Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

This week’s theme is inspired by my wife’s continual immersion into the deaf culture. Watching her dedication and intentionality to fully learn and experience life and worship from a deaf point of view led me to ponder immersion into Kingdom living.

Like my wife had to, let’s start with the basics.

Today’s scripture, John 3:3-6 (NLT)…
[3] Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” [4] “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” [5] Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. [6] Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.

Consider…
There is an idiom that says ‘you have to walk before you can run.’ It means you must learn the basics before trying to do something more advanced. Said another way, don’t get ahead of yourself.

In today’s scripture, Jesus tells a highly educated religious leader that he must start over in order to enter the Kingdom of God. I don’t know if we fully appreciate the significance of Jesus’ statement. He was saying forget everything you know about physical living and become an infant who needs to learn EVERYTHING about spiritual life.

2 Peter 1:3-4 (NLT) tells us…
[3] By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. [4] And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

Just like infants are fully dependent on their parents to live, we must depend on God’s divine power to live in His Kingdom.

This makes me think of Acts of the Apostles 17:28-30 (NLT), which declares…
[28] For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ [29] And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. [30] “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him.

Notice verse 28 concludes with ‘We are his offspring.’ That made me remember John 1:12-13 (NLT), which asserts…
[12] But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. [13] They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

There it is again, reborn. According to Oxford Languages reborn means brought back to life or activity.

That definition led me to Romans 6:4-8 (NLT), which explains…
[4] For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. [5] Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. [6] We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. [7] For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. [8] And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.

News Alert: in order to be born again we must die to sin.

This took me back to Acts 30, which revealed that God’s tolerance for our only human excuse changed with His GRACE (God’s Righteousness At Christ Expense).

Like Commissioned sang…

Using the same excuse
That I am just a man
You tell me you’ve been there
And hold your nail scared hands so I can see
Now I know I am free

Because Jesus was sent, God now commands EVERYONE EVERYWHERE to repent.

I also noticed in verse 30 that God said ‘repent and turn’. Since I grew up learning repentance meant turning from sin, I questioned my understanding given God saying ‘and turn’. Accordingly, I consulted Oxford Languages and found, to repent is to view or think of (an action or omission) with deep regret or remorse.

Wow, the Holy Spirit just showed me that I must change my self-perception before I can turn in God’s direction. Said another way, I can’t turn around and go the right way until I know that I am headed the wrong way.

The Holy Spirit then pointed me to Ephesians 2:1-3 (NLT), which explains…
[1] Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. [2] You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. [3] All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

Regardless of how much better than others we think we are, God reminds us we all have sin issues.

Romans 3:23-24 (NLT) emphasizes…
[23] For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. [24] Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

When I think of my old sinful nature, I liken it to my wife growing up and living in a hearing culture, with no thought or consideration of the deaf culture. Like her, before we knew different we couldn’t be different.

Sin was all I knew, therefore sin was all I did.

However, once Dana became aware and curious of the deaf culture, she had to decide if she wanted to know it for herself.

That makes me think of Titus 3:3-7 (NLT) which states…
[3] Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. [4] But— When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, [5] he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. [6] He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. [7] Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.

Notice verse 4 said “When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love”

Just like Dana became aware of a deaf culture, God made us aware to His kindness and love. And just like my wife, we have to decide if we want to know God for ourselves.

Yet, awareness isn’t enough, we know that because James 2:19-20 (NLT) admonishes…
[19] You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. [20] How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

The Holy Spirit used this to reiterate that God commands us to not only repent from sin, but also take the action to turn to Him.

It just dawned on me, God requires a change of direction. That pressed play on New Direction singing…

I’m headed in a new direction
I been that way, I’m going the other way
I’m headed in a new direction
I don’t wanna go the same ‘ole way

Lord I wanna have a closer walk with thee
So that I can live, live eternally
Life without you Lord, nothing seems to change
But life in you eternally I will gain

We must decide to change our direction in order to enter God’s Kingdom.

Dana’s decision to learn this new deaf world would require her to forget rules of engagement in her known hearing world in order to learn the art of communication in the unknown deaf world.

In the same way, Jesus saying we must be born again means we must let go of our known way of sin in order to learn the unknown spiritual way of new life in Him.

That’s exactly what Ephesians 4:21-24 (NLT) instructs us to do…
[21] Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, [22] throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. [23] Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. [24] Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

Notice that scripture begins with since you have ‘heard and learned’. This tells us we must be taught how to live the new life, which takes me back to being an infant.

1 Peter 2:1-3 (NLT) says…
[1] So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. [2] Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, [3] now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

It’s interesting that Petet said we must get rid of what we know is wrong and crave what is right, like a baby craving it’s mother’s milk.

Have you ever thought about the fact that a mother’s milk has all the nutrients required to help a baby grow and develop. And a baby doesn’t take anything other than the mother’s milk until it grows strong enough to handle different types of food. That’s because a mother’s milk helps develop and grow what’s inside the infant so that it can handle more as it matures. By the way, even after the infant grows up, the mother is still it’s nurishment provider, albeit financial and food preparation.

In the same way, God wants us to grow and develop in Him spiritually. He wants to be our only source of life sustaining sustenance. Indeed, the Lord wants to be our Jehovah Jireh.

Today, the Holy Spirit is imploring us to immerse ourselves in God’s spiritual development basics, which are…

• Repent from sin
• Turn to Him
• Die to sin
• Live in Him

In order to enter God’s Kingdom we must recognize we’re headed the wrong way on Sin Street and turn to Jesus the only Way pathway, which leads to the our Heavenly Father.

Today’s song is…
New Direction

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)