Relentless Pursuit
Our relentless pursuit after God as He pursues after us.
Relentless Pursuit
Embracing a New Birth of Faith
Embark with us on a profound exploration of spiritual renewal and its indelible mark on the sacred union of marriage. As we unwrap the powerful symbiosis of love and faith, discover how embodying Christ's love within the familial folds can dramatically transform your life. This episode delves into the heart of John chapter 3, where we dissect the stirring conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, bringing to light the profound truth of being 'born again.' Through a tapestry of scripture and personal insight, we offer a fresh perspective on baptism as a metamorphosis of the soul, challenging you to reexamine long-standing beliefs and awaken to a life brimming with divine truth.
As the episode draws to a close, we leave you with a sense of eager anticipation for our next conversation, featuring a special guest who promises to enrich our series with their unique insights. Our journey together is more than a series of discussions; it's a shared path of discovery and enlightenment that we tread with grateful hearts. Engage with us, share in our quest for deeper understanding, and let's illuminate the world together, one episode at a time. Remember, the doors of divine transformation are always open, beckoning you to step through and claim the light that awaits.
What's up, rp family, welcome back to season three of relentless pursuit. We are excited to have you this week and my life has been Super I don't want to say chaotic, hectic, but like we're been in a transformation. I mean, my wife are continuing to be one and and and we're getting into this transition phase and, and the most important thing when being married is not Leaving the altar at I do but continuing to have the altar in your marriage, and we're getting used to it. We're getting used to it. We're getting used to the fact that we're living together. We're getting used to the fact that that I'm the representation of Christ in our house. We're getting used to the fact that that my life is not my own anymore and that my decisions aren't aren't just a reflective of what God wants to Do in me, but it's a it's. It's really a reflection of what God wants to do in our family, and so Pray for me.
Speaker 1:Whoever said marriage was, was, was easy, is, is a liar, and you should probably get a fire extinguisher because their pants are on fire now. I'm just kidding, but. But as I said previously, I wanted to go through John, and so whenever I don't have a guest, I'm gonna be in John and I. I personally have been reading John and it has been impacting my life. It stirred up a fire in me and and if anybody anyone has read John, you know it really does grab a hold on what you know and like even who or how you perceive Jesus, because it gives you an almost like a new revelation of who he is and and he's no longer just your savior or your father or or you know, he really becomes the teacher that he is and I mean that's how he is for me and and as I'm reading this, and so let's dive into this, is I'm gonna be reading from John, chapter 3.
Speaker 1:It says now there was a certain man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler, a member of the Sanhedrin Among the Jews, who came to Jesus at night and said Tim rabbi, which means teacher, we know without any doubt that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs, these wonders, these Attesting miracles that you do, unless God is with him. Jesus answered him. I assure you and most solemnly say to you unless a person is born again, reborn from above, spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified, hey, he cannot ever See and experience the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him how can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother's womb a second time and be born, can he? Jesus answered, I assured you and most solemnly say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot ever enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, the physical is merely physical, and that which is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised that I've told you, you must be born again, reborn from both, seriously transformed, renewed, sanctified. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it's coming from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. And so I want to kind of dive into this, and so we're gonna be starting with that first phrase, or that first part, where it says a certain man among the Pharisees.
Speaker 1:And so in this time period of when Jesus was around, you see the Sanhedrin, which is a mixture of the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and so you have these two groups. Think of them as Republican and Democrat. You have these two groups, one conservative, one liberal and so you have this Pharisee who doesn't share the same views as Jesus but also has a similar hints of what Jesus believes in. And so he's a Jew, and so he has that foundation of who Jesus is. But he doesn't have the understanding of who Jesus is, and so he's a Pharisee. And he comes to Jesus, and the thing is is that he testifies that the people that are in the Sanhedrin know that he is of God. But because Jesus came and battled and counteracted or counterpunched the religious mindset that people had, they became offended with him. And so the thing is is that Jesus doesn't come to play nice in you.
Speaker 1:Jesus comes to transform what was broken and make it healed, and so Jesus came on the scene. And even later on, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son that whoever shall believe in him shall have eternal life. The reason he being is because Jesus came that we may be saved by grace and not works, by faith and not works. And so God is in this place. Jesus is in this place in this moment, telling Nicodemus that you need to be baptized or you need to be born again. And what does that mean? We all know, or have an understanding, or some of us have an understanding that when Jesus says you need to be born again of water, we have this picture that goes through our head of when we see someone getting baptized, or maybe when we got baptized in water and he said in the name of Jesus or in the Father, son, the Holy Spirit, here down again, and then we all have this little celebration. But the thing is is that there's a second part to that and and I want to step on some toes because I feel, like the God, that that, that that made this, I guess, parameter that says you must not a question, you must be baptized or you must be born again. People, man says you got to be baptized in water. But there's a second part to that Water and spirit. And so I want to go into real quick just to make a little rabbit trail.
Speaker 1:It's just to fight against the religious people. In Acts, chapter 19, verse four, it says Paul said John performed a baptism of repentance, continually telling the people believe in him who was coming after him. That is, to confidently accept and joyfully believe in Jesus, the Messiah and Savior. After hearing this, they were baptized again. So they were first baptized in water by John's baptism and then they were baptized again. But let's see what baptized baptism this is. And then it says they were baptized again, and this time in the name of the Lord Jesus. Ok, so they get baptized again, in water, but in Jesus name. Nate, how is that? And you know, pushing back on the religious belief. Well, you don't need. Let's read, let's continue to read on. But you don't need to go in with people in water to be born again again, again, because to be baptized in the spirit is not associated necessarily with the water. It can be be a Symptom of being baptized in the water, yes, but the direct. Let's rewind a little bit that that let's actually continue.
Speaker 1:And they were baptized again, in this time in the north, in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands on him, they began speaking in tongue, in unknown tongues, languages, and prophesying. See, it wasn't until Paul laid his hands on him. The baptism itself Wasn't the, the opening of the door. What opened the door was Paul laying his hands on him. Why? Because they had a inward transformation, or I mean the outward declaration of the inward transformation, which, what is Baptist, which is baptism, but baptism of the Spirit is, is the inward transformation. So in the Bible. It very distinctly Separates these two moments. It's baptism of water and baptism of spirit. There's two different baptisms here. There is an axe, chapter 2 Baptism, which is the tongues of fire that come down, and there's also the baptism where you go down in the name of Jesus or in the name of the Father, son, holy Spirit, however you want to do it.
Speaker 1:I get well, not really, but but and we can have that conversation Later, at a different time. But my point is is that this man that was religious had this, this cutting of something that was comfortable to him. He said I know you're a teacher, but what you teach is against what I believe, but what you teach is true, because I know you're of God. But what happens when God goes to your doorstep and says listen, I understand you've lived like this for so long, I understand that you've got into this routine for so long, but let me throw a wrench into your routine and cause you to be uncomfortable, and so I'm gonna send a storm at your doorstep and I'm not gonna Expect you to sit in the storm. What I want you to do is walk in the storm.
Speaker 1:What I'm telling you to do is is not sit and stay back in the wilderness. What I'm telling you to do is is not gonna limit you of your freedom. What I'm telling you to do is gonna get you to the place where you're prepared for what's next. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to make, cause you To be born again, something that you couldn't do on your own previously because you had your own strength. I'm going to cause you to be born again so I can give you my strength and I will mature you and develop you as I see fit, because I am your father and Jesus is beginning to tell this teacher, this teacher of the law, the teacher of this religious leader, like I understand where you're coming from, because I am you. I Know the law and, matter of fact, I wrote the law. But guess what? I'm not coming to break the law, I'm not coming to destroy the law, I'm coming to build on it, because what I declared previously and that you've done religiously and what you've done out of habit, I now have to tell you that it's not.
Speaker 1:Your relationship with me is not from habit. Your relationship with me is not from discipline. Your relationship with me is not through routine, but it is because of your heart, your heart that's renewed, your heart that's born again. The Bible says that God will give us a circumcised heart. Why? Because when you circumcise your heart, you remove any excess access that is not of him. And so God is saying you must be born again because you carry something that is not of me.
Speaker 1:And I want to talk about this being born again because then it goes into in John 13, verse 19 through 20. It says and this is the verdict, that the light comes into the world, but men love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever practices the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God. And so I want us, I want you to see. This is because God places divine doors in front of your life, and if I had a title for this message I would say it's a divine door. And and so you answer that first door by saying yes to Jesus. I declare you as my Lord and Savior in my heart and through my words, and so I will be baptized, born again by water and by spirit, and it will accompany me. I'm sorry, it will push me forward through this door.
Speaker 1:Next door that I'm receiving God is to be, but whoever practices the truth comes into the light. The next door that I see God is to practice the ways of the light. Now, what is the light? That is if we look in, I believe Matthew chapter 5. It says you are the light of this world. Why? Because God is the light of this world. God is the, is the one who lights the way. God is the one I think we tapped into this a little bit last time last week, but but God is the light. And so whoever practices the light, what? Which is practicing holiness, which is practicing purity, which is practicing your authority, which is practicing your gift, which is practicing your calling and your purpose, what is practice? And so we have to understand that the divine doors being answered every single day.
Speaker 1:We must be born again, baptized by the water and by spirit, but the spirit aspect of it. We must be born by spirit and not by flesh, because Jesus came so that we could be baptized in spirit or we could be born in spirit and that which is of the spirit, lives in the spirit and is from the spirit. So the Bible says in in the third verse it says Jesus answer and said to him most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again and that word again kid in the Greek could be also translated for from above, and so we see the again root word isn't Greek, is and nothing got me on that which means from above. What can we take away from this is that in order to see what God wants to do in this world and in this life, we must be born again. Not just that, we must be baptized to obtain salvation, we also have to be born of above to be sensitive to the will and plan of God. Jesus had to be born of the flesh so that we could be born of the spirit.
Speaker 1:And I want you guys to understand this is that God doesn't require us to deny ourselves, deny our flesh, deny our desires, so, so that we may grow. We do this as things, so that he will grow. He will grow in us, he will grow in our community, he will grow in our relationships, he will grow in our families. We want to be born again because God, whatever was on me, whatever was in me, whatever was was moving me to do what I did before God, I want, I want to be cleansed, and so the entanglements, the snares, the traps, the soul ties, the pulling of what was, can no longer be or is no longer a part of you. Why? Because you are born again. You are born again. You are not who you were For me, nathan, and I just want to say I'm actually going to say for me, nathan, I was born again and so what was previously who I was, what that makes sense, who I was previously, before I was born again, is no longer a part of me. Why? Because Jesus says I have thrown all your sins into the ocean of forgetfulness and I have written your DNA, and who I have called you to be is who you are and that's who you are born to be. What's up RP family? One of the biggest blessings that happened this past year was that I did buy my first house. As exciting that process was, it was also extremely stressful and you should give a call to Miguel Luna. If you are looking to buy or sell your house, miguel Luna is the one for you. So thank you, guys.
Speaker 1:Let's get back to the podcast. God is good. God is good, and so we're gonna, and so we're gonna look in an axe, chapter nine, I believe when Jesus blinded Paul, who was saw at the time, that was a version of him being born again. He had scales over his eyes and an anion is laid his hands on him and his scales fell off and he could see again. This is an example of being born again. Your vision is blurred, but when you have an encounter with Jesus, you have an understanding that your vision isn't there. You think you can see. Previously you think you could see Saul. You think you could see what was going on around you. You think you had an understanding of who God was. You think you had a sight of your beliefs and the truth. But there was a flashing light. There was a bright light. The Bible says that blinded him and really it could expose the scales. It didn't just bring the scale, exposed the skills that were already there and he had to, and an eyes went to him and laid his hands on him. The scales fall off and he was reborn in that moment. He was reborn by the spirit in that moment and his life was transformed. His heart was given over to God.
Speaker 1:And now, why am I saying although this Nate? Why? Because a lot of John is being a witness? I know I got into it last week. But being a witness going out and telling people, look at, jesus loves you, and sometimes you'll get these responses of like Whoa, it was crazy that you say that, because I was just thinking like if God really loves me, he would have somebody tell me. Or you would get these responses like, yeah, I don't believe that I just did such and such, I just did this, I just did that. Or I don't believe that maybe, maybe you have the wrong person, but but what I'm telling you is truth, because God did it for someone like Saul. God did it for someone like me. God did it and so he can do it again. You can be born again and God being your heavenly Father, I'm so excited to see what God does to relentless pursuit and what God does to the listeners through this podcast, because I want you to be encouraged that God can do great things through your voice. Don't limit your voice, because God is going to move and someone could be baptized by by by his spirit, and be born again.
Speaker 1:I heard a story that there was this pastor that he would go wherever he was at. He would go down the line or, I'm sorry, he was at a funeral and he went and to every single person that went up to the coffin to say their condolences. He said Are you going to heaven or hell? Do you want to go to heaven or hell? Do you want to go to heaven or hell? He said, in that moment, many people gave their life to Jesus. Now I'm not saying you got to do that, but when the story is over and your race has been ran, will there be people that are in heaven that have received eternal life because of your words and God's spirit that move through you?
Speaker 1:Thank you, guys, for joining this week's episode of relentless pursuit. I'm so excited to continue this journey. We're going to have a special guest next week. I know we switched it around this week, but I will see you soon. I will see you there and I hope you guys had an amazing time. Don't forget to like, share, follow, subscribe to all our social media platforms. See you guys soon.
