“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
(John 3:3-7)
SPIRITUAL BIRTH - is the time when man “received God and became son of God” (John 1:12)and was “born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:13). It is the beginning of man’s heavenly life.
PHYSICAL BIRTH – is the time when man was born from woman’s womb as a result of conception and reproduction. It is the beginning of man’s worldly life. It has a fixed age of gestation of 9 months. It has an estimated date of delivery or confinement. (EDD/EDC).
Being “physically born” makes us “physically alive” and places us in our parent’s family while being “spiritually reborn” makes us “spiritually alive” and places us in God’s family. This is the reason why some Christians celebrate two birthdays. The physical birthday and the spiritual birthday.
It is interesting to note about Nicodemus’ ignorance on being “born again” when he asked God “how can a man be born again when he is old?” “Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”It is really impossible. But God’s answer is so simple: “except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5). God simply answered a complicated question. But being born again is not as simple as that. We need to prepare.
I – PRENATAL PERIOD – In the field of obstetrics and gynecology, health workers sees to it that every expectant mother should have a good preparation in order to have a safe delivery of the baby. The aim is zero Maternal and Infant Mortality Rate and prevent premature babies or miscarriage. Prior to birth pregnant women undergoes a physical exam or pre-natal check up.
In the same way that every expectant born again Christian should prepare and undergo spiritual examination before receiving the gift of salvation. There should be repentance followed by regeneration like the transformation from cocoon to butterfly. We should ask ourselves” “are we worthy of receiving the blood of the lamb?” Are there some diseases that should be treated like an expectant high risk pregnant mother who has diabetes or anemia or other abnormal condition during pregnancy? Does she needs iron and vitamin supplement in preparation for loss of blood during delivery?? How much have we prepared prior to birth??? Prior to be being born again. Or we just received Christ because somebody told us that we should receive and accept Jesus. Or no consultation at all! This will result to a stillbirth, premature or even miscarriaged “born again” Christians. Premature babies seldom survived. We can learn the value of preparation from the ant. “The ants are a people not strong yet they prepare their meat in the summer.” (Proverbs 30:25). “Prepare to meet thy God.” (Amos 4:12).
The lesson here is: to reach the full term 9 month pregnancy not just 8 or 7 or 6 months pregnancy. OUR CHURCH NEEDS FULL TERM OR FULLY MATURED CHRISTIANS NOT PRE-TERM OR PREMATURE CHRISTIANS.
Accepting and believing Jesus as a personal God and saviour is a serious matter. We must not deceive God. Otherwise a Christian will be born prematurely. They are termed also as “Spiritual Babies” who remains “Babes In Christ” who are called the “carnal man”. They are knowledgeable in Bible yet they have little or no prayer life. “they walk after the flesh, not after the spirit.” (Romans 8:1). “Be not deceived God is not mocked!.” (Galatians 6:7) Some submitted for baptism for the sake of Church membership, not God’s kingdom membership.
“We must not return to Herod.” (Matthew 2:12). We must not return to old ways. Our heart and eyes must practice“the ways of God”(Proverbs 23:26) prior to being born again. If a person feels he’s not ready to leave sinful and old ways...he must not be born again. He will be categorically termed only as a “professing Christian.”
It is also worthy to note the very much foundation of salvation which is “ for by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9) is often abused by Christians. The “grace” which is the redemptive blood of the lamb is turned to “disgrace” by backsliding and returning to old ways.
II- NATAL PERIOD (SPIRITUAL BIRTH DAY).- This is the time when man received God as his personal savior and accepted God’s grace and mercy and gift of eternal salvation. . “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Cor. 5:17). “ This is the day that the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in Him. “
This is the happiest and the most meaningful day of our lives. To become sons of God. The day when Jesus washed our sins away. We must not forget this day because this is more important than our Physical BirthDay. The Spiritual birthday is more important because it speaks of eternal security while physical birthday speaks of temporal security. It is the beginning of man’s heavenly life. Spiritual birth happens any time. Born again can also be termed synonymously as “The Father’s Son/Child” “The Called One” “The Justified” “The Sanctified” “Sinner Saved By Grace” “The Regenerated One” “The Convert.”
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the
love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19).
III- POSTNATAL PERIOD- This is the time after a man is born again up to the time of his death.
Shortly after delivery of a baby in a mother’s womb, again health workers determine or evaluates whether the baby is healthy or not. They evaluate it through an APGAR SCORE. A stands for appearance, P stands for pulse of the heart, G stands for grimace, A stands for activity, and R for respiration. Each has a numerical value. If the APGAR SCORE is 10, this means the baby is healthy.
In the same way that after being born again, we should also be spiritually alive by being: always visible and APPEARS and not disappear in Worship Services, has a PULSATING HEART of kindness to the poor and the needy, a BEAUTIFUL and HANDSOME FACIAL GRIMACE not just always feeling painful, ACTIVE in church activities, and RESPIRES by breathing and shouting and singing Praise God and Amen! Hallelujah! The Score should be perfect 10. This means our Spiritual Life is healthy. As the score lowers below 10..our spiritual life is not healthy.
A very loud crying baby after being born in a few seconds of life indicates a very healthy baby. An indication that the baby is pink, active, has a good pulse and breathes . Likewise, a very loud, radiant, active, evangelizing, soul winning and shouting and crying out loud Born Again..... is a very healthy Christian. But a silent Christian may be a diseased born again Christian. He might even die like premature babies.
If babies don’t cry immediately after delivery, doctors will spank the feet of a newborn in order to cry and soon baby breathes in air. In the same manner God will also spank us if we don’t follow his commands. “My son despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father the son whom he delighteth.” (Proverbs 3:11-12).
In Galatians 5:22-26 it says there that “the fruit of spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Great blessings come to those who obey God’s commands, but severe judgement come to those who disobey Him. Along with God’s blessings come the responsibility to live up His demands for honesty and faithfulness. “And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”( Job 1:21).
PHYSICAL BIRTH – is the time when man was born from woman’s womb as a result of conception and reproduction. It is the beginning of man’s worldly life. It has a fixed age of gestation of 9 months. It has an estimated date of delivery or confinement. (EDD/EDC).
Being “physically born” makes us “physically alive” and places us in our parent’s family while being “spiritually reborn” makes us “spiritually alive” and places us in God’s family. This is the reason why some Christians celebrate two birthdays. The physical birthday and the spiritual birthday.
It is interesting to note about Nicodemus’ ignorance on being “born again” when he asked God “how can a man be born again when he is old?” “Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”It is really impossible. But God’s answer is so simple: “except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5). God simply answered a complicated question. But being born again is not as simple as that. We need to prepare.
I – PRENATAL PERIOD – In the field of obstetrics and gynecology, health workers sees to it that every expectant mother should have a good preparation in order to have a safe delivery of the baby. The aim is zero Maternal and Infant Mortality Rate and prevent premature babies or miscarriage. Prior to birth pregnant women undergoes a physical exam or pre-natal check up.
In the same way that every expectant born again Christian should prepare and undergo spiritual examination before receiving the gift of salvation. There should be repentance followed by regeneration like the transformation from cocoon to butterfly. We should ask ourselves” “are we worthy of receiving the blood of the lamb?” Are there some diseases that should be treated like an expectant high risk pregnant mother who has diabetes or anemia or other abnormal condition during pregnancy? Does she needs iron and vitamin supplement in preparation for loss of blood during delivery?? How much have we prepared prior to birth??? Prior to be being born again. Or we just received Christ because somebody told us that we should receive and accept Jesus. Or no consultation at all! This will result to a stillbirth, premature or even miscarriaged “born again” Christians. Premature babies seldom survived. We can learn the value of preparation from the ant. “The ants are a people not strong yet they prepare their meat in the summer.” (Proverbs 30:25). “Prepare to meet thy God.” (Amos 4:12).
The lesson here is: to reach the full term 9 month pregnancy not just 8 or 7 or 6 months pregnancy. OUR CHURCH NEEDS FULL TERM OR FULLY MATURED CHRISTIANS NOT PRE-TERM OR PREMATURE CHRISTIANS.
Accepting and believing Jesus as a personal God and saviour is a serious matter. We must not deceive God. Otherwise a Christian will be born prematurely. They are termed also as “Spiritual Babies” who remains “Babes In Christ” who are called the “carnal man”. They are knowledgeable in Bible yet they have little or no prayer life. “they walk after the flesh, not after the spirit.” (Romans 8:1). “Be not deceived God is not mocked!.” (Galatians 6:7) Some submitted for baptism for the sake of Church membership, not God’s kingdom membership.
“We must not return to Herod.” (Matthew 2:12). We must not return to old ways. Our heart and eyes must practice“the ways of God”(Proverbs 23:26) prior to being born again. If a person feels he’s not ready to leave sinful and old ways...he must not be born again. He will be categorically termed only as a “professing Christian.”
It is also worthy to note the very much foundation of salvation which is “ for by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9) is often abused by Christians. The “grace” which is the redemptive blood of the lamb is turned to “disgrace” by backsliding and returning to old ways.
II- NATAL PERIOD (SPIRITUAL BIRTH DAY).- This is the time when man received God as his personal savior and accepted God’s grace and mercy and gift of eternal salvation. . “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Cor. 5:17). “ This is the day that the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in Him. “
This is the happiest and the most meaningful day of our lives. To become sons of God. The day when Jesus washed our sins away. We must not forget this day because this is more important than our Physical BirthDay. The Spiritual birthday is more important because it speaks of eternal security while physical birthday speaks of temporal security. It is the beginning of man’s heavenly life. Spiritual birth happens any time. Born again can also be termed synonymously as “The Father’s Son/Child” “The Called One” “The Justified” “The Sanctified” “Sinner Saved By Grace” “The Regenerated One” “The Convert.”
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the
love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19).
III- POSTNATAL PERIOD- This is the time after a man is born again up to the time of his death.
Shortly after delivery of a baby in a mother’s womb, again health workers determine or evaluates whether the baby is healthy or not. They evaluate it through an APGAR SCORE. A stands for appearance, P stands for pulse of the heart, G stands for grimace, A stands for activity, and R for respiration. Each has a numerical value. If the APGAR SCORE is 10, this means the baby is healthy.
In the same way that after being born again, we should also be spiritually alive by being: always visible and APPEARS and not disappear in Worship Services, has a PULSATING HEART of kindness to the poor and the needy, a BEAUTIFUL and HANDSOME FACIAL GRIMACE not just always feeling painful, ACTIVE in church activities, and RESPIRES by breathing and shouting and singing Praise God and Amen! Hallelujah! The Score should be perfect 10. This means our Spiritual Life is healthy. As the score lowers below 10..our spiritual life is not healthy.
A very loud crying baby after being born in a few seconds of life indicates a very healthy baby. An indication that the baby is pink, active, has a good pulse and breathes . Likewise, a very loud, radiant, active, evangelizing, soul winning and shouting and crying out loud Born Again..... is a very healthy Christian. But a silent Christian may be a diseased born again Christian. He might even die like premature babies.
If babies don’t cry immediately after delivery, doctors will spank the feet of a newborn in order to cry and soon baby breathes in air. In the same manner God will also spank us if we don’t follow his commands. “My son despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father the son whom he delighteth.” (Proverbs 3:11-12).
In Galatians 5:22-26 it says there that “the fruit of spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Great blessings come to those who obey God’s commands, but severe judgement come to those who disobey Him. Along with God’s blessings come the responsibility to live up His demands for honesty and faithfulness. “And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”( Job 1:21).
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