Yesterday I was at the local Kroger's and asked man if he was born again. He said I am not sure what you mean. At this point I provided a tract called, "This Was Your Life" and asked him to read it. I pray he does and truly considers accepting Christ. However, how many of our church members would know what it means to be "born again?" Here is some information about being born again and then my testimony of how I became born again at age 17.
First in the Gospel according to John, Jesus told Nicodemus that "ye must be born again." Nicodemus a ruler at that day, asked Jesus, "How can a man be born again when he is old?" Jesus then stated that it is a spiritual birth. See everyone is still born spiritually. We are made up of Spirit, Soul, and Body. In our Spirit is our conscience, in our Soul is our intellect, emotion, and will, and in our Body are 5 senses. When we are born we have all 3 parts, but our Spirit is not filled with the Spirit of God. (For more information about this please email me at
pastor@grovecitybaptistchurch.com).
So we are born dead spiritually. Everyone that is not born again is only 1/2 alive. Their body is alive but their spirit is dead. To be born again, is to receive Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and then we receive of the Holy Spirit... we are born Spiritually!! There are many things that come with this Spiritual birth. Here are just a few that come to mind.
1. Before when we where dead Spiritually we had an empty feeling, but when we are "born again" that empty filling is filled with the Holy Ghost.
2. Prior to being "born again" we where the children of Satan, but once we are "born again" we are Children of God (this truth has so many implications that I will cover later).
3. Prior to being "born again" we lived like our father the devil. We served the World, the Flesh, and where highly influenced by our Father the Devil (and possibly possessed... yes I said possessed!). But once we are "born again" we have a new Father - God the Father, and He loves His Children and cares for them much more than our previous father did!
4. Being Children of God mean we should act like Children of God. We should like the things that God likes, and we should be obedient to our new Father! This would mean that we read His Word the Bible, We spend time talking to Him in Prayer, We Worship Him Faithfully with other Believers (Church- did I say you should attend church.... YES and a Bible Believing Sin hating Church... because our Father is Sin Hating and He wrote the Bible! : o ), We should also speak to everyone about our new Father - which is called witnessing.
How did I become born again?
When I was 17 I joined the United States Army Reserve. During the processing time in Pittsburgh PA, prior to flying out for Basic Training, a man from the Gideon's gave his testimony and provided all men and women joining the military a camouflage Bible. This man from the Gideon's encouraged each of us to read the part that explained how we can now for sure Heaven is our home when we die. This statement and the one that he made earlier caused great interest to well up in me. Prior to asking us to read the short information about Heaven, this man stated that accepting Christ as his Savior (being Born Again) was the most important thing that ever happened to him. This was a profound statement because he was a successful business owner (all Gideon Men are business owners), he was older (about 70) and I assumed he had a wife, children and possibly grandchildren. Isn't this everything that most people seek in life? I thought the best thing that ever happened to him would of been his successful business, his ability to travel, his wife of 35 years, his children, or his many grandchildren. But no he said with conviction, the best thing that ever happened to him, the best decision he ever made, was to accept Jesus Christ as his personal Savior!! So that caused me to look into this Salvation thing.
While on the plane, heading to basic training, I read the portion in the back of the Bible, that clearly explained how I could become Born Again/Saved. The first statement it made was that all men are sinners or do things that are against God's commandments. I believed that. It was easy for me to believe that because many times I did things that where clearly against God's commandments, such as get angry, hate, covet (want something that was not mine), not keep the Sabbath (a day Holy for God), and even though I have not committed adultery, I was no angel when it came to purity...and this is not to my glory either! So I realized I was a sinner. This was a sobering thought, then it further explained that all sin had a penalty. That just like going through a red light earned me a ticket, breaking just one of God's laws earned me an eternity in a real-true-actual-burning Hell. Now this was BAD news! My thought is isn't God LOVE! Would love send me to Hell?? Then the very next statement explained everything.... God is love, BUT He is also a JUST God, a HOLY God, and a RIGHTEOUS GOD. Because of that He must punish wrong, especially when we where told it was wrong, and His punishment is death in Hell. BUT, there was good, no GREAT news. The Great news is that God sent His Son Jesus Christ to be born of a virgin (Mary), live a sinless life, and die for our sins! His own Son took my penalty on some wooden cross 2000 years ago. Not only that, history and God's Word the Bible says that Jesus Christ rose from the dead after being in the grave for 3 days and is now alive and in Heaven with His Father! The little Bible further explained, That this is why Jesus is called the Savior! He died on the cross to save us from our sins! He wants us in Heaven. Which is good news but to see Him in Heaven we must accept Him as our Savior. We must be Born Again! This means we must pray to Jesus Christ and receive this free Gift of Salvation. I really wanted to be Born Again. So I prayed the little prayer it had listed... Here is the prayer: "Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and if I died in my sins, I would go to Hell forever. But Jesus I am thankful to know that you died on the cross for my sins, and I would like to receive you as my Savior, and I promise to live for you from this day forward. In Jesus Name Amen." So I prayed the prayer and accepted Christ as my Savior. WOW
From that day my life was forever different. I did not feel funny all over, but I knew I was a new person. I started reading God's Word the Bible, more and while in Basic Training I even attended the only church service they allowed us to attend while in training. When I got back home I eventually met Cindy who is now my wife and started attending church with her. Now 14 years later, I live in Knoxville Tennessee, attending a Bible College, running Freight Business, and Pastoring a small but growing church! God has been so good to me.
I want to encourage everyone to write out there salvation testimony. It does not have to be as detailed as mine. It really should include three parts: your life before Christ (minimize on your sins and maximize on His unseen hand in your life), how you came to know Christ, and what Christ means to you know.
For His Kingdom,
Donald Beeman
as born in our family! My answer is he got our her cute genes! 
as born in our family! My answer is he got our her cute genes! 
