What Kind Of Nature Are We Born With?

What kind of nature are we born with?  Could a person be healed after being crippled for 38 years and then betray the one who healed him?  What could be worse than being crippled and unable to stand for 38 years?  Does continued sinning lead to separation from God and hell? The following account tells us.  

John 5 ISV

1Later on, there was anothera festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem is a pool called Bethesdab in Hebrew. It has five colonnades, 3and under these a large number of sick people were lying—blind, lame, or paralyzed—waiting for the movement of the water.c 4At certain times an angel of the Lord would go down into the pool and stir up the water, and whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.d

5One particular man was there who had been ill for 38 years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

7The sick man answered him, “Sir, I don’t have anyone to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I’m trying to get there, someone else steps down ahead of me.”

8Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” 9The man immediately became well, and he picked up his mat and started walking. Now that day was a Sabbath.

10So the Jewish leaderse told the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.

11But he answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

12They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?”

13But the one who had been healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away from the crowd in that place.

14Later on, Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Look! You have become well. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 

15The man went off and told the Jewish leadersf that it was Jesus who had made him well. 

16So the Jewish leadersg began persecuting Jesus,h because he kept doing such things on the Sabbath.

Obedience Or The Wrath Of God

John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for Jesus the Messiah. Concerning himself, John said that his own importance must decrease and that Jesus' importance must increase. This goes for every true believer. Through the new birth and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are to be putting our old nature to death by rejecting its desires. We should be living for Jesus the Messiah, overjoyed and listening to him. To know him is to love him.

We are born with a sinful nature and dead to God. As soon as were able we sin and the wrath of God abides on us. Unless we repent and surrender our lives to Jesus who gives the new birth, the wrath of God abides on us and we will never see true life.

We must be born from above. Then we should be in his written word, talking to him throughout the day. We must obey him, so we must not look to the ear tickling preachers of today, but to the written word of God.

John 3 ISV
27John replied, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to them from heaven. 

• 28You yourselves are myt witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah,u but I have been sent ahead of him.’ 29It is the bridegroom who gets the bride, yet the bridegroom’s friend, who merelyv stands by and listens for him, is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That’s why this joy of mine is now complete. 30He must become more important, but I must become less important.”

31The one who comes from above is superior to everything. The one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things.w 

The one who comes from heaven is superior to everything. 

• 32He testifies about what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. 
• 33The person who has accepted his testimony has acknowledged that God is truthful.x 
• 34The one whom God sent speaks the words of God, because Gody does not give the Spirit in limited measure to him.z 
• 35The Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands. 
• 36The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, 
• but the one who disobeys the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

“For This Is How God Loved The World"

When Adam sinned he died spiritually and and his nature was passed on to all humanity. Jesus the Messiah who was God, came to earth to go to the cross to pay the price of sin. He willingly took the wrath of his Father so that we could be born from above and have eternal life.  

John 3 ISV

1Now there was a man from the Pharisees, a leader of the Jews, whose name was Nicodemus. 2He came to Jesusa at night and told him, “Rabbi,b we know that you have come from God as a teacher, because no one can perform these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.”

• 3Jesus replied to him, “Truly, I tell youc emphatically, unless a person is born from aboved he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4Nicodemus asked him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He can’t go back into his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?”

• 5Jesus answered, “Truly, I tell youe emphatically, unless a person is born of water and Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
• f6What is born of the flesh is flesh, 
• and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

7Don’t be astonished that I told you, ‘All of you must be born from above.’g 8The windh blows where it wants to. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. That’s the way it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9Nicodemus asked him, “How can that be?”

10Jesus answered him, “You’re the teacher of Israel, and you can’t understand this? 11Truly, I tell youi emphatically, we know what we’re talking about, and we testify about what we’ve seen. Yet you peoplej do not accept our testimony. 12If I have told you peoplekabout earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

13“No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven.l 14Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.m

16“For this is how God loved the world: 

• He gave his unique Son so that everyone who believes in him might not be lost but have eternal life. 
• 17Because God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
• 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s unique Son. 
• 19And this is the basis for judgment: The light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light because their actions were evil. 
• 20Everyone who practices wickedness hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his actions may not be exposed.n 
• 21But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may become evident that his actions have God’s approval.”o

Nicodemus who was a Pharisee and a teacher should have known about being born from above as Jesus told them about the new birth in Ezekiel, in the Old Testament. Ezekiel, speaking of eternal life or eternal death, told the children of Israel:

Ezekiel 18 ISV 
30“Therefore, Israel, I’m going to judge you according to the behavior of each and every one of you,” declares the Lord GOD. 

• “So repent and turn from all your sins so that sin won’t keep on being a stumbling block for you.
•  31Stop your transgressing—the deeds by which you’ve rebelled—and then make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. 
• Why should you die, you house of Israel? 
• 32I don’t take pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the LORD. 
• “So repent, so you may live!”

Andrew, Kathy & John Eastmond

My friend Greg Schultz and I had lunch with Andrew and Kathy Eastmond, along with their son John, pastors Tommy & Gail White, and Kurt Gile. I encourage you to check out their music. I felt the Holy Spirit's presence immediately when they began to sing.

Copy and past the following link into your browser: You can listen to previews of their songs and different albums.
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/andrewandjohneastmond

Idolatry And The Love Of Money

We live in a day when the love of money is rampant among the church. Many false teachers love money and  have risen up to take advantage of their hearer's love of money. Both are idolaters. In the face of the fact the new testament does not teach tithe, many teachers and pastors make it a major point of their teaching.

Creflo Dollar said people should have to give their tithe or be barred from entering the church and then shot. Later on Creflo Dollar was put behind bars for hurting is daughter.

John 2 ISV

13The Jewish Passover was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the Temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as moneychangers sitting at their tables. 15After making a whip out of cords, he drove all of them out of the Temple, including the sheep and the cattle. He scattered the coins of the moneychangers and knocked over their tables.

• 16Then he told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”i

1 Timothy 6 ISV 

3If anyone teaches false doctrine and refuses to agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,d and godly teaching,4he is a conceited person and does not understand anything. 

He has an unhealthy craving for arguments and debates. This produces jealousy, rivalry, slander, evil suspicions, 5and incessant conflict between people who are depraved in mind and deprived of truth. They think that godliness is a way to make a profit.e 

6Of course, godliness with contentment does bring a great profit.

7Nothing to this world we bring;

from it take we nothing.

8With food to eat and clothes to wear;

content we are in everything.

9But people who want to get rich keep toppling into temptation and are trapped by many stupid and harmful desires that plunge them into destruction and ruin. 

10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, in their eagerness to get rich, have wandered away from the faith and causedf themselves a lot of pain.

Proverbs 11  ISV

28The person who trusts in his wealth will fall,

but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.

Jesus - The Only One Who Can Take Away Your Sin

The disciple John records what John the Baptist said about Jesus. To know him is to love him. It takes time, but the more you seek him the more you will find him. He is the very source of true life and true love. He paid the price for our sins so we could be born again and receive a new spirit. Go after him with all you have! Don't give up. Soon, those who trust him and obey him will be with him.

John 1 ISV

24Now those menv had been sent from the Pharisees. 25They asked him, “Why, then, are you baptizing if you are not the Messiah,w or Elijah, or the Prophet?”26John answered them, 

• “I am baptizing withx water, 
• but among you stands a man whom you do not know, 
• 27the one who is coming after me, whose sandal straps I am not worthy to untie.” 

28This happened in Bethanyy on the other sidez of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29The next day, Johnaa saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 

• “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
• 30This is the one about whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks above me, because he existed before me.’ 
• 31I didn’t recognize him, but I came baptizing withbb water so that he might be revealed to Israel.”
• 32John also testified, “I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 
• 33I didn’t recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize withcc water told me, ‘The person on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining is the one who baptizes withdd the Holy Spirit.’ 
• 34I have seen this and have testified that this is the Sonee of God.”

Obedience And The Resulting Life Or Death

Matthew 21 ISV

28“But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29His sonrreplied, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later he changed his mind and went. 30Then the fathers went to the other sont and told him the same thing. He replied, ‘I will,u sir,’ but he didn’t go. 31Which of the two did the father’s will?”

They answered, “The first one.”

Jesus told them, “I tell all of youv with certainty, tax collectors and prostitutes will get into God’s kingdom ahead of you! 32John came to you living a righteous life,w and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. But even when you saw that, you didn’t change your mindsx at last and believe him.”

First, for those of you who desire to please God, I want us to look at Jesus' parable of the two sons. I believe the Lord has shown me something priceless which will be of great encouragement to you! 

The son who told his father he did not want to go into the vineyard and work, later changed his mind and Jesus makes it clear "HE DID THE FATHER'S WILL". The father did not bring up again about the son's rebellious "I do not want to". I see the following:

• As born again children of God, we still have the old sin nature which we wrestle with and so often believe it is us, but we have a new spirit that came from God! 
• The old nature does not define us! We are told to crucify and rule over it. If we sin, we are to confess and turn from it. Jesus forgives us and forgets the sin! 
• We will war against this old nature until we die or are taken when the Lord returns.      
• Our old nature was laid on his Son who paid for our sin.
• Our Father God is pleased with us when we crucify the flesh (old nature) and obey!
• We will be like our fathers in the faith as described in Hebrews 11. They were clearly shown to be sinners in the Old Testament, but when the Holy Spirit describes them in the New Testament they are great men of faith! There is no mention of their sins!!! (this made me cry). Blessed be your name Oh God. There is none like you!

The scriptures tell the results of obeying God or not so I must finish looking at what Jesus said above about the disobedience. If you are living in sin and walking in willful disobedience, you are rejecting the gospel. God has given you time to change your mind and believe in his Son Jesus the Messiah. I believe it is clear that if you die in this condition you will not be part of God's kingdom, but be separated from God forever (verse 32 above). Today is the day of salvation. You are not promised more time to repent. 

Proverbs 29 ISV

1After many rebukes, the stiff-necked man will be broken incurably, without any warning.