“The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it is coming from, or where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit” – John 3:8

Everyone who is born of the spirit, everyone who is born again lives life at a new level of awareness and is able to accomplish things that others may only understand in the most limited way.  People can see that believers are different.  Believers are able to achieve success, happiness, peace, fulfillment, and that kind of radical inner joy that cannot be compromised by what is happening around them.  However, without being born again themselves, non-believers simply can’t figure out where this level of purpose, dedication, commitment, faith, and vision are coming from or where they are going.  In other words, they can see that something is working for those who are born again, but they aren’t sure why and they aren’t sure if it is just a coincidence or if there is actually a permanent improvement in the lives of those who follow Christ and accept His teaching.

So, which side of the line do you find yourself on today?  Have you committed your life to Christ?  Have you embraced the opportunity to change your life for the better both now and forever?  Are you living your best life now?  Experiencing all the blessings that God has in store for you?  Or are you finding it hard to commit?  Are you unsure what to commit to?  Do you think you have committed but you haven’t seen any results?  Did you commit to something a while ago, but haven’t really done anything about it since?

Here’s the secret to every believer’s success — Jesus offers answers to life’s questions that require complete commitment.  You can’t be “sort of” Christian any more than you can be “sort of” born.  Either you have been born again or you have not.  It’s a commitment.  It’s a permanent change.  And like any commitment, you only reap the benefits if you are actually, fully, 100% dedicated, with no compromise.  It’s like marriage, you can’t be “sort of” married, and people who try to be discover that it is not fulfilling, successful, or joyful.  The fact is, the only way to discover the full benefits of marriage is to be 100% committed to your spouse and to God without looking back, and expecting the same of them.  And its like that with life as well. Too many people try to live life without any intention of following through.  Trying to find some sort of safe middle road that doesn’t offend anyone too badly, that seems reasonable and acceptable to most people, and that doesn’t require any significant change to how they see the world or live their lives.  They may “commit their life to Christ” in the same way that some people try “a starter marriage” before they get to the real thing.  But the tragedy is, for those who lack commitment and an understanding of the life of faith, their experience as a believer will only be limited and will likely end in disappointment, just like those who believe in starter marriages condemn themselves to the tragedy and heartache of a breakup.  Being born again is kind of like marriage, a lot of people focus on the wedding and expect the rest to just happen on its own, when, in fact, the wedding itself is only significant because it marks the beginning of the marriage.  It’s like life, while it is extremely significant that you were born, it is perhaps more relevant that you are alive.

When Jesus explained that every person must be born again in order to enter the kingdom of God, He was revealing that every life has the opportunity to experience a complete overhaul, a revolutionary change for the better that takes us to a new level of understanding, a new level of vision, a new level of decision making, a new level of accomplishment, success, fulfillment, peace, happiness, the list goes on.  The benefits of being born again are limitless and eternal, and to get them started in your own life, all it requires is a commitment without compromise.  A choice that will require every day of your life for as long as you live.  A decision that will determine your bedrock, your foundation, your direction, and your destiny.  You can’t go halfway.  It’s all or nothing and it will take everything you’ve got.  Look at your life today.  Choose today, and today could be your spiritual birthday, the first day of the rest of your life.  If this is what you want, then tell Jesus today,

“I want to be a Christian.  I commit my life, my thoughts, my stuff, and my heart to you.  Everything that I have and that I am are yours.  You are the only God for me.  From now on, I want to see what you see, I want to know what you know, I want to love who you love, I want to do what you do.  Nothing will stop me this time.  No weapon formed against me will prosper.  No distraction, obstacle, or challenge will take me away from you.  No doubt will turn me from my purpose to seek and to accomplish your will.  I know and I believe that you have great things in store for me.  I’m yours Lord, save me.”

If you prayed that prayer, than you have been born again.  Get in a good, Bible-based church, and get ready to experience all of the promises that God has in store.  He is going to take you places that you’ve never even dreamed of.

There was a time when only a few could or did know God.  But when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea all that changed.  God Himself became universally visible for the first time, not just to a select few prophets or wise men, not just to the priests and levites serving in the temple, and more importantly, not just to the few who actually met Jesus in those few years He spent building His ministry, developing a following, and initiating His kingdom on earth to coordinate in harmony with His kingdom in heaven.

“Because you have seen me you have believed.  Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed” – John 20

The key to becoming a priest is establishing an unmediated relationship with Jesus Christ as your only God.  Don’t hide.  Don’t try to enlist someone else to take care of it for you.  Its about you and God.  Its between you and God.  And only you and God can sort it out.

So, to become a priest, here are the basic steps that God has provided, for anyone who desires to find Him:

1. Take ownership of your life.  Every decision you have made.  Every experience you have lived.  Every thing that has been done to you.  Everything that you have done.  And all of the results both good and bad.  Accept where you are and who you are with complete openness, honesty, and the willingness to see it for what it is. 
2. Evaluate your decision making based on the results you acheive.  God’s answers always work.  So if the decisions you are making aren’t working, they aren’t God’s will for your life.  Identify where God is already blessing your life and areas where you are still in need of blessing.
3. Commit your life, your decisions, your property, and your personal identity to Jesus Christ as your only God.  Jesus is God.  Embracing this reality will take your perspectives, your decision making ability, and the results you achieve to places you have not even thought possible before.  And commiting your life to Him changes the way you interact with other people, what you choose to do with the time and resources He provides for you, and at the heart of it all your commitment changes who you are – because by choosing a relationship with Jesus as your only God, you are born again.
4. Get baptized by full immersion in water in the name of “Jesus Christ”.  Baptism is the physical act of commitment indicating your ordination into the priesthood.  No other names, titles, or aspects of God should be used in the baptism of new believers than “Jesus Christ”.  Although only your own commitment to walk with Christ can make your baptism effective, and so who physically helps you into the water and makes the statement “I baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ”  is of little consequence, the best practice is to be baptized by the believer who introduced you to Jesus as your only God.  This connection through shared experience will provide you with a mentor in the faith, and a fellow disciple to walk with on the path to eternal life.
5. Take your baptism to the next level.  The baptism in water is your ordination, but your calling is to receive full immersion in the holy spirit and fire.  God’s spirit comes on those who pursue, study, pray for, and accomplish His will.  And as you discover His will, come to understand the actual gospel, and persist in your commitment to staying right in your relationship with Him, exercising your rights as a believer and facing your responsibilities as well — the passion for the salvation of souls, for making the world a better place because you have lived in it, your ability to see God’s will in the present, and receive the persistent blessings God showers on you will rise up like a flame and the power of God’s love will come into you, over you and around you — and through you into all those you reach.
6. Make disciples.  It is the first and most important responsibility of every believer to introduce others to God.  As a priest you are a disciple, a follower and servant of Jesus Christ.  It is your job to make more disciples, not for yourself, but for God.  You may not be the first or the last person to introduce them.  They may not be ready to hear, or they may have deep seated rejection of God in their hearts.  But you make sure the witness of your life, and the testimony of your words accurately reflect, embody, and convey your relationship with Jesus Christ as your only God. 
7. Live with integrity.  One of the best measures of your own faith, is observing how consistent you are.  God is completely consistent and so has perfect integrity.  Evil, on the other hand is completely inconsistent and lacks all integrity.  God’s vision for your life is to bless every single thing you think, say, and do.  Every word you speak.  Every decision you make.  Every task you take on.  Everything.  Everything you choose to do either empowers the presence of God on earth, or limits His ability to bless you and those around you. 
8. Engage reality and so change it.  Don’t get bogged down in your mistakes, overcome them.  The only unforgiveable sin is one that you won’t face or for which you don’t want forgiveness.  God doesn’t hold mistakes against you, but there is nothing He can do if you don’t accept reality and choose to change it.  Our God is bigger than every challenge you face today.  And there is nothing you can do that will turn Him off of His desire to work with you.  God is a very persistent giver.  Accept the goodness of God, not because you believe you deserve it, but because you know that He wants to give it to you.  Every time you fall, get up.  Every time you stumble, take one more step.  Focus your life on discovering and accomplishing God’s will, not on reliving the past.  Every moment is a new opportunity to engage reality and so to change it.  Take that opporunity.

God isn’t holding anything back in His relationship with you.  His will always provides the best possible outcome in every situation.  And so as you embrace the reality of His will for you, you will be perfected not just individually in your relationship with Him, but also collectively with all other believers as we all work together in becoming the living body of Christ. 

Are you ready?  Then pray this prayer, “Lord Jesus, I accept who I am, I understand where I have been, and I repent of my sins.  Right here, right now, I commit the rest of my life to you.  Come into my heart.  I make you my one and only God.  Save me.  Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, I believe you were born again.  Get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, pursue and accomplish His will, and get ready to accept the blessings and the promises of God that will chase you down and overcome you now that you are a priest and a believer, a disciple of the one true God and eternal life, Jesus Christ.

Jesus warned, “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

There is only one teacher — Jesus Himself.

He is the holder of the keys, and He freely gives them to all who are willing to accept them.  It is His will that whenever we discover one, we share it.  And so, here are just a few of His keys to His kingdom that I have discovered in my walk with Him.

Jesus Christ is God

• Jehovah God Created Heaven and Earth (Gen 1:1)
• Jehovah God Himself is and Always Has Been the Savior of the World (Isa 43:11; Hos 13:4; Isa 47:4; Isa 63:16)
• Jesus Christ is Jehovah God (Isa 9:6-7; Isa 7:14; Mt 1:23; Isa 25:9; Isa 40:3-5; Jn 1:1-14; Ps 33:6; 1 John 5:20)
• Jesus was Born of the Virgin Mary – the Divine Soul in a Mortal Body and Mind (Lk 1:35)
• By His Own Power Jesus Made Himself Fully Divine, Completely One with His Soul, so that After Resurrection and Ascension He Was and Always Will be Jehovah God All the Way Down Even to His Body, whose name we now know “Jesus Christ” (Jn 14:6; Lk 24:39; Jn 14:9; Jn 3:25; Mt 11:27; Mt 28:18; Rev 1:8-11)
• Jesus Christ is the Archetypal Human, in whose image and likeness we were made — and so to be human is to be Christlike(Gen 1:26-27)
• Saving Faith is Believing and Following the Life of Jesus Christ (Jn 3:36; Jn 15:4-5)
• Every Believer is a Priest (Exod 19:6; Jer 31)
• Every Person has an Individual, Direct, Unmediated Relationship with Jesus (Jn 15:15)
• Jesus Christ Made His Second Advent (1745 - 1770) when He appeared in Person to Emanuel Swedenborg and Commissioned Him as a Revelator (Jn 16:12-15; Mt 24; Rev 1-22) as the prophets had foretold

Only God Explains Truth With Authority

• The Written Revelations Given By God contain Divine Truth Itself (Jn 6:63; Mk 13:31; Lk 16:17)
• The Written Text of these Revelations Describes the Truth, but it is a Believer’s Living and Present Relationship with God that Prescribes Answers for Life (Jn 16:12; Mt 5:17)
• Every Believer Can and Should Search the Scriptures for God’s Eternal Message (Mt 7:7-8; Mt 21:21-22; Mt 23:25-26)
• The Ten Commandments (Exod 20:1-17) Summarize Civil, Moral, and Spiritual Law(Mt 22:35-40; Lev 22:31; Jn 14:15; Jn 15:10)

Every Person’s Life is Their Faith, and Salvation is God’s Ability to Bless, Correct, Improve, Restore, and Resurrect

• There is Only One True Faith that can save no matter what (Mt 16:16-18; Ephesians 4:4-13)
• Saving Faith is Complete Confidence in Jesus Christ and Trust that Everyone who Lives a Good Life and Holds a Proper Belief is Saved by Him (Jn 11:25; Jn 3:16)
• Doing God’s Will and Obeying God’s Commands are Required to Facilitate the Gifts of Faith and Salvation Even Though These Actions Do Not Cause a Believer to Deserve or Merit Heaven (Jn 3:27; Jn 15:4-8; Jn 13:17; Mt 13:23; Mt 7:24-26; Lk 10:27)

Salvation is God’s Purpose for Every Life, Because He Wants You to Succeed and Be Blessed like Everyone Else

• Heaven Isn’t Just a Destination After Death, it is a Quality of Life, Right Here, Right Now (Lk 17:21)
• In terms of Physics (position, velocity, and acceleration) – Heaven is a Velocity, not a position.
• Everyone Lives Forever One Way or The Other (Jn 14:19; Jn 11:25)
• Heaven is Full of People Who Love God and Love People Like God Loves Them (Mic 6:8; Lk 10:27)
• Hell is Full of People Who Love Themselves and the stuff they can own, control, and manipulate (Ps 9:17; Lk 12:5)
• Heaven and Hell are Both Eternal (Lk 16:26)
• Every Human Being is Created for Heaven but is Free to Reject it (Lk 17:21)
• People in Heaven are Married, One Man with One Woman, to Eternity (Mt 19:4-6)

Every Moment of Every Day, Jesus Christ is Using Everything that He has to Bless You

• All Humans Have Free Will in Spiritual Matters and so Determine The Network and Context of their Own Eternal Life by Their Lifestyle Decision For or Against Jesus Christ (Ps 54:6; Isa 1:16-17; Jn 8:31-36; Jn 15:14-16)
• Confessing Sins to Jesus Christ alone without another mediator, changing the decision for sin, giving back for the Damage Caused, and being Born Again to New Life in His Name is how we accept restoration, blessing, peace, and success (Jn 3:3; Jn 3:5; Lk 3:3-8; Mk 1:4; Mk 1:15; Lk 13:5; Lk 15:7; Mt 10:39; Ps 51:10)

Two Processes that Can Change You: Baptism and Holy Supper

• Christian Baptism Replaces Circumcision (Deut 10:16; Galatians 5:6; 6:15)
• Baptism is an Introduction to a Network and Context of Believers on Earth and in Heaven (Mt 3:13)
• Baptism is Full Immersion in Water in the Name of Jesus Christ (Mt 28:18-19)
• Baptism of Water is only a stepping stone so that a Person will be Born Again by the Spirit of Jesus Christ the living and only God (Jn 3:5; Mk 16:16)
• Jesus Christ is Present With, Redeems, and Opens Heaven to Those who want to walk with Him when they Take the Bread and Fruit of the Vine in His Name (Jn 6:51-56)
• Eating and Drinking with Jesus Connects the Believer’s Life with Jesus Christ and so renews their Freedom in Him (Deut 8:3; Jn 6:27)
• Grace is the immediate willingness of God to work with us no matter what
• Mercy is the empowered love of God that restores what was broken as we walk with Him in new life.

There are so many keys, these are just a few that have turned my life around.  Take them, try them, and when God reaches into your life, like He has so many time in mine and takes these thoughts or others and makes them keys for you, keep a copy for yourself, but pass the original along to someone else in your life.  Because it is only when we bring someone with us that any of God’s keys will open the door to eternal life.

So change your life, and believe this Good News.

Jesus Christ returned centuries ago and nobody paid attention, nobody gave Him notice.  Just as there were many who tried to personally gain from His ministry in Galilea only to turn on Him when they discovered He would not fight to restore the throne of His ancestor David – there have been many who have tried to turn what Jesus taught at His second coming to their own advantage.  There have been false prophets who claimed His words as their own, but twisted them so as to corrupt them for their own ends.  There have been so called intellectuals who have made a distinction between Jesus and the teaching He completed during His second coming on the grounds that His return is all about “the truth” and “enlightenment”, but once again these are just looking for an angle to personally gain from what they have discovered, so that they can sound smart, win in the petty economic struggles of earthly existence, and delight in the ignorance of those who have not read what Jesus taught.  All in all, Jesus has been surrounded by unbelieving, self-absorbed, power hungry, wealth and position seeking people ever since He returned in person to finish what He started over 2000 years ago.  Just like His 12 disciples arguments over position, power, and influence – those who have come across the news of the second coming have completely missed its primary point.  And so, over 200 years later, the world is still waiting for the kingdom that God is already setting up!

So, repent!  Hear the Good News and change your life!  For the kingdom of God is here, right now, and you can be a part of it.  And come, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and spread the Word that He is alive, He is God, He has come again, and He is and will always be right here, right now, ready to save.