Fri.8.14.15...Born Again...John 3:1-21

What do these men all have in common- the wild-west gunfighter Doc Holliday, comedian Steve Martin, basketball legend Magic Johnson, and cartoonist Gary Larson? 

They all share a birthday today with our Armando Hernandez! Happy birthday Armando! Your birthday leads right into today's topic about having a birthday, a spiritual birthday. Read John 3:1-21 now.

Wouldn't it be nice to have an easy to understand commentary on the gospel of John? Then here's a birthday gift for you that I recently found online- http://ift.tt/1PbAAad You can scroll down and find today's passage or any other passage in John. For that matter, the entire Bible is available with easy to understand explanations- http://ift.tt/1iu1qbs. I give it two thumbs up because they did their careful study, yet kept the explanations in easy English. You could pass this site on even to youth. Next week I'll  give you a bit more scholarly commentary site. 

My only addition to it would be to add more commentary on controversial 3:5. Being born of water and the Spirit could refer, as they state, to the water of physical birth followed by the Spirit giving spiritual birth to a person at salvation. But that seems odd to say to a person who has obviously already been born that he needs to be physically born. It certainly doesn't refer to the water of baptism, though you will meet some Christians who believe in baptismal regeneration- that you have to be water baptized to be saved. Lots of other passages teach otherwise, and the testimony of countless people who experienced radical transformations after getting saved before they ever got baptized also rule that view out. So the water is probably being used in a symbolic and synonymous sense for the washing of the Spirit at salvation- Paul writes in Titus 3:6, "He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit." Also Eph.5:26 speaks of the word of God symbolically cleansing us "by the washing with water through the word..."

I have a red letter NIV Ryrie Study Bible, so the words of Christ are highlighted in red. John 3:16-21 is all in red in my Bible, but I wonder if those words were actually John's commentary on Jesus. I'll let you decide that. It really doesn't matter, because the words in black are just as inspired as those in red. "All Scripture is God breathed" 2 Tim.3:16. 

1.- After reading through John 3:1-21 and using the above commentary on it, share one insight you gleaned. (Then put a verse or phrase on your MP3 card and look for opportunities to enrich others with it.)

Of course the most popular verse in all the Bible, John 3:16, is in our passage today and the Gospel is right in it- For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

2.-  So let's celebrate birthdays today. Here's the link to- On This Day.com. http://ift.tt/1LaH8rU
Go to your birthday and discover and share one or more people listed there who share your birthday. (This could be a nice link to send to someone on their birthday.)


Israel has taken out time in his busy day to share with others. Last week he wrote, "Today, I met a man, Jay, from Toronto, Canada, who is originally from India. I shared my testimony with him and we talked about God for an hour :). I also shared Christ with a contractor friend of mine who is not saved. It felt great to plant and water some seeds of faith :)" Way to go Israel in seeking to help these men to be born again.

"Born once, die twice. Born twice, die once." 

Thanks for lightening my load by faithfully putting up your points each day, especially on Fridays, so I can get everything tallied up over the weekend. 

See you Sunday at 11:30 if you attend New Life. It's going to be a big event!