Born Again

Born Again

Text: 2 Corinthians 5:17; John 3:7

Prop: Red and blue play dough

Summary: This demonstrates how God makes us a new person when we accept Jesus as Savior.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians that when a person accepts Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior that God makes them a new creature. It says:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7) Have you ever wondered how God can make us new all over? God knows our heart. When we believe in Jesus as Lord for the first time, God sends a portion of His Holy Spirit to live in us forever, sealing us as His children. We cannot see it, but we see how that person is changed by the way they live from that moment on.

Let me demonstrate it with this play dough. What color is this? [Red] And what color is this other piece? [Blue] Let's pretend that this blue piece is us. Each of us has a spirit when we are born. It is what makes us a living person. Now this red piece: we'll pretend that it is the Spirit of God. God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. He shed His blood on the cross for us and rose from the dead three days later. When a person believes this, and asks Jesus to be his Savior, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to live in that person's heart.

Now look what happens when I start to mix the red and blue together. At first can you tell much has happened? No, God has to work in each persons life to start to make changes. As new Christians we still behave with some of our old habits and ways. But little by little God starts to change us from the inside out. Now I've mixed them together all the way. Now what color do you see? [Purple] Yes, it's a whole new color. Purple is the color of royalty: now you are a child of the King! That's the same way God makes us a new creature. We are not the same person we used to be. We have been born again and are a new creation.

©1997 by Jim Kerlin. All rights reserved.