This sermon by Dan Kent helps us understand the meaning of repentance and why it is so crucial to our walk with Jesus. In it, we discover how we misunderstand what repentance is and see how repentance is a path to true freedom.
Watch/Listen
Light Chasers
• Dan Kent
Show Extended Summary Hide Extended Summary
In Revelation 8:2, we read about the trumpets that were given to the angels. Trumpets symbolize a call to repentance, which is the theme that Dan Kent explores in this sermon.
In Matthew 4:17, Jesus called people to repent. Matthew placed these words of Jesus after a quote from Isaiah 9:1-2, which reads:
The people living in darkness
Have seen a great light
On those living in the land
Of the shadow of death
A light has dawned.
Many times we view repentance negatively, but the repentance Jesus offers is a call to turn from darkness and chase the light. It is a good thing that is a cause for joy. Basically, it means to turn around. It means that we recognize that we are going in the wrong direction and that we turn to go in the right direction.
However, there are some practical reasons that many struggle with the idea of repentance. First, many don’t understand what it is. Popular images of religious people preaching on street corners barking condemnation dominate the way that people understand it. As a result they want nothing to do with repentance. Second, many of us don’t know that we are in the dark. The darkness has been a good experience, and therefore, the darkness appears to be light. Third, many don’t trust Jesus as the light. To trust this radical claim about Jesus is not something that is easy to do. It truly is a high calling.
To repent is to turn from the common life of darkness and move toward the freedom found in the light of Jesus. Practically, it might mean turning from the pursuit of more to the practice of contentment. Or it might entail making an about face away from envy and practicing gratitude. Instead of only loving those who love you, we learn to love our enemies. And it might mean replacing vengeance with reconciliation. This is not a one time thing in our life. We repent every time we turn from anything that entraps us in darkness and instead move toward Jesus’ light.
We must hear this call and refuse to downplay the darkness that so easily ensnares us. We must look at sin for what it is. It keeps us from living freely in the light, no matter how many people might be doing it. This is why we need trumpets. To face sin, we need a loud blast that will wake us up to the reality of the darkness that is so commonplace. We can be light chasers and refuse to go with the flow of the darkness.
Hide Extended SummaryTopics: Repentance, Sin, Transformation
Sermon Series: Crescendo of Chaos
Downloads & Resources
Audio File
Study guide
Group Study Guide
The MuseCast: May 6
Focus Scripture:
-
Revelation 8:2
And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
"Thank you for this ministry! It has transformed my life in some really radical ways. God has broken down so many barriers and exposed so many lies that have taken some serious burdens from my heart. It has given me hope, freedom and purpose I never could have imagined possible."
– Jenny, from Wisconsin