them inadmissible in civil court.

More mea culpas, however, won't be a panacea, say experts. Too often, they say, apologies are bureaucratic, wooden, and devoid of all discernible remorse - a variety that's been coined with Seinfeldian irony as the “nonapology apology.”

In what itself could have been a Seinfeld episode, panel moderator David Yas, the publisher of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, replayed a scene he said underscored the futility of an insincere apology.

In the wake of controversy about allegations of steroid use, New York Yankee slugger Jason Giambi held a much criticized press conference this winter, where the baseball player apologized five times, but never for anything specific.

When reporters asked what he was sorry for, Mr. Giambi, according to Mr. Yas's recounting, demurred and merely offered up another “I'm sorry.” The panel and attendees in Boston - presumably all Red Sox fans - couldn't stop laughing.

The Rise and Fall of a Nation

King “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord … He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook” (2 Kings 18:5-7, NIV).

According to an article in “Restore” magazine, Edward Gibbon in his “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” said that there were five major attributes that marked the closing days of the great Roman Empire.

1. There was an increasing love of show and luxury; that is, affluence.

2. There was a widening gap between the very rich and the very poor.

3. There was an obsession with sex.

4. There was a freakishness in the arts masquerading as originality and creativity.

5. There was an increased desire to live off the state.

The application for today is obvious. Without a doubt our nation needs God. Many well-informed people believe our Western civilization is already in moral decay which will eventually lead us to self-destruction.

At the time of King Hezekiah, ancient Israel had collapsed morally and spiritually, had turned from God, and had become weak and powerless.

The nation was divided and Israel, the Northern Kingdom, had been taken into captivity. King Hezekiah was king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah and because he led his nation back to God, God delivered them from destruction in an amazing way. In one night the angel of the Lord put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men of the Assyrian army who were poised to attack and destroy Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:35).

Where do we begin to turn our nation back to God?

Perhaps we need to do it one at a time — in our heart, in our manner of life, and in our prayers for ourselves, and for a spiritual awakening throughout our land.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, our nation desperately needs you. In your unfailing mercy, please send a revival to our people and let your work begin in me. Gratefully in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

I read of a boy that left home to make a way for himself in the world. As many before him, so had he wasted his substance, and the inevitable time of reckoning came. He sought assistance from friends and companions, but in a little while they all grew tired of helping him. In his last distress he determined to write home. "Dear Father," the pathetic appeal ran, "I am ill and undone. I have been foolish and sinful and have forgotten the spirit of your home. I want to get well, live right and be a man. But I cannot unless you help me. I deeply need your help, and I think you love me enough to forgive all, and to help me now. Will you come?" The next train found that father speeding on his way to his needy son, to put his strength, his character, his resources at the service of the son who was to be placed once more on the road to manhood. That father was a paraclete, a called one, a friend that soothes and strengthens and inspires. It was in this sense that the Greeks used the word "paraclete," a word forever consecrated by the Lord in applying to Himself and to the Holy Spirit. For He does apply the word to Himself when He calls the Holy Spirit "another Paraclete."