“BORN AGAIN” Literally
“BORN AGAIN” Literally
by Tiger Todd
(EDITED VERSION)
Do you remember when we learned about “Lord + Christ = Glory” during a recent Sunday message? We were able to understand more about the Christ in you, the hope of glory. We understood more about how the Christ worked, and about how to produce glory, on purpose. It’s not that we could just accidentally work a miracle; it’s that now we can produce miracles on purpose. We can now walk like Jesus walked, on purpose. The city of Nain was not part of Jesus’ path. He was just on his way to a meeting when he noticed a widow woman beside her dead son in a casket. Jesus decided, Well, let’s just raise him up. Jesus could do that on purpose. And that’s what we’re talking about
We’re not talking about some kind of accidental event, where we don’t know who to give the glory to. Jesus came so that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. Jesus came, saying, Do the things that I do, because I only do the things that my Father does. Today, when you see what we’re going to get into, I think you’ll see why the message is called, “Born Again” Literally.
“Born Again”, Literally. Some things are very hard to preach, because they’ve been preached so many times before. We’ve assumed that they were preached correctly, even though we knew there would be a differences between each pastor’s message. But in this message today, I want to show you that we have a living example of born again, literally. And I’m not sure this has happened on the planet since Jesus was here.
I got to do something yesterday that I’ve never done before, but if I didn’t possess this understanding, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. If you don’t understand a part of your own job, you can’t do that job; but once you learn more about your job, you can then walk in that job, and do it well. I applied this understanding to the situation I want to talk about. Let’s begin with First Corinthians 10:13. It says, There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
If you’re doing something, or if something has tempted you in order to derail you, you’ll always have that example of temptation in your life. So every time you read this verse, all you’ll think about is your own example concerning this verse. You might not really consider it for other examples of things that haven’t happened yet. Well, I’m fed up with learning the truth after the fall. I want to learn the truth before the fall, so that I don’t have to fall. Second Peter Chapter 1 at the end of ...adding to your faith all these things: virtue, kindness, patience, etc.; says, if you do these things diligently, you’ll never fall. Well, I want to learn this and understand it. I believe that once Jesus paid the price for Adam’s sin, none of us had to fall. We never had to sin, we never had to fall, we never had to miss it. And I think that just because someone has preached that you did have to fall, (which isn’t scriptural).it doesn’t mean that you have to. It just means they did. If you do what they do, you’ll end up getting what they got. It’s like the blind leading the blind. They’ll both fall into the ditch.
Jesus talked about a wise man and used this parable: A wise man built his house on the rock, and when the storms came, that house didn’t fall. The implication was, You don’t have to be wise not to fall. He was saying, all you have to do is imitate what the wise man did, i.e. you can be dumb as a stump, and do what the wise man did, and still not fall. Look at what a brilliant character Forrest Gump is. He just did things in his naivete. He was dumb as a stump, but did not fall.
The smarter ones have a harder road, because to whom much is given, much is required. Now, when I look at this scripture, I no longer look at it as a temptation to sin, or as a temptation to fall. Suppose I’m going to walk in the fullness of my apostle calling. God called me to be an apostle, one sent, “apostolos” in the Greek. That’s what my call is. I’m not a pastor, even though I pastor a church. I’m not a teacher, even though I teach. I’m not a prophet, even though I walk in prophecy.
The temptation that I have to deal with is to do all the things an apostle is going to do. When I get a call to raise the dead, there is a temptation to fall. There is a temptation not to go. There is a temptation to call the funeral home. Every minister today faces that temptation, and unfortunately, most of them succumb to it. But this scripture says to the minister, There is no temptation taken you but that which is common to man…that God will always make a way of escape. Well, what is Jesus’ way of escape in the city of Nain? He says, Boy, get up. And the boy gets up. God HAS to provide that power to raise the dead in order to keep His Word true. Plug that into your equasion. God HAS to provide that power, because He’s God. He’s not a man that he should lie. We’ve tried to come up with our own ways, but we’ve got to forget those ways and stick with the Word.
Turn to Luke Chapter 18. Verse 15 And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Underline “little children”. And underline “of such”. There’s something about little children that makes up the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. Tuck that information away.
Look at John Chapter 20. For all of you that have been following the mystery of Christ, (the first time on the planet in 6,000 years thing about Christ), we saw a verse in John Chapter 20 that people thought someone had just now pasted into their Bibles. They thought it hadn’t been there before. Now, many of you may have seen it, but it caught us off guard. Here is Jesus, in John 20, having already been resurrected. Let’s pick up in verse 19, Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. Can you imagine? They were jumping up and down, they were pulling their hair out, they were scared, and Jesus walks through the door. The door was shut. Jesus just walks through it.
So, what would you say? I mean, he’s not just saying, Peace, you all. He’s saying, Calm Down! It’s me! Peace! For fear of the Jews. Jesus was a Jew. That’s a good one. For fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
Look very carefully at the next verses. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Where did that come from? This is 40 days before Pentecost. The Holy Ghost hadn’t come down from heaven yet. It’s time to throw away Christian theology again, because we’ve got this verse stuck right in there. Receive ye the Holy Ghost. How could they? How could children enter into the kingdom of heaven before Jesus’ resurrection? Inquiring minds want like to know.
Would you like to know? We’ve got some answers. Luke Chapter 1, without going and re-preaching the message of Christ, we’re going to establish this “born again” thing for sure today. But I’ll just give you this little bit on the Christ. First Christians, or Christ-ians: that’s what the people in Antioch called the disciples when they started looking like Jesus. The disciples started doing the same works, and started doing things that only Jesus could do before.They called them First Christ-ians, knowing that if there was a Jesus Christ, then there must be Peter Christ, and there must be Nathaniel Christ, and he must be so-and-so Christ. A Christ is a spirit of God. It’s a fraction of the whole. Jesus is called the Head of the body of Christ. He said the hand cannot say to the foot I have no need of thee, so there must be a foot Christ and a hand Christ. And there’s a Head Christ. That’s probably as simple and as quick as I can say it. The body of Christ is made up of many members.
Here’s what happened on this day. Don’t debate it, just grab it. We’ll fill it in later. We have tons of tapes that start off on the Christ-thing. Jesus breathed on them and said, Receive what I breathed on you. Now, that is wierd! Of course, Jesus is the guy that would spit in someone’s face to heal their blindness.
Hold your place here, but turn to Genesis Chapter 2. Verse 7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Now, there’s a really groovy word that comes right after “life”. Do you see it? “And”. Do you know what the word “and” really means? It means “also”. We’ve kind of treated it as all one deal. And the man became a living soul. Two different things. First Thessalonians Chapter 5 wouldn’t say… and your whole soul sanctify you wholly; spirit, soul and body, and I pray that your whole spirit and your whole body be sanctified under the Lord. He wouldn’t have separated them if they weren’t separate. So, here’s man’s body, BAM! Dust of the ground. Man’s spirit…How’s my breath? and then,... Man’s soul happened after the breath…. what we know as his will, his emotions, and his mind. I’m going into some tough territory here, but I do know what I’m talking about. The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
. Back to John Chapter 20. I love the scripture where Jesus said, I don’t do anything except I first see my Father do. I am excited about this!!! And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; I guess I’ll have to make this statement first. Jesus gave them their Holy Ghost. Jesus gave them their Christ. He told Simon Barjonah, in Matthew Chapter 16, which Christ he’d get, right? And I call you Peter, because you knew that I had the Christ in me to give you. Right? Simon says, Thou art the Christ. And Jesus said, Because you have said this, Simon Barjonah, I call you Peter. Peter comes from the literal Greek word “Petros”, which means rock. And upon this rock will I build my church. And that rock which is Christ. I’m giving you a piece of Christ. You have your own spirit of Christ, right there. But how neat is it that Jesus had some way to carry that around, and he breathed on them, and the ones that were there, who believed his words, received a spirit of God in them.
Now look at this. Receive ye the Holy Ghost, BUT, when you back up, it says, When he had said this, meaning the words spoken were influential words. When he had said this. It’s like a communion service. If you just go grab the wine and drink it, and grab the bread and eat it, you haven’t had communion, because it’s the Word that doeth the works. So he had to send forth the words, and then breathe on them, and then this thing would happen. Now, hang on here, because we’re getting ready for the greater works. Jesus said, These are the works I do, and greater than these shall you do because I go to my Father. Jesus went to his Father, he’s come back, and now he’s breathing on people and they’re getting Holy Ghosts.
The word “holy”, by the way, is translated 61 other times in the Bible, not as “holy”, but as “saints”. Receive your saintly spirit, is what he imparted with the breath. He made them saints, because he could.
As we jump around in the scriptures, I want you to look at what John says, and realize something. If you heard me preach a message of Christ, but then you heard someone else preach a message of Christ, we’d very likely preach it differently, wouldn’t we? If would be the same truth, but they might use different words to help you understand their message, than words I’d use to describe my message. Just keep in mind that John is describing all of this, which means that when he says something like “little children”, he means little children. He means it every time he writes little children. Are you with me?
Let’s pick apart this flesh, body, and soul thing. In John Chapter 6, Jesus is talking about his body and his flesh and his blood. In effect, he told them that “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood.”...What??? Is this the latest Anne Rice novel? Eat flesh and blood? And at that time, he had at least 70 disciples plus the 12. And it says in John Chapter 6, about verse 60, Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? And then he says, It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
I‘d like to describe something that happened to me while I was guest speaker during a college class held the other night. If you understand how valuable your voice is, you know that there are a few things that can increase the power, or the authority, of your voice, One of them is money. The more money you have, the bigger voice you have. That’s true everywhere. But I had something that was greater than money, and God said, Use It! After the lady who was heckling me got to be more than I could bear without me just casting out devils in a public institution, I resorted to my credentials. I rattled off the miracles and healings at my hands. You see, God answers my prayers faster than anyone else on the planet. He does this because I expect Him to. He said He would, and I expect Him to do it. I don’t have any doubt that if I lay hands on the sick, they will recover. I don’t have any doubt that if I speak a word, it will come to pass. It comes to pass, because He said, If you have faith, and doubt not, it will come to pass. The heckler thought she knew the Bible, but I reminded her that you do not judge a tree by it’s gift, or by the words it speaks, or by its hair color, or by the color of it’s clothing. You judge a tree by the full grown, mature fruit that it bears. And the fruit is, these people are all healed, and those people were dead, but now they’re alive. And that was a debt, but now it was cancelled. You judge a tree by the fruit it bears. Well, this heckler finally shut up, but now I had the interest of the rest of the group.
After these words, a woman in class came up to me and explained the story of a baby that was in the mother’s womb at the 8th month of pregnancy, when the mother was suddenly rushed to the hospital and died of a brain aneurysm. The baby was still inside the mother, but no oxygen had reached the baby for just short of an hour. When attempts to save the mother failed, they did a C-Section, pulled the baby out, but the baby was dead. Because the baby was complete, they used life support, a tracheotomy tube, feeding tubes, and everything they could to keep the baby alive.
This woman asked me if there was anything I could do. I inquired about the baby’s condition, and learned that the baby’s Grandma and her friend had done everything they could to keep this baby alive. They finally had to get a Home Health Care nurse to stay with her all the time…feeding her, doing whatever it took to keep the baby alive. For two years, these women have raised this baby in their home. I was asked, Is there anything you can do? I said, Of course! If I’m a minister of the gospel, I’d lie if I said no. Right? All things are possible to those that believeth. I’m a believer. So, I said, Of course. But you have to call me. That’s where I get the authority to do something. You have to call me. I can’t just go over and lay hands on you and make you well. It might work, it might not. It’s up to your resistance. You are sovereign in your own life, so you have to call me. I can’t make Jesus your Lord, I can’t heal you unless you come to me and ask me to get into your life.
I’m telling you this story, not because I’m into testimonies and stories. I’m into exhorting the brethren, but that’s not something I do. I’m telling you this, because God had me preach this message using this example, and show you the truth, every step of the way. And I’m going to do that.
The next morning, the grandmother, the one with the authority over this child, called me. We set an appointment for the following day at 4:00. I could have come right away, but she said, “No. She’s home. We’re in a routine. But we’ve heard that you can do these things.” So yesterday at 4:00 I showed up. But before I showed up, I made sure I covered every base I knew.
Do you remember, in scripture, where Jesus had given the disciples authority to cast out devils and heal all the sick, and they were running around doing it? But one, a son of a man, could not, did not, get the demon cast out. When someone is burdened with a sickness or a disease, most times it’s a demon that’s responsible. If you can cast that out, the body can be healed quickly. Casting out devils also applies to getting rid of cancer and those kinds of things.
The disciples ran back to Jesus and said, We couldn’t cast them out. What’s up? meaning, God, what’s up with your power? You said we could cast out all demons. And Jesus, in effect, said, You didn’t study, did you? Otherwise you’d know that this kind only comes out with prayer and fasting. So before you go casting out devils, you want to pray first to make sure, God, what do I need to know? Do I need to fast? I guess if there’s a demon that I’m not expecting to come up against, I might as well make sure I have complete authority, and not just 99% authority.
We haven’t gone there, but notice in that scripture that Jesus didn’t run off to pray and fast. He had already prayed and fasted, because he just cast the thing out, and it left. He upbraided the disciples for their unbelief. Homework is involved in believing. And I was doing my homework regarding this situation. That’s why God trusts me with so much; because I do my homework. As I did my homework, I made sure that I was fasting, I had already fasted for a week. I had already fasted things I didn’t need in my body during the past week-end: sugar, cookies, cakes, things like that. So I had fasted regarding those things the prior week, and then I just didn’t eat the day before. If there was a demon in the house, I wanted to make sure it didn’t even get two or three words out before it got immediately ejected. He’s not about to get a five day notice from me; I wanted him immediately gone out of the house.
Well, I got there, and it really wasn’t a demonic situation at all. There was this baby, a two year old living body, just lying there. She’s been like this for two years! This is why I believe God would send me to this baby. I believe that I am number one on the planet in getting my prayers answered from God. I believe that! How, then, would God get me to that house? It took two years of faith by women who weren’t even the birth mother. It took two women not letting that body die until the answer they were looking for could come to that house. Don’t you dare give up if you’re believing for something. I may not be the man of God with that specific gift you need. It might be a different thing that you need from somebody else. But keep your faith! They’re coming! There is no temptation taken you but such is common to man. God will make a way of escape. He’ll provide a way to do things.
Now suppose you’re John Q. Minister, and you get there. The flesh is healthy, and even though the baby is on a respirator, it’s alive. What do you do? Do you pray for healing? There’s nothing sick. Do you pray a wholeness prayer? There’s nothing missing. Now we’ve gone past the realm of conventional Christianity, conventional medicine, and conventional everything else. But in my time of prayer and fasting, this is what God had revealed to me. Just in time, God had given me the scripture in John Chapter 20….how he breathed on them and gave them a spirit of God. And it just hit me, and every other scripture that I’d known…they all made sense now!
When God made Adam’s body, it was just a body. It was a body, just like that baby’s body. There was nothing wrong with the flesh; it didn’t need healing, it didn’t need wholeness. This body was alive, breathing, even though it hadn’t grown much. The head looked very mature, but the body still looked like that of a baby. The toothless mouth was wide open, and all the nutrition was being given through a tube in the neck. One eye was quasi-paralyzed wide open, and one was half open. There was no movement from the arms, legs, feet. or hands. These women were talking to this body, and encouraging it, but I think that was more to build their own faith. What God told me when I got into that room was, that baby still had never been born. So I got to give birth yesterday.
Turn to First John 1:1, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us; That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
I want to read what the same writer wrote in the gospel of John, Chapter 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. Underline and put stars and circles around verse 4. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. Do you want to make a baby alive? It needs a spirit. Verse 12, But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: To THEM, not just babies. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Hold your place in First John. Here is an unborn, two year old baby. The flesh was alive. We find out from Genesis, and what we read in John and Luke, that it’s got to be the spirit first. Flesh profits nothing. But once the spirit happens, all of a sudden, a soul can happen. The baby was flesh, but it had no spirit, it had no soul. It was just flesh. God had to breathe into it the breath of life. And He didn’t do it, because it was still unborn.
Look at First John 2:12. it’s really interesting to pick up there, I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. Has everyone heard of the age of accountability? There is a time when a child gets to a certain age where they can say, I choose not to follow God. Once they can choose, they are now accountable for their sins. Prior to that, they are not accountable for their sins.
For his name’s sake. Do you remember Jesus’ name? What did he always call himself? Son of Man. Ben-Adam. Of the house of Adam. The last Adam. What did God say to the first Adam before he sinned? He said, “Before you eat of this tree, the day you eat of it, you will surely die.” How old was Adam’s body when Adam died? It was some seven hundred, maybe nine hundred years old. Old! But he died many hundreds of years after he ate of the tree. What happened? The spirit left. BUT, the soul was already trained. So man can still be a living soul without a spirit of God in him. He was born with one, because God breathed one into him. We read it. And Adam was the first son of God. God gave Adam the spirit of the Son of God. Jesus got the same one in the womb of Mary. It left Adam when Adam sinned; his age of accountability. But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, AGAIN. Now wait, where’s that?....John 3:16…that whosoever believeth on him should also get one. Should not perish but have everlasting life. And in Him was the life, and it was the light of men.
Let’s just sit here and swallow hard for a second. I write unto you little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. When they are born, little children get spirits of God. And we can sure fix the stillborn situation if we can call on God, and God will allow us to breathe some spirits into them. We can make some babies. I’ll tell you what - they’ll be just like Lazarus. Lazarus was never supposed to have died, it was the unbelief of the people around him. It wasn’t like these women that for two years wouldn’t let this baby’s flesh die. These women kept looking for Jesus to do something. But Jesus is saying, I’m gone. I’ve done my deal here for you. It’s no longer Christ in me, the hope of glory, it’s now Christ in YOU, the hope of glory.
Finally they killed Lazarus, but Jesus is there, he cries, and goes to the Father. Then he speaks the words, Lazarus, come forth! and the embalmed, mummified body of Lazarus, four days dead, (Hebrew legend says that the spirit leaves the body after three days), is front and center, landing at the door to the tomb. Jesus says, Loose him!. And what did Lazarus do? It’s like that Texas phrase, You dance with the one that brung ya. He followed Jesus everywhere he went. He told everyone, Jesus raised me from the dead! Jesus raised me from the dead!!! The Pharisees and the church people got so mad that Jesus had such a great marketing manager, they said, What shall we do? We should kill him!
Let’s suppose that no one on earth wants to listen to me. Well, I’ll tell you what. I can find all the stillborns, all the things without spirits, and I can breathe some spirits into them. I’d have myself an army that would follow me through hell or high water, not afraid of death, because they were dead. And my Father, the Father of spirits, will continue to give me everything I can to use my breath for to breathe into them…just like He did Jesus.
The baby was called London, and in my prayer to God, I just laid it on the line. I said, These two women have kept this body alive for two years until someone could get to her. See, I couldn’t have come two years ago, because I didn’t know anything about this yet. No one could have come to this baby like this since Jesus. They didn’t know they could, and maybe they just couldn’t do it until a certain time. I mean, I didn’t just get a voice overnight. I got a voice from staying in the Word continually. I said, God, I expect to see a sign right away. I understand that today, March 6, 1999, will be the baby’s birthday. And I realize that I’m the first man that has ever had a baby. Sure, I kind of crossed the line to birth this baby, but. it’s just like getting born again, just like a new birth. Most people that come to a new birth aren’t born again without having to get rid of the old birth. And it takes awhile to clean them up before they start looking cute. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
I prayed, and said that I wanted a good sign. The nurse wouldn’t close her eyes while I was praying. She was watching the signs, as the baby started to blink, and as her mouth started to close. I didn’t know if that was normal or not. And then this two year old, brand new baby, was suddenly able to support it’s own head. But there was no soul development yet, because there had been no person in there for God to know, “What kind of soul do we need?” Think about that. If you don’t know the hope of your calling in Christ Jesus, you won’t know where to spend your attentions, and how to develop your will, your mind, and your emotions. That’s why it’s such a tragedy with being born again. Most people in the church are trying to get people born again, instead of saving them from having to get born again. All babies get born. You only need to get born again if you mess up the first birth.
Turn to John 3:1, There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Except a man! Now get this! Let’s go back to First John. We have not rightly divided the difference between a man and a child. Except a MAN be born again. Babies don’t need to be born again. There was nothing wrong with the first birth. Except a man be born again. You could say, That’s taking the words way too literally. Well, First John 2:1 says, My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins; We’ve quoted that verse, we’ve heard that verse, but we didn’t stop to check out the pronouns. My little children, these things write I unto YOU that you sin not. If any MAN sin (notice the pronoun change), WE have an advocate with the Father. Did you get that? He’s talking to little children over here, but then he backs up and is talking about us men; us mature men that need to be born again. He’s talking about men that need to get a spirit of God in them because the spirit left with sin. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.
Look at what Jesus is telling Nicodemus. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily I say unto you except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He told the little children, You’re already in it. It’s of such that makes up the kingdom of God. Little children. I breathed a new spirit into that baby yesterday, and that baby is now alive. Her soul can now be developed. And if in a little while, when she turns her head around and says, My name is Ruth, just believe her. She’d have to change her name from London to Ruth. And it’s interesting, because I was never able to call her a name. I couldn’t call her London, because that’s not who she was. But I know I’ve got a daughter, and I know she’s of me.
When you’re participating in a sport that requires a helmet, have you ever put your gloves on before you tried to fasten your helmet strap? You soon find out that you can’t fasten that strap. Why? You’ve got this new equipment, but you’re not used to it yet. Well, that baby is a full grown part of the kingdom of God. That spirit inside that baby is hooked up to the Father. But all of a sudden, we’ve just popped that spirit into the flesh, and she’s wondering, What’s this? And unfortunately, our education system has tried to teach little people like her that they are their bodies, and they’re not! It’s a spirit inside of a body, and it’s going to take awhile to learn how to use it. That’s how the soul gets developed. It’s very simple when you have a truth to start with. So, here’s this baby trying to fasten her helmet strap, and she’s just not used to it yet.
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. To paraphrase, except a man be born again (literal Greek is “from above”) he cannot see or understand how God does what he does. Why? He hasn’t got what God does what he does in him. He’s not part of the kingdom of God. He’s part of the kingdom of the earth. That’s why Jesus said, Disciples pray this prayer. “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.” That prayer got them breathed on.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus answered, 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 the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. Look at the next verse and the parable Jesus uses. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Is that awesome?
Let’s suppose someone needs to get born again. The first thing they’d need is the Word, because Jesus said, Except that a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. But as I have said, If a man can see the kingdom of God, if he can understand how God does things….Since you guys understand how God does things, you must be born again. The key is not to go harass someone and say, Do you know Jesus? The key is to get someone to a place where they can hear about how God does what he does. And then that spirit gets in there just as easily as Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
Let’s close here. Let’s pray before we go.
Heavenly Father, show us our role in this. Show us how to get the authority we need to be able to impart your spirits into people. Show us the parables we need to show people the kingdom of God in order that they can receive a born again spirit of you; the Christ in them, the hope of glory. Help them see that they would no longer be in fear of death, or bondage, or slavery to their jobs and to sin. You said if we knew the truth, that the truth we knew would make us free, so we expect to know the truth about this today, and never have to go back again. Thank you, God, for giving men the opportunity to get born again. I thank you, God, for Jesus’ name sake that all children are already a part of the kingdom of God. We thank you for this in Jesus’ name. Give us the name for the girl inside London’s body. Thank you God, for doing that work yesterday. We give you all the glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.