Repent So You Don't Repeat | Alex Espinoza

What's up, men of God? Pastor Eric here, and I am so excited to bring this message to you. I want you to feel encouraged. I want you to feel hopeful. I want you to know that God is still working in your story. Our mission here at Victory City is to help every person take a step closer to Jesus. And can I tell you, man, as you're growing in the Lord, you're taking a step. So let's lean in, let's see what God has for us this week. And I know you'll be blessed for it, and I love you. Well, Victory City Church, if I haven't gotten the chance to meet you personally, my name is Alex Espinoza, and I am the Groups and Outreach Director here at Victory City Church. And honestly, I can't say that without plugging something that's coming up next week. We have Connect Group Launch happening next Sunday. That's right, that's right. For those of you that don't know what Connect Group Launch is, well, what we're gonna be doing is that we're gonna be having 32 Connect Groups in the lobby available for you after every service, and you're gonna have the opportunity to join a group. I know summer can be filled with vacations and time with family, but I know that sometimes summer

can also be filled with loneliness. And what better way to join a community of believers than to join a small group at Victory City Church and make friends at church, amen? Amen. Amen, amen. Well, before we dive deeper, I want to greet our Bartlett Innovation Unit. Men of God, we love you so much. We're so grateful for you. I cannot wait to see you in two weeks. We have a couple teams that go there every two weeks, and we get the opportunity to minister to them, to pastor to them, and to love on them. So if you are interested in that, I would love to chat with you after service. Victory City Church, have you been liking our ACT series that we've been in? Yeah? Some of you, amen? Pastor Eric has been doing an incredible job with teaching us in the book of Acts. And before I move even further, I'd like to honor our lead pastors. One more time, let's put our hands together for Pastor Eric and Pastor Natalie Morris. I know, a lot of clapping, but there's a lot of honoring to do in Jesus' name. Love you so much, Pastor Eric and Pastor Natalie. Well, let's jump into the text.

You got your Bibles today? Yeah? All right, we're gonna go to Acts chapter two, verses 37 through 41. If you're there, say, hear. Hear. If you're not, say, hold up. Hold up. Hear. All right. Let's jump in, shall we? Acts chapter two, verses 37 through 41. And it says this. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. And said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And with many words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, save yourself from this crooked generation. So those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. I'd like to title my message today, Repent So You Don't Repeat.

Repent So You Don't Repeat. Let's pray. Father God, we are so grateful that you are in the room this morning. Father, I pray right now, Lord, that you would stand in my body, speak through my vocal cords, Father, so that we can all take one step closer to you. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen, amen. I remember when I felt cut to the heart. Y'all, this was eight years ago. And it was when I was trying to shoot my shot. And this happened the good old-fashioned way in the DMs of Instagram. Come on, somebody. That's right. Some of you are laughing because you guys met your spouse the exact same way. The DMs of Instagram. I remember eight years ago, man, I was fired up. I was filled with life. I was so excited to message this person by the name of Alyssa Nicole Galvan. Some of you may know who that is. But I was super fired up, I was excited. I couldn't wait. And I remember when I sent the message, I waited for about three to four hours. And I remember,

I remember that three to four hours was probably the longest three to four hours of my life. But how many know on Instagram, when you get a direct message back, you get like a blue icon signifying that you get that message back? I remember when I got it, I was so excited, but at the same time, I was so nervous. I was so nervous. And praise God, she responded. Praise God. But it wasn't the response that I was anticipating. It was a response of rejection. I know, womp, womp, womp. You guys wanna know about the second time I DMed her? How many know that persistence is key, amen? I remember DMing her again, and this time, I pulled the Christian card. This might help some of you guys. This time, I pulled the Christian card. I said, this church that I'm going to, the lead pastor is in a sermon series called Invite Your Friend to Church. Some of you know where I'm going. And what'd I do? I said, hey, I go to this church, and my pastor's in a sermon called Invite Your Friend to Church. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind coming to church with me.

Oh, come on, y'all, that's pretty clever. Come on, that's pretty good. Like, that was spirit-minded. That was ministry-filled. Like, come on, I was ready to go, ready to shoot my shot again. How many know? I got another response. And guess what? I was rejected again in Jesus' name. Can I tell you? What cut me to the heart wasn't the feelings that I received after that direct message. It wasn't the external look, but it was what I felt deep down inside when I received it. I felt not enough. I felt alone. I felt exposed. I felt not worthy. I felt not worthy. And it left an internal wound. When Luke writes in the book of Acts that the crowd was cut to the heart, he's not describing what I felt in those DMs. He's describing something much more deeper. This is intentional language. In fact, this is surgical language. But here's the distinction. But here's the distinction.

Heartbreak is circumstantial. Something happens to me externally, which then in return, I get my heart broken. But conviction is different. Conviction is when someone approaches you with the truth that you know is true and you find yourself at a crossroad. Why? Because your flesh doesn't want to acknowledge it. Your flesh doesn't want to acknowledge it. Can I tell you that I know what that crossroad feels like personally. It was late at night. Alyssa and I just moved to Texas. No friends, no family, no church. Just the two of us in a brand new state trying to figure things out. Trying to build this new life together. We had been married for only about a year. And that night, early on in our marriage, we got into it. It's one of our biggest fights we've ever had. And she looked at me and said, I don't feel like I'm a priority for you. She said, I don't feel like you're present. She said, I don't feel like your wife. And everything in me immediately went into defense mode. Immediately. I remember raising my voice and saying, baby, I'm in nursing school. I'm doing this for us.

We moved here for this. I uprooted our life from California to come to Texas for a better future for us. Not only for me and you, but for our family that's to come. I'm trying to get through clinicals, I'm staying up late, I'm waking up early trying to pass these classes. I'm doing everything I can to build a better future for us. See, in my mind, I was sacrificing for her and for our family. But here's what she was telling me. She was telling me she just wanted her husband back. Now that's what made it hurt so bad. But after hours of fighting, the defense dropped. And I looked at her and I said, you're right. You have not been a priority. And in one late night conversation, I realized early on in our marriage that my marriage was suffering. Can I tell you, that's what conviction does. It doesn't just hurt on the surface. It goes all the way down. Not to destroy you, to redirect you. That's what's happening here in Acts chapter two, verse 37 through 41. For cut to the heart, the Greek word Luke chose is katanuso.

Can you say katanuso? It only appears one time in the entire New Testament. Now Luke, the writer of Acts, didn't just stumble upon this word. It wasn't on accident. No, he came to the Lord, he came to the Lord, it wasn't on accident. No, he came to it deliberately and intentionally. Katanuso means to pierce through. Katanuso means to go all the way down. Now this is not heartbreak language. This is surgical language. Now think about who's preaching this. Peter. The same Peter who grabbed a sword and cut off the ear of someone in front of Jesus. Peter's the same person that denied Jesus just a couple months ago at a campfire site. And now we see Peter using a different sword to cut. He's using the sword of the word of God. And this word cut through 3,000 people in a single morning. Can I tell you, that wasn't Peter. That was the Holy Spirit animating Peter and doing the cutting. Hebrews chapter four, verse 12, says it like this. We'll put the words up on the screen. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit,

of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. See, the Spirit doesn't cut you to destroy you. He cuts you to redirect you. He goes after the thing that you're most convinced of. He goes after the thing that you built your life around. And He goes after the thing that you're most afraid to lose. And here's what I want you to notice about the crowd's response. They didn't run. They didn't get defensive. They didn't respond with their own success stories. No, the cut pulled them in. And they turned to Peter and said, brothers, what shall we do? Can I tell you this? Real conviction draws you closer to God, not further from God. Real conviction draws you closer to God, not further from God. How do you respond? when God convicts you? Do you respond with your pride? Do you respond with your own success stories? Do you respond with protection? Do you respond with a defense mechanism? Or do you respond with humility, just like the crowd did? And it begs them to ask the question, what shall we do? Peter answers this in Acts 2.38. And let's read it here in the text.

It says, and Peter said to them, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I think when most of us hear the word repent, we think we just got to apologize. We just got to say sorry. We just got to feel bad, maybe shed a tear and move on. But can I tell you, that's not what Peter is saying. Here in the text. But before we dive deeper into that, I want to let you know that I know the cycle of apologizing far too well. I grew up comparing myself constantly. I grew up with two brothers, played sports all the time, always comparing myself to the person next to me. And can I tell you, I thought that this feeling went away when I moved, but it didn't. In fact, it followed me into my marriage, and it followed me into my ministry. It followed me into my marriage by constantly asking myself and comparing myself. Oh, hey, Alex, look at that couple. Look at how much that husband prays for that wife in a week. Oh, Alex, look at that couple. Look at how much more financially secure that family is compared to yours. Look at how many more date nights they're going on

in comparison to you on a monthly basis. Can I just be honest this morning? Same thing happened in my ministry early on. Comparing myself to other preachers, comparing my leadership talks to other people, comparing how many connect groups we have at Victory City Church in comparison to other churches. I'm just being vulnerable with you this morning. Is that okay? Is that okay? And for years, my response was the same. I'll bring it to the altar on Sunday. I'll feel good about it. And then what happens on Monday? Same thing over and over. Can I tell you, that's not repentance. That's a hamster wheel. Repentance in Greek is said as matenaio. Can you say that? Matenaio. Matenaio. And it means to turn, change one's mind. It means a complete restructuring of how you think. If you're a note taker, write this one down. Regret is a feeling. Repentance is a turning. Can I tell you that repentance is not a one hit wonder. But it's the ongoing posture of a follower of Jesus. Culture says repentance is weak. Like for some reason, admitting that you can't do it

on your own makes you a beta male. For some reason, admitting that you don't have all the right answers makes you a beta female. But can I tell you, repentance is strong. Repentance is realizing you cannot do it on your own. And Peter tells them why to repent. Alex, why should I repent? Here's why. Peter tells him why in Acts chapter two, verse 14. Let's read it together. It says, and with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. Crooked generation goes all the way back to Moses in the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse five, it says here, I'm gonna read it for you, they have dealt corruptly with him. They are no longer his children because they are blemished, and they are a crooked and twisted generation. This is Moses speaking to Israel. Moses saw this coming, and now Peter is standing in Jerusalem, and he's saying, you became exactly what Moses was warning about. And Peter, what he's doing here in the text is that he's drawing a line in the sand. He's saying, you are either an acquaintance of God or in allegiance with God. He's drawing a line in the sand,

and he's saying, you are either a son of God or a son of the devil. And the word crooked means bent, twisted, and warped. And here's what I wanna show you the difference between a crooked generation and an allegiance with God. A crooked generation says, do you? But an allegiance with God says Luke chapter 9, 23. Deny yourself, take up where you cross daily, and follow me. A crooked generation says, knowledge is king, but an allegiance with God says, Jesus is king. A crooked generation says, speak your truth, but an allegiance with God says in John chapter 14, verse 6, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. A crooked generation says, do whatever your heart desires, follow your heart, but an allegiance with God says in Proverbs chapter 3, verses five through six, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't trust in your heart, trust in the Lord with all your heart. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and what will he do? He will make your crooked paths straight. This is the difference between a crooked generation and an allegiance with God. Peter is saying this is the reality that we are living in if we do not repent. The difference for me was this. I stopped bringing comparison to God once a week, and I just started bringing it to him every day.

Nothing crazy, no magic wand moment for me. Every morning, reading my word. Every night before I go to bed, get on my hands and knees and pray. Not because it's a rule, but because I finally stopped apologizing and started redirecting myself. That's my denial. Not feeling sorry about comparison on Sunday and leaving unchanged the rest of the week. Actually turning. One day at a time. Repentance isn't saying, sorry, God. Repentance is saying, God, I invite you into this redirection. And I think a lot of us have been white-knuckling this life with God. We've been bootstrapping every single thing that has been given to us. Bringing the same thing to the altar every single week. Gripping so tight that even when God wants to give you something, he can't because your hands are white-knuckling it. But here's what I want us to understand, that when you stop apologizing and actually turn, here's what I want us to understand. The hands that you're white-knuckling life with, when you start redirecting and when you start repenting, what happens is these hands slowly start to loosen. They slowly start to open.

And you find yourself in a posture of reception. and into those hands God wants to place something. not a to-do list, not another thing for you to master, not something else you could white knuckle. he wants to give you a gift. Acts chapter 2 verse 38 says this, And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. it says you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. not you might, not you could if you're good enough, but you will receive. the Greek word here is dorea and it means something given entirely at the giver's initiative. no obligation on his part, no merit required on yours. write this down if you're a note-taker, the Holy Spirit is not a reward at the end of a video game you beat, he is a gift from a generous God. and I need you to understand who Peter is offering this gift to. these are the people of Jerusalem that have spit at him, these are the people of Jerusalem that have mocked him, these are the people of Jerusalem that called for it, that cheered for it. can I be honest today? that's me. that's you. and Peter looks at this crowd knowing everything they did and says this gift is for you. the very people who put him on the cross are the very first people to receive the gift. victory city church, this is the grace of the gospel. this is the good news of the gospel. and when you repent you're not receiving a feeling, you're not receiving goosebumps on the third song, you're not receiving a genie in the bottle, you're receiving the same spirit that hovered over the waters at creation, you're receiving the same spirit that rose Jesus Christ from the from the dead, the same spirit that walked on the waters and turned water into wine, and at the mention of that name demons tremble, and at the mention of that name demons shudder. and can I tell you that he doesn't just want to vibe out with you, the spirit doesn't just want to hang with you, the spirit doesn't just want to chill with you, the spirit wants to take up residence in your life. look up the word residence in the dictionary and it says to live. the Holy Spirit wants to live inside you. he wants to take up residence over your heart, over your mind,

and over your soul today. I told you about that late-night argument with Alyssa and how she looked at me and said I don't feel like your wife. and after hours of fighting the defense finally dropped and I said you're right something shifted, because I finally stopped defending myself and started redirecting myself. and can I tell you the closeness and the partnership that we have now is better than ever before. can I tell you that wasn't me getting my act together, that was God inhabiting the place I finally surrendered. and can I tell you today that he wants to inhabit every single moment of your life. but here's something I want to be super clear in. my repentance was the decision to change, but the Holy Spirit is what helped me actually change. and your situation might look completely different than mine, but there is a place in your life where God is waiting for you to stop defending and start redirecting and start surrendering and start repenting. and when you do, he shows up. Not just once, He shows up every single day through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2 verse 41 says, they were added. Let's read it. So those who received His word were baptized and they were added that day about 3,000 souls. It says they were added. They weren't just saved, they were added. Now the question is, added to what? What were they added to? They weren't added to a podcast. They weren't added to a TikTok to be a TikTok theologian. No, they were added to a community. They were added to a people. They were added to the church. And can I tell you that the enemy wants you to believe

that you are an independent Christian contractor. Just you and Jesus, just me, myself, and the Lord. But that's a lie. You are not meant to do this life alone. I love how we do baptisms here at Victory City Church. Can we give it up for every single person that made that decision this morning again to get baptized? Incredible. And I love it so much because what happens is, if you guys didn't see or didn't get the chance, there's someone that stands in this tub and they go public in their faith. But if you look behind them, there's people. And I think this is symbolic. As you go public in your faith, you are not going into it alone. You are going into it with an army of believers, Christians from brothers and sisters that are in Christ that wanna link arms with you in this walk of faith and that they literally have your back. As I begin to close, maybe something there in this message settled on your heart. Maybe you felt something heavy land on your chest. Can I tell you, that wasn't me. That was the Holy Spirit. That was the Holy Spirit speaking to you through this text. Can I tell you that that feeling isn't a condemnation. That feeling is an invitation. Maybe you've been sitting in church for years, you know all the right words, know all the right songs,

know all the right scriptures. But you've been apologizing to God and apologizing to God for the same thing every single week. And nothing's changed. You've just been sorry. You haven't turned. You haven't repented. When I worked in healthcare, I remember a patient being rushed to the ICU. And I remember the physician had to come to the bedside of the ICU super quickly because this patient had blood being built up in his lungs to the point to where if the physician did not intervene, then that patient could have died. I remember the physician came to the bedside and he placed an incision just above the rib cage and he placed a chest tube. A chest tube is something that helps drain the blood out of the lungs little by little. And if you were to look at this from the outside looking in, you would say, that's harmful. That's painful. Why are they doing this to this person? But the physician didn't make the incision to harm the patient. The physician made the incision to save this person's life. And I believe this morning, that's exactly what the Holy Spirit has been doing today in this room. The cutting is the conviction that you are feeling.

The thing that got exposed that your flesh didn't want to acknowledge. Can I tell you that was the great physician making an incision. He cut you because it's the only way to save you. To save you. I'll put it like this. Let's say you came to the ER and you had a major multi-compartmental head bleed. And I was the doctor. and I came to you at the bedside and I said hey everything's gonna be okay you're gonna get through this and I walked out and you never saw me again you probably say wait what come back help me here but if I came to you and I said hey here's what we need to do I need to perform brain surgery on you to stop the bleeding it's gonna be painful it's gonna hurt but this is what I need to do to save your life your guys's response would probably be do whatever you need to do doc help me help me I want to encourage you today don't leave here today and put a band-aid back on a wound that has needed real healing for years for some of you your next step is to give your life to the Lord you're tired of apologizing and it's time for you to repent so you don't keep repeating and I want to give you an opportunity to respond I want to give the opportunity to receive Christ maybe this is your first time or maybe this is your first time in a long time to receive him today is the salvation day for you today's the day of salvation so with every head bowed and every eyes closed I want to give you that opportunity and if that sounds like you on the count of three I want you to raise your hands ready one two three one two three four five six seven eight nine ten amen we're not gonna celebrate just yet oh here we go 11 12 13 we're not gonna celebrate just yet because you haven't said the prayer but Victory City Church

can we join these people in this prayer as they say it for the first time and it sounds like this repeat after me Jesus today I surrender my life to you forgive me of my sins wash me clean today Jesus I choose not to apologize to you I choose to repent to you I believe you died on the cross and you rose three days later for me from this day forward help me follow you take up residence in my life it's in Jesus name I pray amen Victory City Church can we celebrate those 13 people that made that decision praise God