You Must Be Born Again
by Kevin Allen
February 19, 2023 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: John 3:1-7, Acts 2, Acts 2:38, John 1:1, John 1:14, Romans 6:11, Galatians 4, Galatians 4:1-7, Romans 6:6, Psalms 51:14, 2 Corinthians 2:11, Ephesians 1:5-6, Romans 8:16-17, Acts 22:16, Revelation 5:9-10, Revelation 21:27, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--you-must-be-born-again
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Foreign early this morning, in my prayer time, God wanted to do something special today. I feel an urgency in my spirit to get to the word. So if you're praying, you can just keep praying. You're not going to bother me. I can preach over it. But I feel like I have to go to the word today. I have to go to the word.

Most of us are aware, to keep up with things going on, especially things that are closely tied to anything that would be considered a Revival, of seeing what God's been doing in Kentucky, and other places around college campuses. People standing in light, hungry for God. I love seeing this. Anytime somebody's hungry for God, it makes me happy. What's going on, considering the times that we're dealing with, and everything that's going on. And if you were here Wednesday night, I told you, you must be prepared. You got to be ready. God is doing something right now, in these days. It's not time to be play in church. It's time to be the church. Time to be the church. It's time to be who God wants you to be. Time to stop second guessing. Time to start settling some stuff. Or preach to you today that you must be born again. You must be born again.

I'm so thankful people are praying. I'm so thankful that God is moving. But I'm telling you right now, there's something about when he pours out his fire. He pours out his Spirit. I'm telling you, things are setting up for that Latter day out for it. And we have to be ready. So I'm going to take you back to the basics, and tell you today, you got to be born again. You got to be born in the water, into the spirit. You must be born again. You must be born again. You got to have that fire down inside of you, of his holy spirit in there. Fire, fire, fire, fire. It's got to be inside of you, right now.

Oh, John chapter 3, verse 1. So there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, 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 assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, but that which is Born the spirit of spirit. Do not Marvel that I said unto you, you must, you must, you must be born again." Amen. You may be seated.

We're over halfway through February, in the series for this month I simply titled "Must." I've been going through several statements that are in the scripture. Things like, "I must abide at your house," and "He must increase, and I must decrease." Last Wednesday, I've talked about "You must be prepared." Today, I'll show you these red letter words of Jesus, when he says, "You must be born again."

Basic understanding of Salvation, across the nominal and non-denomenal lines, is this: salvation by grace through faith, based on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I'm not afraid of the word Grace. Some apostolics get a little nervous about it. I like Grace. Where would it be without Grace? But I'm telling you, Grace by itself, left alone, is not where you need to stay. Grace is pointing you to something. It's pointing you to something. It's pointing you back to Calvary, and says, "That's a picture of Grace. That's what Grace is." Grace is not some license to live however you want, just simply acknowledging the sacrifice that was there. But there's something Beyond acknowledgment. You have to receive it, and apply it into your life. Salvation is free, ladies and gentlemen. It doesn't come by our works. It comes by what God desires to do in US. Faith means I receive God's saving work by trusting and yielding to what his spirit is trying to do in my life. In every age, saving Faith involves something that we don't like to hear, and that is simply this: obedience to God's plan for our life.

New Testament, New Covenant — Jesus demands this: that you have to be born again. You must be born of the water — that's baptism in Jesus' name — and you have to be born of the spirit. Again, we're Saved By Faith, through the, the example that Jesus said at Calvary. His gospel is the good news to our world. It is the Hope by which I hang on to in this life, that there is more than just this. There is an eternity past this. That one day he's going to come back, because he told us in his word he's going to come back for us. But the qualification, in order to go with him, is that I have to be born of the water and of the spirit. I have to be born again.

In the book of Acts, chapter 2, on the day of Pentecost — the birthday of the New Testament Church — the Apostle Peter preached the First Gospel sermon, with the endorsement of the other 11 that was there. And he proclaimed the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the people who heard it, they were convicted about, by, by their sins there. And the audience cried out, "What do I have to do? What do I have to do, preacher? I'm hearing what you're saying. I'm moved in my spirit. I'm convicted to the point that I'm asking myself, what do I have to do?" And Peter, rising up with the rest of 11 — 7, verse 38: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for their mission and sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For This Promise is unto you, and to your children, and all that are far off, even as many as the Lord Our God shall call." I'm telling you right now, if we obey this same gospel today — death, burial, and Resurrection: repentance, baptism in Jesus' name, and the infilling the Holy Ghost — we can have the overcoming life that God had always planned for us to have. I don't know, maybe you're surprised you're in the apostolic church, and you hear me preaching at Acts 2:38, but it's still desire. It is the saving message that God gave the church. It is the saving message that God gave the church. It is the saving message that God gave the church. And if God is moving into nominal places. If he's moving on the Methodist College, if he's moving into Catholic Church — I'm here to tell you, I'm excited about it. But don't just stop by feeling good. Make sure you go all the way through to full gospel salvation: the death, bail, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We ought to be excited right now that God's moving everywhere. Why would we sit down? You have the truth. Stand up and tell somebody what he did for you. You don't have to take a back seat, and you don't have to explain it. God's doing what God does. He draws people. Oh, it's the finest hour to be in the apostolic church, because we got the truth. Somebody stand up and proclaim the truth. Stop being jealous about it. Stop trying to explain it away. You have what they're looking for. You gotta be born again. Acts 2:38 is the comprehensive answer to an inquiry about salvation. It's all summed up in a nutshell, with a proper response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You have to receive it and accept it. And today, in this room, you're surrounded by a great host of people who know exactly what I'm talking about. If you've been born again, stand to your feet. If God has filled you with his Spirit, stand to your feet. Have you been baptized in Jesus' name? Stand to your feet. If you've spoken in other tongues — has the Spear movements — stop. The world is looking for you right now. But don't hide your light. Don't sit on the message. It's time to shine like a city on a hill. Hello, hello. We've been here the whole time. We got the truth. You gotta be born again. You've got to be born again. Yeah, come on. I wish there'd be a holy ghost outbreak amongst some of y'all right now. Be excited. You've had it all this time. The world's starting to wake up around us. They're starting to Hunger for More. They're starting to look — something that's not just a feel-good message, but tell me the truth. You got to be born again.

I feel good right now. See here — oh, he sat down for a second. You guys are getting excited. Here's what I know: some of you, in the last five minutes, I felt a little bit of fire come back inside you. That's good. I like that. You started through Leviticus. Is interesting. Some of you tune it out when you got to do your annual Bible reading. Don't Taryn — I've shouted my socks down, that's bothering me. You go through there, there's a lot of stuff. God's a — he's a, he's a god of detail. I love that about it. He gives a lot of specifics. So maybe you read through it sometimes like, "Why do we have to know that? Why is that there? God, why did you give it to me? Why do I have to know about so much detail when it comes to the Tabernacle? What I have to know all that? Why do I have to know so much detail? I'm going to come down to the altar. I was there. Well, I got to know that there were shovels, and what is that for? How's that apply in my life?"

I was speaking yesterday to a group of men and women, hearing this, telling them some stuff I felt like God's been, been dealing with me about. Is I've been trying to process: what have we, what we have to do, what's Our obligation and responsibility as apostolics to what's going on right now? Because we have a responsibility, and we have an obligation. We can't just sit on it. And God help us from, from being controversial with it. My goodness, people are, people are coming to God. Maybe they're not all the way there, but they're moving. Come on. Could have been a Critic. Could have been afraid.

So here, here's where I feel like God was, was telling me. And I got drawn back to the stall, and it's, it just kept going over and over and over on my mind, and began to speak to me. And he said this. He said, "I had to include all the instruments in there, because here is the truth: they understood the fire had to burn continually — had to go. And it started — God ignited it. Man didn't ignite it. God ignited it. Okay, man didn't ignite it. God — when they dedicated the Tabernacle, Fire come down from heaven. He ignited sacrifice. He said, 'You got to keep it going.' This is what he said. Now, you better get with me. I'm gonna have to go into a big study. I'll open it up and read it for you out of Leviticus. He had to keep it going." But here's, here's what God knew. He said, "You would continue to stick sacrifice on top of it, but eventually — but you continue to put sacrifice on top of it — if you don't remove the ashes, you'll kill the fire."

Now, for some people, they get so, they get so settled in to what God did them in 1922. And I'm thankful that God filled you with the Holy Ghost in 1922. But he's done some other stuff since 22. He's still moving. Now, what's happened in the last 10 minutes in here is, he has blowed his spirit in here again, because the people have been engaging in worship and praise. And he is drawn to that stuff. He likes it. He comes in. And for some of you, it's been a minute, but all of a sudden you're like, "I feel pretty good," because the wind was blowing over the fire, and all of a sudden the coals begin to light up. But I'm here to tell you, in this Latter day, you need to take the shovel out, and get into some of that old Ash that's been there a long time, and dig some of that stuff up. And quit going on yesterday's sacrifice. Quit going on yesterday's Miracle. Quit going on yesterday's blessing. I'm thankful for it. I'm glad for what God has done. But he's not a has done God. He's a right now God. He's the right now God. He's a right now God. And I'm here trying to Flame a little fire in this place, to tell you there's been a bunch of folks up in Kentucky, and then all of a sudden, remove some ashes in their life, and there's a flame stirring up. We know the truth. Oh, you got to be born again. Born again.

Now, what, what do I do, Pastor? I've been born again. First of all, if you haven't been born again, before service is over today, you can be. It's for you. But for those that are here that have been born again, you have a new status in life. But maybe you forgot about it. Maybe you need reminding today about what it means to be born again. See, the reality is, you have a new relationship, but it's not automatic. You have to exercise and activate your faith. You're gonna have to continually grow it, as you walk with him. He gives you, when you are filled with his Spirit, a measure of faith that will get you from where you are to where it is you need to go. But you got to learn to exercise it. You've got to learn to activate it.

We have just put our finger on one of the most critical and sensitive spots in transition in your new life, and that is this: you may still look the same, and you may still have the same family, in the same job, in the same house, and you still have the same personality, and you live in the same world. But at the core, You're Something Different. Is going on — something's changing inside of you. The key to being a born-again person is that you live in a state of Reckoning. I preached about this before. Reckoning. I like — that's a good Southern word, reckon. "Did you do that?" "I reckon I did." Folks are up north, don't understand reckon, so you got to explain it to them. It's important, when you move a place, you learn how to speak the language. It's also important you learn how to drive. That's a different sermon for a different day.

Reckoning — you get into a state of Reckoning. You got, you gotta, you gotta think through: what God's doing to me right now? He's filled me with his spirit, and I've been born again. But born again for what? What do I do with it now? Is it just simply that I needed to — I needed to go through this process? I needed to repent. I needed to be baptized in Jesus' name. I need to be buried with him in baptism, and take on that name, and that water. And then all of a sudden, he fills me with his spirit. And now I'm just done. I got my ticket punched to heaven. I'm good to go. And then on that great get up morning, I'd say, "Hey, hey, I, I had it. I got, I got proof. I got a baptismal certificate." No, no, ladies and gentlemen, that is way more than that. And if you've been here a minute, you've heard me say before: the influence of the Holy Ghost is the beginning. It's the beginning. The beginning of what? The beginning of the process of sanctification in you. Because at that moment, God says, "I can do something with you now, because I got my spirit in you."

Yeah, see here, here's the deal. And then we're living in a world that is just crazy. I mean, they cray-cray. They've lost all since. Nothing, nothing even remotely comes close to making any kind of rational sense at all anymore. In fact, you should just go out and be crazy. No, don't. It's crazy. But here's the deal: the gospel hasn't changed, and Jesus hasn't changed. It was already quoted once before, earlier in the service today: he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And his word is forever settled. But here we are. Here we are, living in this crazy world we're in today, to where everything's in flows. Everything's up to interpretation. In fact, it's being preached in churches now that you can put too much emphasis on the word of God. I'm not kidding. In mainstream Christianity, it's being pushed right now that you can — you can put too much emphasis on — you end up worshiping the Bible. I mean, I heard it and seen it with my own eyes.

Now, I struggle with this. Because "in the beginning was the word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 14 verses later, first John, "and the word became flesh and dwelt Among Us." So if I'm worshiping the word, I think I'm worshiping him. If I understand the word. But see, they're wanting to take that away from you, and say, "No, no, no, no, no. It's not what the Bible says. It's what John says. That's what Peter says." Or they'll say things like, "Moses didn't have the word of God, and he made it. He went off of a feeling." I heard a sermon the other day, a guy — I'm telling you right now, I was wadded up in seven knots in my office, listen to this thing, thinking, "Man, you have lost your mind. Moses didn't have — he didn't have the Bible to go by. Crazy man. Moses was writing it. Why, God moved on him, so that you have it. Not so that you could justify some feeling, and say Moses went off of a Feeling."

I better get back in my notes, because I felt the spirit of meddling coming on me right over there. I better back on up. But here's what I know. Our responsibility is: this stuff's moving right now. Stuff's going on. Things are being shaken. Everything that can be shaken, and shaken, both for the good and the bad. That's what I love about our God. Because the enemy gets over here, he gets to Shake in a bush around, and we're thinking this is going to go on. "Oh, people don't know who they are. Oh, people don't know what restaurant you use." Families are being broken apart. And God said, "Oh, yeah, I'm gonna go over here. I'm gonna shake a little fire out over here." And people start lining up. They don't even know what they're lined up for. They're just walking in, like, "I feel something in here." And Tears start coming down their cheeks. Because here's the deal: God's in the business are drawing people. And the enemy is kicking up a fuss over here. And what I love about God is, God's Not boisterous. He's not going and trying to make a bunches. And he just quietly shows up on college campuses, where we've given up any hope. He's showing up on campus, and saying, "I'll show you what I can do. I can still reach to the uttermost, and the gutter most. I can still go to the halls of Education. I can still move in those areas."

See, here's our responsibility. Someday — look, here's the deal. We're living in a day and age where people are going to come in, and they're confused about everything. You fill in the blank how you want to. They're just confused. And when I meet the confused people, here's my message for them: Jesus loves you. I don't care to your condition. I don't care what decisions you've made. I don't care what lifestyle you're living right now. I don't care. Jesus loves you, and his desire is to save you. That's, that's our answer. That, that, that's our sole obligation right now. I don't have to clean them up. That's not my responsibility. I don't have to shake it out of them. Listen, my, my responsibility and my obligation is to look them in the eye with conviction and compassion, and say, "He loves you." He loves you, right where you are. And he wants to do something special in your life. Now, here's the deal. Here's the deal. Here's the deal. This is where we separate, is: once he fills them — oh, it's a whole new day. Who — once they've been born again, it's a whole new day, because he's filled you with his Spirit. Now, I got to tell you the rest of the story. Oh, I wish some apostolics to get behind me now, because there's a rest of the story. Yeah. All they need to come to him is Faith in what happened to Calvary. That's what the book says. He loves you. He desires to fill you. I got nothing else to say at this moment. He loves you, and he desires to fill you. But oh my, when he fills you — when he fails you — it's a new day, because all of a sudden you're a new creature in Christ. I don't care what desires you have. I don't care what you used to be. I don't care what label you put on. You belong to him. You are a child of the most high. And when you accept it, you have to be obedient to it. Ah, see, nobody else preaching this in town today. Now, what else preaches in town? You can't go behind us and get that. Now, there's like church row. Let's drive down there. I wish they would. I wouldn't be jealous. I would be excited. Well, I'd love for there to be the Holy Ghost Town porn and sanctification process behind us, and jumping down the street, and over to the next place, because that's what I feel like is going to happen. But here's our responsibility is, we have the truth. We have the truth. So we got to be stirring up the Flames inside of us, and doing our part to make sure we're red hot. I wish there was so much holy ghost outpouring in this place, that is Spilled Out across the street. That's not impossible. That's my God. Y'all don't got me out of my sit down.

We got to reckon something. Romans 6, 11: "Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ Our Lord." Reckoning means to believe in something that is true, and act accordingly. And here's the truth: Jesus died for everybody. Everybody. That's Holy Ghost saying just for us apostolics. Hey, this ain't an exclusive deal. Some of y'all been living that way. That's your nose up in there. You're going to drown. It's for everybody. Feeling something for everybody. Everybody gets the Holy Ghost, if they want it. It's from them. Jesus died for them, so that they could be born again. Now that they have been, they got to die to self. They got to die to Will, and to desire, and agendas, and influences. And they must be obedient. Because salvation is free. Jesus Paid for with his life. But acceptance of Salvation brings with it an obligation to be obedient, to pick up your cross and follow him. That's what it says. And I just want to take it at his word, that he says: if you want to come and follow after me, deny yourself. Right there, right there, deny yourself. Because you're going to have some desires inside of you. Your flesh is going to do some stuff. You're going to have appetites that are run out of control, because you've been living any way you want to. But if you're going to come after me — "I'll fill you with my spirit. Come after me. Deny yourself. Pick up your cross. We got work to do."

The Apostle Paul compared this new relationship to a young son's transition in adulthood. Look, it's right here, Galatians chapter four. Now I say — Paul writing to the church. He's writing to — who's he writing to? The church. He's making some explanations, that an heir, as long as he is a child, difference nothing from a servant. Now, this is talking about Roman law, and how things were in that days. He's being — he's telling the story in the moment. He was saying that a child has no difference, no different Worth, or obligation, and then an ability to do anything, than a slave has to do in this moment. "Nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all." So he's already got the title there, right? He's the heir. He's the, he's the one that's going to come up with it. But he, even though he has that title, he's no different In This Moment. "But is under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the father." He learned, there's a Time Coming, but between here and there, you got to learn some stuff. Yeah, Learners. Look at your neighbor, say, "You got to learn some things." And look at your other neighbor, say, "You ain't arrived yet."

Verse three: "Even so, when we were children" — who's he talking about? He said, us, when we were children — "we're in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time must come, God sent forth this son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are Sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your heart's, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore art thou no more servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir, a god through Christ." I'm here to tell you: you need to remember who you are. You are a child of the king. You are a child of the king. You are a child of the king. Quit acting any other way. Regeneration changes me from a slave to a son. It changes us from the curse of sin to a child of the king. Salvation was purchased for you, and I was a price that we couldn't pay. It's already been done. And you now are a child of the king. But it's still his kingdom, his way, and his rules. I don't care what anybody says by any Pulpit, under any Banner of Christianity, and tells you any other way. I'm here to tell you, it's all about the king, and his kingdom. And if you want to do something great, then figure out what the king wants you to do in his kingdom.

You got to understand your status change in life. Anybody ever had a status change before? Anybody ever moved up from, you know, like gold to platinum? Anybody ever been upgraded on your airplane ride? Anybody been on an airplane? Y'all good. Maybe you got to upgrade it from a donkey to a horse. I don't know where. Yeah, there, anybody? I'm like, it's not a trick question. Anybody ever been upgraded? Hey, you like it? Yeah. All of a sudden, you know, you got the biggie size. You only prayed for the junior meal. Yeah, something, you got it out there. You got to use status change. So you've undergoing a status change. You're born again. You're no longer what she was. Some of you still acting like that. Come on. You don't have to go back to that mess. You don't have to go back to that. Why would you do that? Look what he's done so far for you. Why would you go back and pick it up again? Why would you go back and wallow in the vomit again? Don't, don't get back hung up in that stuff, just because you walk out of this place and you're like, "Well, I mean, I'm instilled in the same clothes. I'm still driving the same old car. I'm still going to same old house. I'm still married to the same —" Easy, easy, you end up in my office. So here's the deal: you're no longer a servant to sin. Did you know that? Did you know that? I'm gonna give you a verse — verse for you, write it down: Romans six and six: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him" — with who? With Jesus — "that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth" — I like that word, henceforth, from this moment going forward — "we said not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin." Now, I know you're still breathing. I'm thankful for that. It gets real weird when dead people are in here. But he's saying, the old man is dead. You've been born again. He's filled you with his Spirit. Now you're not, you're not a slave to sin.

Now here's the deal: you're still going to be tempted. Yes — not trick question — yes. You know why? Flesh, flesh, flesh. See, I can't cast the Temptation out of you, because you just be a sack of Bones again. Really weird. So you're going to live in flesh. It's there. It's a constant War. Paul goes to Great length to talk about how, when he wants to do right, he does wrong, because he's at a war. He's constantly fighting. And guess what? So are you. That's why it's so important that you remember who you are. You're a child of the king. You need to tell yourself, next time you're tempted to do, see, act, eat, behave — what are the cases — "Nope, I'm a child of the king." How much better would life be if you would really live up to who you are? You belong to him. You will purchased with the price. He paid full price for you.

Now here's the deal: The Prince and the power of this world, he likes to go after the flesh. You told yourself you're in control, but secretly you know that you have all these base desires and carnal instincts, than these nasty habits, that are, that seem to always be calling the shots. The new birth, however, gives you an option of saying, "I don't have to do that. I don't have to do that." You don't have to give into those things. Now he's filled you with his Spirit — The Same Spirit that kept him on the cross, the same spirit that got him out of the grave, now lives in you. Now lives in you. That overcoming Spirit lives in you. And I wish some of you would take it for a spin. I feel like some of you are keeping it like a prized possession, sitting up on the Shelf. That's never been his intention. He wants you to fully Embrace what he's done for you. He wants you to fully live out what he's done, because he has filled you fully and completely. He didn't give you part of the Holy Ghost. He didn't give you a piece of the Holy Ghost. He'd give you the Holy Ghost, his Spirit living inside of you. Why don't you do something with it? You can say no to alcohol. You can say no other drugs. You can say no to looking and viewing and doing those things. You can cast down those shackles that wants to find your life, and break those things that are there. Those elements have no control over you anymore, if you don't let them.

I know sometimes you live with that guilt. David addressed this. David talked about this too, and he didn't even have the Holy Ghost. He said this in Psalms 51: "Deliver me from blood guiltness." That's kind of the confusing thing about the remission of sins, that people often still feel guilty, even though you've been washed by the blood. You've had your sins remitted. They're gone away. But you still feel that, because you know what you did. And guess who else knows what you did? The devil. And he loves reminding you of the stain. Second Corinthians 2 and 11 says, "Lest Satan should give in his Advantage, for we are ignorant of his devices." He's going to use it. He's going to constantly remind you. That's why you shouldn't be surprised that all of a sudden a past sin gets brought before you, because the enemy is going to do that. But here's the deal: you got to keep sowing — this was in my life class I was teaching today — you got to keep sowing The Good Seed in your life. You got to keep reminding yourself, "I'm a child of the king. I know, I know, I used to be — I used to be a heathen. I know I used to do all this stuff. I know we all got stories in here. Some of y'all got some Whoppers." But here's what I love about it: it's buried under the blood. It's buried under the blood. Now here's the deal: the enemy may bring it up, but there's no sense in you going under the blood to bring it back out. Um, I don't know. You need to keep playing seed. "I'm a child of the king. I'm a child of the king. I've been filled with his spirit. I have been born again. I'm a new creature in Christ." Keep playing those. Eventually, over time, you keep planting the seed, it'll start overwhelming the bad. I wish somebody believed that.

You've been adopted into a new family. Ephesians 1, verse 5: "Heaven predestined us to adoption of children" — that messes some people up. Okay, don't get messed up on per desk. I'll talk about in a second. "By Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise and the glory of his grace, where and he hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Now, that word predestined, that doesn't mean he predestined some just going to go to heaven, something's not going to go to heaven. Okay, some people preach that. That's just wrong. What was predestined was sonship. Sonship was predestined. In other words, he says, "I guarantee I have a place for you," if you hear what I'm saying. "I guarantee I have a place for you, regardless of what you have done, regardless of how you have lived, and What You've entangled yourself with, and what's been wrapped around you, and what label has been placed on you, and what the world tries to conform you to — "I have already a place for you. All you have to do is acknowledge it, receive it, apply it, and live it." I'm here to tell you, if you'll do those things, there's nothing that can stop you from being where he wants you to be. Nothing can stop you. Sonship was predestined. So many now live that way. It's yours. It's yours for the taking. It's yours for the accepting.

Spiritually, the born-again person takes on an understanding that I have been adopted in, and my identity now is with this family. Romans 8, 16: "The spirit itself Bears witness or a spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, and heirs — Heirs of God, and also join heirs with Christ — if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together." The metaphor of adoption in no way negates the fact that you have been born again. You become a rightful Heir, according to the bloodline of Abraham. Adoption is a way to emphasize this new relationship. Now that you've enjoyed — the Bible also talks in Romans that you were grafted in. You were brought in. Yeah, you weren't a part of the original plan, but he made a way. He meant — I don't know about you, but that should excite about 99.9 of everybody in this room, because we a bunch of Gentile folk. And I'm so thankful that he, he grafted me in. And you ought to be thankful he grafted you in, again, that he has made a way. He has made a way for you. And now, you have a new name.

That's why baptism is so important. If you've never been baptized in Jesus' name — we got warm water, a bunch of robes, and a whole bunch of towels — I would get baptized today. Because it's in that, you go into a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. You take on his name. It's the marriage ceremony. You buried with him right up there in that water. You come out. You got that name caught over you. You're not the same. You got a new name. I'm telling you, it's very spiritual exchange it takes place in those, those baptismal Waters up there. Acts 2, 16: "Why are you waiting to rise and be baptized?" As a child of God, you've been endowed with a new surname, or family name — a new mark of identity that carries supreme authority in the spiritual world.

Now here's the deal: what you don't understand — and that's why you — I'm telling you, you need to get your Holy Ghost out, and use it. As a blood-bought child of the king, baptized in Jesus' name, filled with his spirit, the devil's afraid of you now. He's not afraid if you don't know how to use it. I was going out of town several years ago, and my wife called me. She's like, "I heard a noise in the house, and I got the gun." And I said, "Well, what are you going to do with it? Because I never taught her to serious." If some of you, you Holy Ghost — that's the way you use it. "The devil's got me. I got my Holy Ghost." What are you going to do with it? You shouldn't wait to the end. You shouldn't wait until everything's broke, fell apart, then try to activate the Holy Ghost. I'm gonna give you a little hint: you need to activate it every day. Every day. You need to be familiar with it. You need to be — you need to be — you need to be so familiar with it, then anything comes your way, you just whip the Holy Ghost Out. "I ain't gonna put up with this mess, devil. You better back away. I ain't gonna take no Temptations." You need to live — I'm telling you, you need to have enough Holy Ghost experience, that anytime he comes up against you, he's shaking in his boots. "I ain't gonna mess with him. They know the power that's inside of them. I'm not going to mess with them." Um, he had raw your blood flowing through your veins. Music, come on out here. We need to stop at some point. You got royal blood flowing through your veins. It does something for you when you know this, that you have been brought into the Royal Family.

John, writing, trying to do his best to describe, and his limited vocabulary, what he was being shown while he was on Isle of Patmos, in Revelation chapter 5, says: "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou Art Worthy to take the book, and they open the seals thereof, for thou was slain, has redeemed us to God by the blood out of every Kindred and tongue and people and nation, and has made us unto our God's Kings and Priests, and we shall Reigns." Did you know he were created to reign? But you act like a peasant. You act like less than, when he has created you to Reign, to have dominion. I don't have enough time to do the bible study tonight. But it started in the garden. He gave Dominion. They lost Dominion, got kicked out of the garden. But guess what? He had a plan. And I'm so thankful that he had a plan. They wouldn't just — "Oh, no, I messed up. But hey, I got something I'm going to do in Calvary, and I'll provide a way back, because I have always intended for you to be priests and kings. Your name is written down in the Lamb's Book of Life." Revelations 21, 27: "And there shall be and no wise enter into anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh Abomination, are making the lie, but they which are written in the Lambs Book of Life." Oh, your name is written in the book. Your name is written in the book. I don't care what kind of degree you got. I don't care how much money you got. I don't care about your 401k. I don't care about your house or your car. But it's your name written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. Oh, you gotta be born again.

Stay standing. The repercussions of your conversion are not limited, but they Echo throughout the entirety of your life. God loves you. Do you hear me? God loves you. You can have assurance that you have a place in heaven that has been secured by his writing. First Corinthians 12 and 12: "For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, also is Christ. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body. We're with we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we Bond or free, we have been made all to drink into one once here." Right now, the Church of Jesus Christ — it's not a upci church, it's not an aljc church, it's not a Methodist Church, it's not Episcopalian, it's not Catholic, it's not non-denominational. It is his. It is his. And it is the most special thing that you can ever be a part of — the most privileged, most beloved entity in all the history. And he's still inviting you to come and be a part. And I'm telling you, the way you get in is, you got to be born again. You gotta be born again. You gotta be born again. Yeah, this altar is open. They're going to sing something, and God's going to move. That's not an arrogant statement. I'm just telling you what I feel. So if you need the Holy Ghost, come on down. Some of you, you need to get some of those ashes off the old Altar, and renew that flame again. I invite you to come down. Come on. It's prayer time, church. It's time to act like you've been born again. Somebody needs to get to Holy Ghost off the shelf, and activate it today. God is moving. Revival is happening.