05/12/2018
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Now there was a certain man among the
Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler (member of the Sanhedrin) among the Jews,
who came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi (Teacher), we know [without
any doubt] that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these
signs [these wonders, these attesting miracles] that You do unless God is with
him.” Jesus answered him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a person is
born again
[reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever] see and experience the
kingdom of God.”Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he
is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?”
Jesus answered, “I
assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless one is born of water and
the Spirit he cannot [ever] enter
the kingdom of God. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh [the physical is merely physical], and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Do
not be surprised that I have told you, ‘You must be born again [reborn from
above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].’ The wind blows where it wishes
and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it is coming from and where
it is going; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How
can these things be possible?” Jesus replied, “You are the [great and well-known] teacher of Israel, and yet you
do not know nor understand these things [from Scripture]? I assure you and
most solemnly say to you, we speak only of what we [absolutely] know and testify about what we have [actually] seen [as eyewitnesses]; and [still] you [reject our evidence and] do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things [that is, things that happen
right here on earth] and you do not believe, how will you believe and trust Me if I
tell you heavenly things? No
one has gone up into heaven, but there is One who came down from heaven, the
Son of Man
[Himself—whose home is in heaven]. Just as Moses lifted up the [bronze] serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must the Son of Man be
lifted up
[on the cross],so
that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life [after physical death, and will actually
live forever]. “For
God so
[greatly] loved
and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes
and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the
world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of
the world], but
that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes and has decided to
trust in Him
[as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation]; but the one who does not
believe [and
has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted
and sentenced], because
he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly
unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him]. This is the
judgment
[that is, the cause for indictment, the test by which people are judged, the
basis for the sentence]: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather
than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For every wrongdoer hates the Light, and
does not come to the Light [but shrinks from it] for fear that his [sinful, worthless] activities will be exposed and condemned. But whoever practices truth [and does what is right—morally,
ethically, spiritually] comes to the Light, so that his works may be plainly shown to be what
they are—accomplished in God [divinely prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence on Him].” John
3:1-22
Here we see Nicodemus {a highly educated Pharisee, ruler and member of the Sanhedrin} questioning the authority of Jesus just like the Evangelical Church of our time is doing concerning WHO CAN BE SAVED and GO TO HEAVEN. Let us not forget that it was the Sanhedrin who wanted Jesus to be put to death, because He was a RADICAL MAN of GOD who loved and accepted GOD'S CREATION just as GOD made them. JESUS proved time and again that HE stood for the ways of HEAVEN and NOT the ways of the men and women of Earth who passed unnecessary judgement upon each other because of their RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.
Every time Jesus contradicted what the RELIGIOUS SECT {SANHEDRIN} had to say they grew more and more angry because they wanted to control the people with their chains of bondage.
Praise God for sending His Son Jesus to SET THE CAPTIVES FREE from the chains of bondage the RELIGIOUS SECTS put their people under.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me (the Messiah), Because He has anointed Me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent Me to announce release (pardon, forgiveness) to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed (downtrodden, bruised, crushed by tragedy), to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the favor of God abound greatly].” Luke 4:18-19
Let us learn from SCRIPTURE that JESUS is the SAVIOR of ALL MANKIND, including the LGBTQI+ Community.
The next time a RELIGIOUS FANATIC tries to make you feel that you are LESS THEN WORTHY, remind them of the WORDS of JESUS from John 3. EVERYONE who comes to JESUS can be saved!!!
Praise GOD!!!
Blessings and Peace,
Rainbow Pastor David
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