That Time I hit a Harley

[00:00:03] Welcome to the Pursuing Faith podcast, where we explore questions of faith, doubt, and life. I am your host, Dominic Done. Welcome friends to today's episode of Pursuing Faith. Before we get started, I wanted to share a couple quick updates with you guys.

[00:00:29] First of all, I want to highlight some of our content that's on our website. We have audio resources, as well as a video series on how to grow in faith that's taken from 2 Peter 1. We also have a course recorded at Biola University with their Apologetics program.

[00:00:47] It's on doubt and deconstruction, and it was an amazing time. We had a live audience. We dove into scripture, history, culture. We had a time of Q&A. You can check out these resources. They're free of charge at pursuingfaith.org.

[00:01:05] The second thing I wanted to mention is that I'll be speaking this Sunday, October 29th at Bayside Santa Rosa, and then November 5th at Bayside Folsom in California. So if you happen to live in these cities, we'd absolutely love to see you.

[00:01:23] So the last few months, we've been going through the Gospel of John. We've been having a look at the history and background, as well as exploring cultural and apologetic questions that this book raises for us today. And in this episode, we'll be unpacking the first part of John 3,

[00:01:44] digging into what Jesus meant when he told Nicodemus, You must be born again. We'll have a look at Old as well as New Testament context, Greek philosophy, and towards the end, that time I hit a Harley. I hope you guys enjoy this.

[00:02:12] So I want to begin today with a question. The question is when you hear the phrase, born again, Christian, what for you comes to mind? I think for the 29%, I guess is the latest stat of Americans who say that they are born again Christians,

[00:02:31] they may think faithful or committed or Bible believing or whatever. But what about the 70% plus? And in our own city, it's a much larger number than that. The percentage of people who do not consider themselves to be born again.

[00:02:49] When they hear that phrase, born again Christian, what for them comes to mind? I sat down recently, had breakfast with a guy named Gabe Lyons. Gabe Lyons, he heads up the Q Podcast, which if you're looking for a real fascinating podcast,

[00:03:04] it's kind of the Ted version, a Christian Ted, where they have these different talks and speakers and thinkers, and it's a brilliant podcast. And he was in town, got a hold of me, and we sat down, had some breakfast together.

[00:03:18] And we started to talk about this conversation because he wrote a book not too long ago called UnChristian, what a new generation really thinks about Christianity. And he and this other thinker, sociologist guy, Dave Kinnaman, they did a ton of research.

[00:03:34] And if you read that book, UnChristian, first of all, if you want to be depressed, pick up that book and read it. But it's actually, there's a ton of hope there as well. And he asks millions of young people, unchurched, okay, what do you think of Christianity?

[00:03:50] And if you hear that phrase, born again Christian, what for you comes to mind? And overwhelmingly, the response was hypocritical or judgmental or political. And right in the middle of this book, he has this line, I'll read it to you. He said, what are Christians known for?

[00:04:10] Outsiders think our moralizing, our condemnations, and our attempts to draw boundaries around everything. And even if these standards are accurate and biblical, they seem to be all we have to offer. And if our lives are a poor advertisement for the standards,

[00:04:27] we have set the game board to register lifestyle points. Then we're surprised to be trapped by our mistakes. The truth is, we have invited the hypocrite image. Now, like it or not, that is the perception that millions of Americans

[00:04:45] and definitely a ton of people in our own city think about Christians. And in particular, that phrase born again Christians. Wasn't it Gandhi who said, I like their Christ, but I don't like their Christians.

[00:04:58] And what's so tragic and interesting is that, you know, Jesus is the first one to use this phrase born again. But the way he describes it is anything but judgmental or hypocritical. It definitely wasn't political. In fact, when Jesus first used it here in John chapter three,

[00:05:15] it was one of the most inspiring, thought provoking, revolutionary, justice oriented, freedom oriented phrases imaginable. And you begin to dig into this phrase and what Jesus actually meant by it. It's mind blowing. It's a game changer.

[00:05:30] And this is where I began to realize as I'm studying this last week, like, oh my gosh, I'm just a few verses in and then I get to verse seven where Jesus says, you must be born again. And I'm like, OK, this is going to take some time.

[00:05:42] So it's going to be fun. The plan is over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be walking through this passage with you guys. And I really think that we need to recapture this phrase born again.

[00:05:55] I had another conversation that was interesting this last week with a guy. He's like, you know, I don't know what to call myself. He said the term born again, you know, so politicized. I don't like that term. Evangelical, that's even worse. So I don't use that.

[00:06:09] And Christian people have all kinds of bad baggage with that. And he said, you know, I used to call myself a Jesus follower, but now that's kind of trendy. And he said, I don't know what to call myself anymore. I'm like, try Christian, right?

[00:06:23] Because there's this tendency, I think, where we always want to relabel ourself. We live in a day and age where people are obsessed with labels and trying to repackage something that actually is very simple.

[00:06:36] And I just wonder, thinking out loud, what if instead of trying to relabel ourselves every six months or six years or whatever the case may be, what if we actually recaptured the beauty and wonder of what was actually meant?

[00:06:49] When Jesus says born again, you couldn't come up with something that is so beautiful and rich and deep. So that's where I want to go the next couple of weeks, born again 2.0. Let's dive in.

[00:07:02] If you have your Bibles open, you're going to need a pen and a piece of paper, by the way, today. So grab that. If you don't have one, steal your neighbor's. If you don't have that, put your phone on airplane mode. Open up the Notes app.

[00:07:13] Verse 1, there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night. First episode of Nick at Night.

[00:07:26] And he said, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform the signs that you are doing if God were not with him. So write this down. The word Pharisee. John says that Nicodemus was a Pharisee.

[00:07:40] The word Pharisee comes from this word Paris. And it means to divide or to separate. And Pharisees called themselves this because they saw themself as fully divided or separate from the world. They saw themself as exclusively belonging to God, to Torah, the law, and obeying the commandments.

[00:08:05] And everything they did just revolved around their commitment to God and to his word. And I point this out because, and I think this is the fault of pastors like me.

[00:08:14] When we hear the word Pharisee, I think most Christians in America think of images of narrow-minded haters and stone throwers. But what gets lost in this is that in Jesus' day, to be called a Pharisee was actually a badge of honor. I'm Larry Osborne.

[00:08:34] He said this, Pharisees excelled in everything we admire spiritually. They were zealous for God, completely committed to their faith. They were theologically astute, masters of the biblical text. They fastidiously, it's a great word, obeyed even the most obscure commands.

[00:08:51] They even made up, this is true, extra rules just in case they were missing anything. Their embrace of spiritual disciplines was second to none. You know, the Pharisees, they saw themselves as God's biggest fans. They prayed to him, they worshipped him, they spoke out in his defense.

[00:09:10] And yet what's so ironic is that when God himself actually showed up, the word, Jesus, John 1, Jesus shows up and they didn't recognize him. And when they began to, they opposed him. Why? Why is that?

[00:09:25] Because the Pharisees were so enamored with the law, crossing every T and dotting every I. But in the process, they forgot the most important thing and that is love. It's fascinating to me that those who are uber obsessed with spiritual disciplines

[00:09:43] and the people in my life that I know who are so into spiritual disciplines and yet can many times lack love. This was the issue with the Pharisees. They kept the law, they kept the commandment and yet love got lost. This is true in the first century.

[00:10:01] The Pharisees, they looked back at the law, I think of Deuteronomy where God said, keep my law close to your mind. And the Pharisees, they interpreted that and they're like, okay, keep God's law close to our mind.

[00:10:13] Obviously, God's speaking metaphorically but they took it as, okay, he's speaking literally so how do we keep God's word close to our mind? And so they built these black boxes called phylacteries. And they put fragments of the law inside these black boxes

[00:10:28] and they strapped the black boxes to their head, keep God's law close to their mind. So they'd be walking out in the Agora or the marketplace or Walmart of the ancient world and they're like, oh, I need to be in scripture.

[00:10:41] They'd open their little phylactery and they'd take out scripture and they'd read it. Nowadays, we have iPhones which is so much better. But back then, they had these things, phylacteries. So what happened is among some Pharisees is it became a competition.

[00:10:54] The bigger the phylactery, the more holy the Pharisee. And so in some cases, they have these massive phylacteries that are strapped to their heads. Remember when Jesus says, you stoop over and he's talking literally because they wouldn't be able to lift up their head for very long

[00:11:13] because the phylactery was so big in the ancient world in the first century. They called the Pharisees bump and stumble Pharisees because they were always bumping into things and into people. But from their perspective, they're like, oh, we're keeping the law.

[00:11:27] We're doing all these things. Look at us. And yet Jesus shows up and he's like, that's fine. You're doing all that. But you've forgotten the most important thing. You're not loving people. Remember in Luke 18, Jesus, he told the parable.

[00:11:42] He said two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. And the Pharisees stood by himself and prayed, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people,

[00:11:54] robbers and evil doers and adulterers, or even like this tax collector over here. I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of all I get. Look at all this stuff I'm doing. But the tax collector stood at a distance.

[00:12:07] He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me. I'm a sinner. I tell you that this man rather than the other went home justified before God

[00:12:20] for all those who exalt themselves will be humbled and all those who humble themselves will be exalted. Can you see why the Pharisees couldn't stand Jesus? Because Jesus completely subverted their perspective of what, who is in and who is out.

[00:12:37] Jesus, he welcomed people with open arms, the marginalized, the wounded, the oppressed, the poor, the broken, the sinner, the tax collector, the prostitute. And Jesus embodied what it meant to be born again. And I think it was this that attracted Nicodemus to Jesus.

[00:12:57] It wasn't that Jesus lived the perfect way he did, but it wasn't that so much that attracted the Pharisee Nicodemus. And it wasn't so much his knowledge of Torah that attracted Nicodemus. It was love that was living in him. And Nicodemus comes to Jesus.

[00:13:14] He's like, I know that there's something in you, something that I'm longing for, something that I'm searching for. It awakened a longing and a hunger in his heart.

[00:13:23] And so he's like, Jesus, I know that you must be of God because no one could do the things that you do unless God was with him. Now, check out Jesus' response, because Nicodemus kind of flatters him here. And then Jesus responds, verse 3,

[00:13:37] Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. How can someone be born when they're old? Nicodemus asked. Literally, they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born. I just love how literal he's taking this.

[00:13:55] He's like a five on the Enneagram. He's super analytical. It's like, OK, I have to be born again. How is this? That's weird, Jesus.

[00:14:04] And Jesus answered and he said, very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they're born of water and the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit.

[00:14:16] You shouldn't be surprised at my saying, you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it wishes. You hear it sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.

[00:14:29] Now, it's exactly at this point this last week as I'm reading this and studying this, I'm like, there's no way we're getting through the whole chapter. This is just so beautiful. And to start with, notice this phrase kingdom of God.

[00:14:41] Twice in this passage you see the phrase kingdom of God, which is interesting to John because you go to other gospels like the gospel of Mark and the phrase kingdom of God is absolutely everywhere. But in the gospel of John, it's found twice and they're both right here.

[00:14:55] So John uses this phrase very selectively and he's making a very specific point. The kingdom of God, this term was a loaded phrase in the Greco Roman world. I want to take you on a brief journey. Got a track with me here.

[00:15:11] Hopefully if I do a good job, it'll all kind of make sense. When they use the phrase kingdom of God, the Greco Romans, they had a very unique perception of what was meant by that. Greek philosophers, for example, they believed that history was endless and cyclical.

[00:15:29] So think of a circle. They thought that, okay, the universe and the world goes on this endless eternal loop. But every now and then they taught there's a break to this loop, some kind of purge. They actually use that word.

[00:15:44] I think there's some like weird like TV horror show called The Purge. It's very, very Greco Roman idea. There's going to be a purge. There's going to be some event that will happen. The gods or whatever nature will intervene. A bunch of people will die.

[00:15:58] But then the Greeks taught there will be a rebirth, a rebirth. Now, they had a term for this. The Greeks, they call this palaginesia. Let me hear you say palaginesia. Comes from two words, palen, which means again, and genesis, which means birth.

[00:16:22] So palaginesia, it literally means new birth or renewal or recreation. We could even put in the word born again. The Stoics, they use this term palaginesia to describe the recreation of the universe. So again, in the West, we tend to see history as linear.

[00:16:41] That's why we use terms like progressing or enlightenment or whatever. Because deep in our subconscious is this idea that we've started here. But human history is taking us there. We're getting progressively better and better. But the Greeks said no, it's circular. There's a purge. Then it's reborn.

[00:16:59] Then another purge and it's reborn. And the Stoics use this phrase in that light. But the Pythagoreans, think of Pythagoreus' theorem, those who followed this philosopher. They used the term palaginesia to talk about the various incarnations of the human soul. Now, this is where it gets really interesting.

[00:17:18] Jesus, in Matthew chapter 19, he actually borrows this Greek phrase palaginesia. He says, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man, we're actually going to talk about that phrase in a minute in the next couple weeks,

[00:17:32] sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me, that's us, will inherit eternal life. And you notice this phrase, he says, at the renewal of all things. That phrase is the Greek word palaginesia. Jesus borrows this idea from Greek philosophy and essentially says,

[00:17:56] hey, you guys are on to something. Palaginesia, it's a thing. But Jesus presents it with a twist. He doesn't talk about an endless cycle of birth and rebirth. He says no, that there's going to be one palaginesia and when's that?

[00:18:12] It will happen when I return, the second coming. At that point, all of creation will be restored. No more pain, no more heartache, no more disease, no more cancer, no more war, no more injustice, no more country music. Like those things are gone. They're in the past, right?

[00:18:37] It's going to be like a revolt here. I'm not trying to denigrate country music. If you're into country music, the word denigrate means to make fun of. You can talk to Tim afterwards if you're offended. What is this? It's palaginesia. It's restoration. It's renewal.

[00:19:04] It's God taking a broken world and he says, I'm going to heal everything. You look at how the Bible ends. No more tears, no more pain, no more heartache. Now, here's the crazy bit. Jesus uses the word palaginesia, though not circular,

[00:19:21] he uses it to talk about one event at the end of all things, but Paul takes it even further. In Titus 3, verse 5, this is so worth writing down. Titus 3, verse 5, the apostle Paul says, He saved us how?

[00:19:41] Through the washing of rebirth and the renewal by the Holy Spirit. Now, notice these terms, water, rebirth, Holy Spirit. What passage did Paul have in mind when he wrote to Titus? John chapter 3. You can do the side-by-side study, but here's the intriguing bit.

[00:20:02] It's not just John chapter 3 that is informing Paul's argument. He also has in mind what Jesus said in Matthew 19. How so? Because Paul says the word rebirth here, he saved us through the washing of rebirth. And guess what word that is? It's palaginesia. In other words, Jesus said,

[00:20:25] Paul says, but palaginesia also happens at one other point in your life. And when is that? When you are born again. When you give your life to Jesus. When you open your heart to Jesus. You actually experience palaginesia right now. We could put it this way.

[00:20:44] When you're born again, you get to experience in the present what God is going to do in the future. In other words, even as God will restore and redeem all things, when we are born again, we are restored and renewed as well.

[00:21:00] So that makes sense then of what Paul said in 2 Corinthians When he said, when you come to Jesus, all things are passed away. All things are made new. And he said, you are a new creation. To be born again then means that the kingdom of the future

[00:21:20] comes alive in the present. Your life becomes a signpost of God's redemptive plan. So the way that you love people and forgive and fight for justice and compassion and redemption, you're actually putting on display the beauty and the reality of God's future kingdom in the present.

[00:21:43] It's the word palaginesia. And so as I began to uncover this and think this through this last week, I'm like, oh my goodness, there's no way we can get through this whole chapter because this is absolutely a game changer

[00:21:53] and it is miles and miles away from the flattened political image that people have of this term born again. This is revolutionary. Clark Pinnock, he's a theologian, he put it this way. He said, the church filled with the spirit is the agent of God's coming kingdom

[00:22:12] and a sacrament for the world. God touches the world when the church speaks the truth, proclaims good news, performs Jesus' actions and identifies with pain, builds community, shares and forgives. So this word born again is so much more than saying a prayer

[00:22:35] or going to church once a week or voting for a political party. You know, for years growing up, I had this perception of that's what it means. Okay, to be born again means you repeat a prayer that a pastor or an evangelist says

[00:22:49] and then I go to church once a week and wait for the rapture. That's what it means to be born again. No, what Jesus is saying here is so much more holistic and broad. What he's saying is that everything in your life matters.

[00:23:03] To be born again means all, this is worth writing down, all of life participation in the kingdom of God. N.T. Wright in his masterful book, Surprised by Hope, which by the way, if you haven't read that book, repent and then get it. It's really, really good.

[00:23:23] He unpacks this theology, what Jesus meant by the kingdom of God. But he said what you do in the present by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy,

[00:23:43] loving your neighbor as yourself will last into God's future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable until the day when we leave it behind altogether.

[00:23:59] No, they're a part of what we may call building for God's kingdom. This is for me a game changer. To really be born again then is so much bigger than the myopic, stereotypical ideas that people have about it.

[00:24:19] To really be born again means we're stepping into a story that is much bigger than our own. And it's the most exciting, adventurous, beautiful, compelling story you could possibly imagine. Now speaking of being born again, last week was Baptism Sunday, my favorite Sunday of the month.

[00:24:36] First Sunday of every month typically is our Baptism Sunday. And last week we saw 25 people come and get baptized. It was just so, so amazing. And it was interesting because at the 8 a.m., no one came forward.

[00:24:52] And I'm like, man, this is going to be a long day. I think it's because everyone saved or I did a terrible job. But throughout the rest of the day, we just saw these people come forward.

[00:25:01] And if you were here, you remember I made it sound as hard as possible. I'm like, if you want to come and die, if you want to come and take up your cross and deny yourself. And people were like, yeah, cool, let's do this.

[00:25:15] And we just saw all these people give their life to Jesus. So beautiful. Now when someone gives their life to Jesus, to use this phrase, when they're born again, what they're doing is not just a cosmetic fix to who they are.

[00:25:32] Being born again is not like getting a haircut or a facelift or whatever. Being born again is not Jesus is going to make me into a better version of me. No. To really be born again, just think about that phrase, you're born again. It's a complete overhaul.

[00:25:50] To be born again means a death to the old you. And now you are a completely different person. You've been given a whole new identity. Maybe you guys saw this on the BBC, I think like two weeks ago. True story.

[00:26:07] It was on a Kuwait and they have these fish markets there. And I guess like super competitive because they have a ton of these fish markets and everyone's trying to sell fish. And this one guy, he has his own little market

[00:26:20] and he wants to make his fish look more fresh than all the other fishes in this fish market. So he came up with this ingenious plan. We actually have a picture of it. This was on the BBC. This is what he did to make his fish look fresher.

[00:26:38] He put googly eyes on them. This is true. So evidently people are walking by and they're like, oh, I think I want to buy those. They look alive. Now fortunately the scales of justice caught up. I actually told someone, Ben actually,

[00:27:03] I was with Ben last night and I'm like, you know, I'm never going to do puns again. And I just can't help it. Like this spirit comes on me and it's like I just... And so they shut this market down.

[00:27:16] And, you know, it became, if you go on Twitter, it became this huge thing. People having a ton of fun with it. A lot of people, they kind of view salvation, googly eye theology, right? It's like come to Jesus and he's going to make you

[00:27:29] into a better version of you. Come to Jesus and he'll improve your life in some way. It's just cosmetic. It's superficial. I guess that's another pun too, isn't it? I didn't even mean that. Some of you are like, you're like right there with me.

[00:27:50] Others of you, come to the prayer room afterwards. We'll unpack this. But the vision that Jesus is casting here is so much bigger and broader than just come to Jesus and get some googly eyes. I was actually thinking about this a couple days ago.

[00:28:06] I'm like, you know, I think we need to make some googly eyes available for Westside. Like when you walk in, there's a great big bucket so that when you fall asleep during my sermon, you just slap those things on. And it's like, I have no clue.

[00:28:19] And you're like, wow, you guys are alive and awake. What's paligonesia? It's not just googly eyes. Paligonesia is resurrected life. So you have a new identity, new passions, new purpose, new priorities, new goals, new dreams, new desires, new decisions.

[00:28:39] The old you is gone and all things are made new. So yesterday Ben and I, we went downtown and he invited me, surprised me to the C.S. Lewis event. And I think there's like a few days left of this. It's called A Night with C.S. Lewis.

[00:28:57] It's right near the Schnitz. And there's this guy, he's been doing it for years. And he does it all himself, which is remarkable. And he gets up there and makes you feel like you're having tea with C.S. Lewis. It's brilliant.

[00:29:10] Pours some tea and then he just starts sharing stories from his life and his thoughts and his books. It was absolutely brilliant. And of course, one of my favorite books, Spicy is Lewis is Mere Christianity. And in that book, Lewis, he says,

[00:29:24] when you're born again, a lot of people, they have this perception that you ask Jesus into your life and he's just gonna make a few fixes to the house. He's gonna repaint a few things. He's gonna repair the roof. He's gonna fix the drains.

[00:29:39] But then Lewis said, you quickly realize that when Jesus comes into your life, he's not just the handyman. He's an architect of something new and different. He starts blowing out walls. He starts building a courtyard. He adds another level to the house.

[00:29:56] In fact, he gets rid of the old house and builds a new one. And Lewis said, you thought that by being born again, that you were just gonna be a quaint cottage. But in reality, what Jesus is doing is he's turning you into a castle.

[00:30:12] I love that because being born again is not just a cosmetic improvement on the old you, it's a complete transformation into the new you. And this is what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, this guy who thought if I just keep these laws

[00:30:28] and these practices and do these things, then God's gonna accept me. And Jesus says, no, something deeper and more fundamental needs to happen than that. You need to be born again. And he uses these analogies, this is worth writing down, three different analogies Jesus uses

[00:30:46] to describe what born again means. He says in verse five, water and spirit. And then in verse eight, he says being born again is like the wind. Water and spirit, what did Jesus mean by that? Well, again, Nicodemus, he knew the word.

[00:31:02] In fact, most Pharisees, did you know, they actually memorized the entire Old Testament. How does the Bible begin? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and the spirit of God did what? Hovered over the surface of the, who knows, waters.

[00:31:21] So creation begins when spirit and water come together. Creation begins when heaven meets earth. Jesus is talking about new creation. How does new creation happen? Genesis one, it's when the spirit of God and the water of God, what's the water? Jesus later on in John, I think John 15,

[00:31:46] we'll get there in about 12 years. He says, the water is the word. So when the word of God, even as God created through the power of his word, when the word of God and the spirit of God meet in your life, Nicodemus knew the word of God

[00:31:59] but he didn't have the spirit of God. And Jesus says, no, when the two come together, that's when you're born again. Now in Ezekiel chapter 36, which we don't have time to turn there but I encourage you later on, check this out. This is so beautiful. Ezekiel 36 verse 25.

[00:32:14] Ezekiel says this promise that God gave to his people. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you'll be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I'll give you a new heart and I'll put a new spirit in you.

[00:32:31] I will remove from you your heart of stone and I'll give you a heart of flesh. That is what it means to be born again. Just like we saw last week, it's when the water washes you. Your past, the guilt, the shame, the addictions, the selfishness, the sin,

[00:32:53] you're just washed and you're set free. And then the spirit of God comes in you and takes control of your life. Now Nicodemus would have understood this. Genesis 1, it's new creation. Ezekiel 36, theologians call this passage a description of what we call the new covenant.

[00:33:13] The new covenant is when God's spirit comes on the person who's been washed by him. Now Ezekiel 37, you turn the page. This is where we get the analogy of the spirit being like the wind. It's a crazy story. I encourage you to check it out later.

[00:33:29] God brings Ezekiel to a valley and it says the valley was filled with dry bones and Ezekiel stands before this valley and he's like, can these dry bones live? Which is how I feel sometimes teaching at the 8 a.m. Can these dry bones live? But not you guys

[00:33:48] because you've had like four cups of coffee. And God told Ezekiel, he said, I want you to prophesy to those bones. I want you to preach the word to the bones. So he gives a sermon to dry bones and you guys know what happened?

[00:34:02] If not, check it out. It says those bones began to assemble. It's kind of weird. They all came together and then flesh kind of wrapped around them and they stood up. It's like this zombie apocalypse in Ezekiel's vision and then God asked him, he's like,

[00:34:18] now are they alive? And he's like, no, they're not really alive. They look like they are, but they're not really alive. There's no spirit in them. And then God told Ezekiel, he said, prophesy to the wind. Now you guys need to know this.

[00:34:31] The word wind in Hebrew is ruach, which is also translated as spirit. Wind, ruach, spirit. It's true in the Greek as well. It's the word pneuma in the Greek language. Wind, breath, spirit. It's all interconnected. Prophesy to the wind. Prophesy to the spirit.

[00:34:48] And it says the spirit of God came down on the dry bones and they became a mighty army. Now, John 3, Jesus is talking to a guy, Nicodemus, who even though he knew the word, even though he did all the legalistic things, there was no life in him.

[00:35:09] And I think Jesus had in mind that passage of Ezekiel 37 as he's looking at Nicodemus because here's a guy, he needed more. He needed a relationship with God. He didn't have love. He didn't have life. And Jesus is saying, Nicodemus, you have to be born again

[00:35:28] because at that moment the spirit of God comes on you. You're gonna be a new creation. You're gonna have hope and life and confidence. And he says, you're gonna be following the spirit wherever he leads. Don't you love verse eight?

[00:35:42] It's one of my favorite verses actually in John. It says the wind blows wherever it pleases and you hear it sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. You guys know this, that following the spirit oftentimes feels that way.

[00:35:59] There will be times where the spirit of God is leading you in a certain direction and there's gonna be times where he flips you around and you do a 180. There are times where he tells you, okay, make that decision, go there,

[00:36:14] be involved in that, and you go down that path for a month or two or a year or 10, but then the spirit of God speaks to your heart. He's like, no, I've got something else for you. And the question is not is God speaking,

[00:36:27] but rather are we listening to what the spirit is doing in our life? One of my early memories moving from England, I was born in England, and at the age of eight moved to Southern California. And I think we were in California for about a month

[00:36:42] and my parents, they went over to a friend's house who had a swimming pool. It was actually the first time in my life I'd ever seen a swimming pool because it's super cold in England. And I was like, whoa, this thing's amazing.

[00:36:53] So jumped in and there were some kids my age and we played this game. Do you guys remember the game Marco Polo? So first time I'd ever played it, first time in a pool, and it was the best thing ever, right?

[00:37:06] Someone has their eyes closed, they're like, Marco, and then someone else says, Polo. And then what do you have to do? You have to like go after that person. You follow the sound of their voice and the splashes that they're making, Marco, Polo.

[00:37:16] You know, I think being filled with the spirit is often that way. You wake up in the morning, okay, Marco. And the Lord's like, Tomo, I'm over here. Like, okay, I'm going over here. And the afternoon comes, Marco, Lord, what now? I'm over here now.

[00:37:33] And if I'm listening to him, and if I'm tuned into him, and if I'm following him, I'm right in the center of his will. I mean, what would life look like if instead of waking up like I so often do,

[00:37:46] which I'm trying to kick this habit, it's terrible. Look at text messages or look at email or even worse, check the news. What would it look like if instead we just open the day with Marco, Lord, where are you leading me?

[00:38:02] What is it that you wanna speak to me? Who do you want me to share with? What do you want me to do today? Sometimes I can get so macro, like God, what's the next 10 years or five years? But the definition for being born again

[00:38:16] that Jesus presents to Nicodemus means being so in tune with the spirit of God that you're listening to his voice right now. To be born again means that every moment it's actually an opportunity to hear God. And you begin to live life this way,

[00:38:35] and I know many of you are, life actually becomes an adventure. It's the best thing ever. You begin to see God move in all kinds of crazy ways, beautiful ways, redemptive ways. A couple years ago, I got this invitation to speak in Oahu, in Hawaii,

[00:38:50] and I'm like, let me pray about it, yes. Because if you ever get invited to speak in Hawaii, always say yes. And so I went and got to speak at this conference. It was so fun. And then I had the afternoon free.

[00:39:03] And my favorite part of Oahu is the North Shore. It's like the most beautiful, epic place. The surf's amazing. So I had the afternoon free. I jump in my rental car, and I'm driving out to the North Shore, and I pull in this gas station,

[00:39:17] fill up the gas tank, and I'm about to get back in the car. And this guy out of nowhere comes up to me, and he's like, you don't know me? I'm like, I don't, first time I've seen you. He's like, but, and this is gonna sound weird.

[00:39:30] I'm like, okay, brace yourself for that. And he said, God's spirit spoke to my heart. I was sitting over there. I saw you getting gas, and God's spirit spoke to my heart that I'm supposed to give you this. And he handed me an envelope.

[00:39:46] Now I'm thinking like, okay, this guy's on something. You know, this guy's weird, but I'm like, kind of smile, like, okay, cool. And I get back in the car. He takes off. Oh, and right before he took off, he said, you're gonna need this.

[00:40:00] So even, I'm like, even more tripped out. He leaves. And I open this thing up. And true story, I look inside, and it was $100. Now I like it when God's spirit moves in that way. Like, yes, that's awesome. Like, okay, why? Thank you, God, that's cool.

[00:40:20] And so I start to drive. I pull out of the gas station. I go down this road, heading to the beach. I was about five minutes away from the gas station. And I'm at a stoplight. And right in front of me is this beautiful Harley Davidson,

[00:40:38] this incredible bike. There's this guy sitting on it. And we're talking like Duck Dynasty kind of character. And he has this long beard, and he's sitting there right in front of me. And I'm looking down, probably looking at the envelope.

[00:40:51] And then I hear like the revving sound of his bike. And so I thought, oh, he must be going across the stop sign. But he wasn't. He was just like revving the thing, reminding himself of how cool his hog was. But I had let go of the brake.

[00:41:07] And before I realized what was happening, there was this sickening like crunch sound. And I pull the car over. He pulls over his bike. He gets off. And this guy's huge. And I'm thinking like, this is it. This is how it all ends. He walks up to me.

[00:41:25] I get out of the car. And he actually was like the sweetest guy ever, super nice. And he's like, well, what are we going to do about this? That's what he said. I'm like, I don't know. You tell me. Whatever you want, man.

[00:41:40] And he said, you know, I don't want to do the whole insurance thing. He said, it's just a little light that you broke. He said, just give me the money, and we'll call it good. So I asked him, how much do you think this thing will cost?

[00:41:54] And he looked at it. He's like, if you give me $100, we'll call it all good. He's like, do you have the $100? I'm like, as a matter of fact, I do. So I go to my car. I grab the envelope. And I just hand it straight to him.

[00:42:10] I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. And I thought about this story. And I can't wait to meet that guy someday in heaven, because you saved me from an epic beatdown that day. But here's a guy who, he's so in tune with the Spirit.

[00:42:25] He's just sitting at a gas station. There's some random guy getting gas. And God's Spirit speaks to him. He's like, go give him some money. And he actually did it. I mean, that's the thing that amazes me, because how many times in my life

[00:42:38] God's Spirit speaks to me? He's like, go talk to that person or make that call or send that message or whatever. And I don't listen. And I don't obey. And it's not like God's mad at me.

[00:42:47] It's just like you're kind of missing out on what it actually means to be born again. Because to be born again means you have new life and new perspective and new desires and new dreams.

[00:42:57] And to be born again means that my Spirit is moving and working in this world. And I want you to be a part of it. I don't want you to miss out on a single moment of what I want to do in you and through you.

[00:43:11] When Jesus talks about being born again, it is the most beautiful, compelling picture that is so inspiring. He's saying, I'm at work in this world. My kingdom is growing. And Nicodemus, I want you to be a part of it. Live in sync with my Spirit.

[00:43:30] Participate in my kingdom. Go when I tell you to go. Love people that I tell you to love. Isn't this a different vision of what people have when they hear that phrase, born again Christian? Judgmental, cynical, angry, political.

[00:43:48] What Jesus is describing here is the most life-giving, adventurous, beautiful vision that you could ever imagine. Who wouldn't want in on that?