New Year's Eve 2012

You must be born again!

        If you have never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, do 
        it now.....

       You can be forgiven of your sins and have fellowship with 
        God.

We are no longer condemned.
We stand before God whole and complete, and without sin.
We are cleansed in the blood of the Lamb.

When we were born again our conscience was cleansed from dead works to serve the living God according to Hebrews 9:14.

When we were born again, our communion with God was restored;
                     our spirit came into contacted with God who is Spirit.

Our born again knowing God isn't anything to do with our minds;
It has something to do with our hearts, our spirits.

Before we were born again, we questioned the existence of God.

But when we were born again, suddenly we knew, that we knew,
that we knew that God is!

We can't be talked out of our knowing. . .!

Jesus came to bring us new birth,
          to heal our spirits,
          to make us salt,
          to make us light,
          to make us new creatures.

Having been born in the spirit state of death, we needed help.
     We could not know God.
     We could not fellowship with God.
     We had no way of having our conscience cleansed from dead  works to serve the living God.

We came from our mother's womb, spiritually dead,
even as Adam was dead in his spirit after eating
of the forbidden tree.

The new creation is something unique that could only be patent by the manufacturer.

We  have now been manufactured by God and we are so unique that He has a patent on us.

                          No one can else can make one like us.
                          We are the apple of His eye.
                          We are loved of the Father.
                          We are one of a kind.

2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a newcreature:
old things are passed away; behold, all things become new."

The second illustration that Jesus used in the first Beatitude is in Matthew 5:14-16,"Ye are the light of the world. . . "

When we are born again, we will be like light, because we have received light into our spirit.

When we are born again,
   we add flavor to the people in the world
      we become a healing force morally and physically
         we become a preserving agent
            we can keep the weeds of life from prospering.

The First Beatitude in Matthew 5:13; 
     "Ye are the salt of the earth. . "

Jesus likens our spirit man [after being born again] to the character of salt.           Salt adds flavor.
                   Salt heals wounds.
                   Salt preserves.
                   Salt kills weeds.

If we can understand the word "blessed" we can understand what Jesus meant.

      The Greek word for blessed means fortunate, well off, and happy;
      it takes the mystery and confusion out of the Sermon on the Mount.

In the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5] Jesus talks about what is necessary to know God and to be known of God.

          Jesus starts teaching with the Beatitudes [which in French means blessing] "Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Through this occasion with Nicodemus, Jesus was saying, healing is to the body as the new birth is to the spirit.

             If we will trust in the Son of God, we will be born again of the Spirit. With the new birth in the spirit, we will see the kingdom of God.

Jesus gives one last attempt to explain to Nicodemus what it means to be born again.

In John 3:14-15, Jesus refers to a story that He knows Nicodemus would be familiar with; the story of Moses and the serpent in the wilderness of the Old Testament, then He tells John 3:16.

Jesus expected Nicodemus to understand
what it is to be born again of the spirit;
to be born of the water and the spirit
to enter into the kingdom of God.

Jesus seemed to get irritated with Nicodemus;
He expected a religious leader to know and understand,
so Jesus replied, "Art thou a master [or teacher] of Israel,
and knowest not these things?" (John 3:10)

We would think that Jesus had told Nicodemus enough so he would understand, but he still replies, "How can these things be?"

Jesus clearly told Nicodemus that there is a difference between the birth of the flesh and the birth of the spirit.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit."  (John 3:6)

If we are going to be part of the kingdom of God,
we must be willing for the spiritual new birth to be
seen in our outward conduct.

Jesus expects those of us who are born of the Spirit,
         to also be born of the water;
              that is, change our outward conduct.

There are many born again Christians who are sitting by as spectators, watching all that is happening in the kingdom of God.

                   But they are not entering in.

In Jesus' second reply to Nicodemus,
       was different than the first reply.

He gave him a bigger answer,
      trying to add some understanding to it.

Jesus tried to explain to Nicodemus what He meant by "born again".

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

Nicodemus obviously couldn't understand what Jesus was saying,

        Jesus was talking about a spiritual rebirth,
                  but Nicodemus was thinking of a physical rebirth.
              This was obvious by Nicodemus' reply as to how can a man enter a second time into his mother's womb.

In John, chapter three, Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to    Jesus by night to ask about the miracles, "For no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with Him."

          Jesus' reply seemed out of context with his question.
     Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Man had proven that he, himself couldn't obey the law,
        for the letter kills but Spirit gives life.

        The law was ministering death to man,
                but God would minister life through the living Word.