1. The Command to “Repent”
“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17)

We all must repent to be part of the Kingdom of Heaven. In our Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:9), Jesus teaches us that our deepest prayer need is for us to change. Repentance in the starting point of that journey. We need to stop praising ourselves and know that our Heavenly Father is holy. We need to get down from our thrones and put Jesus in His rightful place in our lives. We need to forget our selfish agendas and schedules, be emptied of self, so that God’s will can be done in and through us.

In Galatians 5, Paul says we cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, if we do not live by the Holy Spirit’s power to lead and guide our actions. Pastor Rick Warren said this about our choices in life, “we either do God things or selfish things.” We live in a “sin-broken” world. We are affected by it everyday. We must surrender “our will” to allow the Holy Spirit to empower our lives. In King David’s awesome testimony of repentance he cries “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” (Psalm 51:17) We must repent to love Jesus.