You Must be Born Again

³ Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,^[a] you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”  ⁴ “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” ⁵ Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.^[b] 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.^[c] 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You^[d] must be born again.’  John 3:3-7 NLT

On Saturday October 22^nd at 9:00 a.m. my 3^rd grandchild, Stephen Gregory, was born to Jonathan and Melissa.  I arrived at the hospital shortly after 7 am and prayed with them.  With little sleep the night before she was ready to have the baby.  At that time she was only dilated at 4cm. About 8:40 Jonathan and I stepped outside the room for a few minutes.  When they invited us back in she was ready to start pushing.  10 minutes later, Stephen arrived.

Not every delivery is this quick nor uncomplicated.  In fact many times there are complications with the deliveries or problems with the  health for the mom and the baby.  However, Jesus uses this event to describe the parallel for every person to enter into the spiritual kingdom.  He says that there is NO other way to be a part of His Kingdom.  We must be born again by the work of the Holy Spirit.

I wanted to encourage all of us about this event.  After 9 months, the delivery was fast.  There was an increased acceleration at the end.  You and I may have been praying for someone to become a follower of Jesus.  You may have become discouraged seeing no signs that God is moving in their lives.  But when their hearts become tender through the moving of the Holy Spirit, it can happen quickly.  One event can cause them to contemplate life differently.  One scripture can break the stronghold of unbelief- “I believe, help my unbelief” or “At your word, I will cast my nets on the other side”.  One act of love can melt the hardness of sin.  One word of humility can disarm years of unforgiveness and bitterness that has caused them to be unable to take a step toward the freedom of God’s love and forgiveness.  Don’t give up on your wayward child, your hardened spouse, your belligerent coworker, your arrogant sibling, your picky neighbor, your gossipy church member, or the Muslim friend who rejects you. 

If you are concerned for their spiritual condition at all…God is still reaching out to them.  He is inviting you to participate in the delivery.  Your hope and your intercession are part of God’s imploring for them to be reconciled to him.  Again, if it is on your heart…it is on God’s heart.  Today is the day of Salvation….it can happen sooner and quicker than you think.  Don’t let outside appearances cause you to loose heart.  Faith is the evidence of things unseen.  Believe that God is working and will continue to work.

Don’t grow weary in well doing…for we shall reap.

Would your speech change if more words were coming from God?

¹⁹ When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time.²⁰ For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.  Matthew 10:19-20.

I asked Papa (my stepfather) to choose one of his favorite verses for the devotional this morning.  He said this verse brings encouragement to him because he trusts that God will help him speak His words at the right time.  How would our speech change if more of our words were coming from God?

To be sure this verse found its first fulfillment when Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin after preaching that the Jesus they had crucified was now risen (Acts 4:1-22).  The rulers recognized that they were uneducated but bold and articulate.   We also know that Paul was taken before  leaders and tried to persuade them to become Christians in their own “courtroom”.  Are there other opportunities for this verse to find application in our lives?

A marinated steak is good not only because it is juicy, but because the mixture of sauce and spices had time  to permeate its flavor throughout the whole piece of steak.  Likewise, when we spend time in intimacy with our Heavenly Father in worship and meditating on His word, we become available for Him to use.  His thoughts and words overflow from that which we are full of…His Spirit.  The converse would also be true…our lack of preparation of time with Him, would limit the opportunities for maximum effectiveness.

In Proverbs 25:11 we find another corollary encouragement.  “a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”  How many times do we wish we had the right word for the moment?  In Matthew we find this wonderful promise that the Holy Spirit will provide those needed words of life. 

These timely words are for all occasions in our lives, not just when we will be called to court. Such as…knowing when to say I’m sorry instead of demanding my rights; sharing wisdom with a coworker struggling in life; not being silent over racial concerns in our country; discussing politics with family and friends with whom you disagree; how to turn a conversation to contemplate Jesus role in our lives; and how to diffuse and argument.

There are so many lost people who do not know Jesus.  Could we ask for the Holy Spirit to help us lead a person to Christ within this next week by the words that we would speak to them?  Could we trust that our Father could empower us with boldness to actually lead someone to be a follower of Jesus?  We do not have to worry, because He told us not to.  We do however need to trust by faith, that God will fulfill his promise to speak through us at just the right time. 

May our prayer be the same as Paul’s, “And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God's mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike”.  Ephesians 6:19.  If God does not have our mouths to communicate His love to the world, then whose?

Remain Salty

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. ESV Matthew 5:13

The Essence – Salt

Salt is one of the five abilities that we have as taste. Salt as sodium chloride is so stable a compound that almost no natural element can turn salt into another compound.  Salt is needed in the body for survival.  Salt kills bacteria and can preserve meat for years.  As late as the 19 century salt blocks were used as currency in the country of Abyssinia now known as Ethiopia.  The first Roman Road was made for the Salt trade.

The Problem – Dilution

Water and other chemicals can dilute salt or contaminate it where it is no longer usable for consumption.  The life giving qualities have become useless and also harmful.  It will kill grass and all sorts of vegetation.  Hence it is to be thrown on the roads to keep them clean of vegetation and ease of travel. 

The Application – As a child of God, he compares our influence in the world as salt.  We need to guard against activities that would dilute our witness to the world as salt.  This means – wanting to be like the “world”, engaging in worldly thinking that influences our world view (music, tv, talk/ sports radio, reading materials, philosophies in education, pursuit of entertainment movies…most Christians can quote more movie lines and song lyrics than Bible verses.).  I am not saying boycott all forms of media…BUT how do you know when the spiritual salt in your life is becoming diluted? How can we guard against diluting the purity of the Jesus life in us?  Look at where you spend your time! If we lose our saltiness, we will NO longer be effective in leading people to Jesus for the eternal life that is needed.  SALT IS FOR OTHERS TO EXPERIENCE CHRIST!  Have we become tasteless and ineffective?

The Hope – We can walk humbly ask God to forgive us of the dilution that engagement in media has had on us.  And Jesus will forgive us!  We can ask for him to make us salty again so that others begin asking what makes us different.  We can ask for him to lead us to people that are thirsty to know about salvation.  In and through Jesus we can be made useful again….even when we have blown it from our perspective.  His grace upholds those who are broken and contrite in heart.

You Are the Salt of The Earth.

That makes me so angry, really?

⁵ Just then Saul was returning from the fields, behind his oxen, and he asked, “What is wrong with everyone? Why are they weeping?” Then they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had said. ⁶ When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger.  1 Samuel 1:5-6

Saul heard that the Ammonites were going to gouge out one eye of the inhabitants of Jabesh as a sign of their becoming servants.  The Spirit came upon Saul and he became angry. When was the last time that you became angry after hearing about an injustice?  God’s Spirit is never neutral about injustice.  Jesus came to set the prisoners free, heal the broken hearted and proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.  The Holy Spirit guided Jesus to help people at the very core of their problems, this led him to ultimately die for their salvation.

Just to be clear, I am NOT suggesting that our anger from God lead us to physically hurt or kill someone.  However there are at least 3 helpful ideas that can help us from this passage

1.       God speaks to us during our mundane activities of our lives.  Saul was returning from working in the field when he heard about the plight of his kinsmen.  It was not after worship at the temple or an all night prayer meeting or just after he prophesied with the prophets.  He was on his way home from work.  Maybe that car ride home just became a sanctuary for an encounter with God.

2.      He was attentive to the people around him.  He asked, “why is everyone weeping? God’s Spirit came upon Saul AFTER he became sensitive to their needs.  Sometimes people don’t listen to the news, because they say…”it’s only bad news”.  True that news should not be the only diet of information that you listen to....but don’t close your ear to the plight of those struggling.   This does not mean that every bad thing that you hear needs to be your focus.  But not responding causes a hardening of your heart to the moving of the Spirit in your life.What kind of news could you possibly respond to?  Education of children, plight of family issues like divorce, foster children, or tragedy and so many more. 

3.      Righteous anger from God is the motivation for us to get off our butts and engage in the injustice of people.  Later our grandkids will ask….”what did you do while your country was aborting all of those babies? When America was becoming less Christian (numerically), what did you do?  How did you respond during the racial crisis?  Were you involved in sacrificial prayer events for the plight of the nation?  Did you ever share the gospel message with someone who was lost?  Did you really think people are so lost that  they will spend eternity in hell because they never accepted the good news of Jesus as the only way of salvation to God?”

We NEED the Holy Spirit to move upon our lives.  We need to give Him permission to stir up our thoughts to righteous activity.  We need the full flow of living water running its course in and through our lives to those in need.

What will you do…now that your heard the plight of your neighbor?