You gotta be dead!

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” John 3:3

Good morning!

There are two funny stories about kids below.

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said that it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because, even though it was a very large mammal, its throat was very small. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible. The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah". The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?" The little girl replied, "Then you ask him". :)

 “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would I get into heaven?” the Sunday school teacher asked the children. “NO!” they answered. “If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I get into heaven?” Again the answer was ”NO!” “Well,” I continued, ”then how can I get to heaven?” A five-year-old boy shouted, “You gotta be dead!” :)

Though they both are funny, they are true.

The first one tells us that we need to have faith in Jesus to enter Heaven. Without faith we cannot occupy the promised land. Though many Israelites saw God’s mighty hand, how He brought them from their land of slavery and how He led them through the wilderness and met their needs, they didn’t trust that they could really drive out the giants and live in Canaan. Finally Caleb and Joshua were rewarded for their faith. You must have faith in Jesus. He is the only way! You have to trust Him!

The second one says that you have to be dead to your old life of sin and to be alive in Jesus. What does that mean? The answer is seen below.

I read on the Internet about sin and its birth. How does a worm get inside an apple? Perhaps you think the worm burrows in from the outside. No, scientists have discovered that the worm comes from inside. But how does he get in there? Simple! An insect lays an egg in the apple blossom. Sometime later, the worm hatches in the heart of the apple, then eats his way out. Sin, like the worm, begins in the heart and works out through a person’s thoughts, words, and actions. We are sinners by birth. Jesus paid the price by giving His life for us, and by this we are dead to sin and are alive in Jesus! So what should we do? 

The Bible tells us, when the Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery, Jesus neither allow them to stone her to death nor condemn her; instead He said, “Go, sin no more.”