Chapter 3: Repentance.
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Hello and welcome to
Steps to Christ in Songs.
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Today we're gonna to be
looking at the subject of
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Repentance. I have a
friend who has a favorite aunt,
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and when he was growing
up, she was sort of like
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his favorite person
and one day he had, he was
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outside playing and he
came into the house and
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they didn't know he was
there, and he heard this
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aunt, who he loved so
much talking about him
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and she was saying
some things that were really
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negative, and it really
hurt him so much so that
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years later, he said that
he had never told her and he
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had never told anyone
else in the family, but he
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told me and it had
really hurt him so much,
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and I thought about
that situation and what would
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it had been like if he
had actually come to her
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and said this
had happened to me.
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Could she have turned
around and said to him,
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well you know you
shouldn't have heard
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that conversation or
I was having a bad day.
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If she had
responded that way that's not
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true repentance.
True repentance is feeling
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sorry that you have
hurt someone that you really
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love and then you stop
doing that, but before we
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go too far into this subject
I want to ask Ellen to lead
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us in a word of
prayer, let's pray.
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Dear heavenly Father,
Lord, I want to thank you
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so much for giving us
a second chance and for
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giving us an
opportunity to repent, and Lord
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thank you for forgiving
us and for taking away that
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horrible feeling of
guilt that comes from
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disobeying you, I love you so
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much in your name, amen. Amen.
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Guilt is a horrible
feeling and guilt is something
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that we've all experienced,
but God wants us to be
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free from this feeling.
So, how does this happen.
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On the day of
Pentecost many who were feeling
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this way cried out to
Peter, what shall we do?
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Peter's response in Acts
3:19 was, repent therefore
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and be converted that
your sins maybe blotted out.
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When we repent and
know that our sins are
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blotted out then we
will be completely free from
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this feeling of guilt.
That's God's amazing grace.
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Amazing Grace,
how sweet the sound,
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That saved a wretch like me.
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I once was lost
but now am found,
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Was blind, but now I
see. T'was Grace that taught
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my heart to fear. And
Grace, my fears relieved.
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How precious did
that Grace appear
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The hour I first believed.
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The Lord has
promised good to me.
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His word my hope secures.
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He will my
shield and portion be,
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As long as life
endures. Through many dangers,
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toils and snares
I have already come;
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'Tis Grace that
brought me safe thus far
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and Grace will lead me home.
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When we've been
here ten thousand years
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Bright shining as the
sun. We've no less days to
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sing God's praise,
Than when we've first begun.
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Grace is truly the most
precious gift we can ever
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receive, because when
we do something wrong,
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the feeling of guilt
that we get is like a chain
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that binds us, but
when we receive God's grace
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it's like a key that can unlock
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those chains and set us free.
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Well, sometimes
people abuse that grace.
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How do we know if
someone's really sorry?
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Well I think that
true repentance isn't just
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saying that you're
sorry, but actually changing and
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I have some friends
that whenever I talk to them
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whether it be something
important or we're just
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chatting, they
always interrupt me and they
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run over my sentences
or whatever, and at first
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I was like that's okay,
you know I do that sometimes
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too myself it's easy to
do, but they did it over and
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over and over again
and so finally I'm like you
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know this really bugs.
So, I went to talk to them
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and I told them
you know, whenever you,
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whenever we talk you
always interrupt me and
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I feel like you don't
really care you know about
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what I have to say and
so they're like oh I'm so
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sorry, I didn't even
realize I was doing that you
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know and I'm like it's
okay you know, I forgive
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you. Well, the second
time you know I go and
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talk to them guess
what happens, they interrupt
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me again, but this time
they add oh I'm so sorry
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I didn't mean to do
that and I was like okay
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that's fine you know,
but they did it every single
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time you know after
that too and they were just
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always add in like
little stories like you know
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oh I'm sorry I
don't know, you know.
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Yeah, making
excuse. Yeah making excuse
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and so you know after
that happened I'm like,
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I don't think they're
really sorry you know like.
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So, what does it mean
to be really sorry, to stop
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doing what
you've been doing right?
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And that's true repentance.
How do you get to that
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place where you
actually truly repent?
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Several years ago my
family and I lived in the
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country of Rwanda in
African as missionaries.
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I was only 11 at the
time and one of my favorite
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things to do is play
soccer every afternoon my
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African friends and I
would go out on to the
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field by my house and
we play soccer and one
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particular afternoon my
best friend he was on the
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other team and he
was just being really
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obnoxious, he is, he
was being really bad sport,
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he had a bad attitude
and he was like he would trip
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me and he would like
body check me and just
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all this illegal stuff
you know tease me and stuff
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and I was getting
really, really annoyed and so
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finally towards the end
of the game he tripped me
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again, and I got so
angry and I got up, I didn't
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think, I didn't even
think what I was doing and
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I just slugged him as
hard as I could in his stomach
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and he tumbled over
in pain and all the other
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guys rushed over to
you know see if he was okay
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and he got up and went
straight back to his house
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and the game kind of
broke up I went back to
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my house and, I was
sitting there in my room
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thinking about what had
just happened and I began
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to feel so guilty because
I realized here my family
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and I are there and
we're supposed to be
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missionaries, we're
suppose to be helping
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these people, we're
supposed to be you know
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showing them how to be
Christ like and I had just
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punched my best
friend over a soccer game
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and I was just
feeling incredibly guilty.
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So I began to think
you know how I could show
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him that I was truly
sorry and try and mend our
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friendship and I decided
I would write him a letter,
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so I wrote him a letter
and then of course I would
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take it to him and I
think that was one of the
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hardest things
I've ever had to do.
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So, I went to his house
and I knocked on the door
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and his little brother
came to the door and told me
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that he was busy. So,
I gave him the note to
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give to him and then
later, I apologized to him in
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person and we
became friends after that,
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but I think it can
honestly say that was one of the
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hardest things I've
done is apologizing to him
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you know what I've done to him.
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But, you felt that was
necessary for the friendship.
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And you never had
those kind of disagreements
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again where you
actually felt like slugging
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him and hurting him. No.
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You know, you know I
think that's the thing is
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feeling sorry
because you hurt a friend
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that's true repentance is about.
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Everyone is sorry
when they get caught doing
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something wrong
and have to face the
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consequences, but true
repentance involve being
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sorry that we did
wrong and having a desire to
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change. In the
Bible, King David showed the
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spirit when he said in
Psalms 51:10 through12,
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Create in me a
clean heart, O God.
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Renew a right spirit
within me. Do not banish
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me from your
presence, and don't take your
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Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me again the
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joy of your salvation, and
make me willing to obey you.
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Create in me a
clean heart O God,
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And renew a
right spirit within me.
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Create in me a
clean heart O God,
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And renew a
right spirit within me.
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Oh, cast me not away
from Thy presence oh Lord,
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And take not Thy
Holy Spirit from me.
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Restore unto me the
joy of Thy salvation,
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And renew a
right spirit within me
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Have mercy upon me, O God
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and according to thy
love blot out my sins
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Have mercy upon me, O God
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and according to thy
love blot out my sins
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Oh, wash me not only
from my iniquity Lord and
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cleanse me from all my
sinful ways, for I come to
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thee with faith
you will have mercy and
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according to thy
love blot out my sins.
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You know our sinful
ways are so engrained
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within us that there
is nothing that we can do
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to change ourselves.
Christ is the only one that
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can create a clean
heart in us and cleans
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us from all the sinful ways.
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Allie, how do
you relate to that?
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Well when I was
younger I used to have a real
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struggle controlling my
temper around my family.
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Like I would slam
doors, and I would hit people
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and I was just it was
really bad and as I got
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progressively worse, I
realized that this is not
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the way to be I needed
to change. But I couldn't do
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that on my own. I
wasn't just hurting others,
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but I was
hurting myself as well.
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And so I began to
pray really hard that God
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would help me and he
did and day by day as
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I would fight the battles
I began to getting victories
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and I was able to overcome that
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character trait
by his grace. Amen.
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When David realized
what he had done wrong,
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he was more interested
in changing his behavior
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rather than escaping
the consequences of his sin,
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but what was that causes
true sorrow for what he did.
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David himself says in
Psalms 51:4, against you,
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and you alone have I
sinned I've done this
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evil in your sight.
David knew God as a God of
00:16:10.79\00:16:14.32
love and he thought
that he had hurt him, broke
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his heart and caused
him to change. You see, God
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longs for our friendship,
but it is our sin that
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keeps us from Him.
It's not until we realizes
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David did, that it is
our sin that keeps this
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friendship from
growing. Why don't we realize
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this? We will truly
have the motivation to turn
00:16:34.57\00:16:38.53
from our life of
sin and be converted.
00:16:38.56\00:16:41.21
They tell me Jesus
died For my transgressions
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That he paid that
price a long, long time ago
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When he gave his life for me
00:17:27.17\00:17:31.27
On a hill called
Calvary But there's something
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else I want to know
Does he still feel the nails
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Every time I fail
does he hear the crowd
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cry "Crucify" again
Am I causing him pain
00:17:53.85\00:18:03.59
Then I know I've got to change
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I just can't bear the
thought of hurting him.
00:18:08.46\00:18:14.24
It seems that I'm so
good at breaking promises
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And I treat his
precious grace so carelessly
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But each time he
forgives What if he re-lives
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The agony He felt on that tree
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Does he still feel the nails
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Every time I fail
does he hear the crowd
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cry "Crucify" again
Am I causing him pain
00:19:02.28\00:19:12.12
Then I know I've got to change
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I just can't bear the
thought of hurting him.
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Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord
00:19:25.23\00:19:40.22
Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord
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Do you still feel the
nails Every time I fail
00:19:55.17\00:20:03.46
Have I crucified
you Jesus with my sins
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Oh I'm tired of playing games
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I really want to change
00:20:15.15\00:20:18.56
I never want to hurt you again
00:20:19.06\00:20:25.31
Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord
00:20:27.09\00:20:44.09
Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord
00:20:44.80\00:21:03.59
In Matthew 25 verse 40,
Jesus says in his much as
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you have done it to
the least is the feeds;
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you've done it to me.
God is so connected with each
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of His creatures that
anything done I guess one
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of them is done
against him, no matter what
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are sin it hurts Jesus,
in is that knowledge that
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needs us true desire to change.
00:21:27.73\00:21:29.60
Desire to change, what
do you think about that
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Carmen, what is that
got you make you think of?
00:21:31.97\00:21:34.34
Well, when I was in
8th grade my brother and
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I were home schooled
and my parents would work
00:21:36.95\00:21:40.47
and so they weren't
home most of the time and my
00:21:40.82\00:21:43.35
dad starting teaching,
teaching us piano and he
00:21:43.38\00:21:47.84
wanted us to practice
at least an hour a day.
00:21:47.87\00:21:49.69
And I really wasn't
interesting in it, I really
00:21:50.37\00:21:52.48
didn't feel like practicing
at all, and so he would
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come home in
evenings and he would ask me,
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did you practice your
piano and I would say,
00:21:59.35\00:22:01.68
oh yeah, yeah I did
it and I really hadn't.
00:22:01.71\00:22:04.05
And so, one time there
was some books on piano
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and they were just
laying and when he left and
00:22:09.14\00:22:13.25
when he came back
there with the exact same way
00:22:13.52\00:22:15.31
and he asked me, did
you practice and I said
00:22:16.07\00:22:18.74
oh yeah, yeah I did. And,
he found out that I haven't
00:22:18.77\00:22:24.00
and so he told me
you know that hurts me
00:22:24.74\00:22:27.69
that you lied to me and
so for a moment it struck
00:22:27.72\00:22:34.68
me oh wow that hurt him,
but then I brushed it off,
00:22:34.71\00:22:39.04
and well, it's okay
I just do better next
00:22:39.07\00:22:42.21
time and cover
the evidence. Yeah.
00:22:42.24\00:22:43.76
And so, that was the
way I was and then when
00:22:44.23\00:22:50.56
I came here to
Fountainview, it was
00:22:50.59\00:22:52.60
summer and when were
having worships in the
00:22:52.63\00:22:56.47
morning or whatever and
all the kids were having
00:22:56.50\00:23:01.45
devotions in the morning and
00:23:01.48\00:23:03.59
I never done that really before.
00:23:03.62\00:23:06.01
You weren't used to
that? And I wasn't and so
00:23:06.04\00:23:08.71
I started and I was
learning a lot about God's
00:23:08.74\00:23:12.79
plan for my life and
how he would like me to live
00:23:12.82\00:23:16.47
and treat others and I
was beginning to feel really
00:23:16.50\00:23:20.54
sorry for all things I done that
year and all the lies I told
00:23:20.57\00:23:23.23
and I was feeling
this deep guilt and
00:23:23.95\00:23:27.12
remorse and I decided to change.
00:23:27.66\00:23:30.27
What about playing piano,
00:23:30.30\00:23:32.18
did you want to do that again?
00:23:32.47\00:23:33.55
Yeah, I began to enjoy it more.
00:23:33.85\00:23:35.45
Yeah. And I
started in fact some more.
00:23:35.48\00:23:37.25
Because you were
afraid of punishment.
00:23:38.58\00:23:40.61
No because there as
I do enjoy it more and
00:23:41.07\00:23:42.91
because I could play,
I learned to play more
00:23:42.94\00:23:45.46
and I began to enjoy it more.
00:23:45.49\00:23:47.55
Yeah and you
actually wanted to play the
00:23:47.58\00:23:49.30
piano did you
find yourself going and
00:23:49.33\00:23:51.10
doing it just out
of enjoyment. Yeah.
00:23:51.13\00:23:52.98
Okay, and that's a
difference, that's a change
00:23:53.01\00:23:55.85
of heart, a real change
not because of a fear of
00:23:55.88\00:23:59.84
punishment, but because
you actually want to do it.
00:23:59.87\00:24:02.59
Carmen, can you see a
connection between the
00:24:05.01\00:24:07.62
change that was produced
in your heart and the time
00:24:07.65\00:24:09.68
that you would have devotions?
00:24:09.71\00:24:10.80
Well, it was a, it
was a gradual change,
00:24:11.37\00:24:13.54
I can't really pin point
when it happen but it was
00:24:13.57\00:24:16.34
a change that happened
over time while I got to
00:24:16.81\00:24:19.09
know Christ better and
his love for me and his
00:24:19.12\00:24:22.88
forgiveness and it brought
about a change in my life
00:24:22.91\00:24:26.23
that I wanted to
live the way he wanted
00:24:26.26\00:24:29.82
me to live more. Just
like in the scriptures
00:24:29.85\00:24:32.44
where it says the
goodness of God leads us
00:24:32.47\00:24:34.27
to repentance and
sometimes we don't know
00:24:34.30\00:24:36.81
exactly when that
happens, but we do know
00:24:36.84\00:24:38.87
that when you desire
that change its evidence that
00:24:38.90\00:24:42.49
God has been
working our lives. Yes.
00:24:42.52\00:24:44.56
Thanks for sharing that.
00:24:44.59\00:24:45.62
You know in the book
of Romans, it says the
00:24:47.41\00:24:49.56
goodness of God leads
us to repentance that makes
00:24:49.59\00:24:52.58
me think of my own
experience, when I was
00:24:52.61\00:24:54.79
growing up I never read
the Bible and I had some
00:24:54.82\00:24:57.83
really bad habits, but
my grandmother, she had
00:24:58.20\00:25:02.86
constantly had been an
encouragement in my life.
00:25:03.15\00:25:05.72
I had grown up in an
orphanage and she had
00:25:07.32\00:25:10.94
sent me a Bible and
there was something about that
00:25:10.97\00:25:13.74
Bible that, it just gave
me hope, she told me to read
00:25:13.77\00:25:18.94
a chapter a day and she
would also sent me letters
00:25:18.97\00:25:22.63
and tell me to, to
read certain portions of the
00:25:22.66\00:25:25.64
Bible and to memorize
them. One of the things
00:25:25.67\00:25:28.65
in the Bible she
asked to me to memorize was
00:25:28.68\00:25:30.58
Psalm 23 and I did that
and then the Lord's prayer
00:25:30.61\00:25:35.19
and there was
something that was starting to
00:25:35.76\00:25:37.47
happen in my heart and
I started to see a change
00:25:37.50\00:25:40.28
in my life, those things
that I used to like to do,
00:25:40.31\00:25:45.34
I was, I no longer
enjoyed doing and the things
00:25:45.96\00:25:49.58
that I didn't enjoy
doing like having to do
00:25:49.61\00:25:54.05
religious things or
go to church. I now enjoy
00:25:54.08\00:25:56.39
doing and I couldn't wait
to actually read my Bible.
00:25:56.42\00:26:00.21
Something about Christ
working in our hearts that
00:26:01.45\00:26:05.39
leads us to truly
repent, in fact, we can't repent
00:26:05.42\00:26:09.52
without Christ living
in our hearts and so it's
00:26:09.55\00:26:13.50
actually the truth of
what scripture said the
00:26:13.53\00:26:15.89
goodness of God leads
us to repent so when we see
00:26:15.92\00:26:18.54
how good God is,
when we read the word and
00:26:18.96\00:26:22.62
when we pray to Him, it
changes our hearts and it
00:26:22.65\00:26:25.74
changes our desires.
I think of that story,
00:26:25.77\00:26:29.21
in Luke chapter 18,
where two people come to the
00:26:29.55\00:26:31.97
temple, a publican, that's
a tax collector and he was
00:26:32.00\00:26:36.00
thought really bad of
and a Pharisee, who was a
00:26:36.03\00:26:39.41
religious leader and
the Pharisee praised to God
00:26:39.44\00:26:42.84
and it says
actually prayed to himself.
00:26:42.87\00:26:44.94
God, thank you that
I'm so good and then on the
00:26:45.38\00:26:48.53
other hand you have
the publican, who beats
00:26:48.56\00:26:51.42
himself on the brass and
he kind of looks down the
00:26:51.45\00:26:54.45
ground he can't even
turn his eyes up towards
00:26:54.48\00:26:56.69
heaven and he says I'm
such a terrible person,
00:26:56.72\00:26:59.68
but please forgive me,
and he realizes his need
00:26:59.71\00:27:03.76
of God and because he
realizes His need he goes
00:27:03.79\00:27:07.59
away and he receives
the blessing of God and the
00:27:07.62\00:27:10.42
Pharisee receives
nothing, because he is comparing
00:27:10.45\00:27:14.26
himself and saying
he is much better than
00:27:14.29\00:27:16.54
someone else. What we
really need is a change
00:27:16.57\00:27:20.17
of heart, we need to
realize our need of God
00:27:20.20\00:27:22.84
and come to Him and
ask Him for the gift of
00:27:23.04\00:27:26.08
repentance to change
our hearts and change
00:27:26.11\00:27:28.43
our thoughts. Let's turn
to him in prayer right now.
00:27:28.46\00:27:31.29
Lord, I thank you for
the change that is produced
00:27:33.91\00:27:36.67
in our hearts, when
we come to the Bible and
00:27:36.70\00:27:39.39
we come to you
honestly seeking to know you.
00:27:39.42\00:27:42.61
We thank you for the
gift of repentance and thank
00:27:43.97\00:27:46.17
you for your love, in
Jesus name, amen. Amen.
00:27:46.20\00:27:49.50
Steps to Christ in
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