Spiritual Birthmarks // Hitting a Homerun (Part 5)

Pastor Vlad speaks a powerful message about what salvation means, what it looks like, and what it means to be a part of God's family.

*If you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior for the first time, please go to www.hungrygen.com/vip

Notes:

Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3

There can be no spiritual growth without spiritual birth.

You cannot join the family of God; you must be born into it.

A birth is the emergence into a being of new life which has the nature of your parents.

New Birth in Christ:
New birth is not religion; it’s a relationship.
New birth is not morality; it’s a miracle.
New birth is not reformation; it’s regeneration.
New birth is not by works; it’s by the Word.

Being a member of a family is different from being a member of the gym.

We sign up for the gym; we are born into the family.
- In the gym, rules condition my relationship with the gym.
- In my family, rules confirm my relationship with my family.
- In the gym, rules apply before joining the gym.
- In the family, rules come after birth.
- In the gym, breaking the rules means losing membership.
- In the family, breaking the rules means time out.
- In the gym, we have to pay monthly fees to keep our membership.
- In the family, it’s about relationships.

New nature makes growth natural. 

When you are born again, you receive a new spirit, not a new soul. 

As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2:2

- Behavior is learned, but birth is not learned..
- During birth the baby is bloody. At funerals the dead are clean.
- During birth the baby is loud. At funerals the dead are quiet.
- During birth the baby is rowdy. At funerals the dead are in order.
- The baby has life. The dead don’t.
- The baby grows. The dead decay.

It’s better to be a rowdy, loud baby than a quiet clean corpse.

The new nature doesn’t remove the presence of sin but the practice of sin.
When you are born again, you don’t lose your ability to sin; you lose your ability to enjoy sin. 

1 John 2:29, 3:9

Practice is performing an activity or exercising a skill repeatedly or regularly in order to improve or maintain one's proficiency.

A born-again believer doesn’t look for an excuse to sin but for ways to overcome sin.

Proverbs 24:16
Matthew 7:21-23

Christians possess salvation, not just profess it.
Christians hide in Christ, not Christian crowds.
Christians know Christ, not just about Christ.
Christians practice righteousness, not lawlessness.

You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. Heb. 12:4

My spirit is perfect but my soul is being perfected by practice.

Christian you don’t lose your salvation when you sin.

As a Christian you don’t lose your salvation when you sin, you lose the joy of your salvation (Ps. 51:12). 
You can’t lose your salvation like you lose your keys. 

Christians can’t lose their salvation, but they can choose to forfeit their salvation by walking away from the Lord. 

We don’t lose free will upon salvation (Ex. 32:33).

A branch without fruit, He lifts up (John 15:1).
A branch that doesn’t remain in Him is thrown away (John 15:6).

Hebrews 10:26, 29

We don’t outgrow our need for God’s grace. 

Christians go to heaven even if we die with unconfessed sin.

Christ saves us by grace, not our confession (Eph. 2:8). 

Confessing Christ as Lord gives salvation (Rom.10:9).