Welcome to the Set Your Mind Above podcast, where every day, ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths! I am your host BJ Sipe, and I’m so glad you’ve tuned in today! I am excited to share my life & my faith with you, and I sure hope you’ll do the same with me along the way.

It has been a wonderful day for me so far, and it’s a special day for me – because today is my birthday. I turn 31 years old today, which is really hard for me to believe. I still feel like I am a teenager, at least my mind does – maybe my body not so much anymore. I got to sleep in this morning, and I woke up to hot coffee, biscuits, and a kiss from my wife. I mosied into the kitchen and was greeted with a happy birthday song from my beautiful children, and the sweetest happy birthday card that my daughter Ava colored for me. It’s currently hanging on the front of my fridge. I sat there, holding both of my kids in my arms while sipping on my coffee, there was no better way I could start my day. Soon the phone calls and messages started from friends and family wishing me a happy birthday, most importantly from my mom & dad. I have tried to respond to everyone’s kind and thoughtful words, but I will say it again here thank you everyone who has taken the time to share something kind with me today. I feel so loved and so blessed to have so many wonderful friends & bonds of fellowship. While we are having a special dinner tonight (Kylie is making my favorite, a big breakfast for dinner) – our real celebration will be later this weekend. Kylie and I are going off by ourselves for two days just to get away. We have not had time to connect just the two of us in so long, it is the best birthday gift I could have asked for. Birthdays are an important part of our culture and many other cultures. It’s a day to celebrate life and all of its blessings. I think many times we can take our lives for granted, assuming that there are more days and years to come. In reality, none of us know what even the rest of this day will bring – we are not promised tomorrow. There is no guarantee that we will live to an old age or even to middle age. And so I am grateful to celebrate another year, even another day that God has blessed me with life and life abundantly. But what if I told you that there are millions all around this world that have been born and yet are not alive? This is difficult to understand – what am I suggesting? How can one be born & walking among us, and yet not be alive? Certainly they are alive in the sense that they are walking and talking among us, but for them to truly be alive they must have a new birth day. If we want life, eternal life, then we must be born again.  

Let us consider for a moment the dialogue between our Lord Jesus & the Pharisee Nicodemus. Nicodemus was both a leader of the Jewish people and a disciple in secret, much like that of Joseph of Arimathea to come. He comes to Jesus secretly at night, and the following is recorded for us in John’s Gospel in the third chapter. This is a lengthy excerpt of Scripture, but I believe it will be most beneficial for us to read it in it’s entirety. 

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” 

Being born into this world makes us alive in the flesh, but if we truly want to take hold of the life that is offered to us by God we must be born again of the Spirit. Through obedience to the gospel of Christ, there is a great transformation that takes place. We are born of water & Spirit, that by his grace and through our faith in the moment of baptism in water in the name of Jesus we receive the forgiveness of our sins & also receive the Holy Spirit. Where once we were darkness, spiritually dead because of our sins – when we are born again, we are made alive together with him! Where once we stood condemned and were without hope, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! Our hope is no longer in this life, but in the life that is to come! How wonderful are the words spoken by Jesus, that God so showed his love for us by sending his Son, that whoever believes in him would not die, but have eternal life! And yet, this is not the only transformation Jesus speaks of to Nicodemus as a result of new birth. Those who are born again no longer walk in darkness, but walk in in the light. No longer are we enslaved by our sin, no longer giving ourselves over to our carnal lusts and desires. Genuine faith results in a genuine change of life! As the Apostle Paul would write in Romans 6:5, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. You are not merely born again into eternal life to come, but you are born again to live for Jesus as a new person the rest of your days in this life. You are transformed from the inside out, so that everyday you look less like who you were and more like our Savior, Jesus Christ the righteous. Take hold of the true life that yours in Christ, and be born again. 

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Friday’s, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and weekly video sessions that are uploaded on Saturdays. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above!