Helping Others Find Christ Jesus and Nicodemus

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Helping Others Find ChristJesus and Nicodemus

• February 15

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Think About It

• Note these uses of the term "born again"
• Why do you think there is confusion and misuse
  of this term?

Today we look at what it really means to be born
again.
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Listen for facts about Nicodemus in this passage.

• John 31-7 (NIV) Now there was a man of the
  Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish
  ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and
  said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has
  come from God. For no one could perform the
  miraculous signs you are doing if God were not
  with him." 3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell
  you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God
  unless he is born

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Listen for facts about Nicodemus in this passage.

• again." 4 "How can a man be born when he is
  old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a
  second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
  5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one
  can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of
  water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to
  flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7
  You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You
  must be born again.'

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Choosing Jesus

• What do you learn about Nicodemus here?
• Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. What kinds of
  consequences would he face for personally talking
  with Jesus?
• ? People who come to Jesus must make a choice to
  seek Him
• whatever the consequences.

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Choosing Jesus

• What did Nicodemus think Jesus meant when He said
  that a person must be born again?
• Lets look at some other verses that use the term
  born again. For each verse, what do we learn
  about the concept?

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Choosing Jesus

• 1 Peter 123 (NIV) For you have been born again,
  not of perishable seed, but of imperishable,
  through the living and enduring word of God.
• How is the concept born again described by
  Peter?

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Choosing Jesus

• 1 John 51 (NIV) Everyone who believes that Jesus
  is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who
  loves the father loves his child as well.
• According to this verse, what does it mean to be
  born of God?
• How can we know that we are born of God?

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Choosing Jesus

• 1 John 47-8 (NIV) Dear friends, let us love
  one another, for love comes from God. Everyone
  who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8
  Whoever does not love does not know God, because
  God is love.
• According to this passage, what are evidences of
  being born of God or born again?
• How would you describe what it means to be born
  again to someone?

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Listen for reasons why Nicodemus should have
understood Jesus.

• John 38-15 (NIV) 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." 9 "How
  can this be?" Nicodemus asked. 10 "You are
  Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not
  understand these things?

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Listen for reasons why Nicodemus should have
understood Jesus.

• 11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we
  know, and we testify to what we have seen, but
  still you people do not accept our testimony.
  12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and
  you do not believe how then will you believe if
  I speak of heavenly things?

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Listen for reasons why Nicodemus should have
understood Jesus.

• 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the
  one who came from heaven--the Son of Man. 14
  Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert,
  so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that
  everyone who believes in him may have eternal
  life.

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Moving from Doubt to Faith

• Nicodemus is having trouble. Why are spiritual
  truths often hard to understand for a religious
  person like Nicodemus?
• What kinds of religious activities hinder
  peoples understanding of the need for faith?
• Why should Nicodemus and the other Pharisees have
  realized who Jesus was?

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Moving from Doubt to Faith

• What keeps people today from seeing Jesus for who
  he really is?
• What are some reasons spiritual truths are hard
  to understand for a non religious person?
• ? People today have similar problems as Nicodemus
• they must get past confusion
• they must move from doubt to faith

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Listen to what Jesus has to say about light.

• John 316-21 (NIV) "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. 18 Whoever believes in him is not
  condemned, but

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Listen to what Jesus has to say about light.

• whoever does not believe stands condemned already
  because he has not believed in the name of God's
  one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict Light
  has come into the world, but men loved darkness
  instead of light because their deeds were evil.

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Listen to what Jesus has to say about light.

• 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and
  will not come into the light for fear that his
  deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by
  the truth comes into the light, so that it may be
  seen plainly that what he has done has been done
  through God."

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A New Present and a New Future

• What is the light that Jesus is talking about?
• What does this light do?
• According to this passage, what does this light
  reveal about a Christians present spiritual
  condition?

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A New Present and a New Future

• What does the light reveal about a Christians
  future spiritual condition?
• John 316 is the most popular verse in the Bible.
  What do you think is the most significant truth
  contained in this verse?
• ? Jesus showed Nicodemus that authentic faith is
  a spiritual exercise
• dont trust your own understanding to lead you to
  God
• discover the joy of being Gods child by faith

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Application

• As a devotional exercise, study verses which talk
  about being born again or born of God
• Write out an explanation of the concept that you
  could use in witnessing
• Practice relating this to another believer
• Ask to practice it with an unbeliever!

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Application

• What are a some spiritual truths that you (like
  Nicodemus) struggle to understand?
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• Tell God of your faith struggles
• Echo the declaration of the man in Mark 924
  (NIV) "I do believe help me overcome my
  unbelief!"

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Application

• Pray this prayer together as a class pray it on
  your own during the coming week.
• God, talk to us to tell us what we can do to
  increase our faithfulness in Your eyes instead of
  practicing empty religious motions.

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Helping Others Find ChristJesus and Nicodemus

• February 15