Salvation

October 2, 2022

“Born of Water and the Spirit”

5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. -John 3:8 NASB

Born Again

Nicodemus was a leader and a Pharisee. He came to Jesus at night because he probably did not want the other Jewish leaders to know about the visit. Nicodemus readily admits that he believes that Jesus has been sent from God. He wants to know more about this man that is proclaiming that the kingdom of God is near. Jesus immediately tells Nicodemus that unless you are born again, you will never see the kingdom of God. What an amazing concept! How can a human be born again? Jesus explains that He is not talking about physical rebirth, but spiritual. It is not a physical change, but a change of the desires of the heart. How does this happen? From a human standpoint, we are unable to explain what happens inside. But just as the wind comes and goes without our understanding, so the Holy Spirit works inside us to renew us and rebirth us as children of God. We may not know how, but the work that He does in our hearts leaves no doubt in our minds that we are being made into new creatures. At the very moment that we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, the new creation is born with all the rights that come with being a citizen of heaven. God will spend a lifetime completing the work that He has started in us, but finish it, He will.

1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,—Hebrews 12:1-2a (NKJV)

​The ​Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

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March 20, 2019

“He Lifted Me”

2  He lifted me out of the pit of despair,  out of the mud and the mire.  He set my feet on solid ground
and steadied me as I walked along. — Psalm 40:2 NLT


Psalm 40:1-5 NLT

When we hit those rough patches and we all do at some point along the way, we need to remember passages like the one above.  There are times when friends can’t comfort us.  There are times in our lives when from all outward observations things are going fine, but inside we are in turmoil. There are times when what we feel is inexplicable because we don’t quite understand it ourselves.  How do we pray about things that we can’t even put into words?  How do we turn to the One who has lifted us out of the pit of despair when we don’t know what to say?  What do we do or say when being still and knowing the He is God is not enough.  How do we move from here back to solid ground and continue on our journey with Him? God has made a way for that to happen.  We bow before Him and tell Him that we are unable to pray.  He doesn’t get angry or upset, instead, as we wait before Him, He prays for us.  Just imagine God the Holy Spirit praying for us and through us, God the Son, Jesus, is at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us! God is listening to the 2nd and 3rd persons of the Trinity praying for us and He sees His own righteousness in Jesus Christ!  What more assurance do we need that whatever happens will truly be for our best?

Romans 8:26-28 NLT


“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 0320-2019