28TH AUGUST 2022
Minister: Pastor Bola Bello
Text: Matthew 3:5-9
The power of the blood that was shed at Calvary is for a perpetual covenant. The ordinances of God was committed to the Israelites so they could mirror God to the world. Since they failed woefully, Jesus showed up to facilitate the purpose of God in their lives but they found it hard to accept Him.
There are patterns that have been set for us which we need to follow consistently and it is the need for incessant self-evaluation and realignment. Religious rituals like baptism are good but it is more important that we always bear fruits that show we have repented.
Having Abraham as father, the Israelites often boasted without necessarily being faithful like Abraham. God had to point it out to them that He could raise the most unlikely people to take their place as Abraham’s children. If we do not do well, if we do not run the race set before us such that we maintain the foundation that Christ has laid for us, we might be replaced. This shows the extent to which God can go to achieve His plan if His chosen people are not willing.
The idea of repentance is not only for unbelievers; it is also applicable to the saved who are expected to repent progressively as they journey in the path of God. For our repentance to be acceptable to God, we have to show it by the kinds of fruits we bear.
To repent is to breathe heavily as a sign of regret and acknowledgement of wrong doing. When David fell into adultery, he humbled himself and covered himself with ash as a sign of repentance.
1 John 1:8,9; Jeremiah 31:17-19
When we confess our sins and it does not resonate with our hearts, we deceive ourselves. Genuine confession is not lip service; it is word backed by action.
We should master the act of embracing criticisms and learning from them no matter how caustic they are. We should own up to our shortcomings so we can always improve and become more useful to God, others and ourselves.
1 Samuel 15:34,35
Saul was more concerned about what the people he led would say rather than what God would say. That made God abandon him because paying attention to Him was a waste of God’s time.
Just like Saul, some of us are always concerned about what people say rather than what God says. The children of Saul would have become kings after him but his pride and sin led to cessation of royalty in his lineage. What would it have taken for Saul to repent just as David did? We need to turn when God asks us to turn. This will save us from a lot of troubles.