Imminent Arrival – Hearts Prepared

Imminent Arrival – Hearts Prepared starts a new year!  This is a new church year, of course.

Repent!

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  First off when John says, I baptize you with water for repentance, what does that mean? Our baptism is one of repentance as well. The concept of repentance isn’t just a turning away from sin, but a complete 180, now following God’s plan for your life. There are some who look at Christianity and only see failure after failure. When we turn away from our sin we end up going right back. I see something different. Luther in the first of his 95 thesis said, when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said repent, he meant that the whom life of a Christian would be one of repentance. This repentance is a daily activity.

So You Had a Bad Day

I don’t know about your life, but for me – I have bad days. Some days I think I’m doing well, and then others, I wonder if God could ever love me. It’s at those times when I need to be reminded of my baptism, when God washed me clean. He loved me. I’m preparing myself to meet my king. As John showed it doesn’t matter how you look on the outside, it’s how you look on the inside that matters to God. The only way to look good on the inside is with God’s help.  There are some who see this daily sorrow and repentance and think that a Christian will get beaten down.  The exact opposite is true.  Through this spiritual work, the Christian is built up!

Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s message taken from Matthew 3:1-2.  It is the first in our Advent series, Imminent Arrival – Hearts Prepared.