There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born again, he cannot see God’s Kingdom.! That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit..

– John 3:1-8

(Excerpt from Joe’s Listening Journal)

When a person comes to me, I ask that he come to me and die to himself so that he might be born again. I do not seek to patch up what he brings to me; I seek to create a new being. Some, like Nicodemus, come to seek what I have but are not ready to die to themselves. The church is filled with many people like that today. They do not fully accept my truths nor desire to obey them. Those who are reborn are free to move with my Spirit and ready to ride its breeze wherever it may blow. Those are who I seek.

(I Cor. 2:6-16, Ezek. 36:24-28)