Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

John 3:3-5, NKJV

 

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:23, NKJV

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new

II Corinthians 5:17, NKJV

 

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:26-28, NKJV

 

Born again! It sounds appealing, doesn't it? We live in a world where everyone seems to be beaten down, tired, and old. But Jesus offers us a chance to be born again! It is a great offer of salvation, and the way to go about it is really quite simple and readily understandable.

 

God's plan of salvation is as simple as it is beautiful. Jesus tells us we must be "born again" of water and of spirit in order to enter the kingdom. Peter tells us that this requires not only a baptism, but repentance as well. Paul tells us that it requires faith, and Jesus in the same conversation with Nicodemus that He tells us to be born again also refers to this belief (John 3:16). Paul refers to this being born again as "a new creation" stressing in the II Corinthians passage above that it is only for those who are "in Christ", and then telling is how to get "into Christ" in Galatians.

 

Are you born again? Not only is it required, but it will give you that re-birth that mankind so desperately needs in this sinful world in which we live.

 

Today's reading is from John chapter 3. It has some of the most familiar and most important teachings ever made by Jesus, and it is certainly worth our time to read it!

 

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business.

And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; you shall not make my Father's house a house of trade."

His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for thy house will consume me."

John 2:13-17, RSV

 

I think that many Christians in our modern day and age have forgotten how to take a stand for what is right. They have forgotten how to stand up for the lives of the most innocent among them. They have forgotten how to take a stand for their families. And, they have forgotten how to take a stand for God.

 

They have especially forgotten how to take a stand for God!

 

You may think that this is an unfair assessment, but do you see many taking righteous stands today? We see abortion being committed to the point that it has become a race to kill before a child can come out of the womb. We see perversion being forced onto society, where we now are told by those in authority that we must let boys into our girls' locker rooms, and men into our wives' bathrooms.

 

And we are told that we must not pray in public, and that we must not ever let anyone catch us with a Bible in school or at work, and we must never talk about Christ outside of church for that could make people uncomfortable. And we are told that we must not talk about sin anymore, because people seem to think that the only sin in our open-minded, moral-free, modern world is the suggestion that there is sin.

 

So people mock God, and we say nothing for fear of being criticized.

 

Jesus, we find, did not stand idly by... He took a stand!

 

Do you think that we might learn something from Jesus, so that we might know how God expects us to act today? Or, do we think that God will permit us to live a faith that is limited lip service only?

 

If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’ ” Isaiah 7:9(b), NIV 

 

Today's reading is from John chapter 2. It reminds us that there are some things worth taking a stand for.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being...

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth John *testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’”...

The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! “This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’

John 1:1-2, 14-15, 29-30, NASU

 

One of the most important reasons that we read is that we might gain a full understanding of Who we serve. The apostle John, through inspiration, reveals a truth about Jesus that is critical to a full understanding of just who He is. So, the first thing that John reveals about Jesus is that He was with God in the very beginning, and that He was, in fact, a Co-Creator of this world.

 

Understanding that Jesus was with God in the beginning will help us to understand many of the things that are recorded in the Bible. For example, did you ever wonder who God was talking to in Genesis when He said, "Let Us make man in Our image:? 

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26, NASU

 

Now from John chapter 1 we are able to understand that it was Jesus to whom He was referring. There are many other passages that can only be understood in the light of Jesus being with God in the very beginning, and it is in John chapter 1, more that any other place, that describes this aspect of the One who was called the Son of God.

 

Aren't you glad you are taking the time to read the Bible?

 

Today's lesson is from John chapter 1, and it is only the beginning of the wonderful things that God wants us all to know from the writings of John the Apostle.

 

Then he said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled."

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,

Luke 24:44-45, RSV

 

We talk a lot about having an open mind. Now having an open mind is important, but we do need to be careful that it is not so "open" that we accept every idea, no matter how ridiculous. There is a difference, however, between an open mind and an opened mind, and it is this that we want to look at today.

 

In the passage above, Jesus was explaining to His disciples about his death burial and resurrection, He revealed to them that everything that had happened to Him had already been foretold in the Scriptures and how these things had to be fulfilled in the exact way that the writers of the Old Testament had prophesied. Then, because prophesy is from God and can only been understood by those who had been enlightened, Jesus "opened their minds" to understand these Scriptures.

 

One of the results that we all hope to obtain by reading the Bible is that our minds may be opened. I'm not talking about having something miraculous happen to us as it did to the disciples when Jesus opened their minds, but I do believe that Scripture reveals we can understand everything that is necessary for our service to God and our salvation. The reason that we need to read with an "open mind" is so that we do not allow past prejudices and false understandings to prevent our minds from being "opened" by the truths that are plainly set forth in Scripture.

 

This is why we read!

 

Today's reading is the 24th chapter of Luke.