# Born Again

May 25, 2026

I fear sometimes—someone mentioned it in Sunday school—that we just treat it like barbecue day, you know, a three-day weekend and all that, and praise a little for those things. But this weekend is a touch of a somber weekend. If we remember it like we ought to, it is Memorial Day weekend. It is a time that we remember those that gave their lives for our country.

I have often over the years just read numbers, but sometimes numbers can just kind of go right over the top. Sometimes a personal story means so much. I like this because Brother Richard, if you come on up as I am talking here: freedom never has been nor will ever be free. I fear if we forget the cost that has been paid for our freedom, we will treat it lightly. I like Memorial Day weekend because it shows you how valuable our freedom is.

I, of course, want to remember those families. I asked Brother Richard. Brother Richard was in the Army for 17 years. He was in a helicopter most of those years as a gunner, and then, I think, as a medic/vet, and was medically discharged because flying all those years just messed up his back. But he has paid a cost. I think about Brother Richard a lot of times as a medic/vet. Can you imagine the stories of the things he saw? Those were paid for your freedom and my freedom. I have asked him to come just say a few words, maybe about some friends he had that gave their lives for our country. Brother Richard, if you would, lead us in prayer, please.

Over the years, we have lost five air crews in the various units that I was in, and I wanted to talk a little bit about them today. Many of us who are there with them and are their support—we often see them go out and we wait for them to come back, and sometimes they do not. They do not come back.

I wanted to bring up a particular one today. This was back in February of 2010. It was my last deployment to Iraq, and it was one of the last days that we were there. We were actually done with our mission; we were ferrying our aircraft home. One of our aircraft unfortunately had a major engine malfunction and crashed, and we lost two of the best people that I have ever known.

Our guard unit was a lot like our family, and many of them were actually family. The two that were on board were Billy Jean Grinder and Marcus Alford. If you go right over here to Smyrna to the memorial for Bill Coos, there is also a memorial for them as well. There is also a memorial for them on 840 and stuff like that, so be thinking about them as you are out this weekend.

They were incredible people, and they had a bright future. They loved their country. They loved their country, and they loved to fly. Every day they got up and did what they had to do. They trained, they got stronger, they got braver. That morning, I was able to talk with both of them, and everyone was excited about going home. Billy Jean’s husband had just gone home before her; he had served with her and was there at the deployment. Her father was there. Marcus Alford was an amazing leader, and like I said, he would have had the brightest future. He probably would have been the commander of our battalion before it was over. If anybody knew him, you knew that was true.

I saw them that morning and saw them off. We watched it all happen, and we did everything we could to get them home. That is one of the values the military has always had: We do not leave any of our people behind; we do not let anybody take our people. We did everything we could to get to them. Unfortunately, they were gone by the time we got there, but we took them home. Their memory stays with me every time. I wear a bracelet with their names on it; I have never taken it off.

I just wanted to add something to that. I know a couple of you, especially our young people—some who just joined and some who are about to—you are going to be taught all kinds of things. You are going to learn all kinds of stuff. You are going to be brave beyond your belief, more than you are now. I just want to challenge you: You are going to be around these soldiers, your comrades, your airmen, your sailors all the time. They are going to become your friends; they are going to become your family. Use that courage, use that bravery to tell them about Jesus. Because you are closer than you think. No one knows their time. The best thing that you could do for them is tell them about Jesus. Tell them about Jesus so that if something happens, they are okay, and you will see them again. Let us pray. Let us do this for those that gave their lives; there is family. Let us give them a hand. Let us stand. Would you do that? They deserve at least that.

Heavenly Father, you have always asked us to open our prayer with thanks, and I thank you for all the lives of all the brave men and women who have given their ultimate sacrifice to this country. You have blessed this country incredibly, and one of its biggest blessings has been the brave men and women who have fought for this country and who have died for this country. Thank you, Lord, for them. Thank you to the families who hold their memories and keep them by their side and honor them every year. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Would you pray with me that God would make it real to you about being born again, and maybe to others also? Would you pray that God would give a little bit more wisdom when witnessing to others also? Would you pray with me on those subjects? Father, I believe you have led this way, Lord. Forgive me; I sometimes want to go another way, but I believe you led this way, so I yield to you, Lord, and I pray that your will be accomplished in every single person here, Lord. Lord, make clear to someone that is not clear what being born again is. Lord, for others, Lord, I pray that you give us the passion and the desire to see others born again—to be reunited, Lord, or relit, I should say. Lord, we thank you for what you do. We love you, Father. Thank you for being good to us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

We are really just going to go through this passage here a little bit. I want you to notice this man here in the story named Nicodemus. Nicodemus, in our day and time, would be considered a very, very good man. He was not a man that you would think, “Well, he is just a sinful man.” You would think he was a very good man. And he came to Jesus. I like it: He came to Jesus. That is very significant. He came to Jesus, and he starts off by bragging on Jesus. That is interesting. In fact, he calls him Rabbi. In that day and time, Rabbi meant something. Often we think of teacher—he mentions that in the text here—but also master. It was such a reverential title that later on Jesus told the apostles, “I do not want to be called Rabbi.” It is just too much of a high term. Let me read it for you. It is Matthew 23:8: “Be ye not called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.”

So here is what I am getting at: This man was coming to Jesus, and he was saying good things. In fact, he was calling him Rabbi or Master. Now here is the thing: I do not know about you, but if someone starts bragging on you, all of a sudden it just seems like we tune in a little bit better, you know? Anybody out there like that? You want to say, “Continue on, keep going, keep going, keep going.” Especially if it is your spouse, come on now! But Jesus did not get wrapped up in that. That is very interesting. Jesus, of course, is worthy of our praise, and one day every knee will bow at the name of Jesus, and that is very appropriate. But in this instance, Jesus kind of just cut to the chase. He really just stops this guy in his tracks. It is like Jesus says, “I appreciate all that, but there is something much more important than that.” Jesus just got down to where we used to say, “where the rubber meets the road” or the brass tacks. Notice what he says there, in verse number three. Jesus, after the man has been bragging on him, answered and said unto him, “Verily, verily.” When he says “verily,” it is kind of like “truly, truly, I am about to tell you the truth.” You ever say, “Hey, bud, I am about to tell you the truth right here”? That is what it is like when the Bible says, “Verily, verily.” Jesus is talking to this good man who is coming to Jesus, bragging on him, and he says, “Hey, I am about to tell you the truth right here.” And he says, “I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Is that not interesting? It is a shame sometimes—and sometimes this may be appropriate—but sometimes I think this philosophy has gotten into us too much: “Do not talk about religion or politics.” Hey, those are two very important things. Between the two, religion is much more important because if you are talking about Jesus, that is the way to heaven. If I never talk about that, I might be doing someone the greatest disfavor I can ever do. Jesus just cut through all that and said, “Hey, let me talk to you about seeing the kingdom of God. You cannot see the kingdom of God unless you are born again.” Jesus got to the point; he just got to what is very, very important. He says, and this is interesting, he says you cannot even see the kingdom of God. Later on, he talks about entering in, but right now he said you will not even see him. He is talking to a very religious, good man.

I was a little bit surprised in our Sunday school class a couple weeks ago on Mother’s Day. I had asked, “Do you have any good memories of your mom or something honoring your mom?” Two different folks in our Sunday school class mentioned that their moms were not saved. They kind of thought they were, but they did not get saved right away. I cannot remember what both of them said, but one of them said this: “My mom came forward in a service one day, and they never dealt with her about being a sinner. They never dealt with her about Christ being her Savior,” and she either put her full faith and accepted Jesus as—and they just kind of wrote her name down. “All right, good, thank you. We are glad to have you here.” They never dealt with her about salvation, and that lady was older in life before she got saved.

Very similar: Nicodemus is coming to Jesus, bragging on Jesus. Jesus got down to what is important. He said, “Hey, if you are going to see the kingdom of God, you must be born again.” I heard recently about a man who was raised—and I do not mean to put down any religion if they are preaching and teaching the Bible; I am for them—but he was raised Lutheran, and he was confirmed as a boy in the Lutheran church, and he thought, “Well, I am good.” Yet years later, as an adult, he started going to church where they started to teach and preach, “You must be born again.” He heard that and thought—in fact, he came forward and told the preacher, “I was listening to the preacher talk about it,” and the preacher said, “Preacher, I was deceived. I never was—I never was born again.” Let me just ask you: This man is coming to Jesus, bragging on Jesus, but Jesus cut to the chase and said, “Hey, Nick, you have got to be born again.” Let me just ask you: Are you born again?

Every single person, do not think about your neighbor. I want to ask you for just a minute: Are you, are you personally, born again? Jesus said you cannot see the kingdom of God unless you are born again.

Now, this kingdom of God—very interesting—is just a touch different than the kingdom of heaven. Look over, if you will, in Luke 17. Let us get a little definition of the kingdom of God Jesus is talking about here. Look over in verse number 20, if you would please. Luke 17, verse number 20. Look what he said there: “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”

I mentioned it is a touch different than the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God begins in your heart. It is when you let God be the King. You let God move in, and he begins to establish his kingdom in your heart and your life. That is the beginning of the kingdom.

Now, it ends up with entering in, as Jesus mentioned later on over here in John 3. It ends up with wherever we are at. Look in verse number 5 of John 3. John 3, verse number 5: Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” You see, it starts in your heart, you let Jesus in, and you make him king, but it ends with you entering into the kingdom of God, where you are with the Lord Jesus Christ, and you enter into heaven one day. But this kingdom of God, you cannot even see it.

You know, it is hard for people that are not saved to comprehend and see the kingdom of God. They just do not grasp it.

Before we get too much on that, let us talk about this term “born again.” Someone mentioned in Sunday school that Beth—I think it is her daughter—had the baby. You can hear all the ladies, and the “oohs” go up anytime a baby is born. Jesus is talking about being born again, and he is telling Nicodemus this. Nicodemus says this in verse number four: “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

The first single lady says, “Well, my daughter, my neighbor, had the baby, whatnot.” The first single lady says, “How much did they weigh?” “Well, seven pounds,” you know. “How long was labor? How long was delivery?” Can you imagine? How much did the baby weigh? 240 pounds? First of all, poor lady! That is when Nicodemus says, “How in the world can I do that? I am a grown man.” I do not know how much Nicodemus weighed, but I guarantee it was not seven pounds. He said, “How can I do that? I am going to go back into my mom’s belly? How is this going to happen?” He asked a legitimate question, and Jesus gives an answer. Look at verse number five there, John 3, verse number five: Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

What does he mean by “water”? He is talking about the physical birth. By the way, he is not talking about baptism. Several things about his baptism—the order is out of whack because he mentions water, then Spirit. But not only that, he explains further in verse number six. You do not have to guess where he explains it. Verse number six: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” He is very simply talking about physical birth—your flesh, born of the water; it is a water birth.

I should not tell this story because I am going to make myself look bad, and my wife does not want me to remind her of this. But okay, let us skip over this. I was a youth pastor in Alabama—lower Alabama, amen—and it was a busy day for me. They ran a bus route, Sunday school, and children’s church and all those good things. It was typical. It was Sunday night, about midnight, and my wife woke me up. I was doing what good Baptists do—I was not during service, though, amen—and she said, “Paul, my water broke.” Here is the shameful thing: Do not throw anything at me. I said, “Why does it have to be Sunday night?” That is when the fight started, amen. We went to the hospital, and our son is here today, by the way. But that is a water birth. It is of the flesh. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.”

Now, here is the thing with that: When you were born physically, your flesh, you are born with the nature that began way back with the first man called Adam. Romans 5:12 says, “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world.” This thing from Adam is called a sin nature. Help me out, parents out there: Have you ever had to teach your child how to lie? How many of your parents here, how many of your parents has your child ever told a lie before? If your hand is not up, you are lying right now. Some of them are good at lying; some of them are like, “Man, did they get a college degree in lying?” You are like, “It is hard for parents to figure out sometimes.” That is because they are born with that sin nature. You do not have to teach your child how to do wrong; you have to teach that child how to do it right.

I remember an old preacher who would talk about that baby when it would cry and just not get its way. That old preacher—I do not know if it is exactly right—said that child would curse if it could at that time. I am just saying we are born with that sin nature. Because of that, we have chosen; we have all sinned ourselves. But that which is born of the flesh comes along with a fleshly, sinful nature.

Here is the thing: If I try to just kind of redo that nature—it is kind of like someone. Have you ever seen—talking about the church in Alabama, we had an old-fashioned Sunday. We were out in the sticks and hicks back in Alabama, and a family had some pigs and brought a pig in. It was dressed up; it had like a dress, a bonnet on it. They were holding it like a baby. How many have ever had a pig before? A couple of you. My granny always had pigs.

Here is the thing about pigs: Down in the pigpen, when you go feed the pigs sometimes, you take the feed down there, or the pig slop, whatever, and you go down there, and it is just muddy and dirty. The trough is dumped over, and it has mud and everything in it. You flip it up, take the water hose, wash it out, make sure it is clean, and then you pour the pig food in the trough. You say, “All right, you have a clean trough, good food.” Those pigs never just ate it. You know what they did? Yeah, that old snout—they flipped that trough over, got that corn and everything else mixed in the mud, and then they would eat it. How many are going to have sausage for lunch now? You say, “Why do they?” That is their nature. You can bring them in, clean them up, wash them up, and put a bonnet on their hair, and when you let them out, they are going to go—that is just their nature. They like to wallow in the mud.

If I am not careful, I will try to change my nature. Jesus said, “No, no, no, you must be born again.” “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit”—and by the way, if you notice in the text, that is a capital S—“the Spirit of God. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” You see, that is why he said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

You talk—you try to—some lost people just have the flesh nature; they do not have the spiritual nature. You say, “Hey, you need to forgive so-and-so for doing that horrible thing,” and they are like, “Uh-uh. Well, I know where else did I forgive for something so horrible.” It is hard for them to see it. They do not get it. They cannot see. You start talking about how it is amazing when you meet another Christian, just a stranger, and you find out real quick there is just an automatic bond. You are like, “Wow, we feel like we have known each other.” There is just a unity there, the Spirit the Bible talks about. But you tell that to a lost person, and they are like, “What are you talking about?” Because except you be born again, you cannot see—you cannot even comprehend—you cannot see this kingdom of God that is forming on the inside. They cannot see that.

It is kind of like trying to take that pig and clean it up. They can do the mechanics of Christianity. They can look good on the outside. They can carry their Bible. They can learn some vocabulary. But something on the inside has to change; it is when they are born again that a new nature moves inside. That is what he says over there in Corinthians: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” Notice he did not remake the old creature; it is a new creature. “Behold, all things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Why? Because they are born again; they are born of the Spirit—totally different.

It is interesting; Jesus uses that term. He says it again in verse number seven there, John 3, verse number seven. He says it again. He says, “Do not be surprised.” He says, “Marvel not, but I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”

He said, “Friend, do not be shocked.” Just like my birthday, July 25th, 2005—Spencer got it, all the other people that did the math—1969. That is my birthday. Just like you have that physical birthday, when you are born again or saved, you have a spiritual birthday.

How many remember Kevin Walker of the Roundup ministry? They come through every couple of years with a family singing and bring the cowboy carnival, and he does a great job of giving the gospel out. At the end of the service, he hands out these little birth certificates. If someone trusts Christ as their Savior, they fill that out, saying, “On this day, so-and-so trusted Jesus as Savior.” You are out of date on that because that is where you are born of the Spirit. You have a fleshly birthday.

There is a time when that baby is conceived and developed and grows, but there is a moment when that baby is born. Talking about my son: It was about midnight, Sunday night, and my wife woke me up and said, “Hey, we got to go.” I said, “I love you, babe; I will do anything in the world, right?” We headed to the hospital, of course. He did not come until the next day and afternoon. There is a moment when that baby is born.

I am saying that to say the Lord draws people; he pulls, he tugs, he sends his Spirit, wooing them. He reproves the world of sin. John 14 says, “Because they have not believed on Jesus,” and he pulls and he draws. There comes a point when they accept Jesus and they are born by the Spirit; they are born again. That is so vital. Jesus says you cannot see; you cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless you are born again.

There was a little girl who had gotten saved and wanted to get baptized. In one of those churches, we had to go before a committee. That little girl goes before the committee, and they asked her, “Did you sin? Did you realize you were a sinner?” She said, “Oh, yeah, I was a sinner, and I sinned. That is why I got saved.” They said, “Well, do you still sin?” She put her head down and said, “Yeah, I still do.” They said, “Well, what is the difference? You were sinning before; you are still sinning now.” She said, “Well, before I was saved, I was always running to sin. Now I run from sin. It still catches me sometimes.”

If you are truly born again, yes, you are going to fall sometime; yes, you are going to sin sometime. Jesus tells us in 1 John 1:8, 1:10, you are going to sin. But there ought to be something inside of you that says, “I want to live for the Lord. He saved me. I am a new creature. His Spirit is inside of me. I want to live for him.” Amen. Friend, if you do not have that, something is not right. I deal with Christians every day, and I understand that sin can take them over and dominate their lives, but there ought to be something inside saying, “I am miserable. I am not happy. I am a child of God. I want to win over this thing; I want to live for my Savior.” That ought to be somewhere in there, friend. That was his flesh; his flesh. That was his Spirit; his Spirit.

We have to hurry along. Look in verse number eight of John 3. Verse number 8: “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

My dad, whom I mention a lot, is in heaven now. Before I was saved, you have heard me talk about him—he smoked, drank, cursed, all the rest of that. But when he got saved—it is not always exactly the same for everyone—I think about my dad so often. When he got saved, the next day, he said, “I went to work.” He said, “It seemed like a normal day, but I came home that day, and I was worn out.” He worked in a big factory. He said, “Everywhere I went today, I was telling everybody I got saved.” He did not even realize until that afternoon that he was wanting to tell people about Jesus.

I thought about my daughter when she was playing the piano earlier. When she was just a little girl and my son was playing Little League ball, Sarah wanted to get saved. Tammy and John went on to the ballgame, and I had the privilege of telling Sarah about Jesus, and Sarah accepted him as her Savior. Did she understand it? Did she mean it? We watched when she got to the ballgame—she is just a little girl—she went everywhere at the ballgame saying, “Hey, I got saved! I got saved! I got saved!” I pray the Lord, it seemed like it was real. She settled it since then again, and that is fine.

I want to be honest with you: Something happens on the inside. You cannot explain it. It is like the wind is blowing; you cannot see where it comes from, but something changes on the inside. I mention often about myself: I knew about heaven, knew about hell, and the Holy Spirit was convicting me, pulling me. That day, as a little boy, about eight or nine years old, in the backseat of that car, I asked when I went to the Lord Jesus Christ. I said, “You said, I knew that verse, Romans 10:13, ‘For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” I said, “You said if I call, you will save me.” That was my little boy. I put my faith in Jesus. I am telling you, friend, I cannot explain it, but inside I got a peace. I had been worried about going to heaven or hell.

My parents had been to the Jack Van Impe Crusade. Have you ever heard Jack Van Impe? Wow, some of you have. Maybe it is just me getting old. He is very much into prophecy. He had memorized the whole New Testament. They went to a crusade and came home talking about the northern Confederacy coming down over there in Ezekiel and Russia and whatnot. As a little boy, I remember sitting in my bunk bed, and I could hear those Russian tanks rolling down our streets. I thought the Lord was coming back, and I was worried about going to heaven or hell. In the backseat of that car, I cannot explain it, friend. I was quieter; I was a loner. I did not talk as much as I should have talked. I did not even tell anybody, just shame because I could have gotten a lot of help. But something happened inside, and the doubts were going. I am not saying a born-again Christian cannot ever doubt; that is not biblical. But something happens inside, and when that spiritual birth came in, I thought, “Phew, bam! Praise the Lord, I do not have to worry about that anymore. I am a child of God. I am saved. Born of the Spirit.”

I do not understand everything about it, but when I came in this morning, I had my two neighbor kids with us, and I said, “Hey, go turn those switches on right there.” I was trying to keep them occupied, amen. I do not understand how it is that I know if I touch the wire and it is hot, it will hurt me. I know that. But I do not understand everything about electricity, but I use it. I do not understand how a brown cow can eat green grass and get white milk. They do not understand it either; they cannot make real milk, you know, it is artificial; it does not have the vitamins in it. They do not understand, but we drink it. I cannot understand everything about salvation, but if you are born of the Spirit, something inside of you ought to change, friend. It does not mean you do not sin anymore. It does not mean you cannot be defeated by sin. It does not mean the devil cannot dominate your life, but friend, there ought to be something inside you saying, “I do not want to live like this.”

We have to hurry along. Let us keep going. Verse number nine, John 3, verse number nine: Nicodemus answered, “How can these things be?” We are going to skip down to verse number 14: Jesus answering, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” What is he talking about? He is talking about Numbers 21.

The children of Israel had sinned, just backslidden. The Lord said, “I am fed up with that.” The Lord said there would be a plague—not a plague, but serpents among them. How many like snakes here? Anybody like that? I will pray for you. There is a good snake: it is called a dead snake. Somebody say amen right there.

The serpents came because of sinfulness. The Lord said to Moses, “This is what you do.” Thousands were dying. Moses said, “I want you to get a pole, and I want you to take a brass serpent. Put that on that pole and hold that pole up and tell the people, ‘Look and live.’”

What does that represent? The pole represented the cross. The snake represented sin; sin bites and hurts and kills. Brass is a representation in the Bible of judgment, and it represented Jesus Christ, who would hang on that cross one day and take our sin and the judgment of our sin upon himself on the cross of Calvary. He told the children of Israel, “If you look down at all this, what you can do and where you are getting bit, and you try to fix it yourself, you are not going to make it.” By the way, if there is a snake down there, it is going to be tough for me to look up. If there is a snake within ten miles, usually I will spot it, and I do not want to take my eye off it until something happens to that thing. He said, “You look up.”

What does that represent? Stop looking at what you can do, the earth down here. You look to the cross. You will never solve all your problems well enough to get saved. You will never join enough churches. You will never remake that flesh and make it look better and put that bonnet on that pig. You will never do enough of that. No, you look up off this earth and you look to Jesus Christ. That is what he is teaching. Then he makes it so very clear in that next verse, verse number 15. Verse number 15 right there, he says it: “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Can I say this? There is a difference between believing in and believing about. I was sitting at Landmark Baptist Church in Hayden City, Florida, thirty-something years ago. I was sitting beside a guy named Tony Roberts. He was early twenties; I was early twenties. A good young man, one of the cleanest boys I know. I do not know if Tony has ever said a bad word in all his life. He was one of those guys where you think, “Tony, can you do something wrong so I will feel a little bit better?” Just a good guy.

Tony, Sunday morning, the preaching done, the invitation started, and Tony leaned over and said, “Paul, do you go to the altar with me?” I said, “Sure.” We walked down to Landmark Baptist Church. We went over here on this side of the altar. We got on our knees. I was like, “Tony, what are we here for?” Tony leaned over and said, “Paul, I need to get saved.” Man, my jaw dropped. Tony, you? You see, he had made that old nature look pretty good; he really had. Honestly, I said, “Tony, you know the gospel as well as I do.” Tony that day—we talked for a bit—stopped believing in Tony being good enough and believing about Jesus, and he believed on Jesus. Tony got saved that day. He was born again. Believed in. He believed in.

He said twice there: “You must be born again. You cannot see. You cannot enter the kingdom of God.” We were in discipleship class years ago. We had a man in our church—I do not think he is here this morning; a lot of times he is on call, probably at work. In that class, we would teach you need a day at a time. I do not remember the date when I got saved. I do not even know if it was a Sunday night or Wednesday night. I was about eight or nine years old. I do not even know how old exactly it was, but I remember that day and that time when I was born again.

I was teaching that in that class, and the Holy Spirit was working on that man, just drawing him. A week or so later, I met with him and his wife in my office. We got the Bible out, and if I remember right, we went to John 3:36, the last verse of this chapter. We went through that: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” I explained it is not just believing about; it is believing on. When you stop believing in whatever you are believing in to get you to heaven, you believe on Jesus.

We got on our knees in my office—if I said his name, most of you would know him; he is a very large, fit man, so I was being very extra nice to him. He prayed and said, “Jesus, I am believing on you. I want to accept you.” And he was born again. I will never forget when we said amen; he got up off his knees and said, “I have a day and I have a time.” He is going to heaven because he was born of the flesh, yes, but then he was born of the Spirit, born again by looking to Jesus and looking and living.

Would you bow your heads, please? Our heads are bowed, eyes are closed. If you are here this morning and you say, “Preacher, I am not really sure that I am born again,” can I ask you to settle it today? I want you to, but I cannot make that decision for you. I mean this when I say, I love you. It is so important. It burdens me if someone has been in our church for years and is not truly born again. What a sad, sad thing.

You are here this morning and you say, “I do not know that I am born again,” or “I am not born again; I need to get born again.” If that is you, right there where you said it in your heart, would you go to Jesus? Not these exact words, but something along this line: Would you go to Jesus right now and let him know, “Jesus, I admit it, I am a sinner. I have been bitten by this sin serpent. Jesus, I believe you died on the cross for me, and I believe you rose again. Right now, Jesus, I want to ask you, would you save me? Would you bring your Spirit and let me be born of the Spirit? I invite you into my heart, my life. Thank you, Jesus.”

Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. I am going to ask a couple of things. I am not going to call your name. No, no, I am not going to do that. I would like to pray for you. But if you say, “Preacher, I just asked Jesus to save me,” if you just did it, just asked Jesus to save you, would you just slip your hand up? I just want to rejoice in it. Anybody? “I just asked Jesus to be my Savior.” I see a hand. I see another hand. Anybody else? “I just asked Jesus to be—” I see another hand. Anybody else? “I just asked Jesus.” I know I had to trust Jesus alone. I know I had to invite him into my heart, and I just said—I have seen three hands. Whether there be anybody else, anybody else, anybody else? Oh, my friend, that is the most important thing in all the world.

In a moment, we are going to stand. We are going to have a word of prayer. I have some slips of paper; it is called a salvation certificate. We do not do this—I do not know if I have ever done this—but we are going to use it as a birth certificate. If you asked Jesus to be your Savior, I invite you—there will be a man in the back that has some of these; there will be a man down front that has some of these—and you go to them. They will give you some literature; you can answer your questions if you need it. But I want you to get one of these, and I want you to put your name and the date on there if you truly trusted Christ as your Savior. This will be just like you had your physical birth certificate; now you have a spiritual birth certificate. That is a wonderful thing.

Maybe you hear this morning, you say, “Preacher, I am already born again, but I have just kind of lost my desire to see people saved. I do not pray for it anymore. I do not think about it anymore. I do not witness at work anywhere.” If you need to get your fire back, your focus back on people being born again, and God spoke in your heart about that this morning—if that is you this morning, just lift your head: “Preacher, that is me. I want to get that burden back to see people saved.” God bless you. Just slip your hand up; that is vital. At the end of the day, that is what matters. Jesus just cut to the chase: “You must be born again.”

Oh, God bless you. I see many hands on that. Many. That is so vital, friend. That is what it is all about. Would you please stand? Would you please stand right where you are at? We are going to have a word of prayer. Would you come and spend some time with the Lord however he guides you? Be obedient to him. If you asked the Lord to be your Savior, go to the back or down front. There will be a man in the back and a man in front who has this slip of paper. Get that. Put your name on it. I want you to have that for you just today.

Father, thank you for giving us your Son. Jesus, thank you for coming and shedding your blood for us. Lord, bless these ones that raised their hands; they accepted you as Savior. Lord, let them feel just at home in the family. Help us to love on them and guide them and be helpful to them, Lord. Help the rest of us shine brightly so your light would shine in the hearts of many, many people. We will thank you, Lord, for what you do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Would you come? Just be obedient to the Lord as he guides you. If you asked the Lord to be your Savior, come get one of those papers in the back or down front, either way. Come get a paper, just a certificate to remind you: I believe on Jesus. I look to Jesus. That is the end of the day, friend; that is what matters. Good to have you here this morning. Do not forget tonight, 6 o’clock. I am talking about prayer. I want you to be here tonight for that, and let us get us back on fire in this prayer closet. That is the key. I hope you are here tonight. Good to see every single person here today. Honored to have you in the house of the Lord. I appreciate you being faithful to the Lord. That is a great, great thing. Brother Chip has got us a patriotic bow tie on today. That is all right, Brother Chip. Would you dismiss us, please?

Original File: 2026-05-25 - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Born Again - Sunday AM - 05⧸24⧸2026