Born Again

1
Born Again

• www.kevinhinckley.com

2
True Story

• A man came bursting into Brigham Young's office,
  crutches flying.  He only had one leg, and he
  shouted, "Now, Mr. Prophet, I want you to give me
  another leg this instant.  Otherwise, I will
  publish it abroad that you are not a prophet at
  all."
• President Young told him that would be easy
  enough, but that consequences would result.  The
  Prophet explained that if he gave him another
  leg, it would rise with him in the resurrection -
  as would the other two legs.  That meant the man
  would have to deal with three legs for all
  eternity.
• The man left shortly later.

3
Dear Bishop letters from kids in the ward.

• Dear Bishop, My father says I should memorize the
  ten commandments. But I don't think I want to
  because we have enough rules already in my house.
  Kelsie R.
• Dear Bishop, Please say a prayer for our football
  team. We need God's help or a new coach. Thank
  you. Lou G.
• Dear Bishop, Are there really devils on earth? I
  think there may be one in my Sunday school class.
  Sincerely, Carla B.
• Dear Bishop, I liked your talk on Sunday.
  Especially when it was finished. Your friend,
  Matt R.
• Dear Bishop, How does God know the good people
  from the bad people? Do you tell Him or does He
  read about it in the newspapers? I really need to
  know because we dont take the paper. Really.
  Love Kim D.

4
Addiction Recovery Program
We faced the truth that recovery was far more
the result of the Lords efforts than our own.
Our ability to withstand temptation is now
grounded in our continual submission to the will
of the Lord.

• Step 3
• Decide to turn your will and your life over to
  the care of God the Eternal Father and His Son,
  Jesus Christ

Continued submission to Gods will reduces
strife and brings more meaning to our lives.
Each new day we renew our submission to the Lord
and His will.
As Elder Maxwell observed, this submission to
the Lord is hard doctrine.
Question How close is this to the doctrine of
being born again?
5
C.S. Lewis

• Christ, here and now, in that very room where
  you are saying your prayers, is doing things to
  you. It is not a question of a good man who
  died two thousand years ago.
• It is a living Man, still as much a man as you,
  and still as much God as He was when He created
  the world, really coming and interfering with
  your old self
• killing the old natural self in you and replacing
  it with the kind of self He has. At first, only
  for moments. Then for longer periods.
• Finally, if all goes well, turning you
  permanently into a different sort of thing
  intoa being which, in its own small way, has the
  same kind of life as God which shares His power,
  joy, knowledge and eternity.
• (Mere Christianity, p. 164)

6
John 3

• There was a man of the Pharisees, named
  Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews
• The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto
  him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come
  from God for no man can do these miracles that
  thou doest, except God be with him.
• Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily,
  I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he
  cannot see the kingdom of God.
• Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born
  when he is old? can he enter the second time into
  his mother's womb, and be born?
• Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
  Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
  he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
• That which is born of the flesh is flesh and
  that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
• Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born
  again.
• The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou
  hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell
  whence it cometh, and whither it goeth so is
  every one that is born of the Spirit.

And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and
a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire
and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites,
because of their faith in me at the time of their
conversion, were baptized with fire and with the
Holy Ghost, and they knew it not (3Nephi 920)
7
Bruce R. McConkie

• Sins are remitted not in the waters of
  baptism, as we say in speaking figuratively,
  but when we receive the Holy Ghost.
• It is the Holy Spirit of God that erases
  carnality and brings us into a state of
  righteousness. We become clean when we actually
  receive the fellowship and companionship of the
  Holy Ghost.

8
Brother Brent Top

• We are born again when we die as pertaining to
  unrighteousness and when we live as pertaining to
  the things of the Spirit. But that doesnt happen
  in an instant, suddenly. That also is a
  process. Being born again is a gradual
  thing, except in a few isolated instances
• As far as the generality of the members
  of the Church are concerned, we are born
  again by degrees, and we are born again to
  added light and added knowledge and added
  desires for righteousness as we keep the
  commandments.
• (1976 Devotional)

Now ask yourself again Have you been born
again?
9
Have you been born again?

• Indicators from the
  Book of Mormon
• 1- Peace of Conscience
• 2- A feeling of Joy and Gratitude
• 3- We have no desire to do evil
• 4- Feeling of charity towards others
• 5- Increased spiritual understanding
• 6- Having the image of God engraven upon our
  countenances (Brother Brent Box, BYU Devotional)

10
Elder Spencer Kimball to Nicodemus

• You might have walked where Jesus walked
• and stayed where he was staying
• You might have eaten bread and sop
• and knelt where he was praying
• He might have laid his precious hands
• upon your head with Fire.
• You might have eased his weary way
• and wiped away his bleeding

• You might have helped in his defense
• when he was sorely needing
• Most disappointing words are oft
• expressed by tongue and writing
• The saddest words, "It might have been"
• are always the most biting.
• (1958 General Conference)

11
Harold B. Lee

• I was asked to address a group of young girls
  a few years ago over at the Lion House where
  they were being shepherded under the direction
  of the great Young Women's Mutual Improvement
  Association. At the close of our meeting this
  lovely girl took me aside, and from her purse
  she unfolded a picture of a handsome young
  soldier.
• Underneath the picture was something about love,
  and his name signed. I asked, "Well, what does
  this mean?" Tears were swimming in her eyes. She
  replied, "I met that young man here in an army
  camp. He was not a member of the Church. He was
  clean and fine, and he had the ideals I had
  longed for in a companion, all except one thing,
  he was not a member of the Church.
• And when he proposed marriage to me, I said,
  'Only will I be married when I can be married in
  the house of the Lord because love means
  something more than just a thing that pertains to
  this life. It is an eternal thing, and I want to
  be married in the temple.'"

12
President Lee

• Well, he reasoned with her, he pleaded with
  her, he scolded, and then came angry and
  finally after repeated efforts to break down
  her religious objection to a marriage out of the
  temple, he finally left her. It was now time to
  go overseas, and she cried her heart out the
  night he left thinking that maybe she had made
  a mistake because her heart had gone out to this
  fine young man.
• During a long ocean voyage over to Australia
  where he was to be stationed and from where he
  was to go into combat, he began to think about
  this young woman. He began to think that he had
  been a little hasty in his judgment about her
  religious convictions. Perhaps it was her
  religion that had made her the fine girl that she
  was.
• With that on his mind, he began to seek
  companionship with our Latter-day Saint men. He
  finally met a Latter-day Saint chaplain there and
  became associated with the Latter-day Saint boys
  of the camp and began to study the gospel. On her
  birthday he had sent her this picture attached,
  and behind the picture was a slip of paper which
  proved to be a certificate evidencing the fact
  that he had been baptized a member of the Church
  of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• In the letter which accompanied the picture, he
  had said, "I am preparing now to live worthy so
  that when I come home, I can be ordained an elder
  and together we can be married in the house of
  the Lord."