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Dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus, part of the growing repentance remnant, members of His flock, of which Jesus is the Shepherd (John 10:16), Jesus being the first to preach His gift of repentance (Matthew 4:17), now calling on each of us also to preach repentance (Luke 24:47).
Once you sincerely repent, really now focusing #1 on Almighty God your Creator, now with the Risen Messiah, Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit, then you can join His Kingdom by grace and belief in the Risen Christ as your Savior, and you then receive His Holy Spirit dwelling in you. (Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19). Repentance is key to join His Kingdom, and His Gift of repentance is seen throughout Scripture.
For example, the commands in Acts 17:30,31 are compelling: "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now COMMANDS ALL men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."
When is the last time you heard Acts 17: 30,31 preached in your church, with your pastor taking time for congregants to repent?
One of the eternal blessings of repentance is that it leads to a wonderful Fruit of the Holy Spirit that is a wonderful WAY to bring in other disciples: KINDNESS.
The Holy Spirit speaking through Titus shows us how that Kindness is from God Himself: " But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." ( Titus 3:4-7).
Kindness is a Fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). You and I are to show this kindness to others--- the neighbors on your street, in the marketplace, to all members of your family, especially those that don't yet know Him.
This is presented so beautifully in 2 Peter 1:5-7: " But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self control, to self control perseverance, to perserverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love."
As the Lord leads, please join me in this prayer: " Heavenly Father, in Jesus' Holy Name, please open up our minds and hearts to Your Kindness so that it may flow through us all the more, advancing Your Kingdom. I repent for any earlier acts of unkindness. Thank You for helping me remove any remnant of that sin pattern. Please open up my heart to show kindness in my words and my deeds to others--family, neighbors, everyone. May I be a cleaner vessel of Your Holy Spirit, bearing Your Fruit of Kindness as Your Ambassador of Your Kingdom, all to Your Glory. I pray this in Jesus' Holy Name, Amen and Amen. "
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