Happy Re-Birthday!

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

In the gospel of John (chapter 3), Jesus said these words to Nicodemus, a man of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews. Perhaps afraid, perhaps ashamed, Nicodemus came to Jesus at night when no one else would see him. The Lord didn't turn him away. Jesus told him he must be born again.

Birth is the beginning of life. Birth is the beginning of parenthood. Birth is the beginning of a family. Birth is even the beginning of death. Birth is the beginning of the life cycle. Birth is the beginning.

Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again. This puzzled the pharisee. He asked, "How can a man be born when he is old?" 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."

We are born once, born into flesh, into corruption, into sin, from the bloodline of fallen man. Not by choice, but by nature. However, Jesus said to enter the kingdom of God, we must be born again of the Spirit. This rebirth is divine. It is a great change made in the heart of a sinner, by the power of the Holy Spirit. A new birth! Taking on a new nature, new principles, new goals, a new life, we undergo this dramatic change of state and character. It means He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves! What was wrong in us, God can make right.

Nicodemus asked, "How can these things be?"

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. -John 3:16

Believe in Him. Accept Him. Trust Him.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. -Galatians 2:20

I was born again in August of 1983. I was 11 years old, but I remember the night. It was on a Friday at the end of Vacation Bible School. The preacher preached creation from Genesis, but ended with hope nailed to a cross. I remember a change even then. And although, I haven't always been with Him, He's always been with me. 26 years under the guidance and protection of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I love Him because He first loved me. I love Him for doing what I cannot do for myself. I love Him for His promises. I love Him for being my God, my Lord, my all in all. As I celebrate my birthday today, I really celebrating my rebirthday.

How Big is God?

Just how big is God?

Have you ever really considered the vastness of this world? Have you ever really considered lengths? Depths? Heights? Widths? Ponder these measurements:

The deep. The deepest part of the ocean is the Mariana Trench. It is very cold and very much under a lot of pressure. It is so deep the sunlight cannot penetrate the depth of its water and therefore extremely cold. There is unimaginable pressure in the deep. It is 8 tons per square inch or 16,000 pounds on every square inch. Now here's the image, the Empire State building in New York, USA is 1,472 ft. Tall, right? It could take 5.4 Empire State buildings in order to reach the bottom of the bottom. Better still, the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, at 29,141 ft, began at the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean, it would still be covered by over 1.25 miles of water. Now, that's deep!

Far. If we launched a manned flight to the planet Pluto, at the same speed of the Apollo astronauts, it would take 17 years before we touched down at our destination. Wow! 17 years! That's far! Now, let a 12 inch ruler represent the distance between the sun and Pluto, the nearest star would be over a mile away. Now, that's really far!

There's a story of a couple of fishermen out in the middle of the ocean not a glimmer of land in sight. One turns to the other and states, "Boy, that's a lot of water!" The other fisherman says, "Yes, and that's only the top of it."

Maybe that's how we view God at times. When we think of God and God's ways, we really haven't even scratched the surface. God is big, bigger than we think, bigger than we can imagine. Just when we think we may have the handle on Him, He does the impossible, He does the unheard of, He does the unthought of. Don't limit God. This is where faith and trust come into play. Have faith. Trust in the Lord. For we know that He is in control. He is sovereign. After all, He is God. He is the Almighty. He is Lord.

For this cause I bow my knees unt0 the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us - Ephesians
3:14-20

Thinking about all the different worlds worlds our Lord has created is staggering. From the depths of the seas to the outer-lying reaches of the universe. From the inner expansions of the spiritual to the delicate biophysical framework of life. It's staggering. Contemplating such vast worlds and systems is...well, quite honestly humbling. Can the God of creation, possessor of heaven and earth, really care about little ol' us?

There is a word, omnipresent, that is derived from two words: omni- meaning all and praesent-meaning to be, existing, or occurring at this time. God is everywhere. Meditate on God being everywhere always. Seeing that God is everywhere does not mean that part of Him is here, part of Him is there, part of Him is around Pluto, as if His love were spread thinly around sporadically. No. Omnipresence means all of God is present at every place, at the same time. No matter how large the universe is, no matter how deep the ocean is, we still have His full and undivided attention.

The apostle Paul says that he wants to comprehend the breadth, length, depth, and width of God's love. Wow. He wants us to know the breadth of His love, the length of His love, the depth of His love, and the width of His love. He wants us to know every dimension of His love. And He's big.

There was a little girl in Sunday school that raised her hand up one Sunday to ask the teacher a question. "I've got a question about God," the little girl proposed. "OK, I'll try to answer your question," the teacher replied. "If God is so big and huge, how can He live in our hearts without showing on the outside?"

What a question. God is so big, God is so huge, if He's living on the inside, He's bound to show up on the outside!

There Is Hope

SIN WAS...

...committed, then death entered the world.

...born into the world through the first man's, Adam, disobedience to
God.

...here before we arrived; however, we have the same blood, the same
nature.

...overcome at Calvary.

...popular to preach against.

...a serious subject.

SIN IS...

...the cause of death, both spiritual and physical. But the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

...like a leaky roof. It gets in anywhere it can and drips, trickles, and
puddles somewhere in your life and eventually the whole house is rotten and
about to cave in.

...like the way Eskimos kill wolf. They bury a razor sharp knife, blade up,
in the snow. Coat it with blood. Let it freeze. Coat it in some more
blood. Let it freeze. The wolf will start licking the frozen
blood-on-a-blade and get so involved in the taste and smell of it, he won't
realize he has sliced himself up. His mouth will be numb from the cold,
so he will just keep on licking and cutting and finally die from
blood loss never knowing what actually happened.

...is experienced by all, and we all have come short of the glory of God.
(Romans 3:23)

...is separating you from God, right now.

...not so popular to preach against anymore.

...not eradicated.

SIN WILL...

...cause you death, both spiritual and physical. But the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

...take you farther than you want to go.

...continue to separate you from God.

...continue to be preached against by few. But everyone will not want to
hear about it.

...be eradicated.

WHAT CAN WASH AWAY MY SINS?
NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS

If we die in our sins, we are eternally lost and forever separated from God. But God offers another way. If we are willing to turn from our sins, we can have eternal life free as a gift. This means we can't earn it by being good, or by going to church, or by baptism, or by money, or by anything else. We simply receive it as a free gift through Jesus Christ, God's only begotten.

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 - John 1:12


Suppose you had an incurable disease, and one day read that doctors and scientists have discovered a cure for that particular disease. Let's say they offered you the cure, free of charge. What would your answer be? Receive it and be cured? or reject it and be lost forever? You can have faith that the discovery will cure you, but if you never receive it personally, you are still lost forever.

Jesus is knocking at your heart's door, right now. Will you receive Him? Will you invite Him into your heart and life?

The Word Became Flesh

In the beginning...
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. - John 1:1

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. - John 1:14

Before there was anything, there was God. In the beginning, there was nothing but God. And then, He spoke. He spoke things into existence. He spoke heaven into existence. He spoke the earth into existence. He spoke light into existence. He spoke the water into existence. He spoke grass, seed, and fruit into existence. He spoke animals into existence. He spoke man into existence. He spoke. Then He said, "It is good." Awhile after that, He told Moses, "I AM THAT I AM," that means He's God all by Himself. He's wasn't looking for anybody to make Him God. He's not looking for you to make Him God and He's not looking to me to make Him God. He's God all by Himself. I'm glad He's my God, but He was God a way before me and He'll still be God after me. He's God everlasting.

Then, some years later, between Malachi and Matthew, the Word was made flesh. And He dwelt among us. And His name was Jesus. We saw His glory. And saw that He was full of grace and truth.

There came an unique individual named John the Baptist, that was preaching REPENT and baptizing the people in the river Jordan. One day, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him and he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world!" John said, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" But Jesus replied, "Suffer it to be so now." And John baptized Jesus in the river. But when Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens opened, the Spirit of God descended like a dove upon Him. And they heard a voice from heaven, the voice of the Father, say "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

He came to us. Jesus came to us. He came to the world, which was made by Him, and the world rejected Him. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." (John 1:11) Man rejected Him. Man rejected Jesus. Man rejected God. Man still rejects Him.

Jesus came to this world with one purpose: To seek and save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10). Born to die. For rapists and murderers. For thieves and robbers. For men and women. For democrats and republicans. For you and me. For us all.

Jesus loves you. He loved you enough to become sin...for you. He who knew no sin, became sin, so that you and me may have everlasting life. He came to us. We couldn't go to Him. He does for us what we can't do for ourselves.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the through him might be saved. - John 3:16-17.

Have you rejected Him? Are you rejecting Him?

Man O' War

The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name. - Exodus 15:3

God is love.
God is patient.
His mercy will endure forever. Amen. His grace, love, and mercy are available to all. Talking about benefits! It is beneficial to us all to serve the Lord. All we have to do is confess that we are sinners and He is Lord.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. - Romans 10:13

After Jesus was crucified on Mount Calvary, we entered in to the dispensation of grace. One day, this age will be over in a flash with the second advent of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Sinner, there is still time for redemption! When? Now is the accepted time for salvation. This age of grace will eventually end. We don't know when. We are not granted tomorrow. Now is your time. He's coming back just like He said.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. - 2 Peter 3:9

Now is the time. Now is your time. Now.

Nevertheless, God is a man of war. He is ready to do battle. He is God. He is mighty. He is a righteous and just warrior. The proud, the kings and armies of this world, the wannabes, the ungodly, they will fight for unjust reasons, for vanity, for self ambition, for lust. The Lord God will never war or spiritually slaughter any soul, people, race, or nation, but where there is a just cause, and no other means will do: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" - Genesis 18:25. The Lord is engaged in a spiritual war against the ungodly. Wickedness and sin do not please God. As you enter into the perfect will of God, you will notice Satan will attempt every thing he can to discourage you, to deter you, to intimidate you. The devil will use people, situations, anything he can to accomplish his will. Don't be surprised. Hey, he's the devil. If you toy with Satan, if you toy with sin it's like the story about the man who picked up an injured snake. He took it home, fed it, and nursed it back to health. When the snake had healed, the man took it out and set it down on the grass. The snake immediately turned its head back and bit the man on the leg. "Hey, I saved you, took you in, nursed you back to health and this is how you repay me?!" the man exclaimed. The snake replied, "What did you expect? I'm a snake." When you monkey around with sin and Satan, don't be surprised to get bit. What do you expect? He's the devil.

But, if the Lord be for you, who can be against you? We like to say that, but if you're one of the wicked, turn it around - if the Lord be against you, who can be for you? That's not a good thought.

God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. - Psalm 7:11-13

He is a horse pawing in a valley. I like this image. Imagine two warriors, clad in armor and weapons glistening in the pale morning light. Horses decked out in armor, prancing around. On each side of the plain, the two warriors turn to face each other. The moment of truth is about to erupt in a fury of colliding metal and flesh. The fighters are rock solid, but the warhorses twitch and jerk with anticipation. Every movement seems to be in slow motion. One horse shakes his head and neighs in defiance. A vapor is seen in the cold air as the other horse snorts and raises a hoof. He deliberately starts pawing the dirt to signal that the battle is about to get on.

The Lord is our horse pawing in our valley. He is ready. He is willing. The battle is the Lord's. He is a man of war.