John Gray - Rebirth Day
I want to get right into the word. Let's go to John, chapter three. We'll go to John, chapter three. I'm reading from the new King James version. John, chapter three. And I'm starting at the first verse, and this is what it says. "There was a man of the pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, 'rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.'"
Now, I don't know about you, but what Nicodemus, his statement did not in any way imply what Jesus said afterwards, but I guess Jesus wanted to cut straight to the chase. Have you ever kind of been in prayer, and you know what you really want to ask, but you start off talking about stuff that don't matter like, "Boy, Lord, just want to thank you for the weather today. It was nice outside. Man, you made them clouds. Boy, them clouds, you all right". He's like, "I already know". "Yeah, I need some money. All right, that's what it is. I just thought I'd throw that out there".
Nicodemus came giving Jesus all of these nice words, and he was like, "Rabbi, teacher, you're awesome. We know you've come from God. Nobody can do what you do," okay? Nobody can do this unless God is with them. Huh? Huh"? I know this. Jesus was like, "Unless you get born again, you're not gonna see this kind of power". "No, I didn't... No, I wasn't even... Really"? Jesus cut right to the chase because he understood that Nicodemus being a pharisee, he was coming to Jesus by night because he was nervous about the people that he normally rolled with. His crew was not cool with what Jesus was doing because what Jesus was doing was without their permission.
I need to make an announcement that God's about to start using you, and the people that thought they could control you will have nothing to say about it. They're gonna have to stand back and watch God use you. You're about to live life without permission. Somebody needs to get excited about that. There are too many people in your world that think they can, you know, kind of control the strings but God is cutting strings away, relationships away, unnecessary people, unnecessary situations, and God is about to use you without their permission. Just go ahead and tell somebody, "Shake it off". Shake it off: it's time to go ahead and be everything that God created you to be.
How do you unlock your full potential? Well, Jesus says, "Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God". And then I want you to go to Matthew, chapter one. Real quick, Matthew, chapter one. And I'm starting at the 17th verse. Here's what it says. So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are 14 generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are 14 generations. 42 generations in all. This is the genealogy of Jesus, and Matthew went through the genealogy of Jesus because he was very clearly speaking to his Jewish readers.
The book of Matthew details for his intended target audience these particular individuals who were awaiting the arrival of the Messiah. Matthew lays out the very clear evidence, incontrovertible proof that the person that they are looking for is none other than Jesus Christ. And I don't know who you are or what you've been walking though or who you've been putting your trust in, but can I let you know that the one that you've been looking for is named Jesus? You may have been searching in relationships. You may have been searching in overtime at your job. You may have been searching for value and validation in social activities. You might have been searching to live vicariously through your children, hoping to achieve some goals through them that you never got to achieve. But can I tell you that the peace of God, the clarity of God, and the calling of God are going to be found in the person of Jesus Christ? I need you to know everything else you've been looking for is going to fail you. But Jesus is in the building tonight.
So this first chapter of Matthew talks about the genealogy of Jesus. It talks about the generations of Jesus and how God moved through the generations to get us to Jesus. How Jesus was born. And then the book of John tells us how we need to be reborn. And I was really interested in this whole idea of 42 generations because on Friday, I turned 42. And there is a significance. Hey. That's my wife: I can say that. Hey. Um. And so this number 42 is significant that Jesus shows up after 42 generations, seven times six, seven, the number of completion, six, the number of man or flesh. When the flesh season has been completed, you can expect for Jesus to show up. I'm trying to go there. Can I go? Can I preach like I feel it?
So I want to talk to you from the subject heading re: birthday. Go shorty, it's re: birthday. We're gonna worship like it's re: birthday. Somebody say, "Re: birthday". Everyone who has ever been created and who will ever come into the earth has been spoken by God. The intention of heaven for the attention of the earth but through process and because of what Adam did before any of us ever showed up, there is inside of us a sin nature that we cannot escape. It is the reality, the frailty of the human condition. And out of God's love, he allowed his son to come as the propitiation or full payment for our sin, and he came through generations and genealogy and each part of his genealogy was literally heaping on sin after sin and iniquity after iniquity and addiction after addiction so that when it got to Jesus, everything and anything any of us could have ever done was already in the bloodline, and he was able to pay for it all. That's why Jesus is the lamb that was slain. Can somebody give praise to the lamb?
Somebody say, "Re: birthday". How many people have accepted Jesus as their Savior? Let me see those hands. Keep your hands up for a second. Look around. Just tell somebody, "Happy re: birthday". I know you've heard it before that the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why you were born. But you won't be able to find out why you were born. I believe this firmly. Until you come into the knowledge of Jesus Christ. It is the rebirth that is found in Jesus Christ that unlocks your full potential that makes your spirit come alive that quickens your mortal body that causes your soul to come at rest so that you're not searching for the rest of your life for a peace that you'll never find in another person. Jesus, the seed of heaven. Mary, significant in that she represents the rebellion of man.
See, by the time it got to Joseph and Mary, the world was in trouble. And whether you know it or not, every single thing that happened in history was leading up to this moment. And so Joseph, who was engaged to Mary, was of the line of David. This is important, and I'm going somewhere because somebody's gonna be reborn tonight because you think what you are born as is what you have to remain. The Joseph line had fallen on hard times. The Davidic line was kind of, you know, mer, mer, mer. They used to have kings, but now, no such luck. But Mary and Joseph connect. He's like, "What's up, shorty? You all right? Ha, ha, come over here. My name is Joe. Come talk to me".
Come and talk to me I really... You know, and so they get engaged. She's like, "You is crazy. You is crazy. You is crazy. You are so silly". He said, "I'm gonna marry you". Hey baby I think I want to marry you and so they get engaged. Now as a side note, just to let you know, ladies and gentlemen, when you get engaged does not mean that he gets the privileges of a husband. Y'all are engaged: y'all are not married. Don't give him the benefit of wife if you are not that. Make him wait.
I got three amens. You're like, "I don't like this sermon. This don't... I'm ready to go. Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. You don't tell me what to do. You don't know my struggles. Excuse me". I done messed up some of your plans this evening. Jesus gonna be right in that room, just lookin'. Uh-huh, what y'all in there doin'? Is that a Bible? Make room for the Holy Ghost in there. They were engaged, but they had not engaged. And so this makes the birth miraculous, and because, Joseph was the rightful heir to the throne of David, legally Mary's seed could claim a right to the throne, but the baby could not be of the natural seed of Joseph because the name Joseph means he who adds, and the name Mary means rebellion, so a child from those two would have only added to the rebellion.
So the seed of heaven had to connect with the rebellion of the earth and Yeshua was born. Jesus, he will save the people from their sins because it is through the seed of the man, the progenitor, that the generation is reckoned. So God said, "Joseph, just sit still. The Holy Spirit's gonna overshadow Mary, and that which is in her is conceived of the Holy Ghost". And so here comes Jesus, who is the seed of heaven and the seed of the earth, and he comes into the earth fully God and fully man, 200%, ready to save all mankind from eternal destruction. I feel like somebody needs to give God a praise. This plan is amazing.
So the seed of heaven. The seed of heaven supersedes the rebellion of man. So now I want to jump into this breakdown in Matthew where it talks about there were 14 generations from Abraham to David. And then 14 generations from David to the captivity in Babylon and then 14 generations from the captivity up to Jesus because I need you to know that if you're gonna walk into the place of rebirth and be reborn by the power of the spirit of God, you need to understand the significance of Abraham, David, captivity, and Jesus because Abraham is the father of our... Faith, he's the father of faith. He's the one that the Bible says it was credited unto... He believed God, and it was credited unto him as righteousness.
So the first step in understanding your new nature, your reborn state, and your rightful inheritance, is to understand that you receive that through faith. It is not carnal knowledge. It is not simply book knowledge. You cannot study up on God. God will not lay down on an observation table for you to poke and prod at his majesty. He is the great God who exists in unapproachable light. He is covered in thick clouds of darkness. He commands the lightning and the thunder. He has treasuries of hail. He's got angel after angel after angel, and all they do is cry out, "Holy, holy, holy".
He is nothing to be played with. He's not some nice man in heaven with a gray beard because to say his beard is gray is to say he gets old, and he does not age because he is not transformed by time because he created time, but he is not covered by time. He speaks into time from eternity. He is the great God. Is there anybody who loves God tonight? You have to believe this on faith. Does anybody have the faith the size of a mustard seed. Come on in here. I know religious people don't like that because they want you to have their kind of faith. They want you to make announcements about your faith. I don't know about you.
Sometimes I've got, you know, big faith, and then sometimes, I've got mustard seed or mini mustard seed or baby mustard seed faith, but at least I have a little bit of faith, but there's always somebody whispering, "You've been in church a long time. You still struggling"? Yes, I'm still struggling, but guess what? I'm still there, and I'm gonna keep going until I get my breakthrough, so while you over there hating and whispering and plotting, I'm gonna keep praising, and worshiping, and being faithful, and sowing, and even though people look at me crazy, I'm still gonna bless the Lord on a Wednesday night. Is there anybody? Praise break.
See, Abraham is the first step to the rebirth because Abraham signifies faith. Say "Faith". I want to speak right now prophetically because pastor Lisa started tonight, and she began prophesying if anybody has. She said, "By the end of the week," God was gonna shift that thing. It's my birthday week, so I'm gonna agree with her that by the end of the week, by Saturday night, midnight, something will have shifted in your life. I've got faith for you. I've got faith for me. I've got faith for my house. I've got faith for my kids. Do you have enough faith for the people on your row? Because maybe somebody's going through, and they don't have a praise. Can they borrow some of your praise? Can somebody in your house borrow some of your praise?
I triple dog dare you to give God a faith praise if you believe that God can shift your life and whip your life into overdrive. Sorry. It's my birthday. Abraham is the father of faith, but the Bible says from Abraham to David was 14 generations. When you get to David, you step from faith into worship. See, if you're gonna be reborn, you've got to understand the principle of worship. See worship in the Hebrew means to lay prostrate. It means to have your face on that ground. Why? Why? That seems to be dirty. It's dusty down there. Maybe you didn't read Genesis. You were created from the dust of the earth. And the reason why God wants you face down as you worship is to remember where you came from.
Don't ever be so prideful that you don't remember where you came from. Too many religious people look down on people for where they struggle. "Look at them struggling. Look at that mess". I tell them, "Dust your shoulders off, 'cause you're dusty, too, sir. You're dusty, too, ma'am. You need to worship 'cause that will remind you of how far God brought you". Can anybody give God a praise for where he brought you from? I'll just wait. I'll give you a second to think about what you used to do on a Wednesday night, where you used to be five years ago. I'll wait: I'll wait.
You know what God delivered you from. You know the relationship you were in. You know what you used to smoke. You know what you used to drink. You know who you used to mess with. But God. I'm trying to contain myself. I just got to give a shout out to my friend, my sister in Christ. Her name is Mary. It used to be wagoner. I forget her married name, but she and I went to withrow high school in Cincinnati Ohio, and we graduated. Next year it will be 25 years, and she's in this church tonight. Her and her husband are ministers of the Gospel in Athens, Ohio. She was the valedictorian of my high school class. I was not the valedictorian. I got honor roll for lunch. You understand what I'm saying?
But Mary, stand up for a second. Mary, wave at the people. That's my sister. Mary and I were both voted most likely to succeed. And both of us are serving God in our respective locations but had people known us back then, they might not have seen what God is doing now. But I'm so glad that it doesn't matter what people see. It doesn't matter. Success is not defined by your checking account. It's not defined by how many nice clothes you have or what kind of car you drive. Success is defined by obedience to the will of God over your life, and I bind every other definition of success in the name of Jesus. Success is saying, "God, send me: I'll go".
Whoo, help me, Holy Ghost. I don't know who this is for, but ladies, stop looking for the guy with the nice bank account and the nice car but he has no joy in his heart. He has no word in his spirit. He's got no vision. He doesn't know how to pray. That's not what you need because before you know it, you're gonna have to raise him and be with him, and if you've got to raise him, you might as well adopt him, but you don't need to raise nobody you're gonna marry. Faith. Worship. But David was known for one other thing. Warfare. We are in a warfare season. Our faith is under attack. What we believe about God is under attack.
Our nation is in one of the most critical and volatile times since the 1960's. I know nobody wants to talk about it, but I'm telling you the answer to everything that we've been seeing on TV is the blood of Jesus because the blood of Jesus is the unifier of the body. Because in Jesus there is no black, no white. There is no Hispanic, no Asian, no Columbian, no Puertoricacania, no Mexican. In Jesus there is no Ghanaian. There is no Nigerian. In Christ Jesus the only color that matters is red. Can somebody give God a praise that we are one body in Christ?
It's time to go to war, Nick. We can't mess around anymore. No more casual Christianity. Oh hallelujah. We need some folk that are passionate about that thing. We need some folk that, let's go! Let's get to that church. Everybody in this house better get in this car. Let's go, you know that traffic on 59. You know 610, you know! You know what it is, you better get in this car! Thinking out loud, probably got the Holy Spirit on me right now. David was worship, but he's also warfare. Somebody in here needs to know, don't give up the fight for your household.
Oh help me, Holy Ghost. I don't know who this is for, sir. You fight, you fight for your household. You fight for your wife's peace. You fight for those kids. Don't you let the streets have those kids. You fight in the spirit. You pray, even if they're not at the house, go in their room and just walk around and pray. Father, I declare that every child that I birth is gonna come into the knowledge of Jesus Christ. They're covered at their school. They covered at the bus stop. They're covered at the mall. God, you're gonna give 'em the right mate at the right time, and you're gonna remove the wrong people. In the name of Jesus I need you to wage war and let the devil know he can't have anything in your...
Faith, worship, warfare, and those are a great foundation, but there's the next thing, captivity. Have you ever felt like you were being held hostage? Something you couldn't get free from? Have you ever been stuck? Have you ever been stuck, but you still had a song? Trying to keep it together y'all, forgive me, but I know what it's like to be stuck and still have a song. I know what it's like to hold the door open for other people to get free while I'm still in bondage. I'm waiting, God. I'm waiting on you to come answer my prayer, but until then I'm gonna keep preaching Jesus and I'm gonna hold this door open. I'm gonna believe you for everybody else's deliverance, but one day it's gonna be my turn. One day it's gonna turn around. One day it's gonna shift in my favor, but until then I'll sing my song, even while I'm stuck in a moment.
Is there anybody that can praise while you're in captivity? Have you ever believed even though it wasn't working out? I want you to know that the pain of captivity is producing a power that the devil can't take away. I want you to know if you've been stuck long enough. I want you to know that your liberty is at hand, God just bailed you out. I know y'all already shouting this stuff, but just a four second praise break. I believe it's gonna unlock something for the next generation connected to you. God, we've been stuck long enough. God, we've been believing long enough. We need it to shift in our favor. We need it to break in our favor, and we need it to happen tonight.
In this season God is launching wounded warriors. For until you've been wounded deeply you can't serve greatly. And I know I'm in a room for of people and I know there are people watching, and those listening online who have been wounded. Wounded by people you trusted. Wounded by life. Wounded by the process, but I want you to know that the hand of God is mighty upon your life, and that the captivity is over. Your warfare has ended, and after captivity here comes the baby, his name... His name shall be called Wonderful, Concealer, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Anna prophesied about him. Simeon talked about him in the temple. He's Mary's baby. He is the worst nightmare of hell. His name is Yeshua, Hamashiach, and once you go from faith, to worship, to warfare, to captivity, here comes Jesus Christ into the middle of your situation, and when he's born you get reborn.
Somebody say, happy rebirth day. Here's the thing: sometimes because of the pain we run from the process. What we do is we end up being spiritual primis coming out of the womb of development too soon, and now you need a whole bunch of external things to keep you going, because you didn't stay in the process. I don't know who this is for, God's almost finished with you. He's tweaking some things. He's removing some things. Don't push out of the womb until it's time. Don't be premature in trying to launch into the thing you wanna do, wait for the timing of God. There will be an open door.
The natural state of birth is that the body contracts, which means the body rejects the fetus and it says, you've been in here long enough, and what God's going to do when it's time is as soon as you feel like you can't take it no more he's going to release you and you're going to stretch, and you're gonna come into the earth, and you're gonna say, it's my turn. It's my time. I've bee made for this. I've been waiting for this. Anybody feel like you've been on the edge of a breakthrough? Can I tell you you're about to break through? Probably in the next three minutes. I'm telling you, if you've got the faith to believe and the worship to add to it, and the warfare, and you've gone through captivity, you can expect a rebirth right about...
But for those who were saying, all of this is good for a believer, but I just came, somebody invited me. I don't even know what you talking about. You got up on the stage, man, I thought suge knight was preaching. I don't know you. I'm not suge. Relax. So for those who may not be believers asking, how do I get to Christ? Lemme give you some aids. Number one is ambivalence. You come into the knowledge, but you start off ambivalent. You don't care. I know there are times when you love God and you've come into that season, but there's some of us who can remember when we weren't thinking about church. No, you can't say you remember 'cause you want everybody to think you've been holy your whole life.
Could somebody be honest in here, just in case there's a non believer that there were times that we didn't wanna serve the Lord? Where living holy was inconvenient, where it wasn't as fun at the turn up out there in them streets and you at the house, that just don't make no sense. I'm just in here, just watching family feud and everybody else is doing there thing, but I'm telling you, if you stay in that place... But you start off ambivalent, you don't care, you don't know nothing, you don't care, you're just living your life, not bothering anybody, just doing what you do. It then comes the next aid, awareness. You become aware that something's missing. You wake up one morning next to somebody that's a stranger, and you're aware that this is not...
There's gotta be something more than this. You're sitting in a club atmosphere and there's this loud music, but there's a hollow place in your heart. You become aware that what you're in is not satisfying you. There's an awareness, that's the love of God that allows you to feel the emptiness, and he lets you try all this other stuff, because he's saving the best for last. Anybody know he saves the best for last? Ambivalence, awareness, then comes the awakening.
That's when you realize, wait a minute. I was created for more than the life I'm living. There's more to this life than what I've experienced. I'm awake now, there's something that I need to get to. And then comes acknowledgement. I can't do it on my own. This is how you get to Jesus, you acknowledge. I can't do this on my own. I know I'm brilliant, I've got college degrees, I've got great friends, I've got good credit, but non of that is satisfying the eternal longing on the inside. I acknowledge that I need something, I'm a mess. I've got good cosmetics, but on the inside I'm hurting, I'm broken, I acknowledge I'm drowning, I'm sinking. I need someone to save me, ding, ding, ding.
And here comes acceptance. You accept that you can't do it on your own. From ambivalence to awareness, to awakening, acknowledgement, then comes acceptance, and you accept that you can't do it and somebody introduces you to Jesus, hallelujah, and you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that Jesus is Lord. That simple, now you're saved. And it gives you the rebirth. Say, happy rebirth day. Once you get to the place of acceptance, then comes the anointing. I don't know who this is for, but you're about to walk into a season of unprecedented oil. Didn't you just say, he anoints my head with oil? Did we talk about this sermon? We didn't talk at all. I'm know I'm in the Holy Ghost when my leader is prophesying what I'm about to preach, because the Bible says, by the power of two a testimony is established.
So I don't know who this is for tonight, and I'm almost done, but I need you to know that the anointing is about to flow, and it's not just an anointing on your head, it's an anointing for your life, that you'll be able to do the thing you were created to do, and you'll be able to do it easy. I want you to know what was difficult is about to become easy. I'm prophesying the next seven days, those doors that were closed are gonna just creak open. Why? 'cause God just added a little oil. Those doors were rusty because of the enemy. God just added oil.
Somebody needs to get a praise on your lips. And then once you get anointed, the last thing is you get announced. We would like to announce, say your name out loud, has just come into the knowledge of Jesus Christ. They've been reborn, they've been refreshed, and it is now time for them to come into the full power of their anointing. And so now your business is gonna flourish. Oh help me, your relationship is going to soar. Your kids are gonna start worshiping without you making them. Their ipod is gonna have worship songs on there. It's gonna shock you. God is gonna begin to shift when he announces you. You nudge your elbow, he announced me. Go ahead, just tell 'em, he announced me. That is the rebirth, and here's what you can expect on your rebirth day, you get some presents.
How many people love presents? The first present is his presence. Everything after that is a step down, because when you have him, you have everything that comes with him. Oh my goodness. When you've got the presence of the living God, then you've got the healing of the living God, you've got the provision of the living God, you've got the favor of the living God, you've got the protection of the living God, you've got the wisdom of the living God. Do you really need anything outside of him? Then you need to be excited that the first present you get in the rebirth is his presence. And here's what happens. Since you're getting rebirthed let me give you a couple more res that come with your rebirth. Your spirit is reborn. Your body is restored. Your heart is recreated, and your mind is renewed.
See, your spirit is reborn. We were born into corruptible flesh, but when we accept Jesus Christ we are reborn with a renewed spirit, my spirit is reborn, that's what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus in the scripture. You were born in the flesh, but you gotta be born of the spirit, and you've gotta be born again, and God is getting ready to unlock the full potential, he is giving you this place of rebirth, and I know there are some haters who are gonna look at you and be like, you don't look different. And there are some people that are gonna walk past and they're gonna say all kinds of things. You cannot let that move you, because this is not about their perception, it's about God's declaration.
Somebody say, reborn. Restored. Recreated. Renewed. Don't be don't be conformed to the ways of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your, just say it out loud, I changed my mind. Once more time, say, I changed my mind. Seeing in Psalm 51 he creates in you a clean heart, and just in case you came in here sick, he also restores your body. So you can expect for that spot that was on your lung to be gone the next time you go to the doctor. You can expect tonight while you're walking that issue with your knee is not gonna be there. You might as well high step. Put your heels back on. That pain in your back, in your side, the kidneys, all of that, and that blood work that was a little suspect, go back again, because when you get reborn, God renews, he restores, he recreates, he re-everything. So let me pray for you. Lemme pray for you.
Father, as I'm celebrating my birthday I'm declaring over my brothers and sisters in Christ that this will be their rebirth day. That they come into the knowledge that they are reborn, renewed, restored and recreated. That their mind, their body, their spirit, their heart are being transformed by Jesus Christ himself. I pray that this word will resonate, and that they will be able to understand the depth of your love by what you did in giving all of us a second chance to be born again. So it doesn't matter what I was born as. I can be reborn in your son. So I lay down my old nature, and it doesn't matter what people say about me, and it doesn't matter what they think about me, because in you this is my prayer, in Jesus name, amen.
With heads bowed and eyes closed if you're in here and you have never given your life to Jesus, heads bowed, eyes closed. If you can stay for one moment, please do. Heads bowed, eyes closed, you've never given your life to Jesus, or you need to rededicate your life to Jesus, can you do me a favor? Right where you are, this is your moment. This is your moment of rebirth. This can be your rebirth day, June 24th, 2015. Just stand up where you are and say, I'm coming home. I'm being reborn, if that's you. Happy rebirth day, look at that. Happy rebirth day. If somebody's standing there you tell 'em, happy rebirth day. I believe there are others that need to stand, don't be ashamed. Come on, somebody's clapping back there for somebody else. Happy rebirth day. While you're standing, repeat this prayer, remain standing. Repeat this prayer:
Lord Jesus, I confess with my mouth, and believe in my heart that Jesus is Lord. Thank you that your blood has made me new, your sacrifice has made me right with God. Tonight it's not just my birthday, it's my rebirth day. I'm reborn, restored, recreated and renewed, in Jesus name, amen.