Faith on the Go: Hope Amidst Judgment: God's Invitation to Repentance

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Welcome to the final episode of our Faith on the Go series.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris, and today we're concluding our journey through

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Romans 1, 18-32, with an episode filled with hope and restoration.

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The title of today's message is Hope in the Mist of Judgment,

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God's Call to Repentance.

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We've covered the sober reality of humanity's rejection of God in our Downward Spiral series.

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Today, I want to remind you that even in the midst of judgment,

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God extends his hand, inviting us to return to him.

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Go with me to Romans 18-32. I won't be reading all of it, but maybe I should.

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Let me find it as we close out our final episode of Romans 18 through 32.

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You know, why not read the whole episode? Why not read it, right?

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Romans 1, it's going to be 18. I think I'm reading it from the New King James.

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Let me find it. I wasn't planning on reading it. Apparently,

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I'm feeling led to read it.

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So I'm going to go ahead and read it. We're going to start with 18.

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And in the New King James Version, they have these subtitles.

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And this subtitle says, God's wrath on unrighteousness. I'm just going to read it.

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It says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness

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and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness.

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Because what may be known of God is manifest in them.

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For God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world,

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his invisible attributes are clearly seen,

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being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,

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so that they are without excuse.

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Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God,

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nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

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Professing to be wise, they became fools and changing the glory of the incorruptible

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God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creepy things.

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Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanliness and the lust of their hearts

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to dishonor their bodies among themselves,

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who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature

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rather than creator, who was blessed forever.

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Amen. For this is the reason God gave them up to vile passions,

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for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.

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Likewise, also the men leaving the natural use of women, burning their lust for one another.

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Men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty

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of their error, which was due.

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And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,

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God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting,

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being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality,

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wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder,

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strife, deceit, evil-mindedness.

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There are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters,

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inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

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undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving,

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unmerciful, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice

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such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of

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those who practice them.

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That was a mouthful. We see here that God is not playing.

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And as we look at the world today, you can pretty much go through and do a checkoff

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list of what you see in the world.

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That the world is in a downward spiral.

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Going against what God has already said. Man doesn't belong with man.

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Woman doesn't belong with woman. And when those things start to kind of,

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when those things get into the world, it starts to create other evilness.

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But he also says in that verse 32, which we covered last week,

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he says here, he says, who knowing the righteous judgment of God,

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that those who practice those things are deserving of death,

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not only do the same, but those who approve and practice of them.

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This passage outlines the consequences of rejecting God's truth.

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When we think about sin, this is an example.

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When you think about sin, it's

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like you have a glass of people use like Kool-Aid or your favorite drink.

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And if you put one drop of feces in it, is it still your favorite drink? No, it's not.

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And so when we add one drop of sin into our life, it's just like adding that

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one drop of feces to your favorite drop of Kool-Aid.

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It's still not good. But God has given us, God said, we can repent of that sin

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and it cleanses us from all unrighteousness, according to 1 John 1, 8 and 9.

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But this passage outlines the consequences of rejecting God's truth.

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So Let's say that you don't repent, that you reject God's truth.

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And he says, this is worthy of death.

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God did not miss words in his word that this is worthy of death.

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Still within this, there is also a divine call of repentance,

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a chance to realign our hearts and lives with his will.

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And so if you wake up and you're still breathing, you still have a chance to

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get it right with the Lord.

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You still have a chance to spend forever, ever with the Lord in heaven.

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How do we recognize this? It says, God's judgment is not a final condemnation,

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but a wake-up call, a chance to turn back before it's too late.

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The goal of his righteous judgment is restoration and not destruction.

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I would not end this Bible podcast on a negative note saying everybody's going

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to hell if they did this and that and the other. that's just not how God is.

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He gives you warning after warning after warning.

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Maybe this is your 23rd warning, and he's saying, hey, give it up,

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because what you're doing is worthy of death.

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This is your wake-up call.

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Wake up. This is your chance to turn back before it's too late. too late.

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God's goal is righteous judgment, is restoration and not destruction.

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2 Timothy 2.22, easy to remember.

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2 Timothy 2.22, it says, flee also youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness,

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faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. It says flee.

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Flee means run, get out of there.

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Also, youthful lust. You find out when you're young, you do kind of stupid stuff, right?

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But as you get older, you do start to change, but you pursue righteousness,

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faith, love, peace with those who are called and calling the Lord with a pure heart.

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But Paul encouraged believers not only to flee from sin, but to actively pursue

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righteousness and surround themselves with others who seek God.

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Difference if you just run from it, but you have to run to something else.

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Otherwise, that sin will catch up with you, and then what happens?

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You ever see a person maybe recover from something? It could be something simple

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as maybe alcoholism or even have a drug addict or a sexual addict or any simple

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anything that you gave up.

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And then all of a sudden you didn't replace it with the word of God or something

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else that positive, I will say with the word of God, though.

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Guess what happened? It caught up with you. So I always say that you want to

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flee, but you also want to pursue after something else, righteousness.

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And you also want to surround yourself with people who will support you,

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who are seeking God, who can surround you in prayer.

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True repentance means turning away from sin and moving toward a life of faith and purity.

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Question for you, are there areas where you heard God's warning but delayed responding?

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What steps can you take to realign with his truth?

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Is this a warning or a wake-up call for you to get it right with the Lord?

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If it is, just run towards him. He has his arms open wide and he is waiting

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for you. You never know what's on the other side of that sin until you actually give it back to him.

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Jesus died on the cross for you so that you don't have to live like that.

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Repentance is more than just saying, I'm sorry. It's about a heart posture that

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seeks God above all else.

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Matthew 6.33 says, Jesus 633, it says, but seek first the kingdom of God and

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his righteousness, and all these things should be added to you.

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Jesus gives us a blueprint for living in alignment with God.

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It says, but seek first the kingdom of God.

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But seek, like that, but seek. It's like, but seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

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And all these things will be added onto you.

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You know, when you think about a lot of this stuff is coming out in the news.

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I don't really watch it, but I kind of, every time now again,

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you get a thread about, you know, things that's going on.

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That people have sold their souls to be stars, to be movie stars, to be rich and famous.

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And they did not seek the kingdom of God. And so when you're not seeking God,

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you would do anything to maintain that status.

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And as you're finding out that they have done pretty much a lot of evil things

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to maintain that status.

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But when you seek God, there's no tricks or games.

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You know, God doesn't get you to the top and then pull the rug out from under you like Satan does.

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But when we prioritize God's kingdom in our thoughts and actions,

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Everything else in life begins to fall into place according to his will.

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Now, a lot of times people think that it happens overnight, you know,

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and sometimes God can do a miracle in your life.

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And as soon as you turn to God, boom, boom, bam, all those things start happening.

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But then there's some things you have to learn and grow into and then boom, boom, bam.

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And so a lot of times God can be a last minute thought.

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And sometimes God will do what he does because he loves us. So you just have

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to seek him first. And he has something special for you and your timing is for you.

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It says, pursuing his righteousness protects us from spiritual violence.

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Drift and keep us grounded in his grace. I love that.

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If you, I live in Nebraska and I lived in Michigan,

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you never had the snow drift, you know, so if you live where the sand can drift,

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and so drift means things can kind of move from side to side,

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you know, and so you don't want to be drifting.

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You want to be stable in God's word, so you want to pursue his righteousness,

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and it protects you from being double-minded, right?

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From protecting you from being, you know, double-mindedness or wishy-washy.

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But you can be firm in what he is because he is firm.

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God's word is stable, right? It's unshakable.

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And so that will give you that opportunity.

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When you pursue him in righteousness, it will keep you straight.

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You won't say one day you're doing good the next day you're doing bad.

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Sometimes that happens, but

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one day you're not pursuing God and next day you're pursuing the devil.

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You're pursuing God no matter what, a good, bad, or ugly day.

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You're always going to be after him because you are seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness.

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Some translation says his way of doing things and making things right.

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And so question for you, Is God indeed first in your daily decisions?

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Or have you allowed the distractions to take priority?

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You know, sometimes we have to do a mental check on our lives.

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A mental, physical, usually it's February. No, it's March. So it's March.

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And so we're in our third month of the year.

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What does that look like to you? Are you still keeping your promises to God?

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What does that look like to you?

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What does that look like to you? What does it look like to you?

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Keep seeking him first, no matter what. If you haven't done that, then do a reset.

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It's okay. Do a reset and start all over.

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It's still March. It's still March 1st, right? It's still in the early parts of March.

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And then no matter how far we've strayed, God's call to repentance comes with

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a promise of restoration.

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He desires to bring us back into fellowship with him and renew our hearts and mind.

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So how do we embrace repentance?

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You know, if you're new to it, you know, some people are like,

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you still, as you're learning it, you repent every day.

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You're like, oh, I messed up, I messed up. As you get mature in it,

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you go like, you just do your, I think I messed up.

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The Holy Spirit begins to check you before you mess up.

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Check yourself before you wreck yourself. So there's four points that I want

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you to remember on how to embrace repentance.

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Number one, acknowledge your need for God.

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Recognize areas you're falling short and bring them to God in prayer.

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Remember those dying world spirals because no one's stopping you and you just

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keep going or you can just hit your brakes and say, I had enough of this worldly way.

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I'm going to stop, reach up and ask God for help.

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And then bam, I'm going to acknowledge that I need God.

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And then he's going to begin to pull you up out of that downward spiral.

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Number two, confess and surrender. Be honest with God about your struggles and surrender them to him.

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That's the only person that can help you.

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Acknowledge your need for God and then just be honest with him.

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I mean, he said he'll never leave you or forsake you. So he's been right there all along.

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And so you just confess and get back on track and get out of that spiral, that spiral.

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Number three, pursue community. Surround yourself with people who encourage your spiritual growth.

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You surround yourself with people who discourage you on your spiritual growth. Now do the reverse.

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Surround yourself with someone who will encourage you on your spiritual growth.

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Amen to that, right? And then number four, stay in the word.

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The word is like your instruction book for life.

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Let scripture guide you and remind you of God's promises.

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Listen to the stories of the people who follow God and listen to the ones who didn't, right?

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You know, it's the idea to say, well, you know, I think I better follow God

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because that worked out for them. There's some stories where they didn't follow

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God and it didn't work out for them.

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I mean, so the Bible keeps a balanced life.

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Let's say it keeps it real on what it looks like to seek first the kingdom of

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God and his righteousness and his way of doing things.

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It also shows those who try to seek something else and the response that they

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get. What is their outcome?

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And so it's been so good. As we wrap up this series, I just want to encourage

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you to embrace the hope found in repentance.

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God's arms are always open to receive you. It doesn't matter how far you've

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wandered, he's calling you back home.

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Take time this week to reflect on the areas where you stray and make a commitment

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to pursue righteousness with your whole heart.

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Pray to God for strength, to resist distractions and remain focused in his kingdom.

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There's so many distractions.

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But ask yourself why. Why are there so many distractions?

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So get focused, get a routine, and just seek first the kingdom.

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And then you'll see that you'll find out that things will begin to line up.

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I always say get a regular appointment with God.

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Get up at a regular time. You have a date with God. Don't be late.

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Pick it in the morning, pick a little time in the evening, you got a lunch break,

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just a little time with the Lord, right?

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And then you'll find out that as you're seeking him, then you're going to get more direction.

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Things will become clearer, the fog will lift, and you'll be endued with some

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wisdom and knowledge on what to pursue next.

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And then you'll be surprised how that downward spiral that you felt that you

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were out of control will begin to slow down, and you'll get your life back.

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Why? Because you're seeking first God's kingdom. You're not seeking the opposite.

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Okay? So God's judgment isn't meant to destroy.

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It's meant to lead us to life. But sometimes people have to hit rock bottom

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before they really get the hint, you know.

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But if you're still breathing and you're still alive, then you have restoration.

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God has restoration for you.

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Remember that repentance is an invitation to experience his mercy and grace in full measure.

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So remember, just repentance is turning away from evil,

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just turning your back on it and just going after God, fleeing it,

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running as fast as you can away from sin and running towards God.

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I'd like to thank you for joining me on Dialogue of Black Women.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris, and I want you to stay blessed.

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Stay focused on His promises, and remember, there's always hope in Christ.

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Stay tuned for our next journey on Faith on the Go.

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So walk this out, this journey of faith, truth, and grace. And remember,

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God is still in the restoration business. Amen.