Hosea 14:1-3 gives at least 8 elements of a repentant heart, take a moment to look at them:

1. “return to the LORD your God” – Repentance includes turning to the Lord from your sinful choice(s)

2. “You have stumbled because of your iniquity” – Repentance includes an understanding of the seriousness and awfulness of sin – an awareness that your sin has caused you to fall – not just stager, and has broken your relationship with God.

3. “Take words with you, and return to the LORD” – Repentances includes a concern about heart sins as well as behavioral sins.

4. “Take away all iniquity” – Repentance includes an acknowledgment that we have sinned, and that our sin is serious. It brings a willingness to call all that is behavior that is against God’s Word, sinful.

5. “Receive us graciously” – Repentance includes a desire and request for forgiveness – not bargaining, not talking about good works, not asking for justice, asking to be received graciously (Ephesians 1:7).

6. “For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.” – Repentance includes an intention to live a God centered life; a desire and commitment to glorify God with lips and … READ MORE

Man’s repentance, as it is presented in the Bible, always speaks of a change of purpose, a turning from sit to God. God is never far away from us, all we need to do is turn ourselves around and there He is!. 1 Thessalonians 1:9 says, “For they themselves declare concerning us that manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and rue God.” Here we see 4 elements of repentance:

1. They turned to God – If we feel that God has moved out of our life, it is not because He has moved, it is always because we have move, turn back to Him and He is there for us (Revelation 3:20)

2. We turn from idols – These do not have to be wooden or stone images, but rather they can be idols of the heart and mind. The reality is that an idol is anything that we put before God in our lives.

3. We turned to God with the intention of serving God – It is not enough to turn toward God, Jesus said that if we wanted to be His disciple we must … READ MORE

Every biblical command toward sanctification assumes the necessary obedience of the ones commanded. Therefore, it is clear that believers have a duty to faithfully and obediently use the means of grace to grow to maturity. Yet in discussing spiriutal growth, it is important to address several misconceptions that must be carefully avoided:

1. Spiritual growth does not determine the believer’s standing in grace before God. That issue is completely settled when sinners trust in the atoning work of Christ (Romans 3:21-26)

2. Spiritual growth does not affect God’s love for believers. He does not love the mature saints more than the less mature, and He does not love us more when we are faithful to Him. (Romans 5:8)

3. Spiritual growth is not measured by the calendar. Spiritual growth is determined through our study of the Word of God, and obedience to sound teaching. (Hebrews 5:11-14)

4. Spiritual growth is unrelated to the amount of theological information people know. We are reminded that the Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day, and knew the Bible well, but they still had no relationship with God.

5. Spiritual growth has nothing to do with outwardly successful ministry activity. Some of the … READ MORE