Hey, good morning, everyone. Welcome to another Morning Devotion with Brother Mark, where we are walking together on our walk with Christ. Today is August the 7th, 2024. Well, we're walking together. You're walking with me. And you're walking with me as I look into the scripture, as I study the scripture, and I'm just sharing with you things that I read and study and how they impact my life. And, and, you know, today I want to talk to you about the benefit of godly sorrow. You know, we're talking about the wonderful works of God and the good things that he has given us. Well, it's a good thing that God has given us godly sorrow. In studying for my teaching on Wednesday, it talks about repentance. And here I'm reading from T.P. Simmons, a systematic study of Bible doctrine. And it says that man must see himself as unlike God and in rebellion against God. He must see the opposition between his condition and the holiness of God. He must see that God abhors his condition and state. And so, as we think about sin, we should be worried about sin not because of any punishment, but because of the fact that it offends God. And so today we can be glad and thankful for godly sorrow. Godly sorrow does not allow you to continue on in sin. Godly sorrow turns you away from sin. You know, Paul talked to the Corinthians about that, and he said, now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed unto repentance. The church in Corinth had not acted appropriately towards one of their members. They had not taken the action that they needed to, and Paul reprimanded them because of that, and that caused godly sorrow in the church, and the church changed their action. And so it's good for us to have godly sorrow. It's good for us to recognize that our sin offends the Holy God so we can turn away from that and live a life that is well-pleasing to God. Now, godly sorrow is not always pleasant. But it is good, it is beneficial because it turns our hearts towards God. After conviction of sin, then will come contrition where you will begin to be sorry for that sin. And then there'll be conversion where you're turned away from that sin. And so that's the work in the heart of a believer. They see their sin, that it offends God, so they're convicted of it. They confess that sin, they have contrition towards God, they're sorry for that sin, and then they abandon that sin. And so today, I just want to encourage you that godly sorrow is a good thing. Conviction of sin is a good thing. It's like, you know, like pain. Pain is a good thing because pain warns us. Pain warns us to, you know, if you touch a hot stove, the pain that you feel, it's not pleasant, but it allows you to say, I need to remove my hand from that burner. Some people who have neuropathy, you know, they might lose the feeling in their hands and they can't feel that, that they need to remove their hand from something hot. And so pain is a good thing because it warns us. And so pain when it comes to sin is a good thing. It warns us that we're veering away from God. It warns us that we're living a way that's not pleasing to Him. So godly sorrow. is a good and a beneficial thing because it keeps us walking in a way that is pleasing to God. So the wonderful work of godly sorrow that God gives us to point us in the right way, what a blessing it is today. Heavenly Father, we just thank you today for something that is not always, not always pleasurable, but God, we know that it's beneficial. We thank you for your Holy Spirit that convicts us of sin. We thank you for your Word that guides us in the way of truth. And we thank you, God, that the Spirit that is in our spirit shows us how we're not walking with you and creates in us godly sorrow. then we can repent of that, confess that sin, and turn back to you. So I thank you for this, and I pray that your people will be thankful for godly sorrow today, and that they will grow because they follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and because they confess their sin and turn away from it. Thank you, God, for the benefit of the Holy Spirit. giving us godly sorrow. Bless your people today, I pray. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Well, I hope you're having a good week. Till the next time, Brother Mark signing off.