Heaven Touches Earth - Repentance

What a brilliant session on Repentance with Simon Holley

John 7:37 - 39 "On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."

1. A key part of Jesus 'end game' was the introduction of the Holy Spirit into the lives of his followers.
2. The transformation of the early church when this happened at Pentecost was dramatic: boldness, high level of spiritual gifting, massive salvation fruit, extraordinary miracles, love, sacrifice, joy, peace etc.

Why is it that we typically don't see these results in the church today? Simon felt that possibly it was because of a lack of thorough repentance.

Both Jesus and John the Baptist began their ministries with a call to repent Matthew 3:2 and Matthew 4:17, particularly emphasising it's necessity because 'the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'

Repent 'metanoeo' literally means 'to think differently. to reconsider.' It has less to do with saying sorry and more to do with a total transformation of our thoughts about ourselves, God and his Kingdom.

If the Spirit within each believer is the same holy Spirit and yet the experience of some is a 'trickle' and others is a 'river', is it possible that the reason is 'unrepentant' areas of the heart form blocks to the flow of the life of the spirit in the believer?

If we are to 'repent'/change our thinking over these areas that spiritual 'rocks' are removed and the river of the Spirit can flow in great gifting and fruit. If this is true, in what areas do we see Jesus leading his disciples in 'total mind change' in preparation to the filling with the Spirit? There are many, we will highlight five of the most significant in this season.

1. Self Reliance - although we do not see this term used in the gospels, it summarises Jesus work with the disciples over the area of their hearts that was not depending on God as Father.
2. Fear - 'Fear is the machinery of life' Stanley Jones. On eleven different occasions in the gospels we see Jesus warning his followers about fear: fear of death or harm, the future, sin being exposed, being alone, persecution, of a loved one dying, of the supernatural or even an unhealthy fear of God.Paul realised that fear in Timothy was in some way blocking the spirit's activity in Timothy's life; "fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." 1 Timothy 1:6 - 7. Notice that the gift was in Timothy but was not operating because of fear.
3. Judgements - Jesus repeatedly warns his hearers of the danger of making judgements. he is not saying that we should not discern as clearly we are called to discern right from wrong. The word judgement in this context means 'to judge so as to condemn' - it has an element of superiority, finality and places the judge in a position that only God can occupy.
4. Unbelief - Mark 6:3 - 6. Jesus addressed the issue of unbelief both in the 'crowd' but also in his followers. It is ironic that even believers can be affected by unbelief! Mark 9:19. Unbelief in it's ultimate form obviously prevents us from coming to faith in Christ for salvation. However, in the life of a child of God, it also has negative spiritual effects.
5. Control - It's an attitude of the heart.One of the saddest verses in scripture Luke 7:30 "but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptised by John the Baptist." Jesus battled these religious people throughout his ministry. because it didn't come in a package they wanted, the Pharisees rejected the very thing that God was offering them and that they were undoubtedly praying for! This is the foundation of a religious 'spirit' - 'freedom on MY terms'. However it seems that God by design likes to 'offend' us to expose a wrong response to the gospel. Romans 9:32 - 33. We want God's power and presence to be tidy and controlled but it rarely is. Every major move of God has been criticised for 'excess' in some way; Jesus movement - hippies being saved, Asuza street - speaking in tongues and there was a one-eyed 'black' preacher, Welsh Revival - falling and crying, Finney - crying and shaking, Wesley - groaning and shaking. etc If we want the Holy Spirit to move when we say "come Holy Spirit", first we must be willing to move when he says "come".

summarised handout......