A New Birth

Its always great to hear of the news that someone you know is going to have a baby. This summer we got news our son and his wife are expecting their first child (sah-weet !!), we have a great young couple coming to our church who look to have their first in the fall too.  The prospect of new life is always a highlight and what’s also been pretty cool is the second births of some folks who have started to come to our church too !   One Sunday about a month ago was especially thrilling to me as a pastor when a man asked Christ into his heart during the morning service then after an evening service that same day a woman who has terminal cancer and is in her 80’s also received the Lord !   Some weeks before that a new couple I’m discipling also were born again !    

A baby always makes a difference to a new home and certainly does to a church.  Some of the signs of the new birth are highlighted in 1 John to assure us that once we have grasped the gospel and seriously accepted that great message we can know we are on our way to heaven. 

 Let me remind you of a few evidences of the new birth:  “. . .he that doeth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous.  He that committeth sin is of the devil. . .” (1Jn.3:7,8)    “doeth” & “committeth” are present tense participles in the Greek and what that simply means to you the reader is that God is saying the person who typically desires to do right and not wrong (for we all mess up at times) evidences that he’s been born again.  Did you notice a stronger desire to do right and refrain from wrong after you asked Christ to save you?   Another evidence is found in 1 Jn.2:15 “Love not the world neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him”   Simply put this means despite the fact that we all have a gravitational pull towards the world and the things in it due to our sin nature we were originally born with, the genuine Christian who has been born again will DESIRE  spiritual things in a way he or she has not prior to the new birth.   I remember turning off my eight track tapes (I know, that dates me incredibly) to find a sermon on the radio !     A person who truly is saved will desire deep down to know God and His will for your life, to enjoy a spiritual song or sermon or good Christian book. This is because the Holy Spirit has entered your life !

So how about it, has the new birth become a part of your life?  Has the new birth continued to manifest itself in your life? Even a true Christian can “slack off” and at those times we realize we have, its simply a matter of sincerely asking the Lord’s forgiveness to enjoy the tell tale signs of the new birth once again !    John wrote “if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness”  (1:9).   Great news indeed !!

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