FBCD_FaithEssentials_June_FlipBook

Todd Gaddis

“YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN”

Our story begins when a high-ranking Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus recognizes the power of God in Jesus and comes to Him for answers. At the outset of the conversation, the Lord declared, “I tell you the truth no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). This phrase, “born again,” has taken a beating from the secular media, but as you can see, it’s absolutely biblical. Our first birth, being born of the flesh, takes place when we emerge from our mother’s womb. Our second birth, which comes from the Spirit, occurs when we receive Jesus as our Savior and thus become citizens of God’s kingdom. In the winter of 1982, I was working as a salesman in the agricultural chemical field. One night while on the road, I opened the motel phone drawer and found an evangelistic tract titled, “Are You Born Again?” I believed I was. I had grown up in church, been baptized as a child, and attended regularly my entire young life. As I read through this gospel presentation, however, conviction closed in. I came to realize that I needed a personal relationship with Christ. I understood that belief and repentance, rather than ritual and religiosity, trigger a person’s conversion experience. To get this point across to Nicodemus, Jesus unveiled humanity’s perilous predicament, our need for God’s love . He connected with the Pharisee’s Jewish Hebrew heritage by referring to an incident that took place as the children of Israel traveled from Egypt to Canaan. Responding to the Israelite’s complaint about meager food and lack of water, God sent venomous snakes among the people, which bit and killed many. The Lord then said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live” (Numbers 21:8). So, Moses made a bronze snake, which the people looked upon and lived. In the same manner as the rebellious Jews were bitten by venomous snakes, we’ve all been bitten by the poison of sin. Church

34