Dear Friends,

I have been energized by the number of people who are bringing their Bibles to our services with a hunger to learn. I know some of our people want to start reading God’s Word, but they don’t know where to begin. My recommendation would be to start reading the Gospel of John. This Gospel is filled with a number of encounters between Jesus and people from all walks of life. John 3 has one of those encounters. Most people are drawn to the middle of the chapter at verse 16, one of the most familiar and favorite verses in the Bible, For God so loved the world...

I want to draw your attention to the first part of the chapter with the encounter between Jesus and a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was highly educated, and a pharisee, who was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. There were 71 members of this council, which was the most powerful and influential group of men in all of Israel. Nicodemus came to see Jesus one night. We don’t know if he was fearful of others being aware of his visit, or if he wanted to have more personal time with Jesus. Whatever the reason, their discussion moved to the topic of being born again. What is surprising about this interaction is the lack of understanding that this scholar had of this topic. Jesus told him, Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. And then He said, The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus, who knew the Scriptures, just couldn’t connect the work of the Holy Spirit in the born-again experience. I believe Jesus was drawing his attention to the words of the Prophet Ezekiel, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws, Ezekiel 36:25-27. Ezekiel’s words were proclaimed over 600 years before this encounter and Nicodemus would have been very familiar with this prophet’s writings, but he just didn’t understand. He couldn’t quite grasp how the Spirit of God worked in the life of a follower of God.

This is the same challenge we have today, many who are followers of Jesus just don’t understand who the Holy Spirit is and what the Spirit can and will do for us. That’s why I will begin a new series this Sunday on the Hoy Spirit. Jesus will be our teacher and John, Chapters 14-16 will be our workbooks. Join me as we enter into the classroom and learn about the Holy Spirit, the Ultimate Power Source of God.

I look forward to seeing you and worshiping together Sunday!