What It Means To Be Born Again
By Bro. StoneKing

I Would like to talk to you on a subject entitled, “What does it mean to be born again?”. In the third chapter of the book of John, verses one through eight, the Bible says: There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, “Then came Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these miracle that thou doest, except God be with him.” “Jesus ANSWERED and said unto him, Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannotsee the kingdom of God.” “Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second tine into his mother’s womb, and be born? “Jesus answered, Verily Verily I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.” “Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.” “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.” Ephesians Chapter four, verses five and six says, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one  God and Father of all who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Prayer)

Most of you know that I pastor a church in New York adjacent to  the capital city of Albany. In my congregation, there is a very lovely couple who own a Christian broadcast radio station. Because of this, I am involved in many things that a lot of our ministers aren’t. I have cone in contact with some very unusual situations. I have been interviewed live on the radio and I have participated in several of those viewer call-in programs. In the course of all of this, I head a great deal about being born again. Many people say they have been born again but they have really not been born again. They are not genuinely in the body of the Lord.

I want to talk to you about what it means to be born again. This is not a game, this is a life or death situation. If what Jesus said is true, then we really do not have a choice in the matter for Jesus said “except ye be born again, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” You must be, you have to be born again if you are going to live eternally. You have to be born again correctly, not as tradition would have it, not as church rule would have lt, but you must do it Biblically and scripturally correct.

The Bible says there is only one Lord, one faith and one baptism. The word baptism comes from the Greek word baptisto, which means to be covered over with something and then to come forth from it; if you are literally baptized, you will come forth from it.

There is a tremendous parallel between the physical birth of a human being and the spiritual birth of a soul. In the natural, a baby is first conceived and then it takes nine months for that baby to be born; In the animal kingdom, it can vary, it can take longer or shorter than nine months but, one thing is common to both; it must first be conceived and the a period of growth follow, then there is the period of coming forth or being born alive.

Jesus was talking to a smart man. Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews and he came by night to talk with Jesus. He did not pose himself before this Rabbi at high noon or When all of his friends were around, but he came under the cover of night. Nicodemus did not want to be disclosed but when he came to Jesus, Jesus knew his heart and he knows your heart here today. Jesus looked into the eyes of Nicodemus and he said “verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” That is a very powerful statement, its very simple but it’s very powerful. Nicodemus then posed a question from his carnality and Jesus repeated himself with more clarity. Jesus told Nicodemus that unless he was born again of Water and of the Spirit he could not enter into the Kingdom of God.

The scripture says that there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism, but the baptism has two parts; human and spiritual.

You cannot see from which direction the wind is blowing but you can hear it as it whistles around the roof of this building. Jesus said the wind blows where it wants to and thou hearest the sound thereof, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. What is he really saying? He is saying that when a person is born again, you are going to hear something. When the Spirit of God blows, you are going to hear it. In other words, I’m saying to you that when you come to God and the Spirit comes to you alive and you cradle the Spirit of God in your heart; then that Spirit will cry out and when that Spirit cries, you will hear a sound and that sound will be speaking in tongues. When a child is born, in the natural, it will make a sound. Doctors will induce the sound.
Every normal child that is born will make a sound or noise of some kind. Sound will accompany that life as long as it lives. When you receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it will make a sound as long as you are alive in Him. When you receive the Holy Ghost, that is only the beginning of tongues, you will speak in tongues throughout your Christian life. The word of God is the seed and the seed becomes vented and it grows. This is what I want you to understand: I said at the start of this message that most people that say they are born again are not really born again, however, I did not say to you that they had nothing. I simply said that they were not genuinely born again. When you come to the knowledge of the Word of God and the seed is planted in a human heart or soul that person is conceived. Man people are conceived. Many people are conceived in the womb of the Word of God; they are not born again, but they are alive. There are many people in this country who are alive in the womb of the church but they are not independently alive. Unless they become independently alive, they will die in the womb of the church. The end result will be that they are still-born. You are not born again when you only believe that you are conceived. You are not born again when you have only repented, you are only a believer. You are not born again when you are only baptized in water in Jesus name, you are only a believer who has repented and has been baptized. You are not born again when you have only spoken with tongues, you are only a repented individual who has received the Holy Ghost. In order to be born again, you must be baptized in Jesus name and you must receive the Holy Ghost, speaking with tongues. When you have been, as Jesus said, born of water and Spirit, you are true born. You are only half-born otherwise. If you have been baptized in Jesus name but have not received the Holy Ghost, you are only half-born, If you received the Holy Ghost but have not been to water in Jesus name, you are only half-born until you have been to water in Jesus name and received the Holy Ghost, speaking with tongues. We do not need a death or a miscarriage, we need a full birth that is healthy.

We have been so ridiculously ridiculed for our altar services and so made fun of because of the noise and the racket we go through. When a child is born naturally, doctors tell them not to stop, it’s almost here. We must not stop, we must continue until we are fully born again. We must begin to travail. It’s not the Lord’s will for the baby to travail but the bible says that when Zion begins to travail, she will bring forth children. The church is the mother. When we literally travail, children will begin to be born around you.

We must be born again!