The first step in taking a closer walk with God

1. REPENTANCE The first step in beginning your walk with God

2. REPENTANCE Repentance vital importance in both beginning and maintaining a walk with God. You can neither be saved without it nor can you walk and work closely with God without it. Both Jesus and John the Baptist preached, “REPENT FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND!” Therefore we have to understand the depth of this word and its meaning to Christians

3. Matthew 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.“Mark 1:15"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

4. REPENTANCE Repentance is a change of THOUGHT AND ACTION to correct a wrong and gain forgiveness from a person who is wronged. In Christian context it refers to cease SIN against God, and resolving to live according to His teachings. It typically includes 1. An admission of Guilt 2. A promise or resolve not to repeat the offense; 3. An attempt live a life abiding Gods word in a manner that is pleasing to Him.

5. REPENTANCE Luke 5:32As Christians first we have to acknowledge Sin. We Sin when we go against the decrees given by God. We are all Sinners and fall way short of the glory of God. This is the main reason for the coming of Jesus. To save all of humanity from Sin and the clutches of Evil and eternal death. Jesus said: In Luke 5 32I have not come to call the righteous, but SINNERS TO REPENTANCE.“ Luke 24:46

6. But do we acknowledge our Sinfulness? Do we consider ourselves as sinners ?At the end of a day how many of us consider if we have done anything - by thought or deed - that would have displeased GodBECAUSE DISPLEASING GOD SURMOUNTS TO SIN

7. What is Sin Sin is defined as disobeying God. We were given the ten laws by God that we know as the Ten Commandments. Any direct or indirect breech of any one of these commandments is disobeying a commandment of God and therefore a Sin. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS Exodus 20 : 1- 17 Jesus summed up the ten commandments as we see in Matthew 22: 37 – 40 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[b]38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[c]40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

8. In effect Jesus added one more …and made it more difficult 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[ …and neighbor is NOT your actual neighbor but all of mankind… In other words Love Him ahead of anything or anyone else in life and love (take care of) others the way you love and take care of yourself. Jesus Himself declared these two commandments as the foundation to every other biblical Law.

9. 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." If we love our God more than ourselves then we will NOT DISOBEY HIS LAWS and displease him. If we love our others as much as ourselves then we cannot have vengeance, jealousy, anger, envy, animosity, greed. In His teachings Jesus is found repeatedly telling us of the need for forgiveness, love, humility… among other things that reaffirm the importance on SECOND LAW GIVEN BY JESUS.

10. 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." From this requirement given to us by Jesus we are faced with a whole heap of ways that would displease Him. If we breech the first commandment given by Jesus then we breech one or more of the ten commandments – at least 10 Sins If we breech the second commandment given by Jesus – which I believe that we all do on a day to day basis – then we can loose count of the number of times that we would displease Him on a given day… all of which is by definition Sin.

11. Just Think about it…

12. In actuality this will be difficult due to a human phenomena called Situational Sin or Justified sin.

13. Situational Sin (…or is it?) It is self justification of wrong as right. This is the idea that doing something that we consider to be wrong most of the time may be justified by ourselves to be right - due to the circumstances that we make believe to warrant the action. We are capable of justifying even the most heinous crime. Humans have developed nuclear weapons that can blow the entire world 12 times over. We justify it as defense. We wage war against countries, kill, maim, rape, pillage, steal…we can justify all of these. Countries spend trillions on developing weapons when some fellow human beings are dying of hunger and lack of water. This is the human factor giving in to evil. Situational Sin or justified Sin generally comes from an incomplete or incorrect understanding of how God looks at things. God is Just and Holy. The Bible teaches us that God really leaves no gray area about right and wrong. It is either right or wrong. In His righteousness God does not allow for what is termed Situational Sin. We are only kidding ourselves!

14. Situational Sin (…or is it?) We have got to remember that God put no conditions on His commandments. He did NOT SAY if such happens you may breech it… He said thou shall not steal. – no other conditions. Similarly God has no conditions on his love for Humanity. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Like you justify and bring forth conditions for Sinning… Would you want Him to have conditions on His love for you?

15. Romans 8 5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

16. are we living according to our sinful nature or are we living in accordance to what the spirit desires?

17. Therefore the beginning of repentance is to seek and realize if we are currently living in accordance to the spirit in a righteous manneror living according to our sinful nature…But most often we live in denial. We do not acknowledge our Sinful nature and continue living our lives enamored by Sin.

18. We have to come to know what displeases God and with all our heart and mind refrain from displeasing Him and thus Sinning. To get a deeper understanding we need to learn Jesus’ teaching found in the gospels.When we get this understanding we will then cease to live in denialThen we have to come to terms with our Sinful nature identify and repent for these Sins and for displeasing God in so many ways.

19. Repentance therefore happens to be a fundamental requirement in your relationship with God that plays a vital role for the success of our journey seeking His Kingdom.Lack of Repentance guarantees a broken relationship between you and God. True repentance will establish or restore that relationship.

20. Redemption / Salvation 1 John 1: 5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. We also see John 3 : 17 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

21. SALVATION

22. Proverbs 28 13 He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

23. Thank youGod Company Sri LankaGodcompanysl@yahoo.comhttp://www.slideshare.net/Thornmd/presentationshttp://godcompany.wordpress.com/.