Preached by Mike Underhill, 10/28/2012
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“Spiritually Brand New”

When things are brand new, you’re fired up! But being spiritually brand new is even more fired up!
1 – Men Made New – John 3:1-7
Nicodemus came at night (hence the term ‘Nick-at-Nite’) because of fear of what the Jewish Council would think of him -Jesus was accused of demonic work! Nicodemus came to Jesus and said “we know you’re from God
Nicodemus wanted to speak nice to Jesus and maybe he would return the favor. Jesus returns the favor by telling him you can’t see God’s kingdom without being born again — spiritual rebirth (made brand new)
It must be clear, the Kingdom will never be seen by you unless you follow Jesus’s command right here. Being born is a traumatic event. You come from a comfortable dark place and then exposed to light and made uncomfortable! What if the baby says he doesn’t want to leave the darkness and continues to grow larger in his mother’s womb! It would kill not only himself, but the mother also! (watch the episode on The Fringe of this topic — interesting!)
There is no person on Earth who can continue to stay in the darkness, in this same way. Jesus doesn’t avoid the confrontation – what is He talking about?
Acts 2:36-41 – first message of Kingdom preached. Peter summarized the sermon in verse 36. The Bible is quite clear on what it takes to be added to the number of the Kingdom of God — believe in Jesus, repent of sin and then repent and be baptized — emphasizing repent! As people heard the message of God, their hearts changed — cut to the heart! Cutting the heart is necessary — not to be avoided and an attempt to be without emotion. THe world things that no emotion equals strength! It’s a lie — it’s necessary to be cut!!
God’s message brings pain. When you truly believe is when you’re truly cut. And that’s when majority say they have had enough. In order for the rebirth to start, you have to be cut (people in our lives to call us out. We cannot come to church to feel good.)
There is a spiritual cancer – hardening in our hearts. But God wants to make us new! But as we avoid the doctor, we also avoid the spiritual pain. We need to learn to love the pain and determine how God needs to operate on our heart. This begins the process of being made new.
Being born again does not mean new emotions. It means repenting of our sins and being baptized in water for the forgiveness of our sins. THe Bible is not obscure on this process. It’s simple! Just as every ingredient is necessary to bake our cake, so isn’t the recipe of salvation. We wouldn’t give someone just one ingredient of a birthday cake and give it to them, as opposed to actually baking them a cake!
It’s necessary to submit to the word of God!

What is baptism? Romans 6:1-4 – It’s sharing in Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection – to be raised to a new life! If nothing in our life has changed, we haven’t followed the whole “recipe” for salvation to be complete! And what a joy it is to see someone made brand new in our fellowship! We can lose the joy of a new birth!! But think back to the moment in your life when you made Jesus Lord!
2 False Doctrine out there:
2 Timothy 4:1-4
Millions are deceived by hearing what they want to hear as opposed to the truth! They believe that if God loves us, he will make us rich! Or that we can continue to live an unrighteous life, but as long as they believe they will be saved! Or that we can be baptized as an infant and live any way that we wish, and then we are saved! The world has been taught false doctrine! When you look into a mirror (God’s word), you will see the truth and be shocked!! What is your mirror? God’s word or your parents or friends? The religious world is selling false mirrors and making billions off of it! When a church preaches anything otherwise, they think they are a cult!
If a denomination preaches the truth from only one scripture, then it cannot be true! We must read the whole Bible!
Many cultures have their family as the first priority – family first! In our society, there is a family first ideal. But God needs to be number one and our family comes after!
2 – God gives us everything new by giving us a new family – Ephesians 4:4-5
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 – When one of us is hurting, the whole body hurts! Just like when you hurt your toe, your whole body suffers! We can’t choose what parts of the body, just as someone doesn’t have a decision who their siblings are going to be! God chooses who will be your sister or your brother, and regardless, they will be our family!
There are a lot of differences in our body (the church)! How effective would our church be if everyone was exactly the same? God made us all different so that we can help each other! The power of the Kingdom is that each part is so unique!
Mark 3:20-21; 31-35
Jesus says whoever does the will of God is the family of God. Jesus’s family was outside as he shared this with everyone. And Jesus expects us to have the same commitment, that we put our spiritual family before our physical family! And Jesus did the same! Jesus didn’t expect anything of us that he didn’t do himself! When this is your real family, you will get real with them! Jesus changed the world by putting God’s family first!
We have to care for each other as if we are physical family! In Acts 1, his physicaly family were with Jesus and the disciples! By putting God’s family first, Jesus’s family were saved! This is the true way to save our family!

If we don’t challenge each other when we see something wrong, then can we really saw we love each other?
There’s no “right time” to challenge each other! We love each other by truly putting each other out there on the line!
Do we encourage each other?
2 Corinthians 5:14-21
Ambassadors represent countries! And we, as ambassadors, represent Christ’s Kingdom everywhere we go – our jobs, our schools, etc.
God puts ambassadors of Christ in people’s lives to help save them! But not everyone wants to hear. As we are sharing our faith, we need the perspective that this may be someone’s last chance to be saved!
The fact that we want people to come to God’s Kingdom is the reason why they come to see the Kingdom! We must ask ourselves, do I represent God’s Kingdom?
Ephesians 4:17-24
What’s the whole purpose? To be made new spiritually! For our old deceitful self to be replaced by a renewed mind. “A man’s actions are determined by his thought. A man’s thought is determined by his understanding! When our mind is renewed, our thoughts change. When our thoughts change, our actions change. Wen we are renewed in our actions, it changes the World around us!”
Read the song “Here am I, Send me!”
Not only do you get a new life, you get a new family in God!