BORN OF THE SPIRIT

“Jesus answered [Nicodemus], ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.’” (John 3:5–6)

In his book “Conversion,” missionary and theologian E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973) commented on Jesus’ reply to Nicodemus: “Here He tells us that the new birth is first of all ‘not of blood.’  You don’t get it through the blood stream, through heredity.  Your parents can give you much, but they cannot give you this.  Being born in a Christian home does not make you a Christian.”

The new birth is not inherited, not passed down through family lineage, nor guaranteed by the environment in which we were raised. A Christian home may nurture faith, but it cannot impart salvation. Only the Spirit of God can breathe new life into the soul.

Jesus’ words to Nicodemus cut through every illusion of self-sufficiency. Flesh can only produce flesh. Our natural birth gives us life in this world, but it cannot usher us into the kingdom of God. The Spirit alone gives birth to spirit. This means that salvation is not about heritage, tradition, or even effort -- it is about accepting the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.

Personal faith is essential. You cannot ride into the kingdom on the coattails of your parents’ faith or your church’s reputation. You must encounter Christ personally. The Spirit brings transformation. The new birth is not just a change of behavior but a change of nature. The Spirit makes us alive to God, reshaping our desires and renewing our hearts. Understand that grace is a gift. Just as you did not cause your first birth, you cannot manufacture your second. It is received by faith, through the Spirit’s power. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™, compiled from a variety of sources 

#6245

THE GIFT OF NEW BIRTH

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”  (John 3:16-17 NKJV)

This profound truth reminds us that the new birth is a precious gift from God. It is not something we can earn or achieve on our own -- it is freely given by the Father, flowing from His immeasurable grace.

Through Jesus Christ, this gift becomes the ultimate expression of God's love. By receiving Him -- by accepting this gift -- we are welcomed as children of God, as John 1:12 proclaims: "But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God." This adoption into God's family transforms us, giving us a new identity as His beloved children.

This new birth is not just a momentary event; it is the beginning of a journey. It is a new life that calls us to grow, to deepen our relationship with God, and to become more like Christ in our thoughts, words, and actions. It is an invitation to embrace a life of faith, hope, and love, all empowered by the Spirit. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry, compiled from a variety of sources

#6068

MORE REVOLUTIONARY THAN THE REVOLUTIONARIES

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45 NIV)

Though sympathizing with the revolutionaries' analysis of what was wrong with society and in fact being mistaken for a revolutionary Himself by the political authorities of His day, nevertheless Jesus did not advocate a new political regime to be established by force through revolutionary action.  He called for the love of our enemies, not their destruction; ... for readiness to suffer instead of using force; for forgiveness instead of hate and revenge.  One might even say that Jesus was more revolutionary than the revolutionaries, or revolutionary in a very different way.  The revolution He had in mind was a radical change of heart on the part of mankind, involving conversion away from selfishness and toward the willing service of God and of people in general. 

-- Clark H. Pinnock (1937-2010) in “Reason Enough” 

#5993

THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

“Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”  (Acts 2:38 NRSV)

To repent is to change your mind about the way you have been living. It is to decide to stop following the way of sin and to start following the way of Jesus. When the decision to repent is coupled with trusting faith in Jesus, the result is conversion. William Barclay writes, “When repentance comes, something happens for the future. We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Even if we repent, how are we to avoid making the same mistakes over and over again? There comes into our lives the power which is not our power, the power of the Holy Spirit, and in that power we can win the battles we never thought to win, and resist things which by ourselves we would have been powerless to resist. In the moment of true repentance we are liberated from the estrangement and the fear of the past, and we are equipped to face the battles of the future.” 

-- Richard Peace in “Learning to Love God”

#5775

IMMERSION IN THE LIFE OF JESUS

“Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation. Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.”  (Proverbs 3:3-6 NLT)

Conversion without immersion in the life of Jesus Christ is perversion of the gospel. St. Augustine talked about “the costly grace” of God. Discipleship, servanthood, costs us everything. Everything must go. Genesis 2:25 conveys this powerfully in the image of nakedness: “and the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.”

Dorothee Soelle wrote, “To be naked means to be without protection; it is to be unarmed. It requires our surrendering ‘the weapons’ that we usually carry around with us. My credit card, my doctorate, the books I have written -- the whole fortress in which I live -- are all ‘clothes’ that I have to get rid of in order to love.”

To find favor is to be called to disarmament, called to defenselessness, called to discipleship. 

-- Leonard Sweet in “A Cup of Coffee at the Soul Café”

#5770

MAKING DISCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST

Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV)

Off the coast of Scotland is a little island where Christianity first took place in the nation. To accommodate the many tourists who want to make a trip across the bay to visit the historic site, there is a rental shop on the mainland where transportation can be obtained. Over the door of the small building, emblazoned in bold letters, is a signboard: “VISIT THE HOLY ISLE.” Then, more to the point, underneath are the words: “WE CAN TAKE YOU.”

In a much more profound sense, those last words express what the church should be doing -- taking people where the saints have trod. In practical terms, this means bringing men and women into the deeper and ever-expanding dimensions of holiness.

Such a ministry does not for a moment minimize the necessity of conversion, for the kingdom life cannot be entered until one is born of the Spirit. But the mandate of Christ is not to make converts, but to “make disciples” -- followers of Jesus -- persons who will develop into the likeness of the Master (Matthew 28:19-20). 

-- Robert E. Coleman in “Nothing to Do But to Save Souls: John Wesley’s Charge to His Preachers”

#5092

A FACTORY RESET

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”  (2 Corinthians 5:17 NRSV)

When my iPhone started misbehaving a while back,… we did a hard reset. It’s also known as a factory reset because the iPhone is restored to the original manufacturer’s setting it had when it left the factory floor… All the settings, applications, and data are wiped clean. It’s a fresh start. It’s a new phone.

You are a new creation [in Christ]… New as in factory reset. It doesn’t mean like new. It means brand new! It’s new in time, new in nature…

When you put your faith in Christ, it’s a hard reset. It doesn’t just clear the cache. It completely clears your history, as if it never happened. That’s what the word justified means -- just as if I’d never sinned.

That’s more than a mnemonic device. It’s more than a paradigm shift. It’s a factory reset.

At the cross, Jesus turns if only regrets into what if possibilities. He sets us free from sin and the shameful feelings that go with it. The prison doors of past guilt and future fear fly wide open… They cannot coexist with God’s perfect love. His love reboots our heart, our soul, and our mind so that we can be fully alive, fully present… Amazing, isn’t it? 

-- Mark Batterson in “If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God’s What If Possibilities”

#5085

A NEW CREATION

"So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”  (2 Corinthians 5:17 NRSV)

Forrest Gump said many wonderful things, but “My mama always said you’ve got to put the past behind you before you can move on” has particular resonance regarding new beginnings.

We’ve all see those before and after pictures: the “before” picture of the forlorn, 90-pound weakling; the “after” picture of Mr. Universe. It looks so easy in all those advertisements for millions of products and procedures. At best, it’s a temporary fix on a used model.

“New…” means a completely new creation. The beauty of our “after” picture is glorious and eternal. Think of God creating order from chaos. And what was His opinion of His work? It was good. Through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, God has done the same with us. Perhaps this is the most wondrous part of the Father’s nature: He can make all things new! 

-- From “Hello God… It’s Me: 365 Day Devotional Journal”

#4909

CLOSED TOMBS AND CLOSED DOORS

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”  (Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV)

“Resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing.”  (Frederick Buechner)

Frederick Buechner moved to New York to become a writer, only to find he couldn’t write a word. He tried to go into his uncle’s advertising business but wasn’t tough enough. He tried to join the CIA but didn’t have the stomach for it. He fell in love with a girl who did not fall in love with him. He writes, “It all sounds like a kind of inane farce as I set it down here, with every door I tried to open slammed on my foot, yet I suppose it was a kind of pilgrim’s progress.”

It was door closing because he was disappointed in options he wanted. It was progress because it led to him finding, or being found by, God. And in his faith he has written words that have inspired millions of others in their faith. But that door never could have opened if many other doors hadn’t closed first.

-- John Ortberg in “All the Places to Go: How Will You Know?”

#4831

A CHANGE OF MIND AND HEART

“Jesus replied [to Nicodemus], ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’”  (John 3:3 NIV)

We believe in conversion.  But what is it?  It is the most basic transformation in life.  It is a revolution at the heart of one's being.  It is the new birth.  It is not a natural growth but a supernatural rebirth.

For selfish persons, conversion means a basic change in the center of their commitment.  Self is dethroned; Christ is enthroned.  For those who measure success and failure in dollars and cents, the new birth means the reign of Christ and of His standards.  For those who put their highest trust in political organizations and in the might of arms, conversion means seeing in Christ the only hope of the world.  To those who are crippled by failure and despair, conversion means absolute trust in the healing ministry of the conquering Savior.  In short, we are born of the Spirit when Christ becomes the master impulse of our life.  And we enter into this new life at the moment when we take all that we know about ourselves and lay it trustfully before all that we know about Christ.

Conversion or the new birth, then, is a basic change of mind and heart.

-- Bishop Mack Stokes in “Major United Methodist Beliefs,”  published by Abingdon  Press, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission.


#4794

SPIRITUAL PERCEPTION

Every animal on earth has a set of correspondences with the environment around it, and some of these correspondences far exceed ours. Humans can perceive only 30 percent of the range of the sun’s light and 1/70^th of the spectrum of electromagnetic energy. Many animals far exceed our abilities. Bats detect insects by sonar; pigeons navigate by magnetic fields; bloodhounds perceive a world of smell unavailable to us.

Perhaps the spiritual or “unseen” world requires an inbuilt set of correspondences activated only through some sort of spiritual [awakening]. “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above,” said Jesus (John 3:3 NRSV). “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit,” said Paul (1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV). Both expressions point to a different level of correspondences available only to a person spiritually alive.

-- Philip Yancey in “Seeing the Invisible God”


#4692

A NEW PERSON

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17-18 NLT)

God is not satisfied with outward, superficial change. He wants you to be completely transformed: to experience a new birth, take on a brand-new nature, and become a new you. Think of the difference between a snake and a caterpillar. A snake who sheds his skin is still a snake; but a caterpillar who sheds his cocoon becomes a butterfly.

-- Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose in “Pathway to God's Treasure: Ephesians”


#4687

NEW LIFE IN CHRIST

“There is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”  (Romans 3:22b–24)

The process of salvation involves a change in us that we call conversion. Conversion is a turning around, leaving one orientation for another. It may be sudden and dramatic, or gradual and cumulative. But in any case it's a new beginning. Following Jesus' words to Nicodemus, "You must be born anew" (John 3:7 RSV), we speak of this conversion as rebirth, new life in Christ, or regeneration.

Following Paul and Luther, John Wesley called this process justification. Justification is what happens when Christians abandon all those vain attempts to justify themselves before God, to be seen as "just" in God's eyes through religious and moral practices. It's a time when God's "justifying grace" is experienced and accepted, a time of pardon and forgiveness, of new peace and joy and love. Indeed, we're justified by God's grace through faith.

Justification is also a time of repentance -- turning away from behaviors rooted in sin and toward actions that express God's love. In this conversion we can expect to receive assurance of our present salvation through the Holy Spirit "bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16).

-- George Koehler in “United Methodist Member's Handbook, Revised” (Discipleship Resources, 2006)

#4561

ONLY THE STARTING PLACE

“Jesus answered [Nicodemus], ‘I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again.’" (John 3:3 GNT)

The initial salvation experience, however it may come and however wonderful it may be, is only the beginning; there is much to follow. It’s like a wedding. It is easy to have a beautiful wedding, but it takes a lot of work and commitment and love to make a beautiful marriage.

I am convinced that many professing Christians do not understand this. They have the simplistic idea that when they have “accepted Christ” and joined the church, that’s all there is and there’s nothing more. They see this initial experience as the final goal when really it is only the starting place. They think they have graduated when really they have barely enrolled. It is a wonderful thing to become “newborn,” to become a “babe in Christ,” but to remain a spiritual baby is tragic. Babies are sweet and adorable, but if they remain infants and never grow up, we consider that a calamity, and it is. 

-- James W. Moore and Bob J. Moore in “Lord, Give Me Patience!... And Give It to Me Right Now!” 


#4449

ATTENTIVENESS TO GOD

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”  (Acts 3: 19 NKJV)

Worship is the strategy by which we interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves and attend to the presence of God.  Worship is the time and place that we assign for deliberate attentiveness to God -- not because He's confined to time and place but because our self-importance is so insidiously relentless that if we don't deliberately interrupt ourselves regularly, we have no chance of attending to Him at all at other times and in other places.

-- Eugene Peterson in “Leap Over a Wall”


#4406

MAKING A DECISION -- PART 2

"Decide" was apparently the word that God wanted me to hear.  Making a decision was a process that I understood and could do when necessary.  I decided on that day to accept Jesus for what He claimed to be, and to ask Him to be a part of my life.  A conscious part of this decision was to suspend those skeptical attitudes that had always prevented any spiritual event from occurring in my life.  I decided to take this small step and to see what would happen.

Although this was the most significant event of my life, I did not experience a sudden revelation or a blinding light.  I did experience the beginning of a new direction in my life as I took the first steps in a slow process of spiritual awakening.  I became intensely interested in scripture and found that it was more and more relevant to me.  I began to seek more knowledge about God as I pursued a relationship with Him through prayer, study, and an effort to lead a Christian life.  This has led to a slow and steady process of spiritual growth.

Through this process, a new sense of God has emerged.  Instead of an abstraction, He has become a personal reality.  I have found it natural to pray and listen.  I have learned to work at discerning His answers to my prayers and at sensing His presence in my life.

-- Larkin Spivey in “God in the Trenches”


#4399

REWIRING THE BRAIN

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”  (2 Corinthians 5:17 NRSV)

Faith is unlearning the senseless worries and misguided beliefs that keep us captive. It is far more complex than simply modifying behavior. Faith is rewiring the human brain. We are literally upgrading our minds by downloading the mind of Christ.

-- Mark Batterson in “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars”

#4383

A DRINK OF LIVING WATER

Jesus answered [the woman at the well], “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.”  (John  4:10 NIV)

Volumes have been written about the things Jesus said to this woman. In particular, His comments about worshipping in spirit and in truth are considered foundational. But to fully appreciate Jesus’ compassionate understanding, we must give some thought to what He didn’t say. He didn’t enumerate her sins, lecture her for setting a bad example, ask for an explanation, demand an apology, or tell her she was going to Hell if she didn’t shape up. It’s hard to imagine a minister standing face-to-face with the biggest sinner in town -- a woman whose life would have made a great Jerry Springer episode -- and not even broaching the subject of morality, but that’s what Jesus did.

Why?

Because He understood that she’d been hammered enough. Nobody knew better than she did what a mess she’d made of her life. She lived with the consequences of her choices every day and slept with them every night. What she needed was not another rebuke, but a deep, refreshing drink of living water.

-- Mark Atteberry in “Free Refill: Coming Back for More of Jesus"

#4286

MY EXPERIENCE AT A BILLY GRAHAM CRUSADE

“But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”  (John 1:12 ESV)

In 1994, when our family was living in Cleveland, Ohio, we learned that a Billy Graham Crusade was coming to town. Part of the procedure that Billy Graham always followed was involving local churches and ministries across a broad denominational perspective. Billy Graham's team would solicit churches to pray and to send harvesters into the field. A lot of before-hand prayer and preparation was involved. I decided that I would be willing to be trained as a counselor -- one who comes to the stadium floor at the designated time, to meet people who wanted to receive Christ into their lives right then and there. Each night of the crusade Billy Graham would preach a basic gospel message, and then follow that with an invitation -- an invitation for people to leave their seats and come to the stadium field. Once people were gathered, he would invite them to pray a simple prayer with him, acknowledging their sin, accepting God's forgiveness in Christ, and asking Christ to come into their heart and live with them daily.

I was trained and prepared to answer any questions that came my way as I met with people who had ventured down to the field. Over the four-day crusade I probably counseled with 6-8 people of all ages. One night, I got down to the field and was looking for someone to talk with. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to find another counselor, a woman. She was standing a short distance from a man and a woman who had come down to the field together. She asked if I would talk with the man while she talked with the woman. I said I would be glad to. Then she said, "They're developmentally disabled, here with a group home." My first reaction was… my training had not prepared me for this. Then God reminded me that He had prepared me for this through our son Dustin and his developmental disabilities.

Suddenly I felt empowered by the Spirit. I introduced myself and quickly found out that he could not speak, but seemed to understand basic things. While waiting for Billy Graham to invite the large crowd to pray with him, I talked briefly with this man. I asked him where he thought God was, and he pointed to the sky.

Soon Billy began to speak again, and then invited people to pray with him. As Billy prayed, this man prayed in unintelligible words -- more of a guttural speech. After the prayer was finished, I asked him where he thought God was now. And I'll never forget what he did next. He pointed to his heart. In his own way he was saying that God in Christ was now living in his heart. He got it!

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson

#4282

PAIN CAN PUT LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE

Affliction is particularly effective in helping us reevaluate our priorities.  When Thomas Chalmers became pastor of the church at Kilmany, Scotland in 1803, he was a young man of twenty-three with little real interest in religion.  He had taken the parish primarily so that he could also teach mathematics and astronomy.

As time went by, Chalmers neglected sermon preparation and the care of his people.  The church went into steady and precipitous decline.  After several years he was stricken with a serious illness.  For four months he was unable to leave his sick room, and for almost a year he did not preach.  Slowly he came to realize that his view of Christianity as simply an ethical system was not sufficient to see him through this valley of the shadow of death.  There in the lonely place of his illness he faced himself and the shallowness of his beliefs, until he experienced a dramatic religious conversion.

In the years that followed, Chalmers became the most powerful preacher in Scotland.  And with it, he came to have a compelling social conscience.  The finest pulpits in Scotland were available to him, but he also chose to minister to the poorest of the population in special services on a tanner's second story.  A century later Lord Roseberry said of him, "An illness lifted him into a higher sphere, and he soared aloft."  Illness can do that to us, because it helps us get our values in order.

-- J. Ellsworth Kalas in “If Experience Is Such a Good Teacher Why Do I Keep Repeating the Course?”


#4261