The Greek word for repentance (metanoia) denotes a change of mind, which is given external credence by a change of allegiance and of lifestyle in accordance with the new values adopted. It has little to do with feelings or emotions and has much to do with how one lives.
Paul, unlike the Synoptic Gospels, did not lay great stress on repentance. He used the verb once (II Cor 12:21), and this is important because it refers to Christians who should repent for sins committed even after conversion and presumably, baptism. Paul used the noun three times. In Romans 2:4, it is a general appeal to both unconverted Jews and to Gentiles, to repent; and in II Corinthians 7:9-10, it again refers to Christian repentance. Paul could describe the divided and guilty conscience with great depth of psychological insight (Rom 7:7-25), and, although interpretations differ here, this description most probably refers to the person before the grace of repentance and conversion. For Paul's comparative lack of emphasis on repentance was no doubt due to his strong belief in the great difference which faith in Christ makes (or should make) in the converted. He stressed the joy of the new life in Christ and in the Holy Spirit, not on submerging oneself in useless and free-floating, unfounded guilt
In line with the Hebrew prophets John the Baptist is portrayed as proclaiming repentance (Mark 1:4) and Jesus did the same (Luke 13:3), in turn commissioning his disciples to act likewise (mark 6:12). Repentance is seen as part of the proclamation of the early church as portrayed in Acts and is an important motif in the Apocalypse of John where it appears above all as a motive for the punishments visited upon the earth, in the sense that these tragedies of history give people an opportunity to repent and accept the sovereignty of God over their lives (Apocalypse of John 9:20-21; 16:9-11).
Paul Washer
Washer cites George Muller, John Piper, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield , Charles Spurgeon, Leonard Ravenhill, John Wesley, A.W. Tozer and Martyn Lloyd-Jones among others, as influences. He has frequently appeared on Christian radio and television discussing the Gospel.
Washer became a Christian while studying to become an oil and gas lawyer at the University of Texas. Upon graduation, he attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and achieved a Master of Divinity degree. He then moved to Peru to become a missionary for 10 years, after which he returned to the United States. Washer resides in Radford, Virginia, where he lives with his wife and three children.
Pastor Paul Washer -just watch it ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuabITeO4l8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYsClDclvf0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uLDTp89XYc&feature=related
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Leonard Ravenhill quotes
“A man who is intimate with God is not intimidated by man.”
“No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not
praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. We have
many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few
pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers;
many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers,
few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail
everywhere.”
“A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even
Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God.”
“Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy. ”
“The greatest miracle that God can do today is to take an unholy
man out of an unholy world and make him holy, then put him back into
that unholy world and keep him holy in it.”
“If we displease God, does it matter whom we please? If we please Him does it matter whom we displease?”
“When there’s something in the Bible that churches don’t like, they call it legalism.”
“Preacher, keep your knees on the ground & your eyes on the throne.”
“You can't live wrong and pray right.”
“How can you pull down strongholds of Satan if you don't even have the strength to turn off your TV?”
“There are two kinds of people in the world—only two kinds. Not
black or white, rich or poor, but those either dead in sin or
dead to sin.”
“One of these days some simple soul will pick up the book of God,
read it, and believe it. Then the rest of us will be embarrassed.”
“The early church was married to poverty, prisons and
persecutions. Today, the church is married to prosperity, personality,
and popularity.”
“But you know if God should stamp eternity or even judgment on our
eyeballs, or if you’d like on the fleshy table of our hearts I am quite
convinced we’d be a very, very different tribe of people, God’s people,
in the world today. We live too much in time, we’re too earth bound. We
see as other men see, we think as other men think. We invest our time
as the world invests it. We're supposed to be a different breed of
people. I believe that the church of Jesus Christ needs a new revelation
of the majesty of God. We’re all going to stand one day, can you
imagine it- at the judgment seat of Christ to give an account for the
deeds done in the body. This is what- this is the King of kings, and
He’s the Judge of judges, and it’s the Tribunal of tribunals, and
there’s no court of appeal after it. The verdict is final.”
“My goal is GOD HIMSELF. Not joy, not peace, not even blessing but HIMSELF...my GOD.”
“LORD strengthen me where I am too weak and weaken me where I am too strong!”
“Satan fools and feigns, blows and bluffs, and we so often take
his threats to heart and forget the "exceeding greatness of God's power
to us.”
“Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy. The more joy you have in the Lord the less entertainment you need.”
“Some Day Someone is going to pick up this book (The Bible) and believe it, and put us all to shame.”
“The apostles had no gold, but lots of glory. We have lots of gold, but no glory.”
“The Gospel is not an old, old story, freshly told. It is a fire
in the Spirit, fed by the flame of Immortal Love; and woe unto us, if,
through our negligence to stir up the Gift of God which is within us,
that fire burns low.”
“One thing and one thing alone keeps us from complete decay in this hour - the church, the true Church.”
“The Church right now has more fashion than passion, is more
pathetic than prophetic, is more superficial than supernatural.”
“There are three persons living in each of us: the one we think we
are, the one other people think we are, and the one God knows we are.”
“If Thou canst do something with us and through us, then please,
God, do something without us! Bypass us and take up a people who now
know Thee not!”
“If we had more sleepless nights in prayer, there would be fewer souls to have a sleepless eternal night in hell.”
“One of these days some simple soul will pick up the Book of God,
read it, and believe it. Then the rest of us will be embarrassed. We
have adopted the convenient theory that the Bible is a Book to be
explained, whereas first and foremost it is a Book to be believed (and
after that to be obeyed).”
“Who or what takes priority over God in our lives?”
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