Personal

Our faith is a very personal thing for all of us who call Jesus lord. In John 3, Jesus speaks of this personal faith to Nicodemus. John 3: ³ Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” ⁴ “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” ⁵ Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. ⁷ So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.” ⁹ “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked. ¹⁰ Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? ¹¹ I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. ¹² But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. ¹⁶ “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

1. Nicodemus came seeking as a person, but also as a representative of the Pharisees.

2. Jesus told him, unless YOU are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.

3. Jesus was concerned with Nicodemus's eternity and directed the message of hope to him personally.

4. Nicodemus was asking these questions to satisfy what the group of religious leaders was wondering, and Jesus brought this conversation into a personal realm because He was concerned about one person, Nicodemus, and Nicodemus was then asking the following questions for himself.

5. When I was sitting in a church service and the pastor was sharing this message of hope, God was speaking to ME, and when the Holy Spirit convicted ME, everything became very personal for ME. Since receiving Jesus, the Holy Spirit continues to speak to ME in a very personal way, and He has taught me to rely on Him for everything. The Holy Spirit draws me into God's Word to learn and continue to be changed and it is very personal, because HIS message is for me.

6. When someone is dealing with the message of the gospel on a personal level, it is difficult for them to shrink into the safety of the crowd, because the message of Jesus hits them just like it hit Nicodemus. The first thing Nicodemus asked was "How are these things possible?" Nicodemus wanted to know for himself, because he wanted to spend eternity in heaven, and even though he was a respected Jewish teacher the message of Jesus was personal to him. We see that later on, Nicodemus did receive by faith, and He was born again. The very thing he could not understand caused him to have to deal with it personally, and he chose Jesus. Then we see the most recognizable verse in the Bible, and Jesus says the following in John 3:⁶ “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. The everyone becomes very personal to each one that Jesus brings to Him, giving them the chance to be born again in the Spirit.\

Our faith is totally personal, and our relationship with God is made very personal because of what Jesus offers to each person who come to Him. SALVATION!!

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren