“Rebirthing” By Brother Kenneth Ray May 6th,
2012 What are we going to re-birth? We’ll talk about that later. Nicodemus thought that was talking about
entering back into his mother’s womb.
No, that’s not what that’s talking about. Even so, rebirthing can be a painful
experience, just in the natural.
Sometimes it’s a piece of cake… We should renew our minds daily (Romans
12:2). Today is the day of salvation (2
Corinthians 6:2). He
goes on to say, “every one that hath forsaken houses,
or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands,
for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting
life.” This account is before the
death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (as you can probably guess because
Jesus was speaking). He said, “Follow Me,” to two fishermen, who left their nets, and
their father—they were not fishing for recreation, this was the family
business, but they forsook it. You may
be thinking, “If I have this regeneration, I might have to change the way I
live.” You might, or you might not; it
depends on how you are living. The second account is in the book of
Titus; this account is after the resurrection of Christ. Titus 3:4-7 …
according to his mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration… Washing—[G3067]—bath, i.e.
(figuratively) baptism—washing. The
love of God has appeared to all of us, on crucifixion day. That was the first glimpse of His love; His
final act of love will be when he takes us home. Not by our works; we got baptized, but it’s
not because I prayed, or gave in the offering.
It says “abundantly.” It’s not
just for this side of the room, and everyone else misses out; it’s not just for
America, and no other countries can take part; there’s plenty to go around. Here
there is hope, there is strength. Fear
may stop you in your tracks, but if you have hope, you can achieve things that
you never thought you could. Why do
people play the lottery (I’m not talking about whether the lottery is right or
wrong)? Because they have hope that they will win. Why do people watch sports? Because they hope that their team will win. As saints, aren’t you hoping to win? If
you walk, you have to eat. If you drive
or take public transportation, you need fuel.
Kirk has Bible study at his house on Wednesday nights; not because it
makes him look good, but because he hopes that you will win. Grace—[G5485]—graciousness
of manner or act. Divine influence upon
the heart and its reflection in the life, including gratitude. In
Matthew we see that while Jesus was alive, He was the One who you went to for
this re-birth, and the conditions of it rested on Him and with Him (He had the
power to heal, to forgive sin, and to grant salvation). After His death (today), this rebirth is by
baptism in Jesus name (Acts 2:38); repent, be baptized in His name, and receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. Let me point
out that baptism is washing away the sin of our spiritual man only; our flesh
still needs to be washed on a daily basis (maybe twice a day, depending on your
work). This
is important, because in order to have a new life, you need to get rid of the
old one. As new believers, we tend to
lean more on Jesus and His every word; our knees bend easier and we pray more. We are aware that we don’t know much, so we
depend on Christ for a guide. Our hearts
are tender and we’ll do anything He asks of us. As
we continue, we get old, we think instead of search, we ask fewer questions,
but have more answers, we don’t hear too good, because we’re too busy telling
what we know, and we endure hardships.
We go through things. We find a
need of revival. Revival—bringing or
coming back into use, attention or being, after a decline. We
need to revisit or count our blessings.
Come back to the understanding that it took doing something to obtain
the blessings. Maybe we’ve stop giving
hope; maybe we’ve started judging. Maybe
we’ve stopped being Christians, and started playing church. You
know why fishermen like telling stories? To remind themselves of the good
times. The Bible says that David
encouraged himself in the Lord (1 Samuel 30:6).
How do you suppose he did that? By remembering the battle with Goliath?
Maybe by remembering his experience with Bathsheba, and how his child died, but
that God kept him through all of that. The
Bible says that we have a calling on our lives.
What is your job in Jesus? It’s
not to come to church on Sunday morning, I’ll tell you that. Romans 11:29 For
the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. You
can’t be sorry that you’re a good teacher. Ephesians 6:7 With
all good will doing service as to the Lord and not unto men. You
can’t serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8). In
the movie, ‘The Lion King’, there is a scene where Rafiki offers to show Simba
his father. When Simba looks for his
father, Mufasa calls to him, and tells Simba that Simba has forgotten him. Simba says, no, he hasn’t, but Mufasa tells “You have
forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me.” And as he goes away, he repeats, “Remember.” Remember
who calls us and who we are to serve. 2 Timothy 1:9 …called
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose… 2 Thessalonians 1:11 …God
would count us worthy of this calling, fulfill all the good pleasure… He
counts us worthy. It talks about “faith
with power.” When you have a child-like
faith, then you don’t need revival, but when you have an adult-like faith, then
you don’t believe that it’s possible. 2
Peter 1:10 … give diligence to make
your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: May
God re-birth the regeneration that is needed in us. Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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