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Pastor Beal

HAVE YOU BEEN BORN AGAIN?

"Marvel not that I said unto thee,
Ye must be born again." John 3:7

Unfortunately, the phrase "ye must be born again" is believed by many to be coined by, maybe, former President Jimmy Carter or a fundamentalist group. The truth is, it came to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. As the lost religious leader (and there are many of those) approached the Lord at night in Jn. 3, he was quickly enlightened as to his need of a new spiritual birth. The Bible teaches us that if we're born only once, we'll die twice; but if we are born twice, we'll only die once. The religious leader, Nicodemus, was like you and I, in that he was unable to save himself by good deeds. He could not justify himself, but needed to put his faith in Jesus Christ and His shed blood upon the cross of Calvary. The Bible tells us in Col. 1:14, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins;" we can only be washed white as snow by the blood of Jesus Christ. Nicodemus was trying to work his way to heaven. He was trying to earn a relationship with God, instead of being born into a relationship. Can you imagine going to your Dad and asking if you have earned your way into the family? No, we are born into our family and that brings a relationship which desires fellowship. We obey our Father because we want to have a sweet fellowship and bring honor to the relationship. We may try to disown our children when they misbehave, or attribute their actions to the other side of the family, but the truth is, we are our Father's son, regardless of our actions. Jn. 3:3 "...Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Thanks! Pastor Earl Beal