Regeneration

I must say I had a lot of fun playing volleyball and dominating on you guys on Wednesday. I was pretty amazed at my wife's dedication as she dove for one. She took one for the team. I think it was probably a little bit distracting to talk outside rather than inside, I am not sure if everyone was actually able to pay attention that well. I was talking and I couldn't concentrate that well because I was getting bit by bugs. I am also really excited that the girls are going to start the Captivating book study. I think Amanda is looking forward to leading it. It will be really good.

There is something that I have been bothered by and I feel like God has given me a real burden to talk about and it is regeneration and how it relates to the lives of people today, because it almost feels like a lost doctrine in the churches today. It is that thing that no one talks about. I feel heartbroken as I write this, but statistics are telling us now that only 20% or less of the people in our churches today are actually born again/regenerated. If we take the Bible seriously, as I hope you do, then we see that there is a very large number of people in our churches today that are not saved. This is probably the reason why other countries are now sending missionaries to the United States.

I am not sure exactly where the problem lies, or who to cast the blame on. I see a problem that is not going to be easy to get rid of, false religion in the church. Repentance and faith in Christ are the way to salvation, not simply repeating a prayer that someone else told you to say. The more I study the Bible the more I realize that a radical change occurs when someone is born again. That is missing from the Gospel preached by the church today. We have created in our minds a God that can justify us, but doesn't have the power to change us. And the thought of such a thing is actually blasphemy.

Here is sermon that John Piper preached on being born again. It is pretty incredible and I hope you will enjoy.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2007/2490_You_Must_Be_Born_Again_Why_This_Series_and_Where_Are_We_Going/
You can read, watch, or listen to the sermon from here.

If you want to hear more from John Piper you can visit his website at http://www.desiringgod.org/ you will find other sermons and books that he has for sell and books you can download for free in pdf format on your computer.




Dwain Minor