October 8, 2025 • 43 mins
Repentance stands as one of Christianity's most profoundly misinterpreted concepts. While many reduce it to mere apologies or expressions of regret, its true essence runs much deeper – it's about a fundamental transformation that redirects our entire life trajectory toward God.
"Change is the key," the teaching emphasizes. "Not saying 'I'm sorry.'" When someone repeatedly offends while continually apologizing, what we truly desire isn't their verbal remorse but for the hurtful behavior to stop completely. Similarly, God seeks not our words of apology but our transformed hearts and actions that demonstrate a genuine turning from sin toward righteousness.
The message unveils three powerful catalysts that spark authentic repentance: conviction (that heart-piercing awareness of wrongdoing), experiencing God's goodness (His patience that gives us time to change rather than facing immediate judgment), and godly sorrow (a deep grief that produces lasting transformation rather than temporary emotional distress). Through the lens of 2 Corinthians 7, we discover how "godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation," while "the sorrow of the world produces death" – a profound distinction that separates true heart change from superficial regret.
The parable of the sower beautifully illustrates various heart responses to God's word. Some hearts resemble wayside soil where understanding never takes root, others like stony ground where initial enthusiasm quickly withers under pressure, and still others like thorny ground where worldly concerns choke spiritual growth. Only the well-prepared heart – tilled through genuine repentance – produces the abundant fruit God desires. As James 1:22 reminds us, blessing comes not to those who merely hear God's word, but to those who consistently act upon it.
Ready for real transformation? Examine those areas of your life you've been avoiding and make the changes you know deep down are necessary. True repentance isn't just feeling sorry – it's about becoming the person God created you to be. This is the way.
"Message Our Father's Heart a Question or Response"
Thank you so much for listening and sharing with others!
We would very much appreciate you continuing to FOLLOW, SUBSCRIBE, and LIKE us through any of the following platforms:
Substack: https://ourfathersheart.substack.com/
Website: ourfathersheart.org
Podcast: https://ourfathersheart.buzzsprout.com/share
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@ofathersheart
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ofathersheart
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ourfathersheart
May God bless you and make you prosperous in Him as you listen and obey His voice!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
j - Jesus M. Ruiz (00:03):
The vision receives a lot of blood cells
traveling throughout the body,supplying the much needed oxygen
and other nutrients to thediffering members of the body to
fulfill their purpose.
Once the blood cells are sped,they must return back to the
heart to be refilled beforebeing sent out again and fulfill
their purpose.
(00:26):
And so what is repentance?
We've got to talk about that.
What exactly is that?
Because I keep asking children,they keep saying, well,
repentance is saying, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, I apologize.
No, that is not repentance.
Repentance is very simple.
Change your mind.
(00:46):
Change what you're doing.
Change is the key.
Change.
Not say I'm sorry.
It's nice to be grieving overthings that you did wrong when
you, when you um, when you uhlet's say uh let's say I
offended John.
It's nice to say sorry to John,but I think John wants me to
(01:09):
stop doing whatever it was thatI did that hurt him.
I think he'd rather want me tostop.
Wouldn't you?
Your best friend, yourgirlfriend, if you're a girl,
your girlfriend, if you're aboy, your best friend, if he
constantly is criticizingeverything that you do, and then
he later says, I'm sorry, buthe continues to do it, I think
you'd rather him stopcriticizing you.
(01:29):
That's repentance.
I don't want your sorry, Idon't want your apology.
Just stop doing that.
And that's the same thing withGod.
God does not want to beoffended by your ways, and your
sin offends him.
Stop.
Repent of it.
Repentance is turning away fromthe world, turning away from
(01:55):
sin, and turning toward God.
Doing things God's way.
That's repentance.
And there are three things thatlead a man to repentance.
Does anybody know?
What three things lead a man torepent? Brother John.
John H. S. Leyva (02:11):
The goodness of God?
j - Jesus M. Ruiz (02:13):
Goodness of God is one.
That's my second one.
I'm gonna get into that.
Uh think of Acts 2.37.
What led them to repentance?
The word of God that's sort ofdescribed as break their heart.
Ah, what's that called?
John H. S. Leyva (02:31):
Conviction.
j - Jesus M. Ruiz (02:32):
Conviction.
Yeah, conviction.
And there's a third one.
We'll get to that in a second.
But let's start withconviction.
On the day of Pentecost, youhad Peter preaching the gospel.
And all he was telling them wasabout Jesus, who he was, what
he did, and then to put the lidon the coffin, you're the ones
that crucified.
(02:52):
They were pricked.
That's conviction.
But watch what the convictiondid.
It says in 2:37, when theyheard this message that I just
summarized, now when they heardthis, they were pricked in the
heart, and they said unto Peterand to the rest of the apostles,
men and brethren, what shall wedo?
Conviction leads you to want tofigure out what do I do to fix
(03:18):
this?
How can I repair or remedy whatI've done wrong?
But if all you do is feelsorry, and you never ask, well,
how do I get myself out of this?
That's not repentance.
You getting convicted, and thenit's sort of like you don't
know what to do with it, or youdo, you just don't want to do
(03:40):
it.
You want to justify yourselves,and then you start explaining,
well, this is why I did that.
It doesn't matter why you didit.
It really doesn't.
So the people heard Peter'smessage, they were pricked in
their heart, and that convictionled to them wanting to know
what they do to fix thesituation.
(04:02):
Brother John brought up thegoodness of God.
It says in Romans 2 (04:07):
4 Do you despise the riches of his
goodness?
His forbearance, his patience,his long-suffering, more of his
patience?
Not knowing that the goodnessof God leadeth thee to
repentance?
So many people are complainingabout seeing the wicked be
(04:31):
blessed and being able toprevail in their ways.
And what you don't realize isthat it's the goodness of God
that they're still alive.
Because God wants them torepent, to be saved.
He doesn't want to destroythem, he doesn't want to kill
them.
That is not His firstinclination.
(04:52):
He'd rather they be changed andsaved.
So all this time that we'reseeing this, it's not so we can
go complain to God, why haven'tyou dealt with them and snuffed
them out?
That's God being patient withthem to see them turn from their
wicked ways.
And I'm so glad that for20-some odd years he was patient
(05:12):
with me.
Because I thought that I wasokay.
I was raised in a Christianschool all my life, but I wasn't
saved till I was about20-something years old, thinking
that I was saved the wholetime.
Thank God that he wasforbearance with me.
Because I didn't know.
And there's a lot of them outthere that they look like
(05:32):
they're wickedly horrible, yetthey just simply don't know.
And hopefully one day God willbe able to reveal to them that
let me show you the more perfectway, like he did with me, like
he did, I think, with many ofyou here.
Paul here said that knowing thegoodness of God, knowing that
God is so good, that he's sopatient, I mean, many of us here
(05:56):
are in the kingdom, and we'restill glad that he's so patient
with us.
Because we see our ownstubbornness.
We see that we still haven'trepented in some areas of our
life, yet God is still with us,and God is still working with us
and trying to get us to thatplace where we can continue
maturing and not become stagnantor not regress.
We're glad that he's so goodwith us, which causes us to do
(06:19):
what?
Hopefully love him more.
Because he is that way.
Because he is working with us.
He doesn't give up on us, hedoesn't forsake us, he doesn't
leave us when he knows we'restruggling.
It's not that we're adamantlyrebelling against him, but we
just simply struggle withworking that way.
(06:40):
And that's why he's depositedhis gift in our hearts.
That's why he's deposited theHoly Ghost to what?
In Ezekiel 36?
To cause us to walk in his waysand guard his statues.
He's given us the power to doso, so he's working with us.
But there are some of us,sadly, that reject and reject
and reject and reject, and hewill not wrestle with man
forever.
(07:00):
He will not.
There is a limit to hispatience and his long-suffering.
He isn't eternally patient, heisn't eternally long-suffering,
but he is long-suffering andpatient enough to give you the
opportunity to do what you'resupposed to do.
Circumcise your heart.
Break up your follow ground.
(07:21):
And change your ways.
And the other ideas, I said, Isee both.
I see both extremes.
One extreme goes, I'm going topreach hellfire brimstone and
get the fear of eternaldamnation into them so that they
(07:42):
could change.
And then on the other extreme,you have this perverted love of
God that requires nothing, andthat you just rest in knowing
that God loves you and God isgoing to save you.
And both of them, which is thewide and narrow way, lead to
eternal damnation.
But there's this little, littlenarrow way that is saying, God
(08:03):
loves you, yes, but he's notgoing to love you and leave you
that way.
He's going to love you enoughto require you to change so that
you can be conformed into hisimage, which is your eternal
destiny, to be in the image ofGod, to see him face to face and
not see any difference.
Amen.
What a glorious destiny thatis.
To be in the image of theeternal and perfect God.
(08:25):
I mean, when we read theGospels, are they preaching
hell, fire, and brimstone andaxe?
I never saw that.
They're preaching the gospel.
They're preaching Jesus.
They're preaching what he did,who he was, and what he did it
for.
But hell, fire, and brimstone,I mean, I understand that may be
(08:47):
necessary because of thehardness of people's hearts, but
that should not be theoverwhelming message.
The gospel hasn't changed.
The gospel's Jesus.
Not about eternal damnation.
That has its place in theteachings.
But it's about Jesus.
And so that brings me to aletter, which is our third
(09:09):
reason why what should lead aman to repent.
It is conviction, it is thegoodness of God.
But the next one is godlysorrow.
And Paul wrote a letter.
It's called 1 Corinthians.
And I think we've touched upon1 Corinthians enough to know
that Paul was writing to 1Corinthians because there was a
lot of disorder in the church.
In a church that was brimmingwith the gifts of the Spirit and
(09:33):
speaking in tongues and wordsof prophecy, and all of these
things were just flowing, butthey were very carnal at the
same time.
I remember he was trying tocorrect them on meeting together
and fellowshipping and breakingbread and about the, oh gosh,
what do they call it?
That Last Supper meal?
Communion.
(09:54):
You know, and talking aboutthat.
He was correcting them on that.
He was correcting them aboutorder in the church.
He was correcting them aboutwives submitting to their
husbands, correcting about a lotof things.
It was just a letter litteredwith correction in so many
different areas.
So we go in 2 Corinthians,which is the second letter that
Paul wrote to the same people.
(10:15):
And he says in chapter 7, verse8, For though I made you sorry
with the letter, I do notrepent.
Though I did repent.
In other words, I wrote aletter to you, and I know you
were sorry about it.
And I didn't repent yet attimes I wanted to repent.
I wanted to sort of, oh, maybeI shouldn't write this.
(10:38):
But he was glad he did it.
Because it was necessary.
For I perceive that this sameletter hath made you sorry,
though it were but for a season.
In other words, you were hurtfor a season.
I grieved you.
I know that.
And God does that with you.
Parents do that with ourchildren.
(10:58):
We grieve you for a season.
We discipline you for a season.
You may not be able to touchthe internet.
You might not be able to watchthe TV.
You might not be able to readyour books for a season.
But there's a reason for thatgrief.
There's a reason why you'regetting disciplined and
corrected.
He says, but I rejoice.
Not that you were grieved, notthat you were sorry, but that
(11:20):
you sorrowed to repentance.
That grief, that hurt led youto change.
So therefore, I'm not sad foryou anymore.
I'm so happy and I'm so full ofjoy that you sorrowed to
repent.
Because that leads to yoursalvation.
(11:41):
For godly sorrow, or I skippedon it, for you were made sorry
after a godly manner.
Why does he say after a godlymanner?
Because it caused you to repentof your ways.
Not just be sorry.
I'm sorry.
And continue on, but no, I'msorry and I'm changed.
I'm not going to do thatanymore.
(12:03):
And he says, so that you won'treceive damage to us for
nothing.
I didn't grieve you fornothing, because it would have
been a waste if you didn'trepent.
But you did.
And I'm so glad.
I'm so happy that you did.
For godly sorrow workethrepentance to salvation that
(12:24):
shall never change from again.
Godly sorrow does that.
But the sorrow of the worldworketh death.
For behold, this selfsame thingthat ye sorrowed after a godly
sort.
When you sorrowed after a godlymanner, look at what it did to
you.
You were now careful about howyou treated the brethren.
(12:47):
Because that was one of theissues he was dealing with.
It says, What clearing ofyourselves?
In other words, what way youchange to clean yourself, to
walk in a manner that is moreupright, that is more justly
with God.
What indignation, and you didit not haphazardly, not without
commitment, but you did it withzeal.
(13:08):
You did it with indignation,with fear, with vehement desire.
And you did it because youreally meant it.
In all things ye have approvedyourselves to be clear in this
matter.
All the things that I wrote toyou in the first letter, you're
now clear of.
In other words, you're nowforgiven of because you
(13:31):
repented.
And that's how God is with hispeople.
If you repent, becauseeverybody quotes 1 John 1.9, and
we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us
our sins and cleanse us from allunrighteousness.
And that's absolutely true.
Absolutely true.
But the underlying principle ofall the scriptures is that you
need to change that.
(13:51):
You don't keep walking in itand say, I'm sorry, keep
walking, I'm sorry, keep walkingin it.
You're going to become sohardened that he's not ever
going to be able to reach youanymore.
You'll never hear his voiceanymore.
Because you've hardenedyourself.
Break up your fallow ground,circumcise yourselves is the
message throughout all thescriptures.
So a true repentance, if it'strue, if it's sincere, causes us
(14:21):
to turn away from the world,its lies, its sin, to turn to
God with all our heart.
All those words of clearingyourselves, indignation and
fear, and vehement desire andzeal and revenge, you'll do that
with vigor.
I mean, we called it infootball reckless abandon.
(14:43):
Play with reckless abandon.
That means go out there andjust nail him with everything
you have.
Don't just hit him and tacklehim.
But hit him with everything.
Just go after him with all yourmight.
Bam, hit him.
Reckless abandon all over thefield.
With reckless abandon, go afterthe heart of God.
With reckless abandon, let goof the things that are holding
(15:06):
you back and go after the thingsof righteousness.
So godly sorrow leads or causesyou to repent unto salvation
that you will not repent of.
But what is the sorrow of theworld?
It is a sorrow that we see timeand time again with the altar
calls, people crying, crying,crying, and next week they come
(15:28):
crying, crying, and next weekthey come crying, and they're
crying every single week of thesame things.
That's the sorrow of the worldbecause they went back into the
ways of the world that wholeweek.
So they come crying, regrettingagain.
He's not into that.
That's the sorrow of the world.
It makes it loud cries, itdraws all the attention, and
(15:49):
everybody gets so, oh, she'scrying, and then they all cry
with them, and then they don'trepent.
It's sad, it really is.
John H. S. Leyva (15:58):
Amen.
j - Jesus M. Ruiz (15:59):
That's probably one of the reasons why
I don't get so emotional when Isee people crying.
Because I keep telling my wife,oh, we gave the word, let's
wait and see.
Yeah, it looked like theyreceived.
Let's wait and see.
Let's see what they do.
I'm always waiting to see whatthey do.
What are they gonna do with theword that they received?
Because I know that I didn'tlie to them.
(16:19):
I told them the truth.
Let's wait and see what they'regonna do with it.
The sorrow of the world onlydeceives a person and leads them
to their death.
Because they really didn'trepent, which was the key, which
was the whole message, really.
Repent.
Matthew, I believe it was Johnthe Baptist that said to the
(16:43):
Pharisees, bring forth fruit.
Bring forth, therefore, fruits,meet for repentance.
John's thrust of his ministrywas having people turn their
hearts to the Lord, turn thehearts of the sons toward the
fathers, the fathers toward thesons.
(17:05):
His thrust of his ministry wasbaptism unto repentance for
sins.
But the Pharisees never abidedin it.
And the people were so enamoredwith John the Baptist and his
message that they baptizedthemselves because they heard
what he truly said.
(17:26):
There's a lot of people thathear, but they don't really
hear.
But those that heard and beenbaptized, they really heard him.
They really wanted to changetheir ways, to change their
lives.
And that's what John theBaptist's ministry was: getting
people to change.
Because the Lamb who's takingaway the sins of the world is
(17:47):
coming after me.
And unless you change, youwon't be able to receive him.
So he tells the Pharisees,bring forth fruits worthy of
repentance.
But it says in Luke 7 (17:57):
28, Jesus is talking about John the
Baptist and how great he was.
He says, For I say unto you,among those that are born of
women, there is not a greaterprophet than John the Baptist.
But he that is least in thekingdom of God is greater than
he.
And we've already talked aboutthat verse, so I'm not harping
about that verse.
(18:18):
But verse 29 says, And all thepeople that heard him and the
publicans justified God.
Because they respected John theBaptist's ministry.
They believed that he was a mansent of God.
Even though he didn't do anymiracles, they understood his
message was from God.
And it says that all that heardhim, the publicans, they
(18:40):
justified God, they werebaptized by John.
But notice what it says in 30.
But the Pharisees and thelawyers, they rejected the
counsel of God againstthemselves.
How do you know that?
How does the writer know this?
Because they were not baptizedat John.
That's the problem, though.
The Pharisees are the exampleof the heart that is so hardened
(19:04):
to the word that they rejectthe word.
How do we know they reject theword?
Because they didn't obey theword.
How do I know that Abraham hadfaith?
Not because he believed, butbecause he obeyed.
Obedience is the underlyingprinciple throughout all of
Scriptures.
It's not belief.
They've perverted beliefbecause belief is actually
(19:26):
faith, but faith is believingand acting.
Not believing.
That's Greek.
Just this idea of belief.
Well, I think, therefore I am.
Okay, yeah.
Philosophical nonsense.
Jesus spoke to all the people.
The Pharisees, the publicans,the people with diseases, the
(19:53):
people with infirmities, withleprosy.
I mean, he spoke to everyone.
The rich, the poor.
And he said, there was not agreater prophet than John the
Baptist.
But the religious leaders heardJohn the Baptist and they
didn't obey either.
And they didn't obey Jesuseither.
(20:14):
But even in what they heard,even though they heard it, they
didn't do it.
And they did not obey the wordof God, and that resulted in
their judgment.
When God has sent you as anapostle, as a prophet, as an
(20:36):
evangelist, as a teacher, as asimple angel, a messenger of God
to someone else.
And you are preaching the wordof God to that person, and they
don't listen to you.
What the Lord said to Samuel isthe same thing that the Lord
says to you, so don't broke hisheart out.
(20:56):
What the Lord said to Samuel,they have not rejected you.
Don't be offended because it'snot you.
They rejected me.
That I should not reign overthem.
Because the word applied tosomeone's life is in order for
God to have reign.
(21:16):
God will bring them intoperfection.
God will bring them into akingdom that is in order
according to God's commandments.
But when they reject the word,they're saying, I don't want you
to reign.
I don't want you, God.
So Jesus, I know I've said thisbefore, made us a part of the
(21:43):
salvation process.
We proclaim the gospel of hiskingdom.
And he says, if they don't hearyour words, it's me.
Don't get offended.
It's me that they're rejecting.
And I had to hear these wordsrecently because I had to
minister to a dear, dear friendof mine and hear him reject the
(22:03):
word.
This isn't about me and you.
Because I'm not telling you myown thoughts.
I'm not telling you my ownideas.
I'm simply saying you need toapply the word in this area of
your life and to hear, well, Idisagree with that.
And it's not.
You disagree with God.
Because it's very clear what hesaid.
(22:25):
And there's nothing that youcan say to me that's scriptural.
All of this is you justifyingyourself, you justifying your
actions and your thoughts.
But basically, you're sayingthat your actions and your
thoughts I hold high above theword of God.
Like the Pope.
Whatever the Pope says out ofhis mouth is equal to the word
or higher.
(22:45):
So I want to go back to Acts2:38, because I told you there's
a pattern.
Abraham, God came to him.
And immediately when God cameto him, required of him
something.
So if you go to Acts 2:38, Iwant you to see that.
But it wasn't God coming, itwas God in his messengers
(23:08):
coming.
And we know the scripture 2:38.
Then Peter said unto them,repent.
That's circumcise your heart.
That's break up your fallowground.
Be baptized in the name ofJesus Christ for the remission
of your sins.
That's the first act of trueobedience.
If you're really going torepent, that should be your
first act of obedience.
But watch this.
(23:30):
At the end, just like withAbraham, get out of your
country, get out of your family,get out of your kindred, get
out, get out, get out, get out.
Then watch what God says.
And ye shall receive the giftof the Holy Ghost.
For the promise is unto you,and to your children, and to all
(23:52):
that are afar off, even as manyas the Lord our God shall call.
Same pattern.
God came to them, required ofthem, and if they met that
requirement, then they shallreceive the gift of the Holy
Ghost, which is the promise ofthe Father.
Just like he did with Abraham.
It says in Hosea, harp on thisagain, Hosea 10, verse 12.
(24:18):
This idea of you circumcising,you repenting, you breaking up
your fallow ground is allthroughout the scriptures.
He says to Hosea, sow toyourselves in righteousness.
Reap in mercy.
Break up your fallow ground.
(24:39):
For it is time to seek theLord.
See, breaking up your fallowground leads you to be able to
seek the Lord.
Or that is a characteristic orfruit of breaking up your fallow
ground.
And then when do you continue?
How often do you continue toseek the Lord?
Till He come and rain downrighteousness upon you.
(25:02):
So you do that until He doesthat.
Because here was the problemwith the Israelites back then in
Hosea's time.
You plowed wickedness.
You plowed iniquity.
You reaped iniquity.
You have eaten the fruit oflies because thou didst trust in
thy way, in the multitude ofthy mighty men.
(25:24):
You see, they plowed in theirfield wickedness and lies,
trusting in men, trusting inchariots, trusting in horses,
and they left their God.
All of that stuff is in thefield.
And when he says, break up yourfallow ground, you need to
(25:46):
remove all of that stuff thatyou put there.
The unbelief, theuntrustworthiness, or the
putting of trust in otherthings, you need to get rid of
all that.
You need to start from scratch.
Now to me, it seems like awaste of time to sow seed in
ground that isn't tilt.
(26:07):
I would think it's a waste oftime if there's rocks and
there's thorns to put seedthere.
But I'm not the Lord.
And the Lord will sow seedanywhere.
He'll sow seed everywhere.
And he shows that in theparable of the sower.
So if you turn to Matthew 13,the parable of the sower
(26:31):
testifies to the idea that Godwill sow seed anywhere.
John H. S. Leyva (26:35):
Amen.
j - Jesus M. Ruiz (26:36):
With any man.
So have that idea in your heartwhen you look at other people
and think, well, he's too lost.
The Lord doesn't think so.
He'll sow seed anywhere.
In Matthew 13, there's fourplots of land.
The wayside, the stony place,the thorny place, and the good
(26:58):
ground.
Well, the wayside soil isrepresentative of the man
without understanding.
He just doesn't get it.
He just simply doesn't get it.
The seed is sown in the man whodoesn't have any understanding,
the wayside man I call it.
And immediately the bird comes,takes the seed, and it goes
away, and he did he didn't knowthe difference.
(27:18):
He didn't even know he had theseed of the kingdom of God on
his land.
He's just oblivious to it.
But the sowers still sowedthere.
The sower still gave the seedof life.
Then we come to the stonyplaces.
He sows seed there.
And it says of that particularman, the soil is the type of
(27:44):
man.
It took little or no root, butit grew.
It says that tribulation orpersecution is brought on by the
word.
And they became offended.
If you read it, they were happyto receive it, they were
excited, it started to grow, butit didn't have a lot of root.
(28:07):
Meaning underneath the soilthere was hardness.
There was rigidity.
But tribulation and persecutionbrought on by the word.
When people spoke the word tothem, it offended them.
(28:31):
These are the type, and youprobably run into them because I
know I've run into them myself.
They're Christian.
And then when you speak theword to them, they get offended.
How can they why why do you getoffended?
A Christian is one who abidesin the word.
All I'm doing is getting in theword, and you're getting
(28:53):
offended at me?
That's the type of person thathas not tilled his ground.
That's why, that's why we putout that warning.
You know, you may want toreceive the Holy Ghost, but you
better repent first.
Because you might not getexactly what you want if you
willingly continue to walk indisobedience.
(29:15):
You're not gonna you might getsomething you you had no idea
you can't handle.
And then we have the thornyround.
The person with thorns hassoil, but they did not get rid
of the weeds, they didn't getrid of the thorns, they didn't
get rid of things that they'relike tears.
(29:37):
They sort of choke each other,they choke the word out of them,
and that's what the thorns do.
But that's because that persondid not till his ground.
He didn't get rid of thethorns.
He thought, well, I cancontinue walking in this manner
or in this way.
And all of a sudden, all thethings that he cared about his
(29:58):
money, his riches.
His material things, they beginto choke the life out of the
word because they received ittoo.
They received it with gladness.
But they never got rid of theidols in their life.
And so later on down the line,as they're walking this faith
walk, they begin to have to makechoices because they would not
repent of in the beginning, andthey begin to die out.
(30:20):
I want to give you two examplesof the stony place and the
thorny place.
There was a man that Jesusloved.
This man came to him, said, Youknow, master, you know,
teacher, rabbi, what do I do toinherit eternal life?
Jesus says, Well, what do thecommandments say?
(30:42):
And he started listing thecommandments.
And the man says, Why have doneall that?
I told you this before.
Jesus didn't correct it.
He said, Okay.
He said, one thing that thoulackest, go thy way, sell
whatsoever thou hast, and giveit to the poor.
And thou shalt have treasure inheaven.
(31:04):
And come, take up the cross andfollow me.
And he was sad at that sayingand went away grieved, for he
had great possessions.
Which man is that?
The stony or the thony?
Excuse me?
The thony.
That's the man that did not getrid of the idols.
(31:28):
That was gonna choke the lifeout of the word.
He went to Jesus.
Jesus didn't come to him.
He received Jesus to some levelbecause he went to him.
How can I take eternal life,Rabbi, master, teacher?
I've done all that.
Well, get rid of yourpossessions.
(31:48):
Come follow me.
He can't do that.
That is an area of his lifewhere he reached a level of
obedience and could go nofurther.
We never heard about that managain.
He could not relinquish himselfand repent from the idols of
his heart.
And Jesus didn't even call himidols.
He just said, get rid of thosethings.
(32:09):
Don't follow me.
He couldn't do that.
The stony places is aboutpeople that have received the
word.
They've allowed it to grow, butit didn't take much root
because there was underlyinghardness of heart in them.
And these are the type ofpeople that when you give them
(32:30):
the word, they call themselvesChristians.
And some of them may be.
They may be in the covenant,but when you give them the word,
they get offended.
In Matthew 15, 28, a woman ofCana came out of its coast and
cried unto Jesus, have mercy onme, son of David.
(32:54):
My daughter is vexed with thedevil.
Matthew 15, 22.
And Jesus answered her.
Not a word.
He ignored her.
He ignored her.
Remember, Jesus is the word ofGod.
He ignored her.
(33:15):
Didn't say a word.
Just flat out kept on walking.
And her daughter is grievouslyvexed.
They paid no mind to her.
And his disciples who came andsought him saying, Send her
away, for she cried after him.
But he didn't send her away,did he?
(33:36):
Didn't send her away.
She kept after him.
He didn't say a word to her.
He didn't say, disciples, getthis lady out of here.
He just didn't say a word toher.
But he didn't reject her.
She kept coming.
She kept coming.
Now remember, Canaan, she wasuh He answered them, or he
(34:04):
answered her and said, I am notsent, but unto the lost sheep of
the house of Israel.
Jesus understood his purposewas, remember, he takes care of
his house first.
He's going to take care of hishouse.
And then he's going to goexpand his borders and abroad
and all that.
So he only says what the wordtold him.
The word told him, I need totake care of the house of
(34:26):
Israel.
By invocation, he's saying,Well, you're not of the house of
Israel.
I can't take care of you.
And she came, she kept coming.
She worshipped him and said,Lord, help me.
But he answered and said, It isnot me to take the children's
(34:48):
bread and cast it to the dogs.
He's the word of God giving herthe word.
And if that were me, I wouldhave been offended.
I went, what?
Did he just call me a dog?
Because I'm begging him to helpme?
But see, the reason why I'mhighlighting this is not because
(35:11):
she had a heart of stone.
She didn't have a heart ofstone.
Because a heart of stone wouldhave been offended and would
have walked away.
How dare he talk to me thatway?
Who does he think he is?
Treating me like a dog?
Or you and leave.
But she didn't have that heart.
(35:33):
She said, that's true, Lord.
She continues to come after himbecause it was more important
that her daughter get theblessing from the one that she
believed in than to be offended.
But you know what?
The dogs eat of the crumbs atthe master's table.
And that so knocked Jesus'socks off.
(35:55):
Woo! Woman of great faith.
Woo! Be it done to you as youasked.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
That's what it means to tillthe ground.
That heart was ready to receiveno matter what he said to her.
No thorns, no cares of theworld, no pride.
(36:19):
Because that's what the stonyheart.
There was no pride in thatwoman.
Anybody with pride would havewalked away offended.
She had no pride.
She was already till.
She was ready.
She was circumcised.
I'll give you, I'll give you,just give me the crumbs.
I'll take the crumbs.
And she got the healing for herdaughter.
Her daughter said, was madewhole that very hour.
(36:43):
That very hour.
Good ground is not stony.
It's not thorny.
It is purposely tilled by you.
By you.
You've gotten rid of the thingsin your life that you know are
contrary to him, that you knoware going to battle and wage war
(37:05):
with him and his ways.
You need to do that.
And this is the man thatreceives the word, understands
the word, accepts it, appliesit, and bears fruit.
Some 30, 60, and 100-fold.
(37:26):
I'm not here to tell you whatexactly you need to circumcise
yourself of.
I believe that the Lord canhandle that all by himself.
Anyone who wants to prophesy,you go right ahead.
I'm not telling you not to.
What I'm saying here is thatyou, all of us, need to consider
(37:49):
the areas of our life that upto this point we have not
allowed the Lord to address.
We have been oblivious, the manof non-understanding.
We have been rigid against hisword, or we've allowed the cares
of his life to distract us fromdealing with what He's been
wanting to deal with.
This is your challenge.
(38:11):
Till your ground.
Till the ground of yourchildren.
Because they need help.
They're not going to do itthemselves at this point in
their life.
They need their ground tilledby you, parents.
It's not going to happen on itsown.
They don't know what thatmeans.
They can't even carry a pickaxeto do it.
You need to do it.
(38:33):
In James 1.22, I believe itanswers how are you supposed to
till your ground?
How do you circumcise yourself?
In James 1.22, it says, but beye doers of the word.
(38:53):
Not hearers only.
We got enough hearers in thisworld.
What we don't have is a bunchof doers of the word.
A lot of Christians out therecalling themselves Christian,
but when you look at theiractions and behavior, you're
like, you're a Christian?
You curse?
(39:14):
You cheat?
You're swamped in the sportsthat happen every weekend?
Watching football all day long?
That's all you do?
And then when the NFL comes onSunday, you do it again?
I don't know.
There are things that we needto apply the word in our life to
(39:38):
in order to obtain the promisesand the blessings of God that
come after our response to Him.
Because a hearer only deceiveshimself.
That's all they do.
They don't deceive any triedand true Christian.
They all see through that.
You deceive yourself intothinking you're okay, and God is
(40:02):
going to take care of you.
And God said he'll bring me tocompletion in the day of Christ
Jesus, and that's true.
But he doesn't do it againstyour will.
He does it in cooperation withyour will, submitted to his.
Music has got to go.
TV programs have got to go.
(40:24):
You know which ones they are.
You know which ones are notedifying.
You know which ones make amockery, a complete mockery of
Jesus.
They highlight homosexuality.
They highlight all sick andinfested, perverted things.
You know what they are.
(40:44):
All of that has got to be doneaway with.
Or else you really don't have afuture with God.
I said with God.
You'll have a future, but it'snot one with God.
Whoso looketh into the perfectlaw of liberty, the word, and
(41:06):
continues therein, it says inverse 25.
He is not a forgetful hearer,but a doer of the work.
This man shall be blessed inhis deed.
Do you see the condition there?
It didn't say if.
(41:28):
It said, but a doer of thework, this man shall be blessed.
It's a man who does the wordthat shall be blessed, not a man
who hears it.
Hearing has nothing to do withGod being obligated to abide and
(41:48):
perform his word for you.
It's always been based uponyour response to him.
And so with that, I leave youwith that challenge.
I leave you with thatconsideration.
Inspect the areas of your lifethat you have not wanted to
address.
Changes that you know deep downinside, you have to make and
(42:12):
make them.
I don't want to change thisinto a message of being fearful.
But you have to understand theconsequences if you will not
address those areas.
You will deceive yourself.
And you will end up where youdidn't think you were going to
(42:33):
end up because you were on thewrong path and you didn't know
it.
Amen.
Amen.
If you were blessed andappreciate listening to this
podcast and you would like tosupport us in our efforts,
consider lifting us up in prayerfirst.
Then remember these four socialmedia buzzwords.
(42:54):
Share, like, subscribe, orfollow.
Share this podcast link withsomeone else by texting email or
work about the list of your.
The vision receives a lot of blood cells
traveling throughout the body,supplying the much needed oxygen
and other nutrients to thediffering members of the body to
fulfill their purpose.
Once the blood cells are sped,they must return back to the
heart to be refilled beforebeing sent out again and fulfill
their purpose.
(00:26):
And so what is repentance?
We've got to talk about that.
What exactly is that?
Because I keep asking children,they keep saying, well,
repentance is saying, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, I apologize.
No, that is not repentance.
Repentance is very simple.
Change your mind.
(00:46):
Change what you're doing.
Change is the key.
Change.
Not say I'm sorry.
It's nice to be grieving overthings that you did wrong when
you, when you um, when you uhlet's say uh let's say I
offended John.
It's nice to say sorry to John,but I think John wants me to
(01:09):
stop doing whatever it was thatI did that hurt him.
I think he'd rather want me tostop.
Wouldn't you?
Your best friend, yourgirlfriend, if you're a girl,
your girlfriend, if you're aboy, your best friend, if he
constantly is criticizingeverything that you do, and then
he later says, I'm sorry, buthe continues to do it, I think
you'd rather him stopcriticizing you.
(01:29):
That's repentance.
I don't want your sorry, Idon't want your apology.
Just stop doing that.
And that's the same thing withGod.
God does not want to beoffended by your ways, and your
sin offends him.
Stop.
Repent of it.
Repentance is turning away fromthe world, turning away from
(01:55):
sin, and turning toward God.
Doing things God's way.
That's repentance.
And there are three things thatlead a man to repentance.
Does anybody know?
What three things lead a man torepent? Brother John.
John H. S. Leyva (02:11):
The goodness of God?
j - Jesus M. Ruiz (02:13):
Goodness of God is one.
That's my second one.
I'm gonna get into that.
Uh think of Acts 2.37.
What led them to repentance?
The word of God that's sort ofdescribed as break their heart.
Ah, what's that called?
John H. S. Leyva (02:31):
Conviction.
j - Jesus M. Ruiz (02:32):
Conviction.
Yeah, conviction.
And there's a third one.
We'll get to that in a second.
But let's start withconviction.
On the day of Pentecost, youhad Peter preaching the gospel.
And all he was telling them wasabout Jesus, who he was, what
he did, and then to put the lidon the coffin, you're the ones
that crucified.
(02:52):
They were pricked.
That's conviction.
But watch what the convictiondid.
It says in 2:37, when theyheard this message that I just
summarized, now when they heardthis, they were pricked in the
heart, and they said unto Peterand to the rest of the apostles,
men and brethren, what shall wedo?
Conviction leads you to want tofigure out what do I do to fix
(03:18):
this?
How can I repair or remedy whatI've done wrong?
But if all you do is feelsorry, and you never ask, well,
how do I get myself out of this?
That's not repentance.
You getting convicted, and thenit's sort of like you don't
know what to do with it, or youdo, you just don't want to do
(03:40):
it.
You want to justify yourselves,and then you start explaining,
well, this is why I did that.
It doesn't matter why you didit.
It really doesn't.
So the people heard Peter'smessage, they were pricked in
their heart, and that convictionled to them wanting to know
what they do to fix thesituation.
(04:02):
Brother John brought up thegoodness of God.
It says in Romans 2 (04:07):
4 Do you despise the riches of his
goodness?
His forbearance, his patience,his long-suffering, more of his
patience?
Not knowing that the goodnessof God leadeth thee to
repentance?
So many people are complainingabout seeing the wicked be
(04:31):
blessed and being able toprevail in their ways.
And what you don't realize isthat it's the goodness of God
that they're still alive.
Because God wants them torepent, to be saved.
He doesn't want to destroythem, he doesn't want to kill
them.
That is not His firstinclination.
(04:52):
He'd rather they be changed andsaved.
So all this time that we'reseeing this, it's not so we can
go complain to God, why haven'tyou dealt with them and snuffed
them out?
That's God being patient withthem to see them turn from their
wicked ways.
And I'm so glad that for20-some odd years he was patient
(05:12):
with me.
Because I thought that I wasokay.
I was raised in a Christianschool all my life, but I wasn't
saved till I was about20-something years old, thinking
that I was saved the wholetime.
Thank God that he wasforbearance with me.
Because I didn't know.
And there's a lot of them outthere that they look like
(05:32):
they're wickedly horrible, yetthey just simply don't know.
And hopefully one day God willbe able to reveal to them that
let me show you the more perfectway, like he did with me, like
he did, I think, with many ofyou here.
Paul here said that knowing thegoodness of God, knowing that
God is so good, that he's sopatient, I mean, many of us here
(05:56):
are in the kingdom, and we'restill glad that he's so patient
with us.
Because we see our ownstubbornness.
We see that we still haven'trepented in some areas of our
life, yet God is still with us,and God is still working with us
and trying to get us to thatplace where we can continue
maturing and not become stagnantor not regress.
We're glad that he's so goodwith us, which causes us to do
(06:19):
what?
Hopefully love him more.
Because he is that way.
Because he is working with us.
He doesn't give up on us, hedoesn't forsake us, he doesn't
leave us when he knows we'restruggling.
It's not that we're adamantlyrebelling against him, but we
just simply struggle withworking that way.
(06:40):
And that's why he's depositedhis gift in our hearts.
That's why he's deposited theHoly Ghost to what?
In Ezekiel 36?
To cause us to walk in his waysand guard his statues.
He's given us the power to doso, so he's working with us.
But there are some of us,sadly, that reject and reject
and reject and reject, and hewill not wrestle with man
forever.
(07:00):
He will not.
There is a limit to hispatience and his long-suffering.
He isn't eternally patient, heisn't eternally long-suffering,
but he is long-suffering andpatient enough to give you the
opportunity to do what you'resupposed to do.
Circumcise your heart.
Break up your follow ground.
(07:21):
And change your ways.
And the other ideas, I said, Isee both.
I see both extremes.
One extreme goes, I'm going topreach hellfire brimstone and
get the fear of eternaldamnation into them so that they
(07:42):
could change.
And then on the other extreme,you have this perverted love of
God that requires nothing, andthat you just rest in knowing
that God loves you and God isgoing to save you.
And both of them, which is thewide and narrow way, lead to
eternal damnation.
But there's this little, littlenarrow way that is saying, God
(08:03):
loves you, yes, but he's notgoing to love you and leave you
that way.
He's going to love you enoughto require you to change so that
you can be conformed into hisimage, which is your eternal
destiny, to be in the image ofGod, to see him face to face and
not see any difference.
Amen.
What a glorious destiny thatis.
To be in the image of theeternal and perfect God.
(08:25):
I mean, when we read theGospels, are they preaching
hell, fire, and brimstone andaxe?
I never saw that.
They're preaching the gospel.
They're preaching Jesus.
They're preaching what he did,who he was, and what he did it
for.
But hell, fire, and brimstone,I mean, I understand that may be
(08:47):
necessary because of thehardness of people's hearts, but
that should not be theoverwhelming message.
The gospel hasn't changed.
The gospel's Jesus.
Not about eternal damnation.
That has its place in theteachings.
But it's about Jesus.
And so that brings me to aletter, which is our third
(09:09):
reason why what should lead aman to repent.
It is conviction, it is thegoodness of God.
But the next one is godlysorrow.
And Paul wrote a letter.
It's called 1 Corinthians.
And I think we've touched upon1 Corinthians enough to know
that Paul was writing to 1Corinthians because there was a
lot of disorder in the church.
In a church that was brimmingwith the gifts of the Spirit and
(09:33):
speaking in tongues and wordsof prophecy, and all of these
things were just flowing, butthey were very carnal at the
same time.
I remember he was trying tocorrect them on meeting together
and fellowshipping and breakingbread and about the, oh gosh,
what do they call it?
That Last Supper meal?
Communion.
(09:54):
You know, and talking aboutthat.
He was correcting them on that.
He was correcting them aboutorder in the church.
He was correcting them aboutwives submitting to their
husbands, correcting about a lotof things.
It was just a letter litteredwith correction in so many
different areas.
So we go in 2 Corinthians,which is the second letter that
Paul wrote to the same people.
(10:15):
And he says in chapter 7, verse8, For though I made you sorry
with the letter, I do notrepent.
Though I did repent.
In other words, I wrote aletter to you, and I know you
were sorry about it.
And I didn't repent yet attimes I wanted to repent.
I wanted to sort of, oh, maybeI shouldn't write this.
(10:38):
But he was glad he did it.
Because it was necessary.
For I perceive that this sameletter hath made you sorry,
though it were but for a season.
In other words, you were hurtfor a season.
I grieved you.
I know that.
And God does that with you.
Parents do that with ourchildren.
(10:58):
We grieve you for a season.
We discipline you for a season.
You may not be able to touchthe internet.
You might not be able to watchthe TV.
You might not be able to readyour books for a season.
But there's a reason for thatgrief.
There's a reason why you'regetting disciplined and
corrected.
He says, but I rejoice.
Not that you were grieved, notthat you were sorry, but that
(11:20):
you sorrowed to repentance.
That grief, that hurt led youto change.
So therefore, I'm not sad foryou anymore.
I'm so happy and I'm so full ofjoy that you sorrowed to
repent.
Because that leads to yoursalvation.
(11:41):
For godly sorrow, or I skippedon it, for you were made sorry
after a godly manner.
Why does he say after a godlymanner?
Because it caused you to repentof your ways.
Not just be sorry.
I'm sorry.
And continue on, but no, I'msorry and I'm changed.
I'm not going to do thatanymore.
(12:03):
And he says, so that you won'treceive damage to us for
nothing.
I didn't grieve you fornothing, because it would have
been a waste if you didn'trepent.
But you did.
And I'm so glad.
I'm so happy that you did.
For godly sorrow workethrepentance to salvation that
(12:24):
shall never change from again.
Godly sorrow does that.
But the sorrow of the worldworketh death.
For behold, this selfsame thingthat ye sorrowed after a godly
sort.
When you sorrowed after a godlymanner, look at what it did to
you.
You were now careful about howyou treated the brethren.
(12:47):
Because that was one of theissues he was dealing with.
It says, What clearing ofyourselves?
In other words, what way youchange to clean yourself, to
walk in a manner that is moreupright, that is more justly
with God.
What indignation, and you didit not haphazardly, not without
commitment, but you did it withzeal.
(13:08):
You did it with indignation,with fear, with vehement desire.
And you did it because youreally meant it.
In all things ye have approvedyourselves to be clear in this
matter.
All the things that I wrote toyou in the first letter, you're
now clear of.
In other words, you're nowforgiven of because you
(13:31):
repented.
And that's how God is with hispeople.
If you repent, becauseeverybody quotes 1 John 1.9, and
we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us
our sins and cleanse us from allunrighteousness.
And that's absolutely true.
Absolutely true.
But the underlying principle ofall the scriptures is that you
need to change that.
(13:51):
You don't keep walking in itand say, I'm sorry, keep
walking, I'm sorry, keep walkingin it.
You're going to become sohardened that he's not ever
going to be able to reach youanymore.
You'll never hear his voiceanymore.
Because you've hardenedyourself.
Break up your fallow ground,circumcise yourselves is the
message throughout all thescriptures.
So a true repentance, if it'strue, if it's sincere, causes us
(14:21):
to turn away from the world,its lies, its sin, to turn to
God with all our heart.
All those words of clearingyourselves, indignation and
fear, and vehement desire andzeal and revenge, you'll do that
with vigor.
I mean, we called it infootball reckless abandon.
(14:43):
Play with reckless abandon.
That means go out there andjust nail him with everything
you have.
Don't just hit him and tacklehim.
But hit him with everything.
Just go after him with all yourmight.
Bam, hit him.
Reckless abandon all over thefield.
With reckless abandon, go afterthe heart of God.
With reckless abandon, let goof the things that are holding
(15:06):
you back and go after the thingsof righteousness.
So godly sorrow leads or causesyou to repent unto salvation
that you will not repent of.
But what is the sorrow of theworld?
It is a sorrow that we see timeand time again with the altar
calls, people crying, crying,crying, and next week they come
(15:28):
crying, crying, and next weekthey come crying, and they're
crying every single week of thesame things.
That's the sorrow of the worldbecause they went back into the
ways of the world that wholeweek.
So they come crying, regrettingagain.
He's not into that.
That's the sorrow of the world.
It makes it loud cries, itdraws all the attention, and
(15:49):
everybody gets so, oh, she'scrying, and then they all cry
with them, and then they don'trepent.
It's sad, it really is.
John H. S. Leyva (15:58):
Amen.
j - Jesus M. Ruiz (15:59):
That's probably one of the reasons why
I don't get so emotional when Isee people crying.
Because I keep telling my wife,oh, we gave the word, let's
wait and see.
Yeah, it looked like theyreceived.
Let's wait and see.
Let's see what they do.
I'm always waiting to see whatthey do.
What are they gonna do with theword that they received?
Because I know that I didn'tlie to them.
(16:19):
I told them the truth.
Let's wait and see what they'regonna do with it.
The sorrow of the world onlydeceives a person and leads them
to their death.
Because they really didn'trepent, which was the key, which
was the whole message, really.
Repent.
Matthew, I believe it was Johnthe Baptist that said to the
(16:43):
Pharisees, bring forth fruit.
Bring forth, therefore, fruits,meet for repentance.
John's thrust of his ministrywas having people turn their
hearts to the Lord, turn thehearts of the sons toward the
fathers, the fathers toward thesons.
(17:05):
His thrust of his ministry wasbaptism unto repentance for
sins.
But the Pharisees never abidedin it.
And the people were so enamoredwith John the Baptist and his
message that they baptizedthemselves because they heard
what he truly said.
(17:26):
There's a lot of people thathear, but they don't really
hear.
But those that heard and beenbaptized, they really heard him.
They really wanted to changetheir ways, to change their
lives.
And that's what John theBaptist's ministry was: getting
people to change.
Because the Lamb who's takingaway the sins of the world is
(17:47):
coming after me.
And unless you change, youwon't be able to receive him.
So he tells the Pharisees,bring forth fruits worthy of
repentance.
But it says in Luke 7 (17:57):
28, Jesus is talking about John the
Baptist and how great he was.
He says, For I say unto you,among those that are born of
women, there is not a greaterprophet than John the Baptist.
But he that is least in thekingdom of God is greater than
he.
And we've already talked aboutthat verse, so I'm not harping
about that verse.
(18:18):
But verse 29 says, And all thepeople that heard him and the
publicans justified God.
Because they respected John theBaptist's ministry.
They believed that he was a mansent of God.
Even though he didn't do anymiracles, they understood his
message was from God.
And it says that all that heardhim, the publicans, they
(18:40):
justified God, they werebaptized by John.
But notice what it says in 30.
But the Pharisees and thelawyers, they rejected the
counsel of God againstthemselves.
How do you know that?
How does the writer know this?
Because they were not baptizedat John.
That's the problem, though.
The Pharisees are the exampleof the heart that is so hardened
(19:04):
to the word that they rejectthe word.
How do we know they reject theword?
Because they didn't obey theword.
How do I know that Abraham hadfaith?
Not because he believed, butbecause he obeyed.
Obedience is the underlyingprinciple throughout all of
Scriptures.
It's not belief.
They've perverted beliefbecause belief is actually
(19:26):
faith, but faith is believingand acting.
Not believing.
That's Greek.
Just this idea of belief.
Well, I think, therefore I am.
Okay, yeah.
Philosophical nonsense.
Jesus spoke to all the people.
The Pharisees, the publicans,the people with diseases, the
(19:53):
people with infirmities, withleprosy.
I mean, he spoke to everyone.
The rich, the poor.
And he said, there was not agreater prophet than John the
Baptist.
But the religious leaders heardJohn the Baptist and they
didn't obey either.
And they didn't obey Jesuseither.
(20:14):
But even in what they heard,even though they heard it, they
didn't do it.
And they did not obey the wordof God, and that resulted in
their judgment.
When God has sent you as anapostle, as a prophet, as an
(20:36):
evangelist, as a teacher, as asimple angel, a messenger of God
to someone else.
And you are preaching the wordof God to that person, and they
don't listen to you.
What the Lord said to Samuel isthe same thing that the Lord
says to you, so don't broke hisheart out.
(20:56):
What the Lord said to Samuel,they have not rejected you.
Don't be offended because it'snot you.
They rejected me.
That I should not reign overthem.
Because the word applied tosomeone's life is in order for
God to have reign.
(21:16):
God will bring them intoperfection.
God will bring them into akingdom that is in order
according to God's commandments.
But when they reject the word,they're saying, I don't want you
to reign.
I don't want you, God.
So Jesus, I know I've said thisbefore, made us a part of the
(21:43):
salvation process.
We proclaim the gospel of hiskingdom.
And he says, if they don't hearyour words, it's me.
Don't get offended.
It's me that they're rejecting.
And I had to hear these wordsrecently because I had to
minister to a dear, dear friendof mine and hear him reject the
(22:03):
word.
This isn't about me and you.
Because I'm not telling you myown thoughts.
I'm not telling you my ownideas.
I'm simply saying you need toapply the word in this area of
your life and to hear, well, Idisagree with that.
And it's not.
You disagree with God.
Because it's very clear what hesaid.
(22:25):
And there's nothing that youcan say to me that's scriptural.
All of this is you justifyingyourself, you justifying your
actions and your thoughts.
But basically, you're sayingthat your actions and your
thoughts I hold high above theword of God.
Like the Pope.
Whatever the Pope says out ofhis mouth is equal to the word
or higher.
(22:45):
So I want to go back to Acts2:38, because I told you there's
a pattern.
Abraham, God came to him.
And immediately when God cameto him, required of him
something.
So if you go to Acts 2:38, Iwant you to see that.
But it wasn't God coming, itwas God in his messengers
(23:08):
coming.
And we know the scripture 2:38.
Then Peter said unto them,repent.
That's circumcise your heart.
That's break up your fallowground.
Be baptized in the name ofJesus Christ for the remission
of your sins.
That's the first act of trueobedience.
If you're really going torepent, that should be your
first act of obedience.
But watch this.
(23:30):
At the end, just like withAbraham, get out of your
country, get out of your family,get out of your kindred, get
out, get out, get out, get out.
Then watch what God says.
And ye shall receive the giftof the Holy Ghost.
For the promise is unto you,and to your children, and to all
(23:52):
that are afar off, even as manyas the Lord our God shall call.
Same pattern.
God came to them, required ofthem, and if they met that
requirement, then they shallreceive the gift of the Holy
Ghost, which is the promise ofthe Father.
Just like he did with Abraham.
It says in Hosea, harp on thisagain, Hosea 10, verse 12.
(24:18):
This idea of you circumcising,you repenting, you breaking up
your fallow ground is allthroughout the scriptures.
He says to Hosea, sow toyourselves in righteousness.
Reap in mercy.
Break up your fallow ground.
(24:39):
For it is time to seek theLord.
See, breaking up your fallowground leads you to be able to
seek the Lord.
Or that is a characteristic orfruit of breaking up your fallow
ground.
And then when do you continue?
How often do you continue toseek the Lord?
Till He come and rain downrighteousness upon you.
(25:02):
So you do that until He doesthat.
Because here was the problemwith the Israelites back then in
Hosea's time.
You plowed wickedness.
You plowed iniquity.
You reaped iniquity.
You have eaten the fruit oflies because thou didst trust in
thy way, in the multitude ofthy mighty men.
(25:24):
You see, they plowed in theirfield wickedness and lies,
trusting in men, trusting inchariots, trusting in horses,
and they left their God.
All of that stuff is in thefield.
And when he says, break up yourfallow ground, you need to
(25:46):
remove all of that stuff thatyou put there.
The unbelief, theuntrustworthiness, or the
putting of trust in otherthings, you need to get rid of
all that.
You need to start from scratch.
Now to me, it seems like awaste of time to sow seed in
ground that isn't tilt.
(26:07):
I would think it's a waste oftime if there's rocks and
there's thorns to put seedthere.
But I'm not the Lord.
And the Lord will sow seedanywhere.
He'll sow seed everywhere.
And he shows that in theparable of the sower.
So if you turn to Matthew 13,the parable of the sower
(26:31):
testifies to the idea that Godwill sow seed anywhere.
John H. S. Leyva (26:35):
Amen.
j - Jesus M. Ruiz (26:36):
With any man.
So have that idea in your heartwhen you look at other people
and think, well, he's too lost.
The Lord doesn't think so.
He'll sow seed anywhere.
In Matthew 13, there's fourplots of land.
The wayside, the stony place,the thorny place, and the good
(26:58):
ground.
Well, the wayside soil isrepresentative of the man
without understanding.
He just doesn't get it.
He just simply doesn't get it.
The seed is sown in the man whodoesn't have any understanding,
the wayside man I call it.
And immediately the bird comes,takes the seed, and it goes
away, and he did he didn't knowthe difference.
(27:18):
He didn't even know he had theseed of the kingdom of God on
his land.
He's just oblivious to it.
But the sowers still sowedthere.
The sower still gave the seedof life.
Then we come to the stonyplaces.
He sows seed there.
And it says of that particularman, the soil is the type of
(27:44):
man.
It took little or no root, butit grew.
It says that tribulation orpersecution is brought on by the
word.
And they became offended.
If you read it, they were happyto receive it, they were
excited, it started to grow, butit didn't have a lot of root.
(28:07):
Meaning underneath the soilthere was hardness.
There was rigidity.
But tribulation and persecutionbrought on by the word.
When people spoke the word tothem, it offended them.
(28:31):
These are the type, and youprobably run into them because I
know I've run into them myself.
They're Christian.
And then when you speak theword to them, they get offended.
How can they why why do you getoffended?
A Christian is one who abidesin the word.
All I'm doing is getting in theword, and you're getting
(28:53):
offended at me?
That's the type of person thathas not tilled his ground.
That's why, that's why we putout that warning.
You know, you may want toreceive the Holy Ghost, but you
better repent first.
Because you might not getexactly what you want if you
willingly continue to walk indisobedience.
(29:15):
You're not gonna you might getsomething you you had no idea
you can't handle.
And then we have the thornyround.
The person with thorns hassoil, but they did not get rid
of the weeds, they didn't getrid of the thorns, they didn't
get rid of things that they'relike tears.
(29:37):
They sort of choke each other,they choke the word out of them,
and that's what the thorns do.
But that's because that persondid not till his ground.
He didn't get rid of thethorns.
He thought, well, I cancontinue walking in this manner
or in this way.
And all of a sudden, all thethings that he cared about his
(29:58):
money, his riches.
His material things, they beginto choke the life out of the
word because they received ittoo.
They received it with gladness.
But they never got rid of theidols in their life.
And so later on down the line,as they're walking this faith
walk, they begin to have to makechoices because they would not
repent of in the beginning, andthey begin to die out.
(30:20):
I want to give you two examplesof the stony place and the
thorny place.
There was a man that Jesusloved.
This man came to him, said, Youknow, master, you know,
teacher, rabbi, what do I do toinherit eternal life?
Jesus says, Well, what do thecommandments say?
(30:42):
And he started listing thecommandments.
And the man says, Why have doneall that?
I told you this before.
Jesus didn't correct it.
He said, Okay.
He said, one thing that thoulackest, go thy way, sell
whatsoever thou hast, and giveit to the poor.
And thou shalt have treasure inheaven.
(31:04):
And come, take up the cross andfollow me.
And he was sad at that sayingand went away grieved, for he
had great possessions.
Which man is that?
The stony or the thony?
Excuse me?
The thony.
That's the man that did not getrid of the idols.
(31:28):
That was gonna choke the lifeout of the word.
He went to Jesus.
Jesus didn't come to him.
He received Jesus to some levelbecause he went to him.
How can I take eternal life,Rabbi, master, teacher?
I've done all that.
Well, get rid of yourpossessions.
(31:48):
Come follow me.
He can't do that.
That is an area of his lifewhere he reached a level of
obedience and could go nofurther.
We never heard about that managain.
He could not relinquish himselfand repent from the idols of
his heart.
And Jesus didn't even call himidols.
He just said, get rid of thosethings.
(32:09):
Don't follow me.
He couldn't do that.
The stony places is aboutpeople that have received the
word.
They've allowed it to grow, butit didn't take much root
because there was underlyinghardness of heart in them.
And these are the type ofpeople that when you give them
(32:30):
the word, they call themselvesChristians.
And some of them may be.
They may be in the covenant,but when you give them the word,
they get offended.
In Matthew 15, 28, a woman ofCana came out of its coast and
cried unto Jesus, have mercy onme, son of David.
(32:54):
My daughter is vexed with thedevil.
Matthew 15, 22.
And Jesus answered her.
Not a word.
He ignored her.
He ignored her.
Remember, Jesus is the word ofGod.
He ignored her.
(33:15):
Didn't say a word.
Just flat out kept on walking.
And her daughter is grievouslyvexed.
They paid no mind to her.
And his disciples who came andsought him saying, Send her
away, for she cried after him.
But he didn't send her away,did he?
(33:36):
Didn't send her away.
She kept after him.
He didn't say a word to her.
He didn't say, disciples, getthis lady out of here.
He just didn't say a word toher.
But he didn't reject her.
She kept coming.
She kept coming.
Now remember, Canaan, she wasuh He answered them, or he
(34:04):
answered her and said, I am notsent, but unto the lost sheep of
the house of Israel.
Jesus understood his purposewas, remember, he takes care of
his house first.
He's going to take care of hishouse.
And then he's going to goexpand his borders and abroad
and all that.
So he only says what the wordtold him.
The word told him, I need totake care of the house of
(34:26):
Israel.
By invocation, he's saying,Well, you're not of the house of
Israel.
I can't take care of you.
And she came, she kept coming.
She worshipped him and said,Lord, help me.
But he answered and said, It isnot me to take the children's
(34:48):
bread and cast it to the dogs.
He's the word of God giving herthe word.
And if that were me, I wouldhave been offended.
I went, what?
Did he just call me a dog?
Because I'm begging him to helpme?
But see, the reason why I'mhighlighting this is not because
(35:11):
she had a heart of stone.
She didn't have a heart ofstone.
Because a heart of stone wouldhave been offended and would
have walked away.
How dare he talk to me thatway?
Who does he think he is?
Treating me like a dog?
Or you and leave.
But she didn't have that heart.
(35:33):
She said, that's true, Lord.
She continues to come after himbecause it was more important
that her daughter get theblessing from the one that she
believed in than to be offended.
But you know what?
The dogs eat of the crumbs atthe master's table.
And that so knocked Jesus'socks off.
(35:55):
Woo! Woman of great faith.
Woo! Be it done to you as youasked.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
That's what it means to tillthe ground.
That heart was ready to receiveno matter what he said to her.
No thorns, no cares of theworld, no pride.
(36:19):
Because that's what the stonyheart.
There was no pride in thatwoman.
Anybody with pride would havewalked away offended.
She had no pride.
She was already till.
She was ready.
She was circumcised.
I'll give you, I'll give you,just give me the crumbs.
I'll take the crumbs.
And she got the healing for herdaughter.
Her daughter said, was madewhole that very hour.
(36:43):
That very hour.
Good ground is not stony.
It's not thorny.
It is purposely tilled by you.
By you.
You've gotten rid of the thingsin your life that you know are
contrary to him, that you knoware going to battle and wage war
(37:05):
with him and his ways.
You need to do that.
And this is the man thatreceives the word, understands
the word, accepts it, appliesit, and bears fruit.
Some 30, 60, and 100-fold.
(37:26):
I'm not here to tell you whatexactly you need to circumcise
yourself of.
I believe that the Lord canhandle that all by himself.
Anyone who wants to prophesy,you go right ahead.
I'm not telling you not to.
What I'm saying here is thatyou, all of us, need to consider
(37:49):
the areas of our life that upto this point we have not
allowed the Lord to address.
We have been oblivious, the manof non-understanding.
We have been rigid against hisword, or we've allowed the cares
of his life to distract us fromdealing with what He's been
wanting to deal with.
This is your challenge.
(38:11):
Till your ground.
Till the ground of yourchildren.
Because they need help.
They're not going to do itthemselves at this point in
their life.
They need their ground tilledby you, parents.
It's not going to happen on itsown.
They don't know what thatmeans.
They can't even carry a pickaxeto do it.
You need to do it.
(38:33):
In James 1.22, I believe itanswers how are you supposed to
till your ground?
How do you circumcise yourself?
In James 1.22, it says, but beye doers of the word.
(38:53):
Not hearers only.
We got enough hearers in thisworld.
What we don't have is a bunchof doers of the word.
A lot of Christians out therecalling themselves Christian,
but when you look at theiractions and behavior, you're
like, you're a Christian?
You curse?
(39:14):
You cheat?
You're swamped in the sportsthat happen every weekend?
Watching football all day long?
That's all you do?
And then when the NFL comes onSunday, you do it again?
I don't know.
There are things that we needto apply the word in our life to
(39:38):
in order to obtain the promisesand the blessings of God that
come after our response to Him.
Because a hearer only deceiveshimself.
That's all they do.
They don't deceive any triedand true Christian.
They all see through that.
You deceive yourself intothinking you're okay, and God is
(40:02):
going to take care of you.
And God said he'll bring me tocompletion in the day of Christ
Jesus, and that's true.
But he doesn't do it againstyour will.
He does it in cooperation withyour will, submitted to his.
Music has got to go.
TV programs have got to go.
(40:24):
You know which ones they are.
You know which ones are notedifying.
You know which ones make amockery, a complete mockery of
Jesus.
They highlight homosexuality.
They highlight all sick andinfested, perverted things.
You know what they are.
(40:44):
All of that has got to be doneaway with.
Or else you really don't have afuture with God.
I said with God.
You'll have a future, but it'snot one with God.
Whoso looketh into the perfectlaw of liberty, the word, and
(41:06):
continues therein, it says inverse 25.
He is not a forgetful hearer,but a doer of the work.
This man shall be blessed inhis deed.
Do you see the condition there?
It didn't say if.
(41:28):
It said, but a doer of thework, this man shall be blessed.
It's a man who does the wordthat shall be blessed, not a man
who hears it.
Hearing has nothing to do withGod being obligated to abide and
(41:48):
perform his word for you.
It's always been based uponyour response to him.
And so with that, I leave youwith that challenge.
I leave you with thatconsideration.
Inspect the areas of your lifethat you have not wanted to
address.
Changes that you know deep downinside, you have to make and
(42:12):
make them.
I don't want to change thisinto a message of being fearful.
But you have to understand theconsequences if you will not
address those areas.
You will deceive yourself.
And you will end up where youdidn't think you were going to
(42:33):
end up because you were on thewrong path and you didn't know
it.
Amen.
Amen.
If you were blessed andappreciate listening to this
podcast and you would like tosupport us in our efforts,
consider lifting us up in prayerfirst.
Then remember these four socialmedia buzzwords.
(42:54):
Share, like, subscribe, orfollow.
Share this podcast link withsomeone else by texting email or
work about the list of your.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.