73 Sermon Illustrations on Born Again

I was born and raised smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt. Almost everyone I knew intellectually assented to the truths of the Bible, had prayed a prayer at some altar in some church as a child, attended worship service regularly, voted Republican, and blessed the food at dinner.

Nearly the entire population of my beloved hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana was surer than sure that as they exhaled their final breath, they’d be welcomed into the pearly gates of heaven (I’m not exaggerating: Barna found 98% of Shreveport, Louisiana residents consider themselves born again believers in Christ).

Unlike the greater population of my super-Christian context, I wasn’t too sold on the Jesus stuff. Even as a young kid I remember feeling like a black sheep in children’s church. Everyone seemed so gung-ho over God — dancing in the aisles, spinning in circles, and what not — and I just couldn’t really wrap my mind around what was so exciting. The more I thought about God, the more I doubted he even existed.

As I grew older and began nurturing the wide array of my sinful desires, my doubt only intensified. I had spurts of spiritual curiosity here and there, but each time I peeked back into the church, I walked away skeptically. I thought it was all a sham.

Long story very short, the grace of God came crashing in over my skepticism in 2010 and my heart exploded in love for Jesus. Surely ... surely ... my longtime Christian friends and family would be ecstatic over my faith, I thought. And at first, many of them were. They rejoiced that I had “found the light” and started making better choices.

But as time ticked forward and my passion for Jesus increased, they started to view me as a bit of an extremist. When I would talk about the things of God, they seemed totally disconnected and disinterested in the conversation. I remember being told by a professing Christian, “You don’t have to talk about Jesus so much. Faith is really just a private thing you keep to yourself.”

Hmm ... this was not what I was expecting.

When I peeled back the pages of my Bible and gazed into the early church, I saw radically transformed people who centered every aspect of their lives on the God-man who was crucified and raised on their behalf. Their friends, activities, ambitions, and finances were all deeply and irrevocably impacted by their love for Jesus. They weren’t perfect people, but they were changed people — people whose lives were potent with the aroma of heaven.

As I continued to see the vast differences between the kind of Christian depicted in the Bible and the kind of Christian I observed in my church-on-every-corner culture, I began to question whether a profession of faith in the Bible Belt really even meant anything.

When I asked friends what assured them of their salvation, they would point to the sinner’s prayer they recited at 7 years old, their subsequent baptism, their church attendance, their conservative values, and things like that. There’s no doubt the Bible teaches that good works are necessary evidences of a changed heart — but what my friends appeared to be in severe lack of was the changed heart. Some of the outer workings of the Christian life were present in their lives, but a real, personal, intimate love for Jesus — the foundation of the Christian life — seemed to be absent. They were cool with Bible verse tattoos, occasionally attending worship, and thanking God for their food at Thanksgiving Dinner, but they seemed utterly disinterested in the actual person of Jesus.

The lips of these moral, conservative, church-going Southerners knew the Christianese language. Their butts were acquainted with the church pews. They lived in close proximity to the things of God, but their hearts, from my limited perspective, couldn’t have been deader toward the Author of Life.

I think the words first spoken by Isaiah, and centuries later quoted by Jesus, might just be words our Lord would breathe out again over the Bible Belt of the United States: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” — (Matthew 15:8).

One of the really scary things the Bible calls us to do is test ourselves, to see if we are really in the faith. When you peer into your heart today to see what’s really in it, what do you find? Do you see love for Jesus? The best of Christians won’t love him as perfectly or as constantly as he deserves, but do you see in yourself a genuine affection for the Lord? Do you find your mind frequently gravitating toward him and his purposes for your life? Do you find your soul ever lifting itself up to him in praise and thankfulness?

Or do you find your heart pretty empty of Jesus?

When you look at your outward life, do you see any obedience to God — not heartless, ritualistic obedience, but obedience fueled by love and reverence for God? Do you find you are growing, even turtlishly slow, in personal holiness and spiritual maturity? Do you seek the Lord regularly, when no one is looking? Are you trying to walk with others who are doing the same?

Or are you pretty much indifferent about obedience to Jesus and only avoid “bad sins” because you fear the temporary, painful consequences?

I know I have a lot of Bible Belt dwellers that read my blog. Whether you know me in person (hello, Shreveportians!) or are connected to my blog from afar, I’m glad you’ve decided to check out this post today.

I’m not here to judge you. I can’t know your heart and say for sure your faith is or isn’t fraudulent. But if you have been faking all this Christian stuff, you need to realize that God is well aware. He’s not fooled by “On my way to church!” selfies on Sunday or “I have Jesus in my heart” verbiage.

He knows you.

While this might, and probably should, scare the crap out of you, it should also give you hope. The God who knows all of your pretending, lip service, and hypocrisy still loves you and hasn’t zapped the life out of you yet. He’s been so patient with you all these years, giving you more and more time to surrender yourself to Jesus.

God wrapped himself in your sin and stepped into the fiery furnace of his own wrath so that you could be transformed into a new creation — not just some pew-sittin’, semi-religious, moral person. Jesus died to give you the joy of being remade into what you were designed to be: a true worshipper of God.

If you know deep down that all your outward religious practices are merely masking a heart that doesn’t really love Jesus, won’t you drop the façade today? Won’t you admit, at least to yourself, that you haven’t known him ... and won’t you come to him? Won’t you break free of mere tradition and grab hold of the true life and joy he’s extending to you? Won’t you stop settling for the cheapness of cultural “Christianity” and embrace the richness of knowing Jesus?

My hope and prayer today is that you will.

“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” — John 17:3

Joani Barlow’s parents divorced when she was in the fifth grade, leaving her “lost and confused. Nobody really explained anything to me. I didn’t know why. I just knew that my family was breaking up,” with her and an older brother adjusting to the strains of joint custody.

Her Grandfather Barlow died several years later. Her dog had to be put down. And she was coping with rigorous exams at school.

“I felt like I needed to pray, which is so random because I wasn’t raised as a Christian,” she recounted. “But I just knew that I wanted to pray. I needed to be comforted by something other than myself. So I started praying.”

Before long, “I began feeling a call to go to church.” A friend named Nathan “had always invited me to go (to Grace Church in Des Moines, Iowa), and I had always refused. When I went up to him and said, ‘I really want to go to church,’ he was super surprised.

“So I started going to the youth group on Wednesday nights” in February 2021, her junior year of high school. “And I loved church, I loved the worship, I thought it was a lot of fun.

“But I didn’t, you know, have a relationship with Christ yet.”

She attended her first Sunday service the following April. “And I liked it. But I was in some bad relationships, and I felt that was really holding me back from a relationship with Christ.”

Needing answers

At a youth campout, Barlow told the church’s youth intern and Nathan that she had “a bunch of questions, and I really need them answered. Is there any time we can sit down to talk? So, we met at 11 p.m. after all the activities were done.”

She asked, among various things, about the Big Bang Theory taught in her science classes and its compatibility with faith.

Before long, she began comparing herself to people she had come to know at church “and how they seemed so amazing. So (the intern and Nathan) asked me, What’s holding you back from having a relationship with God? I told them I was in relationships that I shouldn’t be in, and I didn’t feel like God would love me because of it.

“And they were like, You are so incredibly wrong. God loves you and is calling you exactly how you are. You do not have to change for Him, you do not have to be better for Him. You don’t have to fix those relationships yourself because God loves you and wants to help you and guide you through them.

“That was mind-shattering for me,” she said. “It’s not my own power, it’s God.

“And then they asked me if I wanted to put my faith in Jesus.

“And I said, Absolutely. So between 11:44 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. on June 7, that’s when I put my faith in Jesus.

“I was basically saying, God, I understand that your Son died on the cross for me and you raised Him from the dead. I asked for His forgiveness for everything that had happened before and for the relationships I was in.”

Not a ‘little prayer’

“It wasn’t like a little prayer that somebody prays and then they don’t actually believe it,” she said. “I can’t say that I truly believed it 10 minutes before. But I knew that I genuinely believed it then.” A few minutes later at that night’s campfire, “everybody was super excited for me,” clapping and some welling up with tears of joy.

Her new birth in 2021 left her feeling “relieved, knowing that it was no longer my fight alone, but that God was with me through it.” In the following days and weeks, “I felt so much clarity. I started feeling new convictions. I stopped cussing and got out of the bad relationship I was in with my boyfriend. God showed me what relationships I should be in with friends and how I needed a strong foundation at church.”

Yet there was a problem – “I kept pushing aside forgiveness. I didn’t want to think about it because I knew it would lead to thinking about my dad. And I didn’t want to do that. So for six months probably, I was choosing not to forgive him. And it really weighed down on me.”

The trauma of the divorce several years earlier carried on. “For about a year, it had been just me and my brother comforting my mom. It was really hard and sad.”

But “out of the blue, my mom said, ‘You need to forgive your father. Your relationship with him is not OK. You should not be so angry toward him.’ She was the last person I expected to say this,” having suffered through the divorce and her ex-husband’s remarriage.

Barlow soon began encountering the necessity of forgiveness in sermons and, at a student conference in Des Moines, she heard the story of someone who had been brutally raped at the age of 15. The survivor turned to Christ a few years later and subsequently came to a point in her heart to forgive the rapist. The following day, the man was apprehended, and the survivor asked her husband, who is a pastor, to visit the man in jail, to relay her forgiveness and to tell him about Jesus.

‘Beautiful’ forgiveness

“What an act of forgiveness,” Barlow said. “The man who could have had a hold on her for the rest of her life, she forgave him, and then asked for him to know Jesus. I thought that was so beautiful, and it really helped me understand that I needed to forgive my father.”

It was as if Jesus was saying, “I don’t want to hear about your unforgiveness,” because He forgave those who crucified Him though he was the perfect Son of God. “Oh, my goodness, who am I to not forgive my dad? I was not raped. I was not murdered, though I’m not trying to downplay what I went through.” But it underscored to her the New Testament passage Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.”

“It was super-awkward” when Barlow met her dad and grandmother for lunch, since, at one point, they hadn’t spoken for two years. “Seeing him, I knew that I had forgiven him. I didn’t have this weight and dread on my shoulders. He was just another person who needs the love of Jesus Christ. I don’t deserve it. And he doesn’t deserve it. And nobody else deserves it. But Christ gave it to us anyway.”

And, now, “he knows that I go to church and that I’m passionate about it.” After her new birth, she lost a number of friends “because I was a completely different person than before. They said I was taking Jesus way too seriously.” She said her mother, who holds a Ph.D. in literacy and education, remains apprehensive whether her earnestness will endure, and her brother is puzzled why she goes to church so often.

‘Next step of obedience’

For her baptism, she waited until a Bible camp, wanting it to be “at a beautiful place, something that I would truly remember and be really happy it happened there.” She hadn’t realized, though, that 200 kids would be watching, many of whom might be searching for faith and might be helped by a witness that “I do love the Lord and this is my next step of obedience. I thought it was really cool that God gave me the opportunity to do it there and do it very publicly in front of so many people.”

New birth has stirred Barlow to be vigilant amid the sway of contemporary culture. “Before I was a Christian, I wasn’t convicted about certain things,” such as her love of reality TV dating shows. Now, she tells herself, “I can’t watch this ... because they’re doing a lot of things that are not OK in a Christian relationship or not God-honoring.”

Contemporary Christian music has become a mainstay instead of popular secular music. “I would have listened to them before I was a Christian. It wouldn’t have been a big deal and I would have been singing the lyrics. The songs want you to cuss. They want you to think about sex before marriage. And they’re even talking about murdering.” Such songs, she said, can leave a believer “with ideas that don’t help their faith.”

Her friendships in church have prepared her for her freshman year at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, Barlow said. “They’ve helped pull me up and, through them, I’m able to help pull other people up because I have a good foundation. ... They’ve helped me grow closer to God on a daily basis – their passion for Christ, their knowledge and just showing me that we can have so much joy and so much love, and just have a bunch of fun doing things that glorify God.”

A true-life example of how Jesus can change a person:

When I was a pastor in Ohio in 1984 my car broke down and I had to walk to a gas station for assistance. They sent a young mechanic over, and he ended up working on the distributor. He was a good mechanic, but I could tell from his language that he wasn't exactly "sanctified." (Some of you may talk like this during the week when your preacher isn't around.) When he found out I was a preacher, he told me about a friend of his.

He said this guy was once the biggest drug dealer in Coshocton county. He could supply you with anything you wanted if you had the cash. But one night while he lay drunk in bed, he realized he was throwing his life away. He immediately stopped dealing in drugs and gave his life to Christ. More than this, he went to a Bible College and was about to become a preacher in Kentucky.

After telling me all this, the young mechanic said: "It's hard to believe people can change like that. I guess it's what they call being re-born." The drug dealer had been part of the darker side of society, and by changing directions he stood out.

A while back an airplane company ran an ad stating that they would make you a pilot for $2,900. They want to train more people to fly planes in hopes that they could sell more planes. Their ad had a beautiful picture of an airplane and in big black print were the words, “We will make you a pilot for $2,900.”

I heard that the ad elicited a lot of response, but the most unique response came from seven women in Kansas. They wrote into the company and said, “We understand you can make us a pilot for $2,900. We would like you to make us one right away. We want him to be a man, 6 feet tall, 190 pounds, with blue eyes and brown wavy hair. We understand that you guarantee that you can make us a pilot. Therefore we would like the pilot on approval for about 60 days. If he works out we’ll order more.”

Friends, an airplane company can’t make a pilot that way, but God can really make a person a Christian through His grace.

For dog groomer Linda Lee Justice, her six years of college and graduate degree work were a “waste of time.” It wouldn't be until January 1999 that Justice would discover God's plan to use her academic background to graft her into the family of God.

Born into a non-Christian family that made frequent moves, Justice changed schools every year for seven years. Describing herself as a “high-stress person” with no coping mechanism, Justice experimented with drugs during junior high school and later turned to alcohol. The addictive habit soon sent her life into a downward spiral. Rock bottom came when her college fiance announced he “got saved” and was returning to his wife.

“I thought he had joined a cult, but looking back now I think he was saved,” the 41-year-old recounted. “It seemed so outlandish to me that he had become a Christian. He changed his behavior so radically. The fact that he got religion and went nuts from my perspective made me interested in religion. So I decided to investigate this religion thing.”

Because Justice couldn't distinguish between the world religions, she enrolled in classes at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill to find the reason behind her former fiance's lifestyle change.

“The first class I took was an introduction to the New Testament,” she said. “That class made me so mad, and I remember I was mad at Jesus in the parables, because I thought they were so stupid. Anyone who said they understood what they meant was a liar. They were stories that went nowhere. I didn't like the New Testament, but I liked the Old Testament.”

In discovering that she enjoyed studying the Old Testament, Justice also discovered she had a talent for linguistics. “I took all the language classes they offered,” she said, adding, “but no New Testament Greek.”

As an Old Testament language and literature major, Justice took Hittite, rabbinical Hebrew, and Akkadian, a Semitic language written in cuneiform script with about 600 different signs for either words or syllables. She also enrolled in German, French and Latin.

In studying the Old Testament and its ancient languages, Justice also learned that her professors held little regard for the veracity and truthfulness of the Bible.

“They didn't believe Moses wrote any of the Pentateuch, or that it was a unit. They were happy to show you how to chop it up until it didn't make any sense at all -- how it is not historic or true or written by anyone who claimed to have written it,” Justice said. “I believed what they said, and it seemed pointless to me [to continue]. If the epic of Gilgamesh is more meaningful, then why aren't we studying it?”

After two years of master's level work, Justice withdrew from UNC and spent five months in dog grooming school. In 1987, Justice began grooming dogs and cultivating a great love for border collies.

Although Justice dismissed the Bible as a viable religious outlet, she was still interested in religion.

“I was interested in Buddhism, because I was in a lot of pain and turmoil, and Buddhism offered a relief from that. It offered an absence of pain -- absence of emotionalism,” she said. “There's a lot of emphasis on cleansing yourself, and I fasted a lot, and I didn't eat meat for 12 years. I was trying really heard to clean myself up. I had a sign in my house that said, 'Suffering leads to salvation.’ It kills me now, but it was His suffering that led to my salvation.”

Justice's search for cleansing and peace was ultimately noticed by two Southern Baptist women who befriended the dog groomer and invited her to church.

“They knew I was in a mess. They witnessed to me. They gave me books. They knew that I was going to go to hell and that I was miserable on earth, and they were broken about it,” Justice recounted.

“They were moral and had a clear conscious. They weren't afraid of anything, and that had so much appeal,” said Justice, who over the next two years began to notice a difference in her friends.

Still desiring to “clean herself up,” Justice agreed to go to church with her friends the week after Christmas. At Cool Springs Baptist Church in Sanford, N.C., Justice heard the Gospel for the first time.

“The youth group was doing a re-enactment of the crucifixion. I got something about blood and some really good person was murdered -- that was my understanding of the Gospel.”

For three weeks, Justice attended the church, searching for more information in much the same way she picked apart the ancient languages of the Old Testament seeking answers.

“The very first Sunday, I went to Sunday School and the ladies were going to a nursing home to sing hymns. I would have chosen to jump in a pit of fire over that, but I went and had a good time and the ladies were really nice to me. They said, 'Sing watermelon,' because I didn't know any of the words,” Justice recounted. “I thought, 'If I can do that, I can do anything.'“

Some older women in the church began to befriend Justice as well, taking time to answer her questions about Christianity.

“I went to one woman's house to eat with her, and she just talked to me about God. She really thought the Bible was true and that Jesus really said all those things. I went over to her house, and I'd listen to her for hours. As people were clearing the dishes from the lunch table, I would just sit and listen to her.”

Justice was amazed to discover that not only did the church members believe the Bible was true, but the pastor did too.

“In one sermon, the pastor was talking about Moses writing the Pentateuch. He actually believed that, and he seemed sane!” Justice exclaimed. “He didn't know that was my background. He couldn't have said anything more calculated to make me think. I was shocked that adult, intelligent, reasonable people believe the Bible is true.”

The church gave Justice a tract and the Gospel of John. Although Justice had read the book as a part of her college studies, she began to notice it made sense. “I kept reading it, and it was amazing. It is a different book when you're reading it believing it rather than [thinking] it's not true. I was hungry to read more and to talk about it and hear sermons on it.”

Justice's garbled understanding of the Gospel message finally translated into “I was a sinner, and He loved me and died for me,” she said. In an appointment with the pastor, Justice admitted she needed help.

“I had a panic attack while he was sharing the Gospel with me and went in the bathroom and got sick,” Justice recalled, noting she was fearful of the life changes that coincide with Christianity. “He made it sound like my whole focus [was] going to change. He made it sound hard,” she said. “But, that appealed to me. I wanted my life to change. I was sick of myself.”

After she finished saying the sinner's prayer with the pastor, Justice said she couldn't stop smiling.

“I felt so happy and light, like things that were wrong were going to be better.”

Although the Cool Springs pastor led her to the Lord, it is the prayers of her two Southern Baptist friends for which Justice will be forever grateful.

Post-conversion, Justice's life radically changed.

“I told everybody [about my salvation],” Justice said. “The pastor told me I had to. That's one of the things that you're supposed to do, and I did. One of the things that surprised me was so many people said, 'I'm a Christian too,' and I said, 'Then why didn't you tell me?'“

A few months after Justice made a profession of faith, she attended a dog show. Word had spread among her friends about her conversion.

“I saw a friend, and he said, 'I heard you got saved.’ He broke down and said, 'I never thought you'd be interested.’ He was crying, and now he witnesses a lot more.”

Soon after her conversion, Justice moved to Franklinton, N.C., to care for her mother who was diagnosed with cancer. A friend invited Justice to take a class at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest. Discovering the seminary was only 20 minutes away from her home, Justice agreed to sit in one class to learn more about her newfound faith. The class she attended was Introduction to the Old Testament.

“I went in the class and immediately people were saying amen and praising the Lord, and I was blown away. I thought it was so great,” Justice said. “Dr. Gary Galleoti made [the Old Testament] make sense.

“I also took Prayer and Evangelism with Dr. Alvin Reid because I thought, 'Well, I need to know how to do that as a Christian.’ If he said, 'Read this book,' I read it. I drank it all in.”

Justice has continued to take classes while working fulltime grooming dogs. When people ask her how she plans to use her degree work, Justice responds: “What I'm finding out seems to be the minimum that someone should know to be an effective witness. So many things I hear in class I use the next day when I'm talking to someone. People ask me what my plans are, but I'm still trying to be a good Christian and learn about the Bible and how to witness to people.”

From alcohol to Buddhism, Justice found the value of faith in Jesus Christ to be “everything.” “Every aspect of my life has changed from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night,” she said.

Watching God unfold his plan for Justice's life through the loss of a fiancé and studying the Bible and biblical languages as an unbeliever continues to amaze her.

“I know I chose the Lord. But looking back, He so much more chose me. I was so pitiful and had so many problems and was just a useless person that it seems He chose me and saved me to show how powerful He is,” said Justice, who currently attends Faith Baptist Church in Youngsville, N.C.

“No matter how low a person is, He can change you completely. It is for His glory, because no one else would have done that. I can see how He'd save an attractive person, or a smart person, or someone who can sing, or someone who has something to offer, but I had nothing.”

*

I was born in Los Angeles in 1949 into a Reform Jewish family. We grew up in the suburbs and had the usual and normal lifestyle of the 1950s and 60s. My father was a strict man brought up in the old world of Jewish law. He was a faithful attendee in the synagogue, but didn’t express a love for God. My mother was a nurse who worked the 3-to-11 shift my whole life.

I was Bar Mitzvah at age 13 and confirmed at 16, went into the Army at 17 and never went back to the synagogue, except a time or two because my Gentile wife was curious about the customs.

My wife was born and raised a Christian in Ashe County, North Carolina. For almost 30 years of married life I successfully kept my wife from going to church. I successfully kept my children away from God. I successfully fulfilled my own lusts and desires for worldly things and worldly pleasures. I was taught through the hardship of my childhood that love was something that hurt you. My father would say, before he took a belt to me, “I’m only doing this because I love you”, then he would hit me and humiliate me. This is what I knew of love.

To the world I was a great guy. I was in the medical profession as a Physician’s Assistant for a local surgeon and I was well liked by our patients and hospital staff. They thought I was so nice. But all the time I was a sinner in my own world. As the years went by, Polly and I raised two daughters. The harder I tried to NOT be like my father, the more I was like him. So my children, even though I never physically harmed them, grew up with the abuse of my voice and stature. In other words, their love for me was due to their fear of me, just like my father and me. It turned out that our younger daughter suffered with ulcerative colitis and while still in her early 30’s, had to undergo extensive surgery to heal her problem.

All this was going on while I was running around the country as a tour director with a company I’ll just refer to as “Heathen Tours” having a great time. It was during all this, too, that I failed my wife in the worst possible way. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had had major surgery followed by chemotherapy, but I was not there for her. Not just being gone when she needed me the most, but also being unfaithful to her.

On Christmas Eve of 1996, it all came to a head and Polly threw me out of the house, telling me I was no good for her or the family and that she was a lot better off and happier without me to worry about. I packed my belongings in my pickup and went to a local motel. It was a typical Christmas Eve, cold, snowing, and very dark. The streets were empty as I drove to the motel. The owner wouldn’t let me stay there because he had a rule that married locals couldn’t stay in his motel. I had to swallow my pride and “confess” to him what was going on. He took pity and made an exception. It turns out he is a Christian, and his letting me stay there was a sign of Christ’s love. It dawned on me as I entered my room that my life was over. I had lost everything that was important to me. I would never see my wife, daughters and grandchildren again. I was more angry than depressed at that moment. I took a pistol with me into the room.

There was an open book on the TV. I knew what it was and I didn’t want anything to do with it. Usually those Bibles are in the side table drawer but this motel owner put them on top of the television. I swiped it off the TV onto the floor where it fell - open. I tried to kick it under the bed, but it hit one of those wooden frames under the mattress, and it skidded towards the bathroom. I reached down to pick it up to put in a drawer. As I lifted it, I felt the strongest “voice” in my head say, “Read it now”. I felt unusual warmth in my hands and I looked down into the book and read about peace and love. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives it to you; let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)

I had planned to end my life, being that it wasn’t worth much. But I kept seeing these two words “peace and love” on the page and I started to think that maybe the answers were in this book. This book was, of course, the Holy Bible placed there by the Gideons. I read enough to know I had to talk to someone about this and the only person who came to mind was my wife’s pastor, Reverend Lawrence Goodman. He had visited our house every year for ten years, but I had always waved him away. I was Jewish and didn’t need or want a Christian pastor.

I called Polly and told her that I was out of control and could not understand why I kept on doing such terrible things. I asked her if she thought her pastor would see me, and she said she didn’t know. So I called him and asked him if I could make an appointment to see him sometime after Christmas and he said, “No” - he would see me first thing in the morning, Christmas morning. That was the second sign of love. The next morning I drove to his home. He had sent his family out so he could meet with me. I started to cry and confess to him what I had done. He didn’t scold, judge, or pity. He simple listened and asked me if I knew about Jesus. He told me that the ONLY way to make it through the addiction of sin and have a peaceful life is to invite Jesus the Savior into my life. My first thought was that this is absurd. But this warmth came over me again and I realized for the first time in my adult life, that I was not in control. I had no power in my own life. After a few hours of talking, he told me to go back to the hotel and read the Gospel of John three times. I left realizing that I was more depressed than I have ever been in my life. I realized I had failed in everything. My shirt was soaked with tears. I still thought about killing myself.

I was on the way back to the hotel when I found myself passing the home of a couple who had been good friends for years. They had always been what I thought were “real Christians”. They were the ones who stayed with Polly while she suffered through the chemotherapy. They were the last people in the world I wanted to see. I was so ashamed of myself. Nevertheless, I know now, that the Holy Spirit was in control that night and I found myself driving into the driveway of Herb and Barb Rash. I went into the house and found them sitting on the sofa, watching their two beautiful children opening presents under the tree. I started crying again and they sat there amazed because they had just been praying for me. They didn’t know what was going on with Polly and me. I told them a little about what was happening and how I had just been to see their pastor. Barb started crying, got up and left the room. When she returned, she was carrying a book and showed me that it was her prayer journal and where she had been praying for me for more than ten years.

I was so touched by this act of love; I had to leave, being overcome with emotions I didn’t know how to deal with. No one had ever said that to me in my life. That was the third sign of love that day.

For the next three days, I stayed in the motel room and read the Gospel of John as the pastor had suggested. I even prayed, which was awkward, as I had never prayed like this before. I can’t remember exactly what went on for those three days. Nevertheless, on Sunday morning, I called Polly and asked her if I could go to church with her. She said I could if I wanted to, but I could tell she really didn’t care. At church I sat with her in the fourth pew on the right and the pastor gave a powerful sermon. I was sobbing when he finished. I went forward at his invitation, actually lifted out of the pew, not knowing why or how, and told him I needed help. He asked me if I was ready to accept Jesus into my life and I said, “yes”. Was I doing this for Polly he asked. I said no, I was doing this for me. Because if I didn’t, I was going to die.

He told me to get down on my knees, but my legs gave out and I fell down on my knees and face. The water came flushing out of my eyes, nose and mouth and my whole body felt like it was in a spasm. He asked several questions which I cannot remember except that I answered yes and then I felt a hand on my back and then one on my head then many hands all over me. I felt such a presence that I had never felt before. When the moment passed, I was helped up and sat down on the pew to get myself collected. I realized that almost every person in that church had come down to lay hands on me. That was the fourth sign of Christ’s love. But most wonderful was that Polly was one of the many people kneeling next to me and touching me as I sobbed.

I had to leave after that. I had promised my mother I would fly out to San Francisco and be with her, as she lay dying of leukemia. It wasn’t until I was on the plane and talking to a Christian man, that I learned I had just been “saved”. My time spent with my mother was stunning. I learned that even on her deathbed, my mother, who encouraged and pushed me to fulfill the traditions of Judaism as a young man, did not believe in God. What a shock! I had to tell her what had occurred that morning in the church. I was afraid to tell her, because most Jewish mothers have a strong negative reaction to this kind of news. But Mom was actually happy for me. She knew my life was difficult and she was happy that I had found peace in my life. But she was not interested in knowing who Jesus was or surrendering herself to him. I stayed with her for six weeks and during that time she got a little better. I spent a lot of that time going to churches and studying with local clergy. I was very fortunate to meet a Messianic Rabbi who explained many things to me about being a “Christian Jew”. I actually met with him several times to listen and learn. I left there with a good feeling about myself and the new creature I had become.

After six weeks, Polly allowed me to come home to try to restore our very shattered marriage. I couldn’t go back to work for “Heathen Tours” because of the kind of lifestyle it represented. I found out about a company in North Carolina that was looking for a director. Believe it or not, I was hired by Christian Tours as a tour director and eventually spent many thousands of miles on buses with Christians who have helped me grow in the Lord. I have met several Gideons on my tours to whom I give big hugs and thanks for their dedicated ministry.

I know today that I became a Christian in the church that morning. It took some time to learn that. Jesus alone came to me that Christmas Eve, reached down to the bottom of the barrel, into the muck and filth of sin and pulled me out and saved my life. He did it for a reason. I am not sure yet what He has planned for me but I have traded the life of darkness for a life in the Light and for that trade I promised Him my life. I will do whatever He asks of me. That’s all there is to it. Without Him, I am nothing.

I believe He called me into ministry by opening up the opportunity for me to attend Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute. I graduated in June 2001 after completing a 2-year course of study. I share my testimony with Gideons at their Pastors’ Banquets several times a year and at many churches. I was ordained as a minister of the Gospel on April 14, 2002, and served as pastor of Phoenix Baptist Church in Lansing, North Carolina, for fifteen months.

In July 2003 a small group of committed believers and I planted a new church in Ashe County called Faith Fellowship and Harvest Ministries. In 2007 we bought our first building, but within four years the church had outgrown that facility, forcing us to move to a larger building in Jefferson. It must be a ‘God-thing’, but our church, where I serve the Lord, is only one mile away from that motel where I met Him.

Our oldest daughter came to know the Lord and invited Jesus into her life. Our youngest daughter and I were baptized together on Easter Sunday morning, 1997. Both of our daughters are now married. I was honored by God to lead three of my grandchildren to the Lord and to have baptized them and my wife. Polly has recovered from all her surgeries and is doing well. In fact, she worked at three different hospitals during the two years I attended Fruitland Bible Institute so I could be a full time student.

Although God is still doing a work in my family and me, we are now a recovering, reconciled, restored, and most of all, a resurrected family. God has been so good to us. I submit this testimony to you in the name of Jesus, for His Service, giving Him the glory, and honor.

Elliott Osowitt

October 17, 2011

[For an opposing view, see HolwickID #66858]

Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

If you are a Christian who believes in the Creator-God, the answer to that age-old question should be clear. Yet that dilemma has been posed for centuries as a true mystery.

Another dilemma that has been posed for centuries but should be quite clear to every Bible-reading Christian is this: Which comes first, faith or regeneration?

Before you say, “Who cares?”, let me point out that the reason this is of significant personal consequence to all Christians is that if we get this wrong, we start down a path that leads to an unbiblical god and a hopeless corruption of the Gospel. This is important!

Salvation

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8).

All Christians will agree that regeneration and faith are two components of the salvation process, yet in Ephesians 2:8, perhaps the most well-known biblical exposition of salvation by faith through grace, regeneration is not even mentioned. Why not?

Regeneration

All Bible-believing Christians agree that regeneration is biblical. Scripture is clear that regeneration — that is, the “born-again” experience — is a sovereign act of God, through the Holy Spirit, without which no one is saved.

“Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’” (John 3:3).

Indeed, every verse that speaks of a person’s heart being opened, or being “born of God,” or being “brought forth,” or becoming a “new creation,” or being given a new heart, is a reference to the wonderful, sovereign act of God in regeneration.

However, regeneration has no power. Regeneration is the result of divine power, not the source.

“[Jesus] saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal (regeneration) by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).

Regeneration, then, is simply a state of spiritual renewal brought about through the power of the Holy Spirit. By contrast, let’s look at what the Bible says about faith.

Faith

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

By that definition, everyone has been given the gift of faith — that is, simply the ability to be assured, convicted, confident — that is, to trust in something and/or someone, even when unseen. Gravity comes to mind.

Furthermore, it seems that faith is a gift that God “gives away,” that is, entrusts to us to invest in the things and/or the people we choose. It is our faith to do with what we will.

We can nurture and invest our faith wisely in the things recommended by God, or we can foolishly misappropriate and “shipwreck” our faith. Either way, it is our faith. Thus, when Jesus laments, “O you of little faith,” it is not a critique of the quality or quantity of the divine gift, but of the person’s misapplication of it.

This is why we are exhorted throughout the New Testament by those who have experienced the blessings of trusting in the promises of God to invest our God-given gift of faith wisely in Jesus. When we do so, generic faith becomes salvific faith — that is, a faith with the power to save.

“ ... Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved...” (Acts 16:31).

Faith and power

Throughout the Bible is an unmistakable pattern of faith followed by divine power.

“By faith, Sarah received power to conceive” (Heb 11:11). “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death...” (Heb 11:5). “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down...” (Heb 11:30).

And notice the power of faith when Jesus is in view:

There is spiritual and physical healing: “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well” (Matthew 9:22).

There is justification: “God will justify ... through faith” (Rom 3:30).

There is adoption into God’s family: “For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:26 ).

And finally,

There is regeneration: “God... cleansed their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:8-9).

In the above-referenced verse, faith brought about regeneration, not the other way around.

Dilemma solved

So, let’s connect the dots.

Saving faith is a gift kindled by the word of God/the Gospel (Rom 10:17). Faith gives us access to the power of God (Rom 5:2). We receive the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus (Gal 3:14). The Holy Spirit is the agent of regeneration (Titus 3:5).

This is why we’re told, “the outcome of your faith [is the] the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:9), and “Your faith has saved you” (Luke 7:50). We’re never told, “the outcome of regeneration is salvation,” or “regeneration has saved you.” And nowhere are we told, “the result of regeneration is your faith.”

Faith precedes regeneration. Always. For everyone.

Why is this important?

Here’s how getting the order of salvation wrong leads to a corruption of biblical truth and a serious defilement of the Gospel.

Regeneration is a sovereign act of God. If regeneration produces faith, as some sadly teach, God becomes the root cause of unbelief. No act of God, no regeneration. No regeneration, no faith.

This means that every person who dies in unbelief is condemned, not because of a misapplication of their faith, but because they were never enabled by God to believe. Simply put, if regeneration precedes faith, there is no “good news” for most of humanity. If regeneration precedes faith, simply being born is an eternal curse of hopelessness for most people.

Final thoughts

Fortunately, the Bible is clear. Faith in Jesus precedes regeneration. If a person dies in unbelief, it’s because they simply “refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thes 2:10). That is, they consciously misappropriated their faith, rejecting the grace provided to them by the God who “wants all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4).

Regeneration has no power to save. Regeneration does not result in faith; regeneration is a beautiful result of faith.

Oh, by the way, about the chicken-and-egg thing? The chicken came first.

________

John Chipman currently serves as a Teaching Pastor at The Spoken Word Christian Church in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.

[For an opposing view, see HolwickID #66858]

Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

If you are a Christian who believes in the Creator-God, the answer to that age-old question should be clear. Yet that dilemma has been posed for centuries as a true mystery.

Another dilemma that has been posed for centuries but should be quite clear to every Bible-reading Christian is this: Which comes first, faith or regeneration?

Before you say, “Who cares?”, let me point out that the reason this is of significant personal consequence to all Christians is that if we get this wrong, we start down a path that leads to an unbiblical god and a hopeless corruption of the Gospel. This is important!

Salvation

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8).

All Christians will agree that regeneration and faith are two components of the salvation process, yet in Ephesians 2:8, perhaps the most well-known biblical exposition of salvation by faith through grace, regeneration is not even mentioned. Why not?

Regeneration

All Bible-believing Christians agree that regeneration is biblical. Scripture is clear that regeneration — that is, the “born-again” experience — is a sovereign act of God, through the Holy Spirit, without which no one is saved.

“Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’” (John 3:3).

Indeed, every verse that speaks of a person’s heart being opened, or being “born of God,” or being “brought forth,” or becoming a “new creation,” or being given a new heart, is a reference to the wonderful, sovereign act of God in regeneration.

However, regeneration has no power. Regeneration is the result of divine power, not the source.

“[Jesus] saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal (regeneration) by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).

Regeneration, then, is simply a state of spiritual renewal brought about through the power of the Holy Spirit. By contrast, let’s look at what the Bible says about faith.

Faith

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

By that definition, everyone has been given the gift of faith — that is, simply the ability to be assured, convicted, confident — that is, to trust in something and/or someone, even when unseen. Gravity comes to mind.

Furthermore, it seems that faith is a gift that God “gives away,” that is, entrusts to us to invest in the things and/or the people we choose. It is our faith to do with what we will.

We can nurture and invest our faith wisely in the things recommended by God, or we can foolishly misappropriate and “shipwreck” our faith. Either way, it is our faith. Thus, when Jesus laments, “O you of little faith,” it is not a critique of the quality or quantity of the divine gift, but of the person’s misapplication of it.

This is why we are exhorted throughout the New Testament by those who have experienced the blessings of trusting in the promises of God to invest our God-given gift of faith wisely in Jesus. When we do so, generic faith becomes salvific faith — that is, a faith with the power to save.

“ ... Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved...” (Acts 16:31).

Faith and power

Throughout the Bible is an unmistakable pattern of faith followed by divine power.

“By faith, Sarah received power to conceive” (Heb 11:11). “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death...” (Heb 11:5). “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down...” (Heb 11:30).

And notice the power of faith when Jesus is in view:

There is spiritual and physical healing: “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well” (Matthew 9:22).

There is justification: “God will justify ... through faith” (Rom 3:30).

There is adoption into God’s family: “For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:26 ).

And finally,

There is regeneration: “God... cleansed their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:8-9).

In the above-referenced verse, faith brought about regeneration, not the other way around.

Dilemma solved

So, let’s connect the dots.

Saving faith is a gift kindled by the word of God/the Gospel (Rom 10:17). Faith gives us access to the power of God (Rom 5:2). We receive the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus (Gal 3:14). The Holy Spirit is the agent of regeneration (Titus 3:5).

This is why we’re told, “the outcome of your faith [is the] the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:9), and “Your faith has saved you” (Luke 7:50). We’re never told, “the outcome of regeneration is salvation,” or “regeneration has saved you.” And nowhere are we told, “the result of regeneration is your faith.”

Faith precedes regeneration. Always. For everyone.

Why is this important?

Here’s how getting the order of salvation wrong leads to a corruption of biblical truth and a serious defilement of the Gospel.

Regeneration is a sovereign act of God. If regeneration produces faith, as some sadly teach, God becomes the root cause of unbelief. No act of God, no regeneration. No regeneration, no faith.

This means that every person who dies in unbelief is condemned, not because of a misapplication of their faith, but because they were never enabled by God to believe. Simply put, if regeneration precedes faith, there is no “good news” for most of humanity. If regeneration precedes faith, simply being born is an eternal curse of hopelessness for most people.

Final thoughts

Fortunately, the Bible is clear. Faith in Jesus precedes regeneration. If a person dies in unbelief, it’s because they simply “refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thes 2:10). That is, they consciously misappropriated their faith, rejecting the grace provided to them by the God who “wants all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4).

Regeneration has no power to save. Regeneration does not result in faith; regeneration is a beautiful result of faith.

Oh, by the way, about the chicken-and-egg thing? The chicken came first.

________

John Chipman currently serves as a Teaching Pastor at The Spoken Word Christian Church in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.

Pastor Rodney Buchanon was watching a makeover show on TV. Her name was Lori. Her nose was pretty big, but it didn't looked all that bad. However, Lori claimed she was so ugly that people called her names and teased her children at school about her looks. She was average and even pleasant in appearance, but she decided to have her nose diminished, her chin built out, her teeth fixed, her cheeks filled out - as well as other enhancements on ABC's show called Extreme Makeover.

She had a husband who loved her and children with whom she seemed to be close. Yet her perception of her appearance was like a black cloud over her life. She wore sunglasses and ball caps to hide behind, but she won't be doing that any longer.

I wonder if her life is really measurably happier now. More than that, I wonder if she is a better person because of it. Wouldn't it be interesting to go to her town a year from now to see if her life has changed, and if the change was a change for the better? Will her new appearance make her more concerned about the homeless and hungry in her area? If we talked to her husband a year from now would he say that their marriage was stronger?

If we talked to her children would they say she was kinder and more thoughtful? Would her friends say she had become a better friend and more caring neighbor?

She looks better, but will she be better?

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate in KeruxID 25837-26027]

Pastor Rodney Buchanon was watching a makeover show on TV. Her name was Lori. Her nose was pretty big, but it didn't looked all that bad. However, Lori claimed she was so ugly that people called her names and teased her children at school about her looks. She was average and even pleasant in appearance, but she decided to have her nose diminished, her chin built out, her teeth fixed, her cheeks filled out - as well as other enhancements on ABC's show called Extreme Makeover.

She had a husband who loved her and children with whom she seemed to be close. Yet her perception of her appearance was like a black cloud over her life. She wore sunglasses and ball caps to hide behind, but she won't be doing that any longer.

I wonder if her life is really measurably happier now. More than that, I wonder if she is a better person because of it. Wouldn't it be interesting to go to her town a year from now to see if her life has changed, and if the change was a change for the better? Will her new appearance make her more concerned about the homeless and hungry in her area? If we talked to her husband a year from now would he say that their marriage was stronger?

If we talked to her children would they say she was kinder and more thoughtful? Would her friends say she had become a better friend and more caring neighbor?

She looks better, but will she be better?

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate in KeruxID 25837-26027]

Oct. 27 is an important date for me.

On that day, many years ago, I was a young kid walking alone under a starry sky in my hometown of Biloxi, Mississippi. I was grappling with who I was and what my life would mean. And there, looking up into the vault of space up there overhead, I trusted a Stranger in the Night to forgive me, and to take me wherever He wanted. The Gospel wasn’t new to me, and the teachings of Jesus weren’t new to me. Years and years of Sunday School and Baptist Training Union and Vacation Bible Schools were all back there. But, somehow, I just knew at that moment that the central point of all those things was true: the Gospel. It was as though I heard a voice.

The reason I write this is because my story isn’t at all typical of most Christians I know, and many kind of feel guilty about that. Many believe if they really have embraced the Gospel, they ought to have a moment, a date, they can point to as the instant they passed from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.

Sometimes our churches reinforce this misunderstanding. Preachers talk about assurance of salvation as though it were about remembering a past experience, and doing a mental autopsy on the sincerity of that. The people we allow to give testimonies in our churches and in our publications all seem to have a dramatic tale to tell.

That’s not what the Gospel is about.

In our culture, we make a big-to-do about birthdays. Other cultures don’t. I could ask you right now, “When were you born” and you could probably tell me month, date and year. But how do you know that? It’s because there were people there, usually your parents, who could tell you that information. You don’t remember emerging from the birth canal (and that’s probably a very good thing).

Other people, in other cultures at other times, don’t recognize dates but seasons. They might not know what day on the weekly calendar or what year in the solar calendar they were born. But do they then question whether they are alive? Of course not. How do you know if you were in fact born? You look to see if you’re alive ... now.

It’s no accident that Jesus compares entrance into the Kingdom of God to physical birth. There is a kind of helplessness that we experience in the biology and history of our births. No one can boast about an easy delivery. No one should feel guilty about prompting a Caesarean section. The important thing is that you’re here.

The same is true for the Gospel. Some of you were brought to Christ suddenly and dramatically. Your past life as a prostitute or a drunk or a warlord gave way to a radically different direction as a disciple. In that, your situation is quite similar to the Apostle Paul’s. Others of you, though saved just as truly in some point in time, aren’t able to identify that time. Your memory is of a slow realization of the Gospel, and you can’t necessarily pinpoint when you were converted in that time frame. Your situation sounds more like that of Paul’s disciple Timothy. The point of the Gospel isn’t celebrating an experience; it’s believing a Man who is your crucified, resurrected, reigning Life.

It’s important to mark dates as ways of prompting thanksgiving. If you know when you met Jesus, set up an Ebenezer of remembrance in your mind and be grateful. If not, be thankful for life in Christ and mark other dates when He showed himself real and faithful to you.

The crucial matter isn’t whether you remember when the Shepherd pulled you out of the thorn bushes. Maybe you were barely conscious. The critical thing is whether you hear His Voice, maybe somewhere out there in the dark in front of you, calling you forward, right now.

________

Russell D. Moore is dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

Oct. 27 is an important date for me.

On that day, many years ago, I was a young kid walking alone under a starry sky in my hometown of Biloxi, Mississippi. I was grappling with who I was and what my life would mean. And there, looking up into the vault of space up there overhead, I trusted a Stranger in the Night to forgive me, and to take me wherever He wanted. The Gospel wasn’t new to me, and the teachings of Jesus weren’t new to me. Years and years of Sunday School and Baptist Training Union and Vacation Bible Schools were all back there. But, somehow, I just knew at that moment that the central point of all those things was true: the Gospel. It was as though I heard a voice.

The reason I write this is because my story isn’t at all typical of most Christians I know, and many kind of feel guilty about that. Many believe if they really have embraced the Gospel, they ought to have a moment, a date, they can point to as the instant they passed from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.

Sometimes our churches reinforce this misunderstanding. Preachers talk about assurance of salvation as though it were about remembering a past experience, and doing a mental autopsy on the sincerity of that. The people we allow to give testimonies in our churches and in our publications all seem to have a dramatic tale to tell.

That’s not what the Gospel is about.

In our culture, we make a big-to-do about birthdays. Other cultures don’t. I could ask you right now, “When were you born” and you could probably tell me month, date and year. But how do you know that? It’s because there were people there, usually your parents, who could tell you that information. You don’t remember emerging from the birth canal (and that’s probably a very good thing).

Other people, in other cultures at other times, don’t recognize dates but seasons. They might not know what day on the weekly calendar or what year in the solar calendar they were born. But do they then question whether they are alive? Of course not. How do you know if you were in fact born? You look to see if you’re alive ... now.

It’s no accident that Jesus compares entrance into the Kingdom of God to physical birth. There is a kind of helplessness that we experience in the biology and history of our births. No one can boast about an easy delivery. No one should feel guilty about prompting a Caesarean section. The important thing is that you’re here.

The same is true for the Gospel. Some of you were brought to Christ suddenly and dramatically. Your past life as a prostitute or a drunk or a warlord gave way to a radically different direction as a disciple. In that, your situation is quite similar to the Apostle Paul’s. Others of you, though saved just as truly in some point in time, aren’t able to identify that time. Your memory is of a slow realization of the Gospel, and you can’t necessarily pinpoint when you were converted in that time frame. Your situation sounds more like that of Paul’s disciple Timothy. The point of the Gospel isn’t celebrating an experience; it’s believing a Man who is your crucified, resurrected, reigning Life.

It’s important to mark dates as ways of prompting thanksgiving. If you know when you met Jesus, set up an Ebenezer of remembrance in your mind and be grateful. If not, be thankful for life in Christ and mark other dates when He showed himself real and faithful to you.

The crucial matter isn’t whether you remember when the Shepherd pulled you out of the thorn bushes. Maybe you were barely conscious. The critical thing is whether you hear His Voice, maybe somewhere out there in the dark in front of you, calling you forward, right now.

________

Russell D. Moore is dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.