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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Dojcin Zivadinovic

Born Again

You forgive us all kinds of sin, Lord, and we're so weak.

But with your power, we are unconquerable.

Here's the people, your people that really wanna hear this, Father.

I pray, Jesus, that you speak through me and that you put me totally behind this desk, Lord.

And I pray that your Holy Spirit touches our hearts.

Help us not that this be another message.

But Father, I pray that this might be actually a something that we can carry in our heart and experience.

And there's so much more to talk about, we can just talk all day about the mystery of godliness, amen?

So we're gonna, I want to address this a little bit now.

We talked about Christ this morning and how Christ has this power that he was surrendering to God, his Father, and how we can also have this power.

Now practically, we want to practically tap into the resource of the Holy Spirit.

And the scripture uses this term, and the term is born again.

And this term is used actually twice, 1 Peter and John chapter 3.

John chapter 3 also uses born again, born by the Spirit, born by the Spirit, and then born again.

When it talks to Nicodemus, it's a chiasm.

And Jesus spoke to Nicodemus in John chapter 3.

Let's open John chapter 3 to understand really what it means to be born again.

Because there's a lot of confusion in the Christian world today about the new birth.

I don't know if you want to read the whole thing.

John chapter 3, verse 3, and the Bible says, Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly I say to you, unless 1 is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

And Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he's old?

Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

Verse 5, Jesus answered, most assuredly, I say to you, unless 1 is born of water and the spirit, He cannot enter the kingdom of God And We have a lot of people being just born by the water Just being born of water.

Different terms of salvation here in verse 3 born from above born of the Spirit born of Spirit and born from above in this 3 to 7.

And Nicodemus' response is, what are you talking about?

And this is exactly a response that many, even Adventists are having today.

He was 1 of the greatest theologians in Israel at that time.

If he didn't know this, who would know it?

You know, you can be a conference president.

You can be a general conference president.

You can be a theology teacher here at Loma Linda and have the same question what are you talking about?

You just need to know the truth and that's it.

She says the new birth is a what kind of experience?

A rare experience in this age of the world.

This is the reason Why there are so many what?

Okay, if you had that question this morning, somebody asked me, why is our church struggling and we have this and that and we have this apostasy and we have this problem and...

This is the reason, not a reason, the reason why there are so many perplexities in the churches.

Many who assume the name of Christ are unsanctified and unholy.

They have been baptized but they were what?

Self did not die, and therefore, they did not rise to newness of life in Christ.

In other words, they have a wrong concept of salvation.

Salvation in the Bible is always transformation of character.

But if you think transformation of mind is something that will happen maybe after 30-40 years of your Christian experience, then you're just like, what are you talking about?

The Bible says when you are born again, you are a new creation.

That means that you have new brain patterns.

Jesus just changes your mind and from selfishness, He gives you selflessness.

There is a change that he wants to do in us.

Now, Ellen White also says that the people are more ignorant in regard to the plan of salvation and need more instruction upon this subject than upon any other.

So there is a lot of stuff that we don't know, but there's something that we are the most ignorant in the church and there is plan of salvation meaning how do I get saved and then she says I wish you to distinctly understand this but this is evangelism 152 I wish you to distinctly understand this point.

The souls are kept from obeying the truth by what?

And also because they do not know how to surrender their will and their mind to Jesus.

They want special instruction how to become Christian.

And Ellen White says this is 1 of the greatest problems that we have in the churches.

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Born Again

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