I Had to Repent for Not Preaching Repentance

"I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see" (Revelation 3:18).

I remember sitting at bootcamp in Christ for all nations class. This class was one of a kind. The facility shut down because of Covid, and we were in our homes on our electronic devices in a live zoom call meeting. We had 12 people in our house all scattered to individually listen in to the next instructor. When I saw our dear Levi Lutz, a director at Christ for all Nations, a commander-type personality, I was excited. We all were excited because we knew good teaching was coming. But apparently, I wouldn't feel the excitement much after.

Levi began expounding on scripture and took on the topic of repentance. "We about repentance," I thought. In the past, I heard from close family members that the word repentance is an old word and was used in the old days, that we should no longer use it. There are other ways to describe repentance. This lie was in the back of my head, but I didn't realize it.

As the instructor went on about repentance I felt an offense rise up in me. I didn't like the fact that the book of John doesn't use the word "repent" anywhere in his gospel, and now we should use it in our gospel messages made me heated inside. "Why not only focus on believing Jesus?" I thought I knew enough on this subject already. I felt my heart harden against this teaching I knew so well about. Or did I? I even messaged the instructor after because I had questions arise in my heart. It was not the way I was taught.

Months later I was in Fire Camp revival meeting with 70 other young people in the middle of a Ukrainian village. These young men and women were ablaze for Christ. You could see their passion in how they worshiped our Lord Jesus. It was evening and finally, the breeze came through the window as I say on the balcony watching everyone worship God. Something was happening in my heart, but I didn't know what it was. As everybody was focused on exalting Christ, I had an urge to pull up the notes from bootcamp. What do you think I stumbled upon? Those exact notes about repentance from Levi Luts's teaching. It felt as a dagger pierced my heart. All the things he spoke of were everything I lacked, in my life and especially in my preaching. Even my own mother reprimanded me that I didn't preach on sin enough in one of my sermons. All these memories flooded my mind. I knew I had to repent before God for not preaching the full gospel.

The next night as I went to bed early, before the service even ended, as everyone was still in worship downstairs I turned on D.L. Moody's "Sowing and Reaping" audiobook. I wept on top of that bunk bed as the Holy Spirit was convicting me of living a life on compromise. I lived for myself, not for Christ. I dreamed my own dreams, not God's. I was the king of my life and lived to please my senses instead of the Holy Spirit. I had turned away from preaching repentance from sin, even though that is a fundamental part of the gospel. As I lay there soaked in tears I believe God heard my prayer. He forgave me and gave me a new start.

I'd now like to share the teaching that we received from our bootcamp instructor from CfaN. I will share some of the things I took in my notes and would like you to receive the same revelation from the Lord about living and preaching the full gospel. The following contains notes straight from the teaching, partnered with the way I understand the message. I hope this will help you see the full light of the gospel as it helped me.

There are two types of people, ones that understand repentance and others who struggle with it. We either get it or we don't. When we preach the gospel we cry out for the sinner to turn from sin and turn to Jesus. It's a message that purifies the heart.

In the old testament, we had the ark of the covenant, anyone who touched it died. A person who comes to the Lord dies to his old life because He has touched the Holy One. They die to their pleasures, and to self. They have a new, purified life in Christ.

Something that shook me and my beliefs was the fact that revival means to bring something back to life. Something dead is resurrected and is made living again. This is the definition of revival. We all need a revival in our soul by Christ, by His word and Holy Spirit. It's only the work of God's Spirit to make us living to the Father again, and it comes from repentance. For the church to die in the first place it must go into disobedience. Sin brings death, and the church becomes dead. Revival happens when collaborated with prayer, and the Lord wakes up a church. Repentance preaching is the only message that will bring us into a living state.

Jesus' message was "repent." The message of John in the book of Revelation is “repent," and it's the most recent book of the Bible. The heart of God is for people to come to God. Even when we preach to self-righteous people they get offended. They think they are Christians already and don't need to repent. They think they got it all together, but the fact is they haven't received the saving grace. Let us not get discouraged if people are offended at us, because their real offense is at Christ who is convicting them of their self-righteousness.

It’s the mercy of God that leads to repentance. It’s the mercy of God that allows people to repent. It's like saying, “Stop it, repent. The good news is that there is the power to overcome sin." We are guilty before a holy God and need to leave our sin. By God's grace, we are able to walk free of this sin. It's an uncompromised message. Every word that God says is on purpose.

One last thing that really had a huge impact on me was the story of Lot. Lot was laughable and was playing games with God. He didn't take God seriously when the men came to him and told him to move from Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot lingered when the Lord told him to move quickly. We know what we must do, but we don’t do it. Jesus already did everything that He was going to do as a man. We don’t have time to linger and stall. We are either chasing Jesus or not, and He is still walking. We go after Him with everything or not. When people look at us let us not be fake Christians. We need people to take us seriously, that's why giving 100% is crucial.

Then, Jesus sets a man free. A person drinking and smoking through Jesus Christ can quit right away. As Lot and his family were walking away from Sodom and Gomorrah Lot’s wife lusted after what she left behind. She turned and became a pillar of salt. Let us not leave anything in the world so there’s nothing to come back to. Hundreds will die and go to hell if we have a setback and don't preach the gospel. If we play with sin it will be very costly. Lot’s mistake cost him the life of his family. Lot's wife paid a high price with the lust in her heart. Let us abandon sin completely so it will not rob us of the things that are in Christ.

Zoar the city, meaning "the little one," set Lot back. Because of Zoar Lot lost his life and his family. We need to go to Jesus and not desire the world of the things of the world as Lot desired Zoar. While with Abraham he could've chosen the other side, opposite from Sodom and Gomorrah.

Listen, we have an option to be free or in bondage to sin. We should say, "Lord, if you command me, I can come out of this bondage. Jesus, I can do nothing without you. I believe these bondages can be free." Prevenient grace means light comes on in our heads, and we can repent. Grace helps us to turn to the Savior.

Those were some of the notes I took along with my own conclusions. Dear reader, I want you to make a decision right now to follow Christ and surrender everything to Him. He is absolutely worthy of all honor and praise. There is nothing in this world that comes even close to the worthiness of Jesus. No pleasure, no sin, no lie that you believe will be enough for you. Every time we play games with the flesh and the devil we end up in a ditch. But we need to ditch the devil and run after Christ.

Dear friend, I challenge you right now to give up your life and pick up the life of Christ. Your life doesn't belong to you anyway. And make the choice to live for Him daily. He deserves our love because He died and rose again. Stop with sin now, and make a decision to surrender it all to Him.

"I was blind but now I see, I was lost but now I'm found, I was naked but now I am clothed, I was deaf but now I hear."

I later reached out to Levi to thank him for preaching the full gospel and teaching us to do the same. I changed my mind on how to preach and how to live when the Holy Spirit convicted me during the worship session. I am forever grateful to Him.

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