Born Again - John 1- Easter Sermon

Good morning everyone.

[Applause]

My name is Matis and I'm the teaching

pastor here at Boon Ferry. If you're

new, you're very welcome. We're excited

to have you. And I get to wait all year

to say this, so I don't want to wait any

longer. He is risen.

He is. Let's say it one more time. He is

risen. He is.

I don't think there's any better Sunday

than Easter. It's just absolutely

wonderful. I'm going to give you just a

couple really short announcements as

always, especially on a Sunday like

this. If you're new, if you'd like a

little bit more information about Boon

Fairy, feel God drawing you to become

part of Boon Fairy, those welcome cards

are for you. you can go um fill those

out, give us whatever information you're

comfortable with and especially if it's

for your first time, you can hand them

to the connection table after the

service and we'll give you um a little

gift that's worth having. Um we also use

them for our prayer ministry and that's

the second thing that I want to mention.

If you have a prayer request, you could

write them down on that. Um we have uh

24-hour prayer time coming up on May 2nd

and 3rd. I think there may have been a

typo in the past saying March 2nd. So,

if you show up on March 2nd or 3rd of

2026, God's not going to be mad about

that. And if you are, you can take that

into prayer, but we won't be there. So,

um this is May 2nd starting at 5:00 p.m.

and we will end on the next day at 5:00

p.m. And the way that works, um you can

actually even use your phones right now,

scan that QR code, which will take you

to where you can sign up. You can also

go on our website and sign up. And if

you get our e- bulletins that you can

also sign up through that in the welcome

card then you'll get a click uh for the

sign up as well. We um we meet both in

person in right here in the um in the

prayer room but you can also join on

zoom. Um so uh it's it's a wonderful

thing that we can worship in spirit and

truth anywhere now. It doesn't have to

be in Jerusalem. It can be anywhere. And

so I don't really believe that in terms

of God hearing you or you praying to God

that there's any difference being on

Zoom or in person. It is encouraging

when you come in person and the

fellowship that we have together face to

face is important. But um what I'm

saying is you could sign up for 1 hour

or you could sign up for an hour and

then zoom. Some of you may not um sleep

well and maybe you wake up

intermittently anyway. Maybe that

night's a night where you just jump in

on Zoom and pray with us for a time. So

really looking for that 24 hours of of

prayer. And actually that is my last

announcement. So I'm going to pray and

I'm going to then get right into the

first chapter of John. We're going to

John 1 and John 3 and some other

scriptures today if you wanted to turn

there. Let me pray. Lord, I have a very

simple and singular prayer today. I pray

that you would save uh those who need to

be saved that are here. Um that you

would help those who need to recommmit

in their faith and let go of some things

that are stopping them from really

following you in a way that bears fruit.

That you would help them to recommmit.

Uh Lord, the reason we pray is we don't

have any control over salvation. Your

son says it's like the wind and we don't

know where it comes from or where it

goes. And that's the way your spirit is

too. And so when we pray, we're

recognizing that we don't have control,

but we're asking you for that salvation

all the same. I pray these things in

Jesus name. Amen.

Let's start by just

reading the very beginning of the Gospel

of John because it says a couple things

that are everything it says is really

important, profound, but there's

something in there that connects

directly to the main message of the

sermon today. And this is John 1:1. In

John 1:1

the beginning was the word and the word

was with God and the word was God. He

was in the beginning with God. All

things were made through him and without

him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life and the life was the

light of men. The light shines in the

darkness and the darkness has not

overcome it. There was a man sent from

God whose name was John. He came as a

witness to bear witness about the light

that all might believe through him. He

was not the light but came to bear

witness about the light. The true light

which gives light to everyone was coming

into the world. He was in the world and

the world was made through him. Yet the

world did not know him. He came to his

own and his own people did not receive

him. But to all who did receive him, who

believed in his name, he gave the right

to become children of God, who were born

not of blood, nor the will of the flesh,

nor of the will of man, but of God. And

the word became flesh and dwelt among

us. And we have seen his glory, the

glory as of the Son from the Father,

full of grace and truth.

I want to stop there and I want to pick

up just a couple things that are

necessary to believe about Jesus. What

we're going to be talking about today is

what has to happen for you to gain

eternal life. Um, it's good to hear and

be reminded of if you already believe.

Uh, we're going to be talking about the

concept of being born again. You've

probably heard that before. People call

themselves born again Christians, but

what does that mean? And if you were

wanting to become born again, what would

that mean? And we'll go to that passage

in a moment. But the first thing that I

want to be pointing out here is that it

said of this son of God whom we know in

the Gospel of John to be Jesus Christ.

That he was in the beginning. He's given

the title the name word there. He is the

word of God. But he was with God, but he

also was God. And he hasn't stopped

being God. And all things were made

through for and by him. And in him is

both life and light. And that light,

even though there's so much darkness in

the world, it cannot be overcome. But

coming down all the way to verse 12, I

want to point out something that it says

that I don't believe gets talked about

enough. It says, "But to all who did

receive him, who believed in his name,

he gave the right to become children of

God." Did you know that you had to you

have to be given the right to become a

child of God? That God gives people that

right. And it also says who were born

not of blood. So it's not uh a normal

natural birth that happens that causes

you to have that right to become a child

of God. Also it's not the will of the

flesh. So it's it's not wi human beings

have a sinful nature. And scripture

talks about how whether you believe or

not you already know that because you'll

do things that you're convicted of as

wrong. And you can't just get rid of the

guilt. No matter how much you suppress

it, repress it or try to explain it

away. It's there. And so that will is

not capable of giving itself the right

to become a child of God or believing

and says even nor of the will of man but

of God. And so it's it's God's choice.

It's God's will. And that's a really

important thing to understand about

being born again, which is according to

Jesus necessary for you to either even

enter the kingdom of heaven and the

kingdom of God. And when when Jesus says

that, that means gaining salvation,

gaining eternal life. So, let's go to

John chapter 3. Uh because at this

John 3 · chapter mention

point, there's a Pharisee. And if you if

you've heard about Pharisees, you know

they're legalistic. They're hypocrites,

we'll use it as a term to put somebody

down or when someone is being too

rule-based, we'll say, "Oh, that's kind

of Phariseaic." Or when just someone's

just being a hypocrite. Um why were they

hypocrites? Well, they had all these

rules, but they didn't even follow those

rules themselves. Besides, they were

saying that all these rules would be the

kind of things that you could follow and

then they would make you right with God.

But according to the writers of

scripture, in particular Jesus and Paul,

but all of the writers of scripture,

even from the Old Testament, you're not

made right with God by following the

rules. In fact, those rules are there to

point out just how sinful we are and how

we can't follow them. how although we

see that those rules are good like you

shouldn't lie, you shouldn't steal, you

shouldn't cheat, you shouldn't murder

and yet we still have those kinds of

inclinations and sometimes even those

actions occur. But there's one Pharisee,

his name is Nicodemus and he sees

something about Jesus and he wants to

come to him and I'm going to read verse

one here. Now this is chapter 3 of John.

Isaiah 3 · chapter mention

Now there was a man of the Pharisees

named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

The Jews had this Sanhedrin uh which you

might think of it similar to our Supreme

Court but there were 70 of them and

there were no checks and balances on

them. They're the elders, they're the

priests and there was primarily

controlled by the Pharisees, although

there were also another group of

religious leaders called the Sadducees

that were part of that. And it wasn't

just a religious leadership, but it was

to some degree a political leadership

that Rome had given some authority. And

so there's both political sway,

religious sway, societal sway, social

sway, very high position. All right? And

he risks something terrible by even

speaking to Jesus. Let's see what he

says here. This man, verse two, came to

Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi,

we know that you are a teacher from God.

No one can do these signs that you do

unless God is with him." How do we know

he was risking a lot? Well, he came by

night. Came by night. He did not want to

be known for having gone to Jesus. The

Pharisees were murderously opposed to

Jesus as we know and he could have lost

not just his standing but his position

almost certainly would have been ousted

from the Sanhedrin would have been

mocked uh would have lost all social

favor with people because this

leadership group has a lot I don't know

if you've noticed how in America too

it's kind of like the majority rules if

enough people believe something then

something else even if it's true goes

out of fashion and then you become

society pressured to believe that and if

you don't you get marginalized to sort

of a radical fringe crazy kind of

person. And you see it swinging back the

other way too. So like all of a sudden

rad what sounded like radical cringe

crazy ideas then come be more centered

because all of a sudden everyone's

starting to believe them. Uh we saw this

happen recently in our nation. And so

it's it's no different back then. He has

takes a huge risk in trying to find out

more from Jesus. And it is a risk for

you as well. It is a risk for you as

well to try to find out more about

Jesus. And you know that risk for some

of you it feels like a risk risk just to

come to church. Although I assure you

that the risk in watching the show Care

Bears and coming to Boon's Fairy is

almost exactly the same. There's no real

risk. It's a bunch of softies here that

love you. Um and and no real danger. But

there's a spiritual thing I'm talking

about where what are they going to say

or are they going to call me a sinner or

if I go to church? or my friends going

to think I'm one of those Bible

believing crazies. There is a risk to

your reputation. There could even be a

risk to your job. There's a risk

socially, a risk reputationally and for

you even a risk emotionally because if

you've been experiencing guilt in your

life over something that you've done um

and you've been pushing that down,

coming to church tends to bring that to

the surface and maybe don't want it to

bring to bring be brought to the surface

and maybe it's painful. So there is a

certain amount of fear there. And a

question I'd like to be asking you is

here. Do you still have a desire to risk

something to know Jesus? Have you risked

something by even coming? Nicodemus was

risking a lot. Okay. So let's let's

continue to see what he asks here. Jesus

answered him, "Truly I say to you,

unless one is born again, he cannot see

the kingdom of God." So Nicodemus had

recognized something about Jesus. I know

that God has to be with you because you

couldn't possibly be doing these signs.

Couldn't be doing these signs if he

wasn't with you. Maybe you've seen some

signs. Maybe you have never actually

believed. You've always kind of thought,

well, religion is the opiate of the

masses. Well, if you haven't ever heard

that phrase, uh it's it's from Karl

Marx. And surprise, he was not born

again. And he believed that if you were

to the people that believe the gospel or

the people that believe religious

things, it's like a drug for them that

helps them escape from all the pain and

sorrow and difficulty. And we don't need

it. We just need to do something. And

that's really where the idea of

socialism came from. What we should do

about it. Um but you have to ask

yourself a question. And do you like

Nicodemus wants to listen want to listen

to Jesus and what he has to say or some

elite philosopher? You know, Nicodemus

had elite philosoph philosophers of his

time as well. And as one of the ruling

class, he would have had access to all

of the most brilliant minds. No one's

saying that Karl Marx is not brilliant.

The question is when it comes to

spiritual things, should you listen to

him or should you listen to Jesus

Christ? And if like Nicodemus, you're

finding yourself drawn to listen to

Jesus Christ, he has something to say.

And the very first thing he says to

Nicodemus is, "Truly I say to you,

unless one is born again, he cannot see

the kingdom of God. You're blind to it.

It's not available for you to be seen."

And how would you become born again? We

already talked about it's not born of

blood like just being born of a woman,

you know? Um, everyone is, but that's

not what it's about. And it's not about

the will of the flesh. There's nothing

in you that has this power to will

yourself to become born again. And it's

it's also not the will of man. So, no

one can will it for you, but it comes

from God. And he gives you the right.

And Nicodemus is bewildered. Culturally,

you've heard, even if you haven't been

around church circles, you've heard the

idea that like, I'm a born again

Christian. People will say it today.

It's even a modern term. I'm born again.

But you might have no idea what it

means. Nicodemus had never heard this.

It wasn't like a cultural saying. It

wasn't like something well go this is uh

I know what that means, you know, and I

have all these ideas associated with it.

It's the first time he's hearing it. And

Nicodemus said verse four, how can a man

be born when he is old? Can he enter a

second time into his mother's womb and

be born? And he's not being sarcastic.

He's bewildered. He's kind of

dumbfounded like how he's taking Jesus

seriously. So seriously like I mean I

don't how there's no category of it for

him. And Jesus answered truly I say to

you unless one is born of water and the

spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of

God. That which is born of the flesh is

flesh and that which is born of the

spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I

said to you must be born again. The wind

blows where it wishes and you hear it

sound, but you do not where it go where

it comes from or where it goes. So it is

with everyone who is born of the

spirit. So it's you might be thinking,

well, we know more about the wind than

they did back then. And that is to some

degree true. Um, for example, we

actually know where the strongest wind

gusts happen on a most regular basis.

And that's uh uh George V. Coast in

Antarctica. Do you know that? You guys

want to hear one more uh interesting

fact about wind? No.

That is my kind of humor by the way. And

one one way you can know is I asked him

to say

that. Um yeah, actually I have an image

for you of how powerful wind is. I'm

assuming this is a hurricane even though

uh the internet said it was a tornado, I

think. But if we've got that image, uh

we can put that image up. This is what

wind can do.

You just look up hurricane wind damage

or you know straw through trees, forks

through trees. There are so many images

of how powerful wind is and you can't

even see it, you know. And honestly, I'm

not sure how much more we know about

wind these days. I will see a weather

event happening and go to my weather app

and the weather on the weather app is

different in real time. Not even

predictively wrong. But it's not even

raining even though it's raining

outside. So, uh I wonder sometimes if

we're only 50/50 predicting the wind,

why would we even do it? But what Jesus

is really talking about here is he's

comparing the Holy Spirit to the wind.

You can't see the Holy Spirit either.

You can't control the Holy Spirit. And

you don't know when he's going to cause

somebody to be born again. You don't

know when that's going to happen. And

you know, you don't know that because

the people that you want to be saved

most as Christians, you pray for. You

pray for them to be saved. And what are

you praying? You're praying that God

would intervene in their life. You've

probably talked to them about the gospel

and maybe they've rejected it. No, I'm

not a sinner. No, I don't need

forgiveness. So maybe you haven't been

harping on that because it just kind of

blows up and yet you come to pray for

them because you know God is in control

of that. That's what we do when we pray.

It's it's like the the human mind and

heart and soul just knowing I can't

control this, but I want that to happen.

And so, you pray for it. You pray for

that person. But it is not the opiate of

the masses. God's already told you it's

not something that you can just like

cause yourself to

see. He does say that being saved is a

function of hearing God's word preached.

So you hear this, but you know how many

people hear God's word preached and

don't come to be saved, who don't become

tr who reject it. So what's really the

difference between that those who then

reject it and those not are the ones who

accepted it? Are they weak because they

needed something? That's not what

scripture is

saying. Scripture is saying and Jesus is

saying is that yeah, you don't know

where it comes from, where it goes. You

don't know when the Holy Spirit's going

to act in that way, but it's a function

of the Holy Spirit to be born again. And

notice Nicodemus doesn't say can these

things be. He says in verse n, Nicodemus

said to him, how can these things be? He

wants he's still wanting to understand

how what does this mean? How can you be

born again? And Jesus answer uh seems at

first flesh kind of strange. Uh you

would think that if somebody's asking

then then you would you would

immediately tell them because they're

ready for it. But here's what he says.

Verse 10. And Jesus answered him, "Are

you the teacher of Israel and yet you do

not understand these

things?" Right? So at that time they

didn't have the Bible we have today.

They had the Old Testament and they

didn't call it the Old Testament. They

just called it scripture, Torah. So if

Jesus is saying that as a teacher in

Israel, as a ruler, you ought to know

what I'm actually talking about about

being born again, then it must be able

to be found in scripture. And at least

by now, it's found in probably one of

the most or the most famous Old

Testament scriptures you can find. So

let's go there. This is Ezekiel

36 26. Let's actually start in verse 25.

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 36:25

36:25. I will sprinkle clean water on

you and you shall be clean from all your

uncleanness and from all your idols I

will cleanse you and I will give you a

new heart and a new spirit I will put

within you. and I will remove the heart

of stone from your flesh and give you a

heart uh from your flesh and give you a

heart of

flesh. So the concept of becoming new,

becoming a new creation in a sense,

being born again, it's already

there. He should have already understood

this metaphor that Jesus is using for

something truly transforming, changing,

remarkable that has to happen if you're

even going to become a child of God in

the first place.

And it's a significant thing that

someone who considers themselves a

teacher of the law didn't really have

any clue what Jesus was was talking to

about. And he could have I think most

Pharisees would have been pretty

offended by having been called out like

that. Um but Nicodemus is still

listening. And I'll I'll if I remember

to give you evidence of whether

Nicodemus actually took this to heart.

Um if I don't it's in chapter 19 of John

so you can look at it for yourself. But

here's what Jesus says. Truly, truly, I

say to you, we speak of what we know and

bear witness to what we have seen, but

you do not receive our testimony. If you

have told, if I've told you of earthly

things and you do not believe, how can

you believe if I tell you of heavenly

things, you might think, well, being

told about this, being born again from

the spirit, that's a heavenly thing. And

in a way, it is. But Jesus is calling

that an earthly thing. How much greater

are the things of heaven going to be if

the things that are earthly are by Jesus

defined as being born again by the

spirit? No one has ascended. Verse 13,

no one has ascended into heaven except

he who descended from heaven, the son of

man. I don't know if you've ever thought

about this, but anybody who's ever

preached the gospel, including

me, is not someone who can say, "We came

from heaven. We have a heavenly purpose.

We have a heavenly commission. We're

preaching things of both earth and

heaven. But I didn't come from heaven.

I've never seen heaven. I don't know

what it looks like other than by faith

in what Christians uh teaching says, the

Bible says about it ultimately. But

Jesus has actually been there. That's

where he was from the beginning. That's

where he descended from. He is the man

from heaven. And so he doesn't teach

these things by faith like I do.

I I don't even know what Jesus looks

like. I know what his character is like.

I don't even tend to imagine what he

looked like because I know someday I'll

see

him. But Jesus knows exactly what God

the Father looks like. And he knows what

the Holy Spirit looks like. I'm not

saying imagine what the Holy Spirit

looks like, but it is unimaginable.

Shows up as a dove at Jesus' own

baptism, but I'm not sure that he always

looks like a dove. We don't know. What

do you imagine? Even these things are

beyond our imagination. And Jesus has

seen them by sight. And so he preaches

heaven by

sight. That's a who should you believe?

There is no other witness who has seen

heaven with his own eyes who can be

totally trusted. There's no other man

from

heaven who came from heaven and will

eventually go back, you know, in his

ascension after resurrection. So again,

I I want to ask you, is that wind

blowing for you today? Are you maybe not

suddenly maybe you've been slowly drawn

seemingly like Nicodemus and you just

want to know more, but maybe things are

just suddenly making sense. Like you

know they're true and you can't unknow

it. That's happened to me before where I

just, well, I know that's true now. I

can't unknow it. It becomes, this sounds

like nonsense, but it becomes truer than

gravity. And I'm not jumping off

buildings anytime soon, but I believe it

like as a founding reality and it's been

revealed to me. I didn't understand it

at first and then all of a sudden I

understand it. If that's happening to

you, you can be certain that the Holy

Spirit is drawing

you that God wants to give you the right

to become a child of God. So listen in

and ask your questions. How can this how

can these things

be? And Jesus actually gives the answer

in verse 14 and 15, but it's it's going

to take more investigation of scripture.

You think he just make it so easy, but

what he points out, if you want to know

about spiritual things, even earthly

spiritual things, you need to look to

the word of God. And as Moses lifted up

the servant serpent in the wilderness,

so must the son of man be lifted up that

whoever believes in him may have eternal

life. Have you have I I know many of you

have, but some of you may have never

even heard of the passage that Jesus is

referencing. This is in Numbers, and

I've got it up on the screen, too, but

if you want to turn there, this is

Numbers chapter 21. In my Bible, it's

Numbers 21 · chapter mention

titled the bronze serpent. This is

certainly what Jesus was referring to.

I'll start in verse

four. Do we have it up already? Yeah.

From Mount Hor, they set out by the way

of the Red Sea to go around the land of

Eden. And the people became impatient on

the way. And the people spoke against

God and against Moses, "Why have you

brought us out of Egypt to die in the

wilderness, for there is no food and no

water, and we loathe this worthless

food." And then the Lord said, "Fiery

serpents among the people, and they bit

the people, so that many people of

Israel died." And the people came to

Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we

have spoken against the Lord and against

you. Pray to the Lord that he may take

away these serpents from us." So Moses

prayed for the people, and the Lord said

to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set

it on a pole. And whoever is bitten when

he sees it shall live." So Moses made a

bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And

if a serpent bit anyone, he would look

at the bronze serpent and live. That's

what that's

about. Again, like comparing the spirit

to the wind, he is comparing himself to

what?

the serpent on a

stick. It seems very strange really. I

thought we were supposed to think of

Satan as the serpent. Well, I want to

show you and let's just go to uh 2

2 Corinthians 5:21

Corinthians 5:21. If you want to turn

there, you can. I have it up as

usual. Here's what Paul

says. And the hymn in this case is

Jesus. For our sake he made him to be

sin who knew no sin so that in him we

might become the righteousness of

God. God made him the snake. So what

that story is about is that our sin has

lethal poisonous

consequences. And again it's not

something you have the control to get

yourself out of because it comes from

your very fleshly nature.

and it will just populate more sin. Even

if you feel like in your own power

you've conquered a sin. And besides,

even if, and by the way, you can only

hear what I'm about to say and believe

it if God is drawing you. Even

if you did everything really well,

there's something wrong in you that

would want to then point back to your

own glory rather than to God's glory.

And so even good acts done with that

kind of self- glorifying content, even

the best things you've ever done, God

will call filthy

rags because it's only him that's to be

glorified. And none of us could even

ever be close to leaving leading a sin

sinless life. And yet it said of Jesus,

he knew no sin and yet he would made him

to be sin. So now when you look at Jesus

Christ and you know you're experiencing

the poisonous effects of

sin, if you have that guilt and you know

that like the consequence of that is

condemnation, death forever, not eternal

life, if you know that, if you're

experiencing that, then then all you

have to do according to Jesus, is to

believe on this man that came from

heaven, who's dying for your sin, who's

even been made to be sin, who knew knew

no sin and God had to crush him for it.

He had to make him suffer. He had to

have Jesus be punished in yourstead. If

you if you believe that, you are

saved. You might think, well, some just

choose to believe that. But you've seen

what the word says. It's God who gives

the right. It's the spirit. You don't

even know when he's going to act. I have

prayed and the elders have prayed and

the prayer team has prayed and I know

there are many in our Bible studies that

have been praying for if you're hearing

this and are not yet saved that you

would hear it and believe and have

eternal life. Let's go back to John

John 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 and finish

out. Did you know we're in the chapter

of John that has most certainly the most

famous verse in it? And we're getting

there. It's a big claim to say it's the

most famous verse, but you're all going

to agree when you hear it. Let's

continue. Let's start over in verse 14.

Though, and Moses lifted up the serpent

in the wilderness, so m as Moses lifted

that serpent up, so must the son of man

be lifted up that whoever believes in

him may have eternal life. There's no

life apart from the cross. But this this

double meaning, John does it multiple

times where being lifted up means both

being lifted up in the cross, but also

ascending into heaven. So, you never

separate the crucifixion from the

resurrection. There would be no hope if

Jesus wasn't resurrected. And that's why

we have such joy when we're saying he is

risen. But verse 16 says this, "For God

so loved the world that he gave his only

son that whoever believes in him should

not perish but have eternal life. For

God did not send the son into the world

to condemn the world but in order that

the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him is not

condemned, but whoever does not believe

is condemned already because he has not

believed in the name of the only son of

God. If there's something moving in you

to believe that, if you find yourself

wanting to believe that, if you if the

greatest thing that in your mind could

be is just getting a brand new fresh

start, you're born again. Do you know

what 2 Corinthians 5:17 says? You can

2 Corinthians 5:17

probably get there faster than I can s

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is

a new creation. The old has passed away.

Behold, this new has come. I see

neighbors in my neighborhood and all

over to Alton who have more than 99% of

the world, boats, cars, nice houses, and

there's this forloren and lost and

sometimes a bitter look in their eyes.

When enough sin piles up in your life,

and when enough sin of others against

you piles up in your life, bitterness,

it just it it like little black

tentacles just start to destroy

everything. You're no longer thankful.

You don't feel grateful. You're just

angry and bitter. And and maybe you

don't want to be bitter anymore. And

maybe you just don't want to feel that

guilt anymore. And maybe you're hearing

this for the first time with ears that

believe. And to that, I want to show you

from Romans 10 that being saved is not

complicated. It's not about the rules.

It's not about, well, I don't even know

the Bible. I got to know the whole

Bible. It's like a couple sentences

worth of content. You want to hear it?

Verse eight. But what does it say? The

word is near you. It's definitely near

you right now. I see some of you holding

the Bible, but he's talking about the

spiritual word in your mouth and in your

heart. That is the word of faith that we

proclaim. Because if you confess with

your mouth that Jesus is Lord and

believe in your heart that God raised

him from the dead, you will be

saved. That's all it

takes. All those years of trying to do

better and then failing again. And maybe

you failed in a way that you've lost

some relationships. Maybe you failed in

a way that relationships are really

broken. It happens in marriage. I I see

the faces of some married couples

driving and they both just look like

they're walking dead. So un no joy, no

smile. The eyes are just downcast. So

even when you stay married together,

things can be so broken that you're not

experiencing any joy. And did you know

you could just be made brand new, born

again, being given the right to become a

child of God, and there's nothing you

can do to earn it. And there is just one

thing you have to

believe. I want to read it

again. Because if you confess with your

mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in

your heart that God raised him from the

dead, you will be saved.

It's April 20th or 20th, 2025. Remember

the day if today was the day that you've

believed because it's the day of your

salvation. And I'm going to pray a

prayer that everyone in the room,

whether you already believe, whether you

need to recommmit in your faith, or

whether this is the day of your

salvation, can pray again. It's not

unfaithful to pray it. God knows what

you're doing. And it will be a very

simple prayer, and you'll know exactly

where I got it from. Just read the

verse. And it's not a magical prayer.

It's it's God knows if you actually

believe. Can't say the words not believe

and have it happen. But if you actually

believe, and by the way, do you want to

know how? If you desire to believe, he's

moving in your heart. You can be sure. I

can't cause it. I don't even know when

it's going to happen, when not. I ask

God. I give him the

control. And I hope the Holy Spirit is

moving in you. So, I'm going to ask you

to close your eyes and just repeat after

me. And I'll try to keep them in short

sentences, but if you say this with

sincerity and honesty before God, you

are saved and you've become been given

the right to be a child of God and you

have eternal life. Let's

pray. Lord

God, I admit that I've sinned.

I repent

and I ask for your forgiveness.

I confess with my mouth that Jesus is

Lord Jesus.

And I believe in my heart

that God raised him from the dead. God

raised him from the dead.

I'm not going to ask for a show of

hands. You can open your eyes. But if

you prayed that prayer for the first

time or if you prayed that prayer and

have not yet been baptized, the very

next step is that you'd be baptized. And

it does not have to be at Boon's Fairy.

But we do our baptisms and it it won't

seem like it's going to be very long. We

do them in August, the second week of

August in this case, at our pig roast.

When you walk out the door today, you'll

see the baptismal. doesn't matter what

kind of weather it is because that's a

hot tub. So, we we warm it up and we get

in there and and you be baptized and you

don't it's not baptism that saves. In

fact, why would you baptis baptize

someone who's not yet a child of God?

So, we baptize simply as a profession of

an inward reality that's now being

professed outwardly and it's a matter of

obedience and blessing to do so. And so

I would love to know, the elders would

love to know and we feel a sense of

responsibility to know if this day is

the day of your salvation. What a

glorious thing that would be. Let me

pray. Father, I'm so thankful that you

gave me the right to become one of your

children. I don't know why except I know

it's for your glory. And I believe and I

know it's true. I pray it'd be the very

same for the people in this room that

they would receive

you and that even if today was not the

day of commitment that a seed will be

planted that the enemy cannot take away

and that doesn't get scorched by the

cares of this

world. Thank

you for resurrecting your son and Jesus.

Thank you for the agony you endured for

our sin.

We want to worship now as new creations

filled with your spirit offering you

praise that delights you, glorifies you,

and witnesses to you. And we cannot wait

to do it in Jesus name. Amen.