Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for today's installment of Power Walk. We're excited to have you join us as Pastor Paul Cannings brings the most important series titled, What Does It Mean to be Born Again? Now, if you're listening today and you're not sure about what that means, I hope you'll stay tuned in. And if you know and have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, but for whatever reason you're not walking in fellowship with Him, I hope you'll stay tuned in as well.

This is the most important issue you need to grapple with for your life, and our prayer is that God will give you the understanding to be receptive to what He offers you. Bringing clarification and explaining clearly what it means to be born again, here's Pastor Cannings with the message, Religion Versus Relationship.

Dr. Paul Cannings: In verse 2, it says this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that you have come from God." The word "we" says a lot. "We" meaning he is a Pharisee. He is one of the leading teachers. So all of them are saying, "We know that you came from God." He says, "For no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." We studied this. We know for a fact when we look at Elijah, Moses, all these people, there is no way that you could be doing this on your own. God has to be with you.

You think Jesus Christ would say, "Let me explain how God is with me." Jesus doesn't. But what Jesus does do is that Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom." So that starts a whole conversation. Why? Because Jesus Christ says they can't see the kingdom of God. He didn't say you can't see Jesus. He's standing right there. He said you can't see the kingdom of God. So what is He addressing? Eternal life. That's what He's addressing. The kingdom of God is in heaven; it's not here.

These laws and these things that you are following are not leading you that way. So let's look at Chapter 5, verse 39. You actually think that these 600 laws will get you there. But these 600 laws are not going to get you to this eternal life like you think they are. In verse 39, He says, "You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. It is these that testify about me." He's saying you mess up if you think by following all the rules of the church, reading your Bible every day, knowing the scriptures inside and out, that you get to heaven. He says no. In Matthew Chapter 7, He says there are many that would say, "Lord, Lord," but few would enter into the kingdom of heaven.

So you could think by following the church rules you get to heaven. He's saying that doesn't work. So we do the same thing today. We've got church rules and we've got God. The two don't always meet. He says, you, verse 40, "You are unwilling to come to me so that you will have life." It's not that you don't see me because you just said, Nicodemus, you see that the signs are with me. But you are so stuck on your traditional religious system that in your traditional religious system, it doesn't lead you to me.

But you could see that I am different. So you'd rather hold on to your religious structure than find me. How many of us do that? Think for a minute. How many people go to church, and so long as they are following the church rules, they believe they're going to heaven? That's one of the reasons at Living Word I took out all the traditional stuff. I purposely did because people believe when they follow all this traditional stuff—the Catholic Church, you play the beads, you do the rosary, you do all these different things—then I'm going to heaven.

So we sometimes look back at the Pharisees and Sadducees and we criticize them. But many times, we do the exact same thing. And we believe that if I come to church, I do this, I do that, I'm going to heaven. The Bible is saying no. You can go straight to hell because doing the church rules don't get you to heaven. It's experiencing Christ that gets you to heaven. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

So that's why I ripped out a lot of traditional stuff. That's why the Lord's Supper table, I purposely don't have a fancy table. And then we have to have a denominational name. If we don't have a denominational name, then what are they? That's how much church has become so religious that we can miss Jesus. So we're not any different than Nicodemus. I mean, there are some churches where there are rules. I grew up in a church with a whole lot of rules.

I had to wear a tie. I could only put on long pants after the age of 12. I could give you the list. The women have to put hats on their heads. The list is long. I used to tease my wife because they would come when she was going to church with me. We've known each other—I met her when she was 12 and I was 13 or 14. And they would come and put a little mat on top of her head, and as soon as the senior ladies left, she took it off. I said, "You rebel, you."

But that's kind of how we met and talked. So we started meeting, and I got to know her grandmother and her grandmother knew my mother. But at the end of the day, that's how many rules they had. And they had lots of rules about the Lord's Supper. Living Word, I purposely stripped all of that out so you can't feel because you did all these rules you have a relationship with Christ.

It's going to be a church about the Bible. It's about a church about discipleship. It's about a church about worship. A church about loving one another. It's a church about how do we take this Bible and make it living. That's the purpose. And that's why it's ripped out, because many people go to hell because they followed the rules, but they never met Christ. That's Nicodemus's issue.

So the question is, the issue here is how do I enter the kingdom of God and have eternal life? That's why I'm doing all of this stuff, God Jesus. How do I get there? That's the issue. Now here's how Jesus responds after Nicodemus answers Him. And here's the first issue you find, and this is where we're heading into, it's spirit-driven. In other words, we cannot experience Christ in the flesh. It's impossible. I say that to you again. We cannot experience Christ in the flesh.

So here's the first flesh thing that he is going to do that Nicodemus is bent on communicating with Christ. That's what number one is talking about. He's bent on communicating with Christ and this is what he says in verse 4. Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he's old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born, can he?" There we go. Nicodemus says, "You created a problem in this conversation." Don't forget, you look at the first two points, Nicodemus is bent on having this conversation with Jesus Christ.

I believe he came at night because Nicodemus doesn't want anybody to interrupt him. He just wants to have a conversation with Jesus Christ. No interruptions. They finished their busy day. "Let's sit here and have this conversation. We're going to talk until I'm done." That's what he's doing. So now, Jesus Christ said, "born again." Nicodemus approaches it logically. Here's the first thing about the issues that cause us to miss Christ. He approaches Christ logically.

"You're telling me that a man needs to be born again. How could a man, grown as he is, go back into his mother's womb, start all over to be born again?" Logic. So Nicodemus could not get to Christ because when he left all the laws, he needs to understand what it means logically. That's the problem. The Bible says in one of our normal passages of Proverbs Chapter 3, verses 5 through 6, you cannot gain an understanding of God logically.

It's not going to work. That's why He says, "If you're going to be saved, you have to come to me by faith." You cannot come to me logically. In other words, faith is not this dream stuff. "I've got faith, so this is going to happen. I've got faith, so I could buy this car and God is going to bless me because I have faith that He's going to do it." That's not faith. That's getting a note. Faith comes from the Word of God. That's it.

When the Word of God doesn't make any sense and I don't see how it's going to work, I still do it because I believe that God can't lie. Hebrews Chapter 6, verse 18. God cannot lie. So since God cannot lie, I'm going to go do what He says because I understand enough to know what to do. Even though I can't see it, because I'm hoping that what God promised to do in His scriptures would work. That's why faith is what I expect God to do based on His Word. So that's why faith is the substance of what I expect, what I hope, and the evidence.

That's why he goes as a long list of people in Hebrews Chapter 11. Evidence means when I look at the people in the Bible and all the examples He gives, they followed it and it worked. So that's what the Bible is saying faith is. That's why if you try to do it logically, it's not going to work because at the end of the day you're doing something that you can't see makes sense. That's why He would say to Thomas, "Thomas, those who can't see these holes in my hands, holes in my side, those people will be blessed because they believed when they couldn't see."

So we can't see it, but the evidence says He was here. The evidence says He walked on this earth. Nobody in Jerusalem would argue that Jesus Christ walked on this planet. They would never argue that He was crucified by the Romans. That is not a conversation they would argue about. The issue is the resurrection because they lied that He didn't get up from the grave. That's the issue.

That's why Jesus Christ spent 40 days walking around on earth to make sure that the disciples who were questioning and doubting Him would be able to see. And He didn't make sure that it's not just the 11, guys. He made sure it's 500. This is why John would say, "This is something I've seen," in 1 John Chapter 1. "I've touched. I've heard. This is not something I'm just creating."

But 2,000 years later, we didn't see. So we have to go on the evidence of what people say. And that's why He says to come to me, it is an act of faith. That's why He's saying if you come to me logically, it's not going to work. Because how are you going to explain somebody getting up from the grave? Who's done that? Nobody. The first thing about experiencing life is that I have to trust the life that is forever.

I have to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross, rose from the dead. He came to death and experienced life. And that's why He's the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I must believe in this person who faced death and got up. It makes no sense, but I trust it. It never works logically. Anytime somebody's trying to come to Christ logically, they miss.

Guest (Male): Amen. Thank you, Pastor Cannings. All too often we try to understand logically what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross when God wants us to be able to accept Him by faith. Now, to review this series, log on to powerwalkministries.org. You can secure a copy of this series and pass it on to a family member or friend who would benefit from it. Again, that's powerwalkministries.org. And while you're online, take a few minutes to learn more about Power Walk Ministries and prayerfully consider supporting us financially.

Dr. Paul Cannings: You know, I had someone walk up to me and say, "Hey, you so blessed me when I listen to the station and feed off the word that God has placed through you." That means so much. I had a person say to me, "Hey, you saved my marriage. I was really going to walk out on my wife. You saved my marriage." Oh man, that moved me to keep pressing on. I pray, folks, that you would support our ministry and become a part of it and share with us in the resources that we have because that goes to the support of this ministry. Pray for us. Please, I sincerely mean that, pray for us. Share the word with other people and that you will become a partner, a regular partner with us. All you have to do is go to our website, powerwalkministries.org, and press the donate button and it will explain in there how you could become a Power Walk partner.

Guest (Male): We would greatly appreciate your prayers and support. To make a contribution, call us at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402. Or log on to powerwalkministries.org. Our mailing address is Power Walk Ministries, P.O. Box 920517, Houston, Texas, 77209. And we thank you for your support. And now remember, unless you are born again, you will not see the kingdom of God. This is what scripture says. And I trust you'll stop striving and humbly receive what Christ has done for you.