The Qualifying Key

. . . except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. —John 3:3

Nicodemus came and asked, “How can You do such miracles? How can You do such mighty works? Why is God with You and not with us? We are religious! We wear the right clothing! . . . eat clean food! . . . keep all the rituals and traditions we know! We pray the right prayers! We spend hours in the synagogue! Why You and not me? Why is God with You and so far away from me?” Jesus replied, “You must be born again.” It seems here that Jesus avoided the question, that He completely ignored poor Nicodemus. Yet He was giving him the answer to the question, to the cry of his heart. Do you, Nicodemus, want to have God with you? Do you want to do these miracles? Then you must be born again. Why? Because this new birth qualifies you for the signs and wonders and miracles. Because when you are born again, God is with you. You may go to a church, you may serve there faithfully—but you must be born again. You may be at every church function, you may serve as an usher, greet at the door, be an elder in the church—but you must be born again. You may be Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, nondenominational—but you must be born again. It is the new birth that allows God to be with you, and once He is with you, His power will also be with you! What is the key to spiritual living? It is this—you must be born again! Are you? If you aren’t, what are you waiting for?

Pastor Tom Kehres

Become Aware of Him

No man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
—John 3:2

Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. Even though he was a member of the Pharisees, the group of religious leaders who were seeking to destroy Jesus, he still knew there was something special about Jesus. He saw the miracles that Jesus did, and he desired in his heart to do the same. He came to ask how Jesus was doing what He was doing. He knew that in order to do such mighty deeds, God had to be with Him. Not only was God with Jesus, but God is now with you in the Person of the Holy Ghost. You can ignore Him, but He is still with you. You can forget He is there, but He is. You can stop acting like a Christian, stop talking like a victorious person, stop thinking right, but He is still with you. If you don’t seek Him, spend time with Him, or talk to Him for days, that does not change the fact that He is with you. He is eternally committed to you! He will abide with you forever. He will never leave you, nor forsake you. He is always trying to get your attention, to bring your heart into a place of constant awareness of Him and a place of expecting His ability to perform. He will never quit, never give up on you. He is God with you. Spend some time right now, if only for a couple of minutes, to think about and acknowledge His presence. Thank Him for His faithfulness and love toward you. Become aware of the Holy Ghost.

Pastor Tom Kehres

Freely Receive

And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. —Matthew 10:7–8

This is a description of the life of a person who has been born again, a person whom God is now with. He will tell others of the Good News. He will heal the sick, cast out devils, and freely give because he has freely received. Notice the receiving comes first. You cannot give anything that you do not have to give. How did you get it? “Freely.” The new birth was given to you freely—but you had to receive it. It is the same way with the power and presence of God. God has freely given it to you—but you must receive it. When you were born again and received Christ, you received everything you will ever need. If you still feel like you have come up short or are lacking in anything, it is because you are not understanding that it has already been freely given to you. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things” (Romans 8:32, emphasis added). When He became with you, He brought with Him all things. Whatever you receive, you will then be able to give. Receive the power—give the power; receive the peace, spread the peace; receive the joy, give the joy. Freely receive—so you can freely give. Many try to work for or qualify for the things of God—if you could earn them, they would not be free. Religious works are not the answer to living with God— freely receiving His presence and power leads to miracles. He said He is with you—so He is!

When the Spirit Came

. . . for God was with him —Acts 10:38

Even though the man Jesus was born of God and had the life and nature of God in Him for thirty years, we do not find Him healing or doing miracles or deliverances during that time. Then at the River Jordan, the Spirit and power came upon Him, and His life was drastically changed. What made the difference? God was now with Him! All the wonderful signs that Jesus did were not performed because He was Jesus, because He was God, because He was born of a virgin, but because God was with Him. Once Jesus started to yield to the God in Him, with Him, and on Him, the will of God was brought into the earth realm. What happened? His kingdom came, and now His will was being done on earth as it was in heaven. If you want to know the will of God, just look at the works of Jesus. God desires that all who are oppressed of the devil will be healed. He desires that people go around doing good. The “doing good” is to defeat evil, or drive back the forces of darkness! Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9 cev); “. . . the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:10). It was God accompanying Jesus’s word with signs following (Mark 16:20). It was the Year of Jubilee, the year of the anointing. What made the difference? God was now with Him.

Pastor Tom Kehres