| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “You are loved” Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord …” Acts 3:19-20 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Welcome to seasons of refreshing” Our focus this past week has been on experiencing the love of God by accepting and embracing the forgiveness of God. It has been noted that full confession and true repentance is the prelude to forgiveness, and that then leads us to a greater awareness of and experience of God’s love. In Acts 3:19-20 the Apostle Peter was calling to the people of Jerusalem to confess and repent. He said that once they did that, their sins would be wiped out. He was reminding them of what God had told them hundreds of years earlier from the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 43:25, “I sweep away your transgressions for my own sake and remember your sins no more.” And in Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” What Peter was telling those people on that day is equally true for us in our day – out of His great love for us God is ready and eager to forgive us, and to wipe away our sins to the point of refusing to remember that we ever even committed them. It’s simply a matter of confessing and truly repenting, or as Jesus told the woman in John 8:11, “Go and sin no more.” Then we’re ready for what Peter called “Seasons of refreshing”. We’re ready to experience our relationship with God and with others in fresh new ways. A clean slate ushers us back into the realm of blessings whereby God can bless us the way that He really wants to. The key for us is to accept the forgiveness and let the issue go. Clinging to guilt and remorse is essentially a demonic monkey on your back. It’s like the old ball and chain clamped to your ankle that you drag through life. And, it’s completely unnecessary, it’s holding you back and keeping you from experiencing the seasons of refreshing that God is trying to give you. If God has forgiven you, then you need to forgive yourself and move on in life. Full confession and true repentance bring us to forgiveness. Forgiveness ushers us into seasons of refreshing. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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