REPENTANCE IS THE CHANGING OF CONCEPTS Josimar Salum

REPENTANCE IS THE CHANGING OF CONCEPTS

Josimar Salum

"My thoughts are not your thoughts."

It is necessary to repent, to change our thoughts, because what we believe, what we say, what we learn, what we study in theology, what we have been taught, needs to be revised. We need to change our thinking.

You have to discover the revelation of the Gospel, the revelation of Jesus.

What does the Bible really teach? It is necessary to make an enormous effort to remove all these heavy things that have trapped us, that are not satisfying.

Sometimes we don't even feel the Presence of God. When we hear sermons, they are empty; knowledge preaching only.

Week after week, Sunday after Sunday, and now with the advent of the cell phone you hear messages of all kinds, from everywhere, your choice. 

Then, in the pandemic, believers could choose who they would listen to, right?

Who would they watch on Sunday? Then they heard the 8:00 preaching, the 10:00 preaching, the midday preaching, the 2:00 preaching and it continues the same way.

Why?

"Because My thoughts are not your thoughts."

Repenting has to do with a change of concept, it has to do with a change in thinking, understanding, knowing,  intellection, practice that will bring about a transformation and change in your life.

I told Carlinhos Felix this when he wrote the song, "I want to go back to the beginning of everything, I want to review my concepts, I want to go back to the first Love."

Returning to the first Love does not mean returning to the "jesus" you encountered in childhood, it may not be.

Returning to the first Love does not mean returning to the day you were converted, the day you decided to follow Jesus.

To return to the first Love is to return to Jesus.

I hear a lot of people saying, "Ah, we have to go back to the early church."

We don't have to go back to the early church at all!

There are others who say that we are going back to Eden! We don't have to go back to Eden, we don't have to go back to Paradise, we have to turn totally to God, to Jesus, before the creation of the world, before He had done anything, that's where we have to go back.

#ASONE

WE DARE TO CHANGE! By Dr. Josimar Salum

WE DARE TO CHANGE! By Dr. Josimar Salum

We were programmed to think like a sermon, with introduction, three parts and a conclusion.

Our mindsets were set by a boxed educational system. The theology that arrived in Burundi comes from white people with blue eyes. That is not bad! What is bad is that instead of receiving directly from Jesus, Burundians have now a second hand “revelation”.

Ask of Jesus Himself the right questions. But especially questions whose answers that can be measured by things you see. You don’t need to use a chariot forever, you may ride a car. The only thing that cannot be changed is your integrity, truth, character, honesty and love.

Burundians, especially, do everything inside a box. They follow rules that can’t be broken even if they are not working. It is not bad to break rules and traditions that get you stuck avoiding you to progress and prosper.

We are people who respect the laws, respect authorities and live for peace. I hear this a lot in Brazil: “Oh! This is the way we do things here! It can’t be changed.” So, they get stuck in things that never work out.

Jesus broke rules all the time! He was not conventional! He was creative and innovative! 98% of what we call His ministry was performed outside the temple. 98% of His miracles He performed on the streets, in houses and in the market place. He wouldn’t see things spiritual different from natural. Actually He use only natural things to teach about the spiritual. And everything He said could be proved tangible, reachable and transformational.

We need to bring Jesus out of churches to the streets. We need to free His message from the temples. To change people outside. To solve problems that the government can’t solve. We need to take hold of our lives and stop depending on foreigners and others to solve our problems. We need to go from a begging mentality to a giving mentality. You may say “I have nothing to give”, but you do. You have a brilliant mind, two hands and two feet. You can do all things in God who strengthen you.

The President of Burundi Pierre Nkurunziza once said to foreigners: “Don’t bring us more Jesus. Bring solutions do Burundi.” What he meant was, “don’t bring us more religion. Bring us innovative ways that can solve our real problems.”

A message that doesn’t change people is empty religion only.

Jesus set us free not simply to live for the future, Jesus changes us now. If He was not concerned with people with their present needs He would not have multiplied the fish and the bread. He would not have healed people. He would not have ministered to the families.

A people who do not live his present well will never have a future.

You should wake up in the morning and ask yourself: “What problem will I solve today?” Not only your problem, but also problems of people around you. 

The world is full of people who became rich just because they were problem solvers.

The greatest tragedy in life is not being born poor. The greatest tragedy is to think like a poor.

You may not become wealthy one day, but you can dream out of nothing of a better life for you and your family. If you have just a fish and few breads, if you have a seed, you can conquer the world starting with conquering your fears by sharing what you have.

If you have trash in front of your home decide to clean it up everyday. You may not be able to clean the whole country, but you will see one day that the whole country is clean, because others thought to do the same what you did.

Everyday day do constructive things that will change your life. Don’t fear anything. Be courageous.

Look! See the fields producing a hundred fold! See your sisters and daughters well dressed and blessed. See your nation prosperous and enriched by the goodness of God. He has planted the seed of goodness in you. Now is your time to plant those seeds around you.

#ASONE

Don’t get stuck in your present. By Dr. Josimar Salum

Don’t get stuck in your present.
Dr. Josimar Salum

Reinhard Bonnke was a man of God that lived far beyond his capacity. From a small beginning in Africa he became the most successful preacher of the whole African continent. 

I posted this message he wrote:

 “When you do business with people you need money.  When you do business with God you need faith.  Faith is the currency of the Kingdom of God.”

The point is not about doing business, but the relationship with God who teaches us that Faith is the only currency of the kingdom of heaven. 

People go after money and think money is the solution of their problems. 

Faith is what we need to live. Not money. 

Men talking is money! The whole world goes after money. Money is an invention of men. Money obscures faith because faith in God supplies everything, even money. Faith in God elevates you above your existence. 

Look at this! This is faith that doesn’t accept defeat:

“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.” Habakkuk‬ ‭3:17-19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Then someone eager to prosper and overcome the challenges of life replied:  “But it's not easy for some from western countries.”

Let me encourage you as I have encouraged him. 

You are who you think you are! If you think there is no hope for you, you already have given up!

If you look around you with a pessimistic eye you will get stuck at your present position and condition. 

If you see God beyond your circumstances you will dream beyond what you see. You will exercise your faith to get beyond what you have or who you are. 

Where you are now is just a station of transition. 

I encourage you to think differently. 

When everyone around you is complaining about their life, you are seeing yourself above your problems and the problems of others. 

Be creative. You will never get stuck where you are if you move. 

You may not change how you were born, but you can change your future by changing the way you think. 

Think positively. 

You were born to become a champion and a king. 

Start ruling above your circumstances. 

Make decisions to change your life, step by step, every day you do something that will help you to fulfill your dream. 

A lion don’t die hungry. You decide you will not live the way you live. You don’t know about those around you, how they will do. That is not your reference. You know about you and you have decided to overcome in life no matter how is your situation today.

Remember! You have not arrived your destination. Circumstances may not change but you will change. SOON, very soon, you will see your existing life far away behind you. 

#ASONE

REAL 44 - THE CALL TO CHANGE By Graham Jones

THE CALL TO CHANGE

By Graham Jones 

Visit his website at www.gjm.org

Jesus is all about change! From the very outset Jesus came preaching repentance, which means change. Repentance is to turn from one thing to another, to stop looking at things from a human perspective and begin to look from above, to look from God’s viewpoint. In the sermon on the Mount Jesus said five times:

“You have heard it say this………But I say to you this…..”

Jesus does not call us to reformation, he calls us to transformation. He calls us on a journey to “follow me,” he calls us out of one life into another. We can only communicate God’s transformational power to others when we have experienced it ourselves. We can only communicate God’s transformative power to others to the measure that we have experienced it ourselves.

I believe that the most important key to our experiencing change, is for us to understand that God never changes. In an ever-changing world, it is hard for us to grasp to reality of an eternal God who is constant, consistent and unchanging. The church world has portrayed a God who never seems to be sure what he thinks and feels about us. When we are uncertain of who God is and how he sees us, we quickly reach a ceiling in our capacity to embrace transformation. Religion says that God’s relationship with us depends on our performance. The bible says that God’s relationship with us depends on his faithfulness and his unchanging character.

2 Timothy 2:13

If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

We need to embed this glorious truth in our hearts that God is our rock, he never wavers in his love and commitment to us. Jesus does not love us based on our performance or growth. God loves us based on his character and faithfulness.

THE OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE

There is both an objective and subjective part to our walk with Jesus. To walk by faith is to walk in the objective word of God which never changes. When we walk by faith we walk on something that is more solid than the ground on which we stand;

Matthew 24:35

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

There is also a subjective part to our relationship with God. We do not have a relationship with a God who lives by impersonal principles like the laws of physics. We walk with the bridegroom God who wants to woo and romance us with his passionate love. We have a warm Father who delights to know us and like any good father loves spending time with his children.

GLORIOUS CERTAINTY

The key to walking out these two realities is to recognize that both are true. God is unchanging in his character, his faithfulness, his values and his word; and yet his is capable of applying all of those unchanging realities to each individual person and in each individual circumstance in a way that is personal, precious and unique.

He invites you today to know him, to rest in absolute certainly about who he is and how he feels about you. He invites you to explore his glorious personality, to place a demand on the truth you know and see it blossom into experience. He invites you to climb aboard the glorious rollercoaster ride that is life in the Spirit, to lean not on your own understanding and dance on the water with him.

Respond, enjoy, explore, delight.