Repentance

Can you help me with the concept of repentance? What does repentance mean to you? Wednesday night at Bible Study we came across this passage and we thought it helped to explain repentance.

James 4:7-10 - 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. NIV

Can you think of some word pictures or other Scriptures that will help us understand repentance?

Job 1:21

Job, in the midst of his suffering, stated:

Job 1:21 – and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."

This passage raises several questions.

† All questions could simply be answered by saying – this is a true statement – we have a Sovereign God who controls all things
† Questions arise when we say that not all things quoted in the Bible are good thing or God things – for instance:
o The story of David, Bathsheba, and Uriah in 2 Samuel 11 doesn’t suggest that we should all desire other men’s wives (even if we have the power to do so).
† Although God is Sovereign and is the supreme ruler, to assume that God gives and God takes away, as a general truth for God leads to many unsettling circumstances.
o Is it God who takes a baby in crib death?
o Is it God who takes a baby in a miscarriage?
o Is it God who takes a baby through abortion?
o Is it God who causes a child to be bore handicapped?
o And so on…

Where as it is true that we came into the world with nothing and will leave it just the same – maybe some fancy clothes on our body in our casket – but none-the-less – without anything. It may not be a truism that God gave it all and took it all away. Our free will has played into the equation and the free will of others as well.

Because Job felt all he had came from God and if God wanted to, He could take it all away, doesn’t mean a universal truth is that God gives and God takes away. Our free will many times takes away our health, the life of others, and even at times impacts the lives of those around us.

What do you think - is this promise for all who believe?

Proverbs 3:5-6 - 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

What do you think about this passage of Scripture? Someone on my FaceBook said this promise was not for everyone. Yet I recently heard a powerful sermon on just this promise.

What are your thoughts?

Sexual Immorality

Help me define sexual immorality? I had a discussion with some young adults about sexual immorality. I have added a few scriptures and named some sexually immoral things. Are there more?

Colossians 3:5 - Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

1 Corinthians 6:18 - Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

1 Corinthians 10:8 - We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did — and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 - It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;

Jude 7 - In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

Define the following from Scripture:

Adultery
Fornication
Homosexuality
Pornography
Lust
Name and define some more