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Gone Fishin'

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Gone Fishin'

Daily Archives: January 15, 2009

We Must Be Born Again

15 Thursday Jan 2009

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Faith and Wisdom

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born again, eternal life, faith, grace, Holy Spirit's mighty workings, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven, rebirth, regenerated, regeneration, salvation, second birth, water baptism

Have you ever wondered why Jesus the Christ concentrated more on the idea of being born again than He concentrated on the idea of salvation? Here’s why!

Concerning whether or not people need to be born again, Apostle Paul writes in Titus that God:

…saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:5-7, NIV).

Translation: regeneration is a must! Being born again is a must, because if we never experience our second birth (our spiritual rebirth/renewal/regeneration), we never will be truly saved! In essence, regeneration is the definitive prerequisite to salvation. That’s right! Being born again and being redeemed are not synonymous.

For sure, Jesus the Christ knew the difference between rebirth and salvation. In fact, during His earthly ministry, He didn’t explicitly teach about salvation because His primary focus was on the Kingdom of Heaven and how people must enter into this spiritual Kingdom. He taught that they must come through the ONE and only door/gate—that they must come through Him. Christ’s teaching on how people enter into the Kingdom of God confirms that there is ONLY one way (one path) that leads to living an eternal life with God.

This veiled reference to salvation aside, without a doubt Jesus the Christ explicitly taught that before people could come through Him (before they could be saved from an eternity spent in the Lake of Fire) they first MUST be born again! Repeatedly, Jesus the Christ made it clear that unregenerate sinners neither would see nor would they enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Certainly that is why Jesus the Christ insisted that people must be born again instead of preaching and teaching that people must be saved!

It is safe to say that He understood the difference between regeneration (rebirth) and salvation. Like God, Jesus the Christ knew that it virtually was impossible for sinners to be saved from the wrath of God without God’s intervention. Consequently, God uses His saving grace and His Holy Spirit’s power for the purpose of influencing every sinner’s necessary born-again experience.

Knowing that we would be utterly hopeless as long as we lived outside of a life in Christ is why God graciously intervenes in our lives and quickens our human spirits so that we can hear the Word of God and receive our measure of faith. God knows that it takes us being born again before we can proceed to the most crucial step in His redemption plan, which is responding to the Holy Spirit’s initial conviction. By God’s Grace, His Holy Spirit first convicts us about our need to be aware of our sin-guilt, to be accountable for our own sins, and to confess our awareness. For sure, it is our confessed awareness and accountability that will activate the Holy Spirit’s successive convictions: confessing our sins, repenting our sins (turning away from our sins and turning toward Jesus the Christ), and accepting Jesus the Christ as our Savior.

After we accept Jesus the Christ as our person Savior, we are reconciled and restored. Christ gives us His righteousness (He justifies us so that we will be in right standing with God); the Holy Spirit begins His practical sanctification process (He begins transforming us unto the image of Jesus the Christ); and our eternal life begins while we are still on Earth. But again, none of the Holy Spirit’s successive convictions that lead to our salvation can happen if we first didn’t have a genuine born-again experience!

The Apostle John says that “…to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan – this rebirth comes from God” (John 1:12-13, NLT). Once again, being born again is wholly, completely, and supremely because of God’s divine power (mighty workings of His Holy Spirit) and Grace. By God’s design, we are inactive receivers of our second birth! That is to say that there is nothing that we can do, say or think about that will influence our regeneration. Furthermore, if the Holy Spirit doesn’t rejuvenate our spiritually DEAD human spirits (spirits that are dead in sins and trespasses), we just would continue to deny our sinfulness and continue to deny our need for a Savior.

Since being born again of the Holy Spirit is something that humans cannot do under their own strength, might, and predilection, people need to know and understand that they are never considered to be regenerated just because they are fortunate enough to have been born (physically born) into a Christian family. Similarly, people need to know that they are not born again just because they make a decision to be saved, or make a commitment to the Lord, or choose to rededicate their lives, or walk down the aisles of the church and give their preacher their hand. Finally, people need to know that they are not born again just because they orally repent their sins and/or boldly profess to believe in Jesus the Christ. The spiritual truth is that people repent and believe because the Grace and Holy Spirit of God already have regenerated their dead human spirits, which is that quickening that eventually leads to believers’ spirits being put back in the right standing and relationship with Father and Creator God–they are presented to God just as if they had never sinned!

Unfortunately, because too many “churchy” people tend to think that regeneration (the rebirth) and salvation are the same, that water baptism is the second birth, that water baptism saves, or that people have something to do with their own rebirth, we have too many professed Christians in our modern-day churches who really never have been born again (people who never have received a regenerated spirit). The sad truth is that not until people study the Word of God for themselves until they know God’s Word inside and out, and not until pulpit ministers and other spiritual leaders teach the truth about the second birth, which is that being born again is solely of God, the numbers of people who neither will see nor enter into the Kingdom of Heaven will continue to be staggering!

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The Parable of the Sower

15 Thursday Jan 2009

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Study

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blossom, covetousness, deep conviction, develop, fence straddler, flourish, genuine believer, germinate, good seed, hypocrite, mammon, shallow, soil, sower, take root, Word of God

The parable of the sower is found in Matthew 13:3b-9, and the meaning of the parable is found in Matthew 13:11-23 (cf. Mark 4:3-20 and Luke 8:5-15). In the parable of the sower, an earthly farmer’s seed-planting method is being compared to the heavenly farmer’s “good” seed-scattering method. Since Israel, in the time of Jesus the Christ, understood the farming principle of sowing and reaping, the Lord, then, is “laying one thing down by another,” which is what the term “parable” means. Jesus the Christ, then, is placing right beside the Hebrews’ very familiar work of sowing natural seeds, God’s very foreign work of sowing a spiritual seed.

Since the term “sowing” means to scatter seeds upon the earth in order to produce growth, it is apparent that Jesus the Christ is illustrating how an earthly farmer’s natural seed-sowing process is analogous to the heavenly farmer’s spiritual seed-sowing method. That is to say, earthly farmers make sure that they plant, water, and cultivate their seeds in the right season(s), at the correct temperature, and in the best soil so that their seeds will produce, for example, mature wheat or rye. Likewise, the heavenly farmer makes sure that He plants, waters, and cultivates His spiritual seed in the right seasons (every spring, summer, fall, and winter), at the correct temperature (fire of the Holy Spirit), and into the best soil (born again human spirits) so that His seed will produce spiritually mature children of God who are holy, righteous, loving, joyful, tranquil, patient, kind, respectable, faithful, humble, and self-controlled. Furthermore, by comparing the earthly farmer with the heavenly farmer, Jesus the Christ paints a vivid picture about the conditions that will determine productivity within the earthly and heavenly farmers’ fields. It is obvious that the great harvest for either of these sowers will depend on the farmers, the seeds, and the soils into which those seeds are planted.

Metaphorically speaking, the sower in the parable is Jesus the Christ (and/or His ministers). The Gospel of Christ (Word of God) is the spiritual seed that is being sown. Moreover, this spiritual seed, like a seed of grain, not only produces life, but also is life—has life within itself—which would mean that the spiritual seed also symbolizes eternal life. The field in which the spiritual seed is scattered is mankind. Lastly, mankind’s different soils into which the spiritual seed is sown are: (1) a footpath (unbelievers); (2) shallow soil with underlying rock (hypocrites); (3) thorny ground (fence straddlers); and (4) fertile ground (genuine believers).

Furthermore, while this parable about a sower is plain (easily comprehended), understanding why God’s “good seed” (preached Word of God) falls into different spiritual soils is not so easily discerned. For sure, spiritually discerning why the same Word of God doesn’t produce the same spiritual fruit can cause confusion, especially when most of these confused individuals do not comprehend the spiritual importance of being the kind of spiritual “soil” (possessing the godly kind of character in the human spirit) that could affect the appropriate response to the preached Gospel that God expects. These puzzled people also are the ones who find it hard to comprehend how their human spirit could keep them out of the Kingdom of God. In essence, they find it hard to see their true selves as being humans who lack the necessary inner “qualities.” Most people are so focused on their own external appearance that they never comprehend the importance of searching their inner selves to see why God is more concerned about their internal qualities, which He determines by the character traits that exist in people’s “hearts” (human spirits). That is why, unless God reveals to an individual that he or she really has the human spirit that is fertile ground, rather than the human spirit that is a footpath, or shallow soil, or thorny ground, no one really can know for certain what kind of soil he or she has!

For this reason, in the parable of the sower, Jesus the Christ absolutely makes the soil distinctions clear. He teaches that once the sower’s “good seed” (Word of God) is scattered (preached), it affects four specific hearers who each have been given the capacity to comprehend the preached Word of God. However, because of certain very detrimental hindrances, three of these four hearers will not be able to benefit from the preached Good News.

The first kind of hearer possesses a careless, indifferent human spirit. Because the Kingdom of God preached to this hearer is not received with any concern—the Word of God does not make an impression in this unbeliever’s human spirit—the “good seed” falls on a footpath. This individual, thus, never comes to realize the priceless value of God’s Word. As a result, he or she does not take care to protect the “good seed” so that it can remain within and grow inside of him or her, which also means that it now is easy for the Devil to steal the “good seed” out of this hearer’s human spirit. Once this hearer no longer has the “good seed” in him or her (the Word of God that would give this person’s human spirit life), this hearer’s soul also cannot be enlightened. Consequently, this person swiftly stumbles and permanently falls back into the world of sin (darkness).

The second kind of hearer possesses a hypocritical human spirit. The Kingdom of God preached to this hearer is received immediately. Indeed, this hearer not only is eager to be busy for the Lord but also sprouts leaves very early in his or her Christian walk—leaves that suggest he or she is doing Kingdom of God work, when in reality this person has no depth (no deep conviction), because the “good seed” in him or her has not taken root. As a result, this hearer’s Christian walk is so superficial that when the Word of God does not stop trials and tribulations (stones) from coming into this person’s life, or he or she sees that a sinful advantage can be gained (gives in to another kind of stone—temptation), this hypocrite will use the Word of God as an excuse for sinning. Moreover, because this person experiences trials, tribulations and temptations, he or she eventually either walks away from Christianity, or behaves like an undercover Christian. An undercover Christian is a hypocrite—someone who pretends to know how “true” Christians should behave, yet often acts contrary to God’s way whenever he or she has the opportunity to do the “right” thing.

The hearer who has a covetous human spirit (thorny soil) is the third type of Word of God hearer mentioned in the “good seed” sower parable. Since this fence straddler’s human spirit has been deceived by his or her own desires to obtain worldly riches, this person begins to believe that mammon can satisfy the needs that the cares of this life create. As a result, the Kingdom of God message that has been preached and received (understood) takes a second or third place in this person’s life. In fact, the cares of life and this person’s covetousness become so entangled that they end up choking the blossoming life that begins to grow from the “good seed’s” root that is in this individual’s human spirit. The reason why this hearer often is described as a world-serving believer who has one foot in the world and one foot in the CHURCH is because he or she is more concerned about pleasing him or herself (or other humans), much more than he or she is concerned about pleasing God. Consequently, the Word of God cannot benefit this hearer, and, just like it is with the first and second hearers, this person also cannot produce any spiritual fruit!

The only soil in which the “good seed” can produce a fruitful spiritual life is the fertile ground that is found in a genuine believer. In the person who has a pure and honest human spirit, this individual not only hears, understands, and retains the Word of God, but also this person gratefully accepts the Word of God, carefully protects the Word of God, and gladly lets the Gospel develop deep roots so that this person’s soil (human spirit) can be nourished by the Living Water and the Bread of Life nutrients that saturate the roots. Moreover, unlike the hypocrites and covetous hearers, this hearer does not let any rocks or thorns keep the Word of God’s benefits from being a blessing to him or her. In this person’s fertile soil, the “good seed” not only produces new life, but also this new life from “good seed” ripens and matures into a crop that is either thirty, or sixty, or hundred times larger than the seed from which this new life came.

Finally, Christ says, “Any one who is willing to hear should listen and understand” (Matthew 13:9, NLT)! By this statement, Jesus the Christ means that it is the hearer’s responsibility to pay attention to what he or she hears. According to Jesus the Christ, it also is the hearer’s duty to put into practice the Divine Truth that He has taught by way of the parable of the sower so that the new understanding about the Kingdom of God will not go to waste. In particular, Christ is telling His hearers that if they have the faculties of comprehension and knowledge and are willing to understand and know that the kind of human spirit they possess is not the same as the kind of human spirit they need to have, they then should do whatever is necessary to ensure that their human spirit becomes fertile soil. To guarantee that their human spirit is fertile ground from which will come much spiritual fruit, they need a sower who is concerned about sowing a “good seed.” They need Jesus the Christ as their Lord and personal Savior, and they need the Word of God. Once the sower sows that “good seed” (Word of God), then the hearers will need to be receptive to, thankful for, faithful and obedient to, and cheerful, good stewards of the heard Divine Truth.

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Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen

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