You must be born again
In John 3: 3 to 6, Jesus is teaching us how to enter the Kingdom of God, He says “I tell you for certain that you must be born from above before you can see God’s kingdom!”. Jesus continues to explain what He meant by being “born from above”, He says “I tell you for certain that before you can get into God’s kingdom, you must be born not only by water, but by the Spirit. Humans give life to their children. Yet only God’s Spirit can change you into a child of God”.
Many of us here call ourselves children of God, many of us say we are born again. And today I want to get into the details of being born again. Because being “born from above”, in the above Scripture means to be born again. Many come to church, they pray they give and the participate in all church activities, and many believe that is what will entitle them to see the Kingdom of God. But Jesus says “you must be born again, be born of water and the Spirit”.
Being born of water is being baptised after confessing your believe in Jesus Christ and being born of the Spirit means being changed into a child of God by the Spirit of God. If you do not believe in Jesus Christ, or if you are not led by the Holy Spirit, you cannot be born again. Nicodemus, who asked Jesus about being born again, was a Pharisee and Jewish leader, so he believed in God but he did not believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. This is why He could not understand the concept of being born again.
When you believe in Jesus as the Son of God, your flesh will be transformed, your soul will be transformed, and your thoughts will be conformed to the thoughts of God. This is why the Bible tells us in Romans 12:2 that “Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him”. If your thinking is not changed, you are not born again.
When you are born again, you imitate Christ in living your life. You live a life free of sin and inequity. When you are born again, you become delivered from the power of sin. When you are separated from the power of sin, then you begin to see Jesus Christ as the Saviour. This is why the Bible says in Isaiah 59:1 “The Lord hasn’t lost His powerful strength; He can still hear and answer prayers. Your sins are the roadblock between you and your God. That’s why He doesn’t answer your prayers or let you see his face.”.
When you are living in sin you cannot imitate Jesus, and God will not answer your prayers, and He will not allow you to see His face. This also means that you cannot be born again, but when you confess Jesus as the Son of God, He takes away your sin. You become a new person, your past is taken away and you become born of water and the Spirit.
But for you to be able to confess Jesus as the Son of God, you need to be delivered. You need to be separated from all unclean spirits and you need to be separated from the power of sin. This is why every Sunday I lay hands on you, to break the power of sin upon your life. When the power of sin is broken, then you start to see the face of God, but if you are in sin, your sins will be a roadblock between you and God.
When you call yourself a child of God, the devil will accuse you before God, he will bring up your inequities before God. Your inequity will separate you from the presence of God, because god is Holy. But if your heart is ready to repentance, no accusation can stand against you. God doesn’t look at your mistakes, He looks at the contents of your heart. This is why the Bible says in Romans 10:9, that “you will be saved if you Honestly say Jesus is Lord and if you believe with all your heart that God raised Him from death.
Many are saying they are born again but when you look at their lives it does not reflect the life of a born again Christian. Many think that because they don’t live in sins like fornication, adultery and gossip, they are born again, if your heart is not right with God, you are still living in sin. Because your heart will form an obstacle between you and God. But when your heart is in right standing with God, the old person in you dies, a new person in the likeness of Jesus Christ emerges. You can check your own salvation by looking into your life. If you are still living the way that you did before accepting Jesus Christ, then you are not born again.
In this church, I don’t do alter calls to make people confess Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, I’m not saying that those churches who do that are wrong, but God has taught me that I must deliver people from the power of sin, and when a person is delivered, they will confess Jesus as Lord out of what they have seen in their own lives. When you are delivered, your eyes will be opened and you will know that Jesus is Lord. That is why we see people who were criminals, after their deliverance, they come and testify that Jesus Christ is their Saviour, without me even telling them. Why? Because they have seen Him saving them from sin.
That is why I say everyone needs deliverance. Because deliverance brings separation from all unclean spirits. When you are afflicted by unclean spirits, you are in bondage and you cannot see clearly, you will be able to confess Jesus Christ as the Lord and Saviour. People of God, you need to be born again. You need to be born from above, you need to be renewed. Your past must be separated from you and the Spirit of God will live in you. In that way you will see the Kingdom of God.
If you are willing and ready to repent then you will have salvation. Salvation is not coming to church, paying tithes and giving in the house of God. That is just part of your new character as a child of God. Salvation is being separated from a sinful life, and living under the direction of the Holy Spirit. It is living the way that Jesus lived. In that way, you will see the Kingdom of God.
God bless you as you become born again.
To God be the Glory.