Signed, Sealed, and Delivered Saints

22 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Spiritual

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apostasy, Christ followers, delivers, demonic forces, earnest, eternal life, eternal sonship, forces of darkness, guarantee, locks in, nonbelief, preserves, promises, protects, saints, Satan's imps, saves, Seal of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit, secures, spiritual gifts, spiritual objectives, stamp of approval, unbelief, visible impression

It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life. ~ Ephesians 1:13-14, MSG

The Holy Spirit is the One who seals believers in Christ. Father God allows the Holy Spirit to seal Christ’s followers so that they can feel safe and secure in God’s Love, Power, and Promises. Furthermore, it is the sealing of the Holy Spirit that accomplishes Father God’s signed, sealed, and delivered spiritual Objectives, which are as follows:

1. He seals with (stamps God’s Approval on us; validates us via) God’s Insignia so that we not only can receive the Holy Spirit inside us and on us but also can receive our eternal sonship, our eternal life, and our other promised eternal gifts.

2. He seals up (preserves, locks in) our faith that God has given to us so that unbelief, nonbelief, and apostasy) will be sealed out.

3. He seals to (protect, secure, and save) us by marking us with God’s Seal—a visible impression to the forces of darkness—so that demonic/evil forces will know they can’t enter us. In other words, God’s Seal will let Satan and his imps know that we Father God’s Children.

Shalom . . .

Every blessing . . . . .

In Loving Memory of E-man (My Cousin, Ellery)

26 Saturday Aug 2017

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Tribute

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August, bubbly personality, cousin, death, Divine Plan, E-Man, eternal life, eternal spirit, grief, Heaven, in loving memory, loss, obituary, relative, rest in peace, sad, salvation, sleeping, smiles, Son, tearful, upset souls, Wade family

Ellery Lamont Wade

Yeshua said to her, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life! Whoever puts his trust in me will live, even if he dies; and everyone living and trusting in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ~ John 11:25-26, CJB

Just as human beings have to die once, but after this comes judgment, so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to deliver those who are eagerly waiting for him. ~ Hebrews 9:27-28, CJB

August hasn’t been a very kind month. Over the years, I’ve lost several loved ones in the month of August. Case in point, where my extended family is concerned, in less than a year I lost two members of the Wade family. On August 25, 2016, I lost my Uncle Jesse. On August 24, 2017, I lost my cousin—Uncle Jesse’s son, Ellery.

I can’t begin to imagine how Ellery’s death has hit the Wade family, especially my Aunt Edna. My heart bleeds for her, because she not only has lost her husband but also she has lost another child.

What I remember the most about Ellery is that he had a bubbly personality, which no doubt helped him gain his many friends. Indeed, when I think about it, I can’t remember a time when he wasn’t smiling.

One of my most vivid memories of Ellery was the time when he and Eugene visited with me and my family while we were living in Hampton, VA. Maynard and I were stationed at Langley AFB, and Eugene and Ellery were stationed at Fort Eustis. We all had a fabulous weekend reminiscing our childhoods.

Even though I saw Ellery very often, when we were growing up, I was closer in age to his oldest sister and his two older brothers. In fact, his oldest sister and I were more like sisters than cousins. Similarly, because Ellery and my younger brother Eugene’s ages were close, this truth must be why they were more like brothers than cousins.

There is no doubt that Ellery will be greatly missed by all his family members and friends. Rest in peace E-man, as you often were fondly called.

The following is my poetic tribute to E-man:

So glad there are no tears
In Heaven—no pain there, either
Only smiles and beaucoup
Laughter where you’re at,
So you’ll fit in just fine.

You’re where you belong
This truth keeps us strong
Enough to deal with your
Loss, even though we’re
Weepy and melancholy
We know our tears are just
Temporary—a freeing of
Our pain and sorrow,
But on the morrow,
When our joy comes,
We’ll fully understand
How taking you fits into
Our Father’s Divine Plan,
Who surely one day will
Let us see you again.

– composed August 26, 2017

~ from Citizen’s Voice

Obituary (UPDATED)

Ellery Lamont Wade

“Ellery Lamont Wade, 62, a resident of Boulevard Townhomes, Wilkes-Barre, entered into glory Thursday afternoon, Aug. 24, 2017, in Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, following a lingering illness.

Born Feb. 2, 1955, in Wilkes-Barre, he was one of 10 children to Mrs. Edna V. Gleaves Wade of Wilkes-Barre and the late Mr. Jesse Wade Jr.

Educated in the city schools, Mr. Wade was a graduate of James M. Coughlin High School, Wilkes-Barre.

He was a baptized member of the Mount Zion Baptist Church, Wilkes-Barre.

Following his formal education, Mr. Wade proudly served our country during the Vietnam era with the U.S. Army.

Until his retirement, Mr. Wade was self-employed as a carpenter locally in construction, and enjoyed woodworking. He later was employed by the Cin-Ram Corp. of Pittston and by the Lord and Taylor Distribution Center in Wilkes-Barre Twp.

In addition to his father, who passed away Aug. 25 of last year, he was preceded in death by a brother, Jesse III, in 1976; by a sister, Darnel Palmer, in 2002; a brother-in-law, Anthony Dawkins, in 1993; and several aunts and uncles.

Left to mourn his passing are his beloved mother, Mrs. Edna V. Wade; his son, Eric, and grandson, Xavier Lucian Wade, Wilkes-Barre; brothers and sisters, including Malachi and his wife Peggy, Norman and his wife, Susan, Jeffrey, Rosalyn, Cynthia, Elvira and Doreese Wade, all of Wilkes-Barre; brother-in-law, Fred Palmer, Florida; and a host of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and dear friends.

Homegoing services for Mr. Wade will be conducted at 11 a.m. Saturday in Mount Zion Baptist Church, 105 Hill St., Wilkes-Barre. The Rev. Michael E. Brewster, pastor, will serve as celebrant.

Interment with prayers of committal will follow in the family lot in Denison Cemetery, Denison Avenue, Swoyersville.

Relatives and friends may join the Wade family for visitation and remembrances from 10 a.m. until the time of services on Saturday directly at the church.

The Wilkes-Barre Heights location of John V. Morris Family Funeral Homes Inc. are honored to care for Mr. Wade and his family at this time.

To send his mother and family words of comfort, support, to light a virtual candle in Ellery’s memory or for information, please visit our family’s website atwww.JohnVMorrisFuneralHome.com.

Funeral arrangements will be from the Wilkes-Barre Heights location of the John V. Morris Family Funeral Homes Inc., 281 E. Northampton St.

Funeral Home
John V. Morris Family Funeral Homes Inc.
281 E Northampton St.
Wilkes Barre, PA 18702
570-823-2754”

Spiritually Fat Souls

22 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Devotional

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diligence/diligent, eternal life, fatten up, free gift, Living Bread, Living Water, prospering, spiritual food, spiritual life, spiritual riches, spiritual sluggishness, spiritual water, spiritually fat souls, wasting away

Living in Asia taught me valuable lessons that I thought I already knew very well. From the most economically impoverished, physically hungry, and physically thirsty people I have ever known, I witnessed and received the YeHoVaH-kind of genuine love and fellowship that I had never witnessed or received from my financially better-off American brothers and sisters in Yeshua. These Chinese poverty-stricken believers that I fellowshipped with were blessed with spiritually fat souls. That’s why they were able to freely share their insufficient measures of food, drink, and housing with me. More importantly, they also freely shared their precious time and their treasured spiritual riches.

My soul benefited greatly from the lessons their generous hospitality taught me. They showed me how deeply concerned they were about their own soul’s daily need to eat spiritual food and drink spiritual water. None was too concerned about eating daily portions of homegrown or money-bought provisions, which only could keep their physical bodies from wasting away.

In truth, no amount of money could buy the gift that satisfies our thirsty and hungry souls. That gift (eternal life that comes with a close, intimate, personal relationship with YeHoVaH) is so important it is priceless! That’s why Isaiah prophesies that only the Messiah (Yeshua HaMashiach) can offer YeHoVaH’s priceless eternal life gift for free (Isaiah 55:1). Centuries later, Yeshua fulfills this prophecy. His death on the cross paid in full the high price of our eternal life gift.

Lastly, my Asian brothers and sisters showed me how being diligent about our spiritual life is the price we pay for our FREE daily portions of Living Bread and Living Water – the spiritual food and spiritual water we need to fatten up (prosper) our souls. We purchase these daily portions with our sincerest pursuit of forgiveness for our sins, our faithful acceptance of the finish work Yeshua fulfilled on the cross, and our devoted hunger and thirst for YeHoVaH’s holiness and righteousness. This diligence is how we make our souls spiritually fat. It works as long as we never let spiritual sluggishness (mere religious desires) keep us from daily renewing our minds.

Is your soul wasting away? Is your soul getting fat off of Yeshua’s spiritual Bread and the Holy Spirit’s spiritual Water? Selah!

“The slacker’s soul craves, yet has nothing,
but the diligent soul will be satisfied.” ~ Proverbs 13:4; cf. Isaiah 55:1-2

Keep it real … Live it out … Watch it work!

~ from Keeping It Real: Daily Renewing the Mind (edited)

Two Biblical Proofs Favoring Pre-Tribulation Rapture

04 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Study

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Abraham, biblical pattern, Blood of Christ, Body of Christ, Bride of Christ, brothers and sisters in Christ, correct, crucial, end-times, escape, essentials, eternal life, fair, God's wrath, Household of Faith, judge, Judgments, just, justified, Noah, radical, rapture, rescued, righteous, sanctified, saved, theological perspective, wicked

Avraham approached and said, ‘Will you actually sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Maybe there are fifty righteous people in the city; will you actually sweep the place away, and not forgive it for the sake of the fifty righteous who are there? Far be it from you to do such a thing — to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Shouldn’t the judge of all the earth do what is just?’ ~ Genesis 18:23-25, CJB

For God has not intended that we should experience his fury, but that we should gain deliverance through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who died on our behalf so that whether we are alive or dead, we may live along with him. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, CJB

In necessary things unity; in uncertain things freedom; in everything compassion. ~ Unknown Author; most often misattributed to Augustine

God help us all who call ourselves Christians, for even in a time such as this we still remain unable to become ONE. We primarily are divided by doctrines, issues, and practices. As a result, we who profess to be Your holy and righteous sons and daughters, joint-heirs with Your only begotten Son (Jesus the Christ), frequently end up treating each other like notorious enemies instead of like venerable brothers and sisters in Your Household of Faith.

There continues to be too much arguing among followers of Christ Jesus over doctrines, issues, and practices that neither are crucial to the Gospel of Christ nor to how anyone obtains eternal life (how someone is saved). Christians’ most commonly debated doctrines, issues, and practices include, but are not limited to: the Rapture, the Millennium, the Earth’s Age, Life on Other Planets, Food and Drink, Female Pastors, Observing the Sabbath vs. Worshipping on Sunday, Speaking in Tongues, Performing Miracles, and various legalistic Do’s and Don’ts (like going to the movies, dancing, smoking, drinking, playing cards, wearing makeup, and so forth).

How horrible our arguing with and our mistreatment of Body of Christ members must look to the unsaved world. No wonder the masses of lost souls in today’s world are not coming to Christ Jesus. Why would any of them want to be a part of this current 21st century body of believers who vehemently disagree with each other? These quarrelsome believers not only refuse to tolerate but also choose not to be civil to their brothers or sisters in Christ Jesus who think differently about things that usually have nothing to do with a person’s salvation nor with the Gospel of Christ!

If we agree on the essentials, yet disagree on the non-essentials, then let us learn how to agree to disagree without becoming/being disagreeable (unloving, compassionless, coldhearted, intolerable, argumentative, hostile, inhospitable, bad-tempered, grouchy, snarky, sarcastic, stubborn, nasty, offensive, unpleasant, unfriendly, rude, legalistic, insulting, disrespectful, and the list goes on). Let us learn how to remain loving, caring, and kind to each other. After all, one of the most crucial lessons Christ Jesus taught is this one: “This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other” (John 13:35, MSG).

Having said that, let me say this: Because I know that the Rapture is one of the most commonly debated doctrines, I would like to share, strictly from a general theological perspective, two biblical proofs favoring a pre-Tribulation Rapture. Not only do I find these proofs to be two of the best but also I agree with them, as do so many theologians, countless other followers of Christ, and even copious churchgoers. For this reason, I am certain that numerous individuals who will read this blog entry probably already know these proofs, and I equally am certain that various other individuals who will read this blog entry neither had read nor had heard of these proofs before now. My hope then is that the end result of having read this article will be that those readers who didn’t believe will have come to believe what so many present-day followers of Christ already accept to be true about the Bride of Christ’s pre-Tribulation Rapture.

Biblical Proof Number One—from the Old Testament:

Anyone who believes that there is a radical and ESSENTIAL difference between the righteous and the wicked should agree that God knows the difference, and he or she should agree that God is the One who makes the distinction between those who are “righteous” and those who are “wicked.” Additionally, anyone who believes that there is a radical and ESSENTIAL difference between the righteous and the wicked also should agree that righteousness and wickedness are exact opposite spiritual (heavenly vs. hellish) characteristics, which is why God never wanted His righteous children and the world’s wicked persons to mix.

Furthermore, since God knew there would be a nonstop righteous vs. wicked battle taking place on this Earth, that is why He had some undeniable proof of His timeless pattern of Judgment placed in His Word. Biblical proof number one, therefore, is that God does not judge His truly righteous believers with the world’s very wicked unbelievers. This biblical pattern is most noticeable in the Scriptures describing the time of Noah, and it continues to become more evident throughout the rest of the Old Testament. God’s pattern of Judgment also is found in the New Testament, especially in end-times verses. That’s why there really can be no denying that God clearly is represented throughout the Holy Bible as a righteous Judge who pronounces Judgment that always is correct and fair.

For example, in the Old Testament, Abraham, who is one of Noah’s after-the-Flood descendants, knew quite well that God never would judge the righteous with the wicked, and that is why Abraham doesn’t shy away from reminding God of His existing Judgment pattern. Abraham says to God:

…Will you actually sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Maybe there are fifty righteous people in the city; will you actually sweep the place away, and not forgive it for the sake of the fifty righteous who are there? Far be it from you to do such a thing — to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Shouldn’t the judge of all the earth do what is just? ~ Genesis 18:23-25, CJB

The point here is that it had been established before Noah’s day that God is a just and righteous Judge who only punishes (pours out His Wrath only upon those whom He has judged as) the wicked, and then only AFTER He has removed (separated) the righteous from mingling with the wicked. Righteous Noah, his sons, and his sons’ wives were saved from God’s 40 days and 40 nights of the falling rain Flood Judgment, while God poured out His promised diluvial Wrath upon all of the Earth’s wicked inhabitants, as well as upon the Earth itself!

As already mentioned, this pattern of God’s Judgment runs all through the Testaments. Of course, there always is an exception, and the exception that must be noted here is that, although there are many New Testament verses that chiefly emphasize God’s Judgment, there is NO mention of God’s Judgment in the New Testament passages considered as Rapture passages. This observation leads to the second biblical proof.

Biblical Proof Number Two—from the New Testament:

Since there is no mention of God’s Judgment in the New Testament’s Rapture verses, then it is decidedly possible that the Rapture of the Bride of Christ happens at a separate time from when God judges and then punishes the Earth and the left-behind wicked, many who are followers of the Antichrist, with His fiery Wrath. The apostle John writes:

Then I saw another sign in heaven, a great and wonderful one — seven angels with the seven plagues that are the final ones; because with them, God’s fury is finished. ~ Revelation 15:1, CJB

Apostle John most assuredly is describing the last Judgments—the last of God’s judiciary righteous Judgments issued against the left-behind ungodly (His Wrath or Fury). The apostle also is describing God’s righteous Punishment for committed crimes His enemies are guilty of (His Wrath or Fury). Without doubt, these seven plagues (seven bowl judgments) are the last of all of God’s promised righteous end-times Punishment (His Wrath or Fury).

All the same, it must be noted here that apostle Paul says when Christ Jesus died on the Cross, His atoning sacrifice not only had made the gift of eternal life (Salvation) available, but also He had saved (rescued, delivered) believers from God’s end-times Judgments and Punishment (outpouring of Wrath). In other words, so that God’s righteous would not experience any of His end-times Wrath, Christ Jesus’ sacrificial dying absorbed it ALL. Thus, biblical proof number two is Christ Jesus already took the Wrath of God in place of God’s Household of Faith believers—bore the FULL brunt of God’s Wrath for the Body of Christ, also known as the Bride of Christ (both saved Christian Jews and Gentiles). Apostle Paul writes:

…you turned to God from idols, to serve the true God, the one who is alive, and to wait for his Son Yeshua, whom he raised from the dead, to appear from heaven and rescue us from the impending fury of God’s judgment. ~ 1 Thessalonians 1:9b-10, CJB

~ and ~

The point here is that it already had been established before Christ Jesus’ day that God still is a just and righteous Judge who only punishes (pours out His Wrath only upon those whom He has judged as) the wicked, and then only AFTER He has removed (separated) the righteous from mingling with the wicked. Therefore, it stands to reason that the Lord’s righteous Bride first will be saved (rescued, delivered) from any part of God’s seven years of the end-times Tribulation Judgments, after which God then will pour out all of His promised fiery Wrath upon all of the Earth’s left-behind inhabitants!

The bottom line is this: As it was in Noah and Abraham’s days, so will it be in these current last days. God will NOT have His spiritually renewed, saved, and reconciled back to Himself sons and daughters endure any of His prophesied end-times Judgments and Punishment that are reserved for His and Israel’s enemies. There is absolutely no way that God could explain or defend why He would let those individuals, whom the beaten and crucified Christ Jesus’ Blood has justified as righteous, and whom the mighty workings of the Holy Spirit completely has sanctified as holy (sinless), go through any of the seven years of the end-times Tribulation. That is why the Bride of Christ will NOT be in the Tribulation Period!

Once again, the two biblical proofs favoring a pre-Tribulation Rapture for the Bride of Christ are that God never would judge His righteous when He judges the wicked, and Christ Jesus already has emptied God’s full cup of Wrath so that born again, saved, justified, and fully sanctified followers of Christ would never have to experience any Wrath of God. AMEN!

For a detailed explanation about God’s Wrath, please read my blog entry Lost In Translation.

Let Your Life Teach God’s Truths

21 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Poetry

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cockeyed conception, defection, eternal life, extraterrestrial life, fables, Harvest of Resurrected Souls’ Firstfruits, Hubble Space Telescope, ideologies, imperfection, introspection, intuitions, mirages, Misinformed perception, new life, plausibility arguments, preconceptions, reborn spirit, retrospection, self-deception, ungodly predilection

“Hubble Ultra Deep Field part d” by NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team

Even though this world churns out plenty
Incidents that merit contemplation, navigation;
Plausibility arguments – extraterrestrial life contentions
Monopolize the strongly deluded
Weak-minded, full of misconceptions
Induced by fables, mirages, preconceptions;
Half-truths, white lies, satanic deception
Elaborated from random ought-to-be’s,
Should be’s, unsubstantiated ideologies, intuitions.
Still no Hubble Space Telescope observation,
No sign of another world alien inhabitation.

Concentrating more on IF there’s life
Beyond Earth diminishes importance
Of examining life on Earth via
Retrospection and/or introspection,
Resulting in sound projection—prognostication
Rooted and grounded in Gospel instruction,
Correction, and direction—
Provided by otherworldly Being,
Purest wireless connection
Available from Earth’s inception,
Who teaches LIFE to formed from dust humans;
New LIFE, reborn spirit LIFE,
Creator, Father God’s kind of LIFE,
Freely given by Grace through Faith in Son,
Jesus the Christ, who died ONCE
For ALL sin, and those who sinned.

Every imperfection, cockeyed conception,
Misinformed perception, self-deception,
Ungodly predilection receives holy disinfection—
Lamb’s Blood purification:
Justification, Heaven’s declaration
Of righteous born anew inner spirit,
The heart, whose preached Word reception
Initiated prophesied conversion:
Holy Spirit transformation
From spiritually dead sinners to
Salvation’s holy election;
Eternal life beneficiaries HERE and NOW;
Future bodily resurrection
Guaranteed Sovereign’s commissioned,
Who perish while obediently
Exercising Faith for good fruits’ harvest,
Before their Savior’s promised return.

No exceptions . . . every sin-produced infection,
Addiction, obsession, depression, rejection;
Each devotion to God defection
His children committed before injection
Renewed spirit-life’s heavenly destination
Justified with Savior’s righteousness transfusion,
Sealed with Holy Spirit’s progressive sanctification,
All underscore reasons why
Clothed with Christ, Holy Spirit enabled
Children of God unequivocally ought-to-be,
Should be, letting their own life be
A reflection of Him Who is the Way,
The Truth, the LIFE—The LIFE Who
Lived God’s Truths without faltering,
Sinning, quitting.

Living second birth life with holiness
Jesus the Christ exemplified
Is how His co-heirs minister to others;
They let their own set-apart lives
Teach God’s Truths about Savior who
Did what was Fair and Just for Neighbors,
Showed them Compassionate and Faithful Love;
For which He was crucified,
Dying ONCE for ALL sin
And every sinning person;
Rising ONCE to Eternal Life, as
Full Harvest of Resurrected Souls’ Firstfruits;
Ascending into Heaven to await
In the air on the clouds Rapture before
Returning triumphantly when
Every eye beholds His bodily
Second Coming!

~ August 2014

You’ve been raised on the Message of the faith and have followed sound teaching. Now pass on this counsel to the followers of Jesus there, and you’ll be a good servant of Jesus. Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion. Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart. This is why we’ve thrown ourselves into this venture so totally. We’re banking on the living God, Savior of all men and women, especially believers. ~ 1 Timothy 4:6-10, MSG

You’re going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food—catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you—keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God’s servant. ~ 2 Timothy 4:3-5, MSG

That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God. ~ 1 Peter 3:18, MSG

Two Word Blog Post (14)

10 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Spiritual

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eternal life, Two Words

Eternal Life!

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!