Repentance – Page 8 – Michelle Lesley

If your theology pretty much matches up with mine (as outlined in the “Welcome” and “Statement of Faith” tabs) and you’d like to contribute a guest post, drop me an e-mail at MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com, and let’s chat about it.

pam carney encouragement 2

The Ministry of Encouragement, Part 2
by Pam Carney

Before reading this post, you need to read this previous post for context. Click Here. In God’s providence, Michael and Pam were at the same conference in early April, 2016! Here is Pam’s version of the same story told by Michael in the other post.

Michael’s words to me at the Final Four 2015 did not fall on as humble a heart as he may have thought. That day, I was still in my pride of “taking matters into my own hands” attitude, although I did not show it. I listened to him and did appreciate what he was saying, but all the while I was thinking I knew better. Deep down inside, I knew he was right, but was suppressing the truth by my own unrighteousness. The Holy Spirit was at work bringing about conviction. When I saw Michael this past weekend at Ohio Fire, I confessed to him that I had had resentment in my heart from that encounter. It felt so good to tell my brother that.

Not only was I being convicted, but the Genesis account of Abraham and Sarah that Michael reminded me of, by God’s grace, took root and shortly after our talk on the street that day, I did end up becoming free from that particular sin. After that Final Four weekend I received more disciplining and was granted repentance by God to turn from preaching on the street and usurping authority over men.

The freedom comes from letting the men be the men and do their job the way God made them to do it. Talk about “women’s lib!” I was liberated from my own selfish ambition to preach the Gospel in a way that godly women ought not. The freedom to be who God made me to be, and to fulfill the work He has for me, as a woman. The freedom from rebelling against my Creator.

The bottom line is that God didn’t make women to take on the role of preaching on the street. I was usurping God’s authority and sovereignty by preaching, and that is the worst sin of all.

The most beautiful lesson from this is that Christians must keep speaking God’s word, the truth, into one another’s lives. God put Michael in my path that day and used him to accomplish His purpose for me.

I praise our Lord Jesus for lovingly sanctifying me through my sin and doing the work in me that only He knows how to do; and only He can accomplish.

Pam Carney was called to be a disciple of Jesus at age 42. She is involved with street evangelism in Detroit and surrounding metro, door to door in Dearborn to Muslims, and abortion mill ministry. She also works in a secular industry. Her passion is to share Christ anytime, anywhere. Please visit Turn2Christ, run by Pam and her bretheren from church.

ALTHOUGH I DO MY BEST TO THOROUGHLY VET THE THEOLOGY OF THE BLOGGERS WHO SUBMIT GUEST POSTS, IT IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE FOR THINGS TO SLIP THROUGH THE CRACKS. PLEASE MAKE SURE ANY BLOGGER YOU FOLLOW, INCLUDING ME, RIGHTLY AND FAITHFULLY HANDLES GOD’S WORD AND HOLDS TO SOUND BIBLICAL DOCTRINE.

Wednesday's Word

Wednesday’s Word ~ Jonah 3

April 13, 2016June 23, 2021 Michelle Lesley

For further study on the book of Jonah, try my study, Jonah.

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Jonah 3

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ²“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” ³So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. ⁴Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” ⁵And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

⁶The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, ⁸but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. ⁹Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

¹⁰When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Questions to Consider:

1. Jonah is officially considered a book of prophecy, but what other category of biblical literature (apocalyptic, epistle, wisdom, historical narrative, etc.) does it seem to fit into? What is the theme or purpose of the book of Jonah? Who are the main characters?

2. Verse 1 says this was the second time the word of the Lord came to Jonah. What was His word the first time, and what happened? How was Jonah’s response to God different this time? (3)

3. What was Jonah’s message to Ninevah? (4) Who were first to hear and respond to Jonah’s message, the people or the king? (5-6) Who initiated the fasting, sackcloth, and repentance? (5-6) Whom does verse 5 say the people believed?

4. What does verse 9 seem to indicate was the king’s primary motive for repentance, at least initially- avoiding the consequences of sin, or sorrow that he and his people had grieved God? Compare the king’s words with these passages. Explain the Bible’s emphasis on repentance from the heart.

5. In what ways does Jonah prefigure Christ? How was Jonah’s ministry in this passage similar to Jesus’ ministry? Compare the people they preached to and the message they preached. How does the mercy God showed the Ninevites (10) point ahead to His mercy toward us, through the cross, when we repent and place our faith in Christ?

Jonah is a fantastic little book. If you’d like to check out my 12 lesson, on line study of Jonah, click here.

Wednesday's Word

Wednesday’s Word ~ Joel 1

March 16, 2016March 15, 2016 Michelle Lesley

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Joel 1

The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

²Hear this, you elders;
    give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days,
    or in the days of your fathers?
³Tell your children of it,
    and let your children tell their children,
    and their children to another generation.

⁴What the cutting locust left,
    the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
    the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
    the destroying locust has eaten.

⁵Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
    and wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of the sweet wine,
    for it is cut off from your mouth.
⁶For a nation has come up against my land,
    powerful and beyond number;
its teeth are lions’ teeth,
    and it has the fangs of a lioness.
⁷It has laid waste my vine
    and splintered my fig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
    their branches are made white.

⁸Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth
    for the bridegroom of her youth.
⁹The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
    from the house of the Lord.
The priests mourn,
    the ministers of the Lord.
¹⁰The fields are destroyed,
    the ground mourns,
because the grain is destroyed,
    the wine dries up,
    the oil languishes.

¹¹Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil;
    wail, O vinedressers,
for the wheat and the barley,
    because the harvest of the field has perished.
¹²The vine dries up;
    the fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
    all the trees of the field are dried up,
and gladness dries up
    from the children of man.

¹³Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests;
    wail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, pass the night in sackcloth,
    O ministers of my God!
Because grain offering and drink offering
    are withheld from the house of your God.

¹⁴Consecrate a fast;
    call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
    and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
    and cry out to the Lord.

¹⁵Alas for the day!
For the day of the Lord is near,
    and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
¹⁶Is not the food cut off
    before our eyes,
joy and gladness
    from the house of our God?

¹⁷The seed shrivels under the clods;
    the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
    because the grain has dried up.
¹⁸How the beasts groan!
    The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
    even the flocks of sheep suffer.

¹⁹To you, O Lord, I call.
For fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness,
and flame has burned
    all the trees of the field.
²⁰Even the beasts of the field pant for you
    because the water brooks are dried up,
and fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness.

Questions to Consider:

1. What is the purpose or theme of the book of Joel? Which genre of biblical literature (epistle, historical narrative, wisdom, etc.) is it? To whom was the book written? What do verses 2-3 indicate about the gravity of the situation the rest of the chapter describes?

2. What was the natural disaster that fell on the land? (4) Which crops were affected? (10-12) How were the land and livestock affected by the natural disaster in verse 4? (18-20) What does Joel 2:12-14 suggest might be the reason Israel is experiencing this hardship?

3. What were two major aspects of Israel’s life the famine was detrimental to? (16) How were “joy and gladness [cut off] from the house of our God”? (9) How might a natural disaster, war, or other major catastrophe affect your church? In what ways would worship be affected?

4. How was Israel to respond to the famine? (13-14, 19) Who was to lead the way in lamenting and crying out to God? What should our response be when trouble or disaster strikes? What are some ways pastors can lead the way when a catastrophic event impacts the church?

5. What does this chapter teach us about God’s sovereignty? His judgment? How does this chapter hint at the intensity and the dreadfulness of God’s final judgment on the earth?

Sanctification, Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday ~ Six Cliches Christians Could Can (Or at Least Re-think)

March 10, 2016March 9, 2016 Michelle Lesley

Originally Published March 29, 2014

Have you ever noticed we use a lot of expressions without giving much thought to their origin or what they really mean? For example, why do we use the phrase, “in a (pretty) pickle” to mean “experiencing a difficult situation”?

Here are six cliches we often use as Christians that could stand to be replaced or at least re-thought:

1. Preach the gospel. If necessary, use words.
It’s necessary. Use words. While our behavior should certainly prove out our testimony, nobody’s going to see us working at a soup kitchen or eschewing barhopping and somehow magically understand that he has broken God’s law and needs to repent and put His faith in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection for the forgiveness of his sin unto eternal life. That has to be explained. Clearly. By us. From the Bible. With words.

2. Rest in peace/God rest his soul
If the person who died was saved, he’s already resting in peace by the time you can get these words out. (2 Corinthians 5:6-8)

If the person who died wasn’t saved, unfortunately, he’s in a place of eternal torment and suffering, and no amount of asking God to rest his soul will give him a respite. Worse, when Christians say this about someone they know was not saved, they reinforce the false idea many lost people have that the dead are “resting” in some sort of spiritual coma, or that they simply cease to exist (annihilationism) , or that everybody automatically goes to Heaven (universalism).

Maybe “I’m praying for you,” or “I’m bringing you dinner,” would be better.

and speaking of which…

3. Sending positive thoughts/energy your way.
Thoughts and energy are not things you can wrap up in brown paper, haul down to the post office, and mail to somebody. You can’t send them and the other person can’t receive them, and they can’t actually accomplish anything, and everybody knows this. But, commendably, atheists, New Agers, and other non-Christians wanted to have something compassionate to say to people who are hurting, and since they can’t say, “I’m praying for you,” this is the best they can do.

Christians, we’ve got something better. We can say, “I’m praying for you.” We have an open line to the almighty God of the universe who is listening to us and can actually do something about the situation. Pray for that hurting person. Put your arms around her. Listen to her. Do whatever you can to help. Show her Jesus, not empty words.

4. Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship.
The only people running around today saying that Christianity is not a religion are Christians. Everybody else in the world considers Christianity a religion. And up until this little humdinger materialized, so did Christians.

Usually, what people mean by this is that true Christianity is not an institutionalized system of rote obedience to dead and meaningless rituals. It’s a reconciliation with the only true God by means of being redeemed by His Son, Jesus Christ, who propitiated and expiated God’s wrath against us in our sin through His death, burial, and bodily resurrection, and is, therefore, a dynamic and living interpersonal relationship.

But that’s too long to fit into a tweet or a hashtag.

Our relationship with God through Christ is our religion- the only true religion. And that’s not a bad thing.

5. Don’t judge someone just because he sins differently than you do.
I find this one confusing, but I think the sentiment behind this is something along the lines of, “I may be an adulterer, but you’re not any less of a sinner just because you only tell the occasional white lie. Therefore, you have no right to call me to repentance.”

This is a lovely casserole of simultaneous truth and falsehood, and it all hinges on the word “judging,” which has been tossed around so much that even Christians scarcely know what it means anymore. No, we’re not to berate someone for his sin while pompously pretending we’re sin-free. All have sinned, after all, and if we say we have no sin, we lie. But does that mean we should never call anyone to repentance? Of course not! We’re to walk in repentance ourselves and seek to help the lost find forgiveness in Christ and help our Christian brothers and sisters who have fallen into sin to be reconciled to Christ. Scripture doesn’t say we can never call people out of sin because we have a log in our own eye. It says first remove the log and then help your brother.

6. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
This is actually true, it’s just that our idea of a “wonderful plan” doesn’t always match up with God’s idea of a “wonderful plan”.

Our desire is to be healthy, wealthy, and blissfully comfortable with never a family problem, fender bender, lost love, or bankruptcy. God’s desire is for us to be holy. He wants to root the sin out of our lives, show us how to be completely dependent on Him, lead us to trust Him more, build our character and endurance, give us boldness to share the gospel, make us kinder and more merciful, teach us what it means to extend grace and forgive. Most of those lessons are learned only through hardship and suffering. Just ask the apostles or the early church martyrs or our brothers and sisters being persecuted across the globe today.

What are some expressions Christians commonly use that you think we should replace or re-think?

Wednesday's Word

Wednesday’s Word ~ Ezekiel 18

February 17, 2016June 23, 2021 Michelle Lesley

For further study on the book of Ezekiel, try my study, Ezekiel.

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Ezekiel 18

The word of the Lord came to me: ²“What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? ³As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. ⁴Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

⁵“If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— ⁶if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, ⁷does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, ⁸does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, ⁹walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord God.

¹⁰“If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things ¹¹(though he himself did none of these things), who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor’s wife, ¹²oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, ¹³lends at interest, and takes profit; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself.

¹⁴“Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise: ¹⁵he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife, ¹⁶does not oppress anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, ¹⁷withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live. ¹⁸As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity.

¹⁹“Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. ²⁰The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

²¹“But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ²²None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. ²³Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? ²⁴But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.

²⁵“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? ²⁶When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. ²⁷Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life.²⁸Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ²⁹Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?

³⁰“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. ³¹Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? ³²For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”

Questions to Consider:

1. What is the book of Ezekiel about? Which genre (history, poetry, wisdom, etc.) is the book of Ezekiel? What is the overall theme of chapter 18?

2. How do verses 5-9 describe a righteous man? What kind of heart would such a man have to have in order to consistently live this way? (9)

3. Who is the “he” in verses 11 and 12 referring to? Is this man to be punished for the sins of his son? (13) If the sinful man (14) fathers a righteous son (14-17) is the righteous son to be punished for his father’s sin? (17-18) Which verse(s) in this chapter sum up the principle of individual responsibility for sin? How does this chapter refute the false teaching of generational curses?

4. What can we learn about repentance from verses 21-32? In which does God take delight, pouring out His wrath on the wicked or pouring out His forgiveness on the repentant? (23, 32) How does this passage compare to 2 Peter 3:9?

5. Consider this chapter in light of the gospel. Is any person truly righteous? Where does the Christian’s righteousness come from? How does the New Testament describe Jesus, the righteous Son, being punished for our sin? What effect does this have on verse 4 (“the soul who sins shall die”)?