Little Rock Baptist Church
August 18, 2002
Baptism Service- Ella Harris, Myles Davis, Derrick Davis
Scripture: John 3:1-3
You must be born again!
As Pastor of this great church, my first opportunity to pastor I might add, I often pray that God will bless us with new members. And I also pray that God would send back those that accepted Christ and joined this church, but for whatever reason, stopped coming. But probably the thing that I pray for the most is that our men would come to church. I love it when I see great men of God like T D Jakes and I V Hilliard proclaim that almost half of their vast membership are men. We are talking about churches with membership in the tens of thousands, and almost half are men. That is a blessing! And I know for myself that God is still in the blessing business, because He has blessed us with 4 new members, 3 of which are men. God is good all the time! To some, 4 members may not seem like a lot, but when you only have 30 or 40 members to begin with, 4 represents a 10% growth in membership. God works in His own time and in His own way in our lives, and I believe that He has great plans for this church. I have often said that Little Rock ought to be the flagship church here in Morganza, LA. I don’t say that just because I’m the pastor here, but I believe down in my spirit that God has anointed this church to lead the way in the spreading of the gospel in this area of Pointe Coupee Parish. I believe that this is only the beginning, and that if we believe that we can do all things thru Christ, who strengthens us, then we can.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t aspire to Pastor a mega church, a church with thousands of members, but if that’s what God has in store for me, then I intend to be ready. What I do believe is that, just like these 4 that have come forth this week, there are others, probably hundreds right here in a 10 or 15 mile radius of this church, that will be encouraged to come seeking Jesus. We have to be ready. Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble”. We have a lot of people that are in trouble and are looking for a point if refuge, looking for some help. It is up to us as a Family of believers to lead them to Jesus, to encourage them, to help them to understand that God will accept them just as they are. Stop trying to fix yourself, let Jesus fix it for you. Little Rock, we are ambassadors for Christ, and as His ambassadors we are to continue to His work of seeking those that are lost. I have no desire to have a church full of recycled Christians, people leaving other churches and coming here looking for whatever, but if we have something here that you need, then come on in all ye that are burdened and heavy laden and we will give you the rest of God. We will share with you the message of peace that surpasses all understanding; come on in! My desire is that God will direct those that are lost here to Little Rock, be they saved or unsaved. That our church will grow, not only in numbers but in Spirit and in truth. God is able.
There may be some that are saying to themselves, what has this got to do with the scripture that he read? I’m glad that you asked. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a Jewish leader who came seeking God. He was a member of the church hierarchy, those people that administered church policy and rules and regulations. But in spite of all of his knowledge and apparent understanding of the word of God, he came looking for Jesus. He came looking for some answers to questions that Jesus had stirred up in his spirit, probably questions that he had, had all along. Have you ever had a situation in your life, that although you went along with it and did it, usually because everybody else was doing it that way, something in your spirit was telling you that something was wrong. Well, I believe that this where Nicodemus found himself. And because of these nagging doubts he had, he went to Jesus. He realized that nobody could say the things that Jesus was saying, unless they were sent by God. He realized that nobody could do the things that Jesus was doing, unless He was sent by God. He realized that nobody could walk the way Jesus was walking unless they were sent by God. So he said to Jesus, I know you are a teacher, sent by God, for no man could do the things that you are doing, except God be with him. Tell me, how can these things be? Jesus looked at old Nicodemus and said these words, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
This transformation that Jesus was talking about was not physical as Nicodemus so facetiously intimated, but it was a spiritual change that takes place in our lives when we stop trusting in self and began to trust in God. In Luke 15:7 Jesus says,”I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety nine just persons, which need no repentance”. Jesus said that He did not desire that any be lost, therefore His statement to Nicodemus was an expression of this desire. This rebirth that Jesus was eluding to begins with repentance; therefore we show God that we are ready for His will to manifest in our lives when we repent. Then the transformation from sinner to saint begins and we are born again. The change that takes place in our lives at this rebirth is similar to the change that takes place when we learn a craft or a trade. We are no longer ignorant, but we have acquired the knowledge and skill necessary to perform the task at hand. The change, the transformation blesses us because we become as Jesus proclaimed in Matthew 5 when He said,” blessed is he who hungers and thirsts after righteousness”, we become hungry for knowledge and understanding of God’s word. We seek God while He yet may be found. Nicodemus did, are you?
