SUNDAY NOTES 9.13.26
Today’s Setlist:
Christ is Enough
Believe For It
Center
Oil & Offering
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SERMON NOTES
Welcome Home
“Born Again”
John 3:1-21
Now there was a Pharisee, a man 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 replied, “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 are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 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.”
“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
YOU CAN KNOW ALL ABOUT JESUS WITHOUT TRULY KNOWING JESUS
John 3:1-2
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night…
John 3:2
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.”
John 3:3
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN
John 3:5-6
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
John 3:14-15
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:18-21
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
John 7:50–51
Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”
John 19:39–40
He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.
After sunday…
FOR DEEPER STUDY OR DISCUSSION
Explore These Scriptures
Ezekiel 36:25–27 — Long before Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about being “born of water and the Spirit,” God promised a day when He would cleanse His people, give them a new heart, put a new spirit within them, and place His Spirit in them. Christianity is not primarily about becoming a more disciplined version of yourself. The gospel is the promise that God can do within us what we could never accomplish for ourselves: make us new.
Titus 3:3–7 — Paul describes salvation as “the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” We are not saved because of righteous things we have done, but because of God’s mercy. Religion asks, “What can I do to make myself acceptable to God?” The gospel announces what God has done for us through Jesus and what His Spirit now does within us.
2 Corinthians 5:17 — “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.” Jesus did not come simply to improve our behavior, give us better principles, or make bad people more respectable. He came to make spiritually dead people alive. New birth means our identity, desires, direction, and relationship with God begin to change from the inside out.
John 19:38–40 — When we first meet Nicodemus, he comes to Jesus at night. By the end of John’s Gospel, he publicly helps care for the crucified body of Jesus. The man who once approached Jesus cautiously in the darkness is eventually willing to identify himself with Jesus when it could cost him something. New birth does not mean instant perfection, but it does produce a new direction. The question is not simply whether you know things about Jesus, but whether knowing Jesus is actually changing you.
Heart Questions
Are you trying to improve your old life or have you actually surrendered it to Jesus? It is possible to be moral, religious, knowledgeable, successful, and respected and still miss what Jesus says we need most. Where might you be depending on your goodness, church background, knowledge, accomplishments, or reputation instead of Christ?
Do you know about Jesus, or do you actually know Jesus? Nicodemus respected Jesus and even believed He had come from God, but Jesus still confronted him with his need for new birth. Has your faith become mostly information, familiarity, and religious activity or is there evidence of a real relationship with Jesus?
Where is Jesus calling you out of the darkness and into the light? Nicodemus first came privately at night, later spoke up for Jesus, and eventually publicly identified himself with Him. What are you still hiding, protecting, or afraid to surrender? What would stepping into the light look like for you this week?
Prayer
Father, I confess that I cannot save myself. My goodness cannot save me. My knowledge cannot save me. My success, reputation, accomplishments, and religious background cannot give me spiritual life. I need what only You can give. Thank You for loving me enough to send Jesus, not to condemn a dying world, but to save it. Thank You that Jesus was lifted up for me and that through Him I can receive forgiveness, eternal life, and a new heart.
Holy Spirit, expose the places where I have settled for outward religion without inward transformation. Bring me out of darkness and into the light. Change my desires, reshape my identity, and produce in me the life that I could never manufacture on my own.
I don't want to simply know about Jesus. I want to know Him, follow Him, and be transformed by Him. Jesus, make me new. Amen.
