Week 7

T is for Turn.

If you were driving down the street and someone asked to turn, what would they be asking you to do? Change directions right? In the Bible the word repent means to turn. To turn from our sins and our self. Our self in believing that we can get to heaven by our own means. The bible says in Luke 13:3 “unless you repent, you will all likewise parish”. We are going to parish because we are sinners and broken God’s laws. Because of that we should, and rightfully so, be punished. (see Week 4 ) We have a penalty for our sins that we can’t pay, but God did a wonderful thing for us. He sent is Son, who was fully man and fully God to pay the price for our sins. Jesus was to be the perfect sacrifice for us. Jesus, who never sinned, hung on the cross so that we would be made righteous. To accept this payment we must repent and put our faith in Jesus.

Just like repentance is turning from sin, we must have faith in Jesus As one of my team members stressed, when you turn from something you are also turning to something else. We need to turn to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father but through me”. It is only through Jesus that our sins are forgiven. People may ask “What about the people that have never heard of Jesus?” It is not that they haven’t heard of Jesus that will send them to Hell; it is the fact that they sinned against God. It is only through Jesus that those sins can be forgiven. In Him (meaning Jesus) we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Eph. 1:7.

Our Visit

We visited a couple from Church that hasn’t been there in a while and have never been to Sunday school. I went to school with the wife, but never really got to know her husband. I had a preconceived opinion about the husband. I don’t know why but I’ve always seen him as an intimidating type of person. After getting to know a little about him with this visit, I realize that my opinion was without merit. He turned out to be a really nice, down to earth type of guy. This visit taught me a lot about judging others. I didn’t get a chance to talk about their salvation, but we did invite them to join our Sunday school group. Maybe we’ll get a chance to talk more in the near future.

Prayer Request

Pray for our pastor and the group that is in the Philippines. They are currently in a small village where several professions were made when I was there last year. They are currently conducting a Bible school at night and constructing a building during the day. Check out this video that I took one village over about a mile over. Pray also the their families. This is a long trip and very hard for their loved ones.