So, this is a combination of messages from sermons, the class at church I'm in now "The Ministry of Deliverance & Inner Healing" led by Rev Dr Marilyn Weekes (lecturing pastor) and God through Bible Study. It's amazing how He leads you to read one thing after the other once you begin to delve into His word."
A few related questions were generated from Thursday's class which led to this piece:
How can we be born again? Are people saved and born again or just saved? Have we ensured that we are not only saved but born again.
Getting a ride home from church with my pastor, a minister and fellow member we began to discuss saved versus being born again. Then the issue of the Kingdom and which step or steps ensured we would be there. Is being saved enough? When we are born again do we automatically become heirs of the Kingdom? Is there more required of us?
I tried to put the thoughts from the lesson together and God led me all over to include our discussion and more and I'd love to share it all with you!
(Throughout I have links to the passages. I like the New King James Version but if you click on the link you can change the version and I pray that God will help you understand the message still. Also I typed out a number of the verses to stress certain points)
A few related questions were generated from Thursday's class which led to this piece:
How can we be born again? Are people saved and born again or just saved? Have we ensured that we are not only saved but born again.
Getting a ride home from church with my pastor, a minister and fellow member we began to discuss saved versus being born again. Then the issue of the Kingdom and which step or steps ensured we would be there. Is being saved enough? When we are born again do we automatically become heirs of the Kingdom? Is there more required of us?
I tried to put the thoughts from the lesson together and God led me all over to include our discussion and more and I'd love to share it all with you!
(Throughout I have links to the passages. I like the New King James Version but if you click on the link you can change the version and I pray that God will help you understand the message still. Also I typed out a number of the verses to stress certain points)
In Romans 10:9-10 it says “that if you confess with your
mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the
dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2010:9-10&version=NKJV
However to be redeemed and kingdom bound is more than just
thinking that being saved means you are definitely going to Heaven. It takes
more than just a confession and belief. It’s a process and journey with God.
There needs to be a
spiritual transformation. Look at the 3rd Chapter of John verses 1 through 21 where
Nicodemus came to Jesus to ask how one could enter the Kingdom of God. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%203:1-21&version=NKJV
Verse 5 states: Jesus answered and said to him "Most
assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God."
Before we were born again our spirits were dead to the
Father. When we were born again of the Holy Spirit our spirits were made alive
to God. We must however continue to seek the Holy Spirit to be and remain
filled by the Spirit after confessing, getting saved and being born again.
This is because the human is made of three parts – spirit,
soul and body with the spirit being our innermost part.
To become alive in Him, we must satisfy that need for His
Spirit to dwell in ours. In John 7:37-39 it reads:
On the last day, that great day of the feast Jesus stood and
cried out, saying “ If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who
believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of
living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in
Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not
yet glorified”
When we are born again of the Spirit (Holy Spirit), we come
alive again because the Spirit, that Living Water, flows into our spirit and
permeates to the other parts. The Holy Spirit overflows from our spirit into
our soul which consists of our mind and heart (thoughts, emotions, desires, etc)
and our body the flesh.
Now, take a second and think about it: If your spirit is not continuously filled and
in tune with the Spirit then other spirits and the carnal nature are either still
in control or will regain control. Why? Because only God is perfect. We as
mankind, backslide, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
(Romans 3:23) Yet, once we have confessed, been saved, born again and baptized
we are dead to sin and alive to God by His Spirit.
Read Romans Chapter 6. Keep this link open for you shall
refer to it many a time below. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%206&version=NKJV
Romans 6:1-14
discusses how we sinful man, can die to sin and become alive in God. It starts
off asking “ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”
When Christ died and was raised from the dead by the Father he overcame the
power of death. Verse 9b says “Death no longer has dominion over Him.” Once
baptized, we too died with Christ and conquered death so we could walk in the
newness of life thanks to God’s glory and grace. Reread versus 11-14 and see as
it ends “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the
law but under grace” This Grace was provided when God sent His only son, Jesus,
to die for you and me.
Continue to verse 15 and 16: “What then? Shall we sin
because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know
that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves
whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?
The fact that we have this grace doesn’t give us liberty to
continue living in sin. Why can’t we continue to live in sin? Jump to Romans 8:
1-11 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208:1-11&version=NKJV
The beginning reiterates how we who live in Christ are not
condemned because we walk according to the Spirit and as stated earlier are not
under the law but Grace. Why we cannot continue in sin:
Romans 8:5-10 “ For those who live according to the flesh
set their minds on the things of the flesh but those who live according to the
Spirit, this things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace (cross reference Romans 6:23 For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord) because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to
the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot
please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the
Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,
he is not His.”
If you are not His
how do you expect to enter the Kingdom of God. How can we not live in sin and
remain rooted in Christ. We need to walk in His Spirit and obtain a
transformation of our mind. To further drive home the message above let’s go to
Galatians 5:1 and then to verses 16-26. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%205&version=NKJV
As Christians verse 1 says, “Stand fast in the liberty by
which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of
bondage” This yoke of bondage refers to the flesh and sin. Christ gave us the
freedom when He died and rose again and conquered sin and death. Verses 16-17
tell us how and why.
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill
the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit
against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do
the things that you wish.”
Thus when we receive and walk in His Spirit, and His Word we
grow in Him to enable our spirit and mind, heart and flesh to be transformed to
do the Spirit’s will. You may be saved, but that transforming of mind to
holiness is Spirit led and necessary for you to live in the fullness of God to
carry out the purpose for which He has set you upon this earth.
Romans 12:1-2 reads, “ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice makes Jesus, Sovereign
Lord over our lives. Once we make Him Lord, His Spirit can dwell in our spirit
and lead to that necessary transformation of our mind and emotions to keep us
in the Spirit.
Luke 6:45 states, “A
good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil
man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the
abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
It’s all connected. What is on the inside is what comes out.
If one is still of sinful nature, his spirit is of the flesh and results in
evil. However when one is of the Spirit, good things are born. Looking back to
Galatians 5:19 – 25, (link above) the list of the works of the flesh and the fruit of the
Spirit support this.
“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are:
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred,
contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you
beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such
things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control. Against such there is no law.
And those who are
Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in
the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Yes it is more than just to be saved to be Christ’s, an heir
of His Kingdom and kingdom-bound. Get Saved, Get Baptized By Water AND The
Spirit, Be Transformed and Walk in The Spirit!
God bless you!
