Key Scriptures Used in this Seminar

 

Who will be a part of this Kingdom? Will you? How do we prepare to enter this Kingdom? What will it take on our part for us to be a part of this coming Kingdom of God that will encompass the entire world?

1 Corinthians 15:50-53: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

Mark 1:14-15: “Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’”

Repentance is a key part of the message of the Kingdom of God. Why is that? And what exactly is repentance?

Matthew 3:1-2: “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’”

Matthew 3:5-10: “Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

How do we begin? It starts with a long, hard, realistic look at yourself.

2 Corinthians 13:5: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (NIV).

Jeremiah 17:9 shows that we human beings have a remarkable capacity for self-deception. Notice what God inspired the prophet Jeremiah to write: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”

Romans 3:10-18: “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.’ ‘Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit’; ‘the poison of asps is under their lips’; ‘whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’”

But God offers a way out. He continues in Romans 6:23: “…But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God knows what we are. He knows us far better than we know ourselves. And He offers forgiveness and cleansing by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as many scriptures show. And why? So that we might become part of His family as His children, reigning with Jesus Christ in that coming Kingdom of God.

1. To repent means to change.

Notice what Peter told the crowd in Jerusalem in Acts 3:19: “Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out…”

2. Repentance means repenting not just of individual sins, but also of being a sinner.

And what is sin? 1 John 3:4 explains that “whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (KJV).

Romans 8:7 says it simply: “The carnal mind [the fleshly mind, the mind focused on the self] is enmity [hostile] against God.” It hates God. It is opposed to God. It rejects God. This goes against the grain of human philosophy and our own opinion about humanity or ourselves—that we are basically good tinged with a little evil. The Bible says otherwise!

Romans 7:21-25: “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin” (NLT).

1 John 1:8: “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth” (NLT).

3. Repentance is not just remorse or sorrow.

2 Corinthians 7:10: “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death” (NLT).

4. Repentance involves change of mind accompanied by change of life.

Acts 3:19: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.”

5. Repentance involves a change of direction, meaning and purpose of life.'

2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

6. Repentance involves complete, total, unconditional surrender to God.

Luke 14:26: “If anyone comes to me but loves his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, or sisters—or even life—more than me, he cannot be my follower” (New Century Version).

Luke 14:33: “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (NIV).

Luke 18:18: “Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ So Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. ‘You know the commandments: “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not bear false witness,” “Honor your father and your mother.”’ And he said, ‘All these things I have kept from my youth.’ So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’ But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.”

Isaiah 55:6-7: “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Repentance is one of the greatest and most important steps we can make in this life. It is the key first step in what is truly a life-transforming experience. It can change your life now by giving you a peace of mind you’ll find nowhere else.

If He is calling you now, He will help you in every way to succeed. As Jesus Christ said: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.