Born-Again

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One Does Not Come Without the Other

If we are born again, we will love as Jesus loved. First John 4:7 says, “beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” Because God is love, when he makes us new, we are connected to the source of all true love, the Trinity. As a result, we have the capacity, if we walk in obedience, to love God, our spouses, our children, our friends, our neighbors, and even our enemies. You have new life in Christ.

– Driscoll, Mark; Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, copyright 2013; Page 148

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God Does Not Want to Improve You…

God desires for each of us to be born again in him and to live a new life as a person in relationship with him rather than seeking to be transformed by our outward and religious efforts. God doesn’t want to simply improve the old you. He wants to make an entirely new you. You are a new creation in Christ.

– Driscoll, Mark; Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, copyright 2013; Page 148

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Man’s Proper Happiness

Man’s proper happiness consists in the enjoyment of God; but it is not possible that man should enjoy God with only those things in him which he receives by the first birth.  So that there is this necessity of man’s being born again.

– Jonathan Edwards

as quoted by Piper, John; When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy; copyright 2004; Crossway Books; Wheaton, Il.; p. 56

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Can You Blame Them?

Churchgoers all across the nation say the Holy Spirit has entered them.  They claim that God has given them a supernatural ability to follow Christ, put their sin to death and serve the church.  Christians talk about being born again and say that they were dead but now have come to life.  We have become hardened to those words, but they are powerful words that have significant meaning.  Yet when those outside the church see no difference in our lives, they begin to question our integrity, our sanity, or even worse, our God.  And can you blame them?

– Chan, Francis; Forgotten God: Reversing the Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit; David C. Cook Publishers; Colorado Springs, CO; copyright 2009; p. 32-33

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The Links of I John 5:3-4

Now briefly consider I John 5:3-4, and … Consider the way these thoughts fit together.  Here is a three-link chain of thought: “[Link One] For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.  And his commandments are not burdensome.  [Link Two] For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.  [Link Three] And this is the victory that has overcome the world – one faith.”

– John Piper, Finally Alive, Christian Focus Publishers, copyright 2009, page 130

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There is No Other Gospel, No Other Path

You were born again through the living and abiding word of God.  This word is the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen.  Don’t fall prey to another gospel.  There is no other gospel, and there is no other path to God – or to ultimate well-being – than hearing, understanding and believing the scandalous news of Jesus Christ in the gospel.

– John Piper, Finally Alive, Christian Focus Publishers, copyright 2009, page 115

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New Birth is a Relationship of Effect and Cause

The connection between our action in the new birth (I Peter 1:22) and God’s action in the new birth (I Peter 1:23) is a relationship of effect and cause.  That’s implied in the words “since [or because] you have been born again.”  God’s action is underneath our action.

– John Piper, Finally Alive, Christian Focus Publishers, copyright 2009, page 105