You Must Be Born Again – The One Decision You Cannot Ignore

Have you truly been born again, or are you just “around” Christianity? In this powerful message, we dive into what Jesus meant when He said, “You must be born again” and why this is the most important spiritual decision of your life. This is not about religion, labels, or church attendance. It is about a radical new birth that changes your heart, your desires, and your destiny.

In this sermon, you will discover:

• What the Bible really means by being “born again”
• The difference between churchgoing and true conversion
• How the Holy Spirit changes your relationship to sin and the world
• Why a born‑again life is marked by love, holiness, and obedience
• How to know if you are truly saved – and what to do if you are not

Whether you have been in church for years, are a new believer, or are simply curious about Jesus, this message will challenge you to examine your heart and respond to the call of God. Eternity is too long to be wrong about your salvation.

If this word blesses you, please like, comment, and share it with someone who needs to hear the Gospel. Do not forget to subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss a new message from Faith Wallet Global Gospel Ministries.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:06

This is the faith of common belief. Where burdens are lifted and hearts are relieved. The word is alive, it speaks to our soul. Calling us higher, making us poor. Faith comes by hearing, hearing God's word, a voice in the silence. You to be heard. Let it be hard top. Let it be tough, please. I feel the air. He just is present. No fear to think of. What is just his nose? He built a spirit. He plays the dog. Hearing that bird. Avoid the standard. Let me heart down. Let it be dark, please.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

This is the face that we are groups of people set apart by the Holy Spirit. They are the light of this world, shining brightly among the evils and darkness of the world. They are not just churchgoers, not just religious, not just better than average. They are the born-again Christian. They are Christ's ambassador, representing Christ in all their daily activities. For them, nothing stays the same. Nothing stayed the same. Their relationship with sin changes. Their appetite for the world changes. Their love for God and people changes. They have a different mission for God. They do not make peace with sin. No, they don't. They confess it, turn from it, and chase obedience. Because the fire of the Holy Spirit inside them is pulling them towards holiness and away from the flesh. They do not chase the world's lost. Setos and Apollo. The things that once they saw them start to lose their shine. Their priorities shift. Their cry becomes, I want to be like Jesus. I want to walk like Jesus. They still live in this world, yes. Walk religious, pay rebill, but they refuse to bow to a cooker culture. They seek holiness, self-control, and a deep contentment that only God can give. Their hearts born with love for God and others. Jesus Christ is not a weakened appointment. He is the Lord and Savior of their life. They possess hunger for prayer and also for the word of God for obedience. Their love for God spilled over into the love of people, serving them, forgiving them, carrying their bodies, refusing to harbor hatred. They renounce racial prejudice and all forms of hatred and violence. They know every person bear the image of God. Every person. And they know because tore down the walls between people. So instead of journeying the walls range, they carry the heart of Christ into a dividing world, seeking reconciliation, peace, and healing. And they cannot stay silent. No, they don't stay silent because the gospel burns in their bone. For the born-again, evangelism is not a church department, it is a way of life. In their world and in their work, in their homes and on their job, they point people to Jesus. Point people to Jesus. That raises a piercing question for every heart in this room and everyone under the sound of my voice. Are you just around Christianity? Or have you been born again? Our message today comes from the gospel of John chapter 3, verses 1 to 3. Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the sign you are doing if God were not with him. And Jesus replied, Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. These are the words of God, and may the Lord Almighty bless this world. Amen. Listen now, in life, it is a given that some requirements are not negotiable. Many conditions are set on stone and that no one can change, no matter how much you try. For example, if you want to board a plane, you need a valid boarding pass. If you want to graduate, you must meet the cost requirement. If you want to drive legally, you need a license. You may be sincere, well dressed, respectful, and confident. But if you do not meet the requirement, sincerity does not open the gate. Effort does not change the rule. Desires does not cancel the condition. That is exactly how it is with the kingdom of God. In passage I just read, Jesus did not speak vaguely about salvation. He did not say try to be better. He did not say religious or hope for the best. He didn't say that. Do not miss what he said. Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. That means the new birth is not a bonus for a super spiritual people. It is the basic requirement for every man, every woman, every Christian, and every sinner who wants to enter eternal life. Welcome to Faith Hour, where the word of God are not content creation or to entertain your mind. It comes to expose your sin, break your pride, and bring you to salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Note that Jesus did not say it would be nice if you are born again. He did not say, try your best and God will understand, like many people say. He did not say be religious, be moral, be kind, and you will be fine. Jesus gave a defined requirement: a clear, sharp, and unavoidable. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. If there is one truth, this generation must hear again, it is this you must be born again. Brothers and sisters, we are living in a time of appearance without power, religious without repentance, and profession without possession, and church attendance without transformation. Many people know the language of the church, but have never been changed by the power of God. They know how to lift their hands, cut Bible verses, wear the right clothes, and say, God is good, God is good, but deep down there have been no birth, no new birth, no brokenness over sin, no hunger for holiness, and no inward war of the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 3, Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. He is not a drunk in the street, he is not a thief broken into houses, he is not a positive coming out of immorality. He was a ruler of the Jews, a member of the great Sahedrian, a man of authority in Jerusalem. He is a respected man, a religious man, a moral man, a teacher, a ruler, and a man of status. Yet, Jesus overlooked past this title, past his education, past his religious activities, and go straight to the point and declare frankly in John chapter 3, verse 3. Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That means you can be respectable and still be lost. You can be religious and still be lost. You can say you believe in Jesus Christ and still be lost. You can be admired by men and still be lost. You can sit in the church for years and still be lost. You can preach and still be lost. You can sing and still be lost. You can carry a Bible and still be lost. If you are not born again, you are not ready for the kingdom of God. Listener, this is sovereign. It affects me and you. Must be born again to see the kingdom of God. This is not a suggestion for a few people, it is a command and necessity for everybody. You must be born again. You know, when a requirement is set by the authority in charge, nobody has the power to rewrite it. You can argue with it, dislike it, avoid it, mock it, and delay it. But if you do not meet it, you do not qualify. And heaven's requirement has already been spoken by the highest authority there is. Too many people are trying to enter by credentials instead of conversion. Too many are trying to enter by performance instead of regeneration. Too many are trying to enter by morality instead of a new birth. But Jesus shut every other door and leaves only one open. You must be born again. The man hearing this word was Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of Jewish ruling council, which means he was deeply religious and highly respected. Yet Jesus spoke to him as a man who still lacked the one thing that matters most. Showing that religious status and knowledge cannot replace spiritual birth. Nicodemus was the kind of man people respected. If you walk into the room, people will stand. If he spoke, people will listen. If he thought, people will take note. If anybody looked qualified on the outside, Nicodemus did. But Jesus exposed the bankruptcy of outward religion without inward transformation. There is a dangerous deception in many Christian lives today. It is the deception that because I am familiar with spiritual things, I must be spiritually alive. But familiarity is not salvation. Information is not spiritual transformation. Knowledge is not a new birth. Hear me carefully and hear me well. Going to church does not make you born again any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. Wearing a cross does not mean you carry Christ. Quoting Bible verses does not mean you obey the Bible. Say amen does not mean your soul has been awakened by the Holy Spirit of God. Some people have learned how to act safe. They know how to impress church people. But when temptation comes, when temptation comes, they collapse. When conviction comes, they resist. When holiness is preached, they get angry. When sin is exposed, they get defensive. Why? Because religion can decorate the flesh, but only the Holy Spirit can change the heart. Jesus was telling Nicodemus, your religion is not enough. Your learning is not enough. Your status is not enough. Your sincerity is not enough. You need something deeper than ritual. You need life from above. Brethren, this is Nicodemos, and you must be born again. We live in a generation obsessed with behavioral modification. People want technique, strategies, life acts, and little adjustment. They want a better vision, a better fashion of themselves. But Jesus did not come to make old person behave better. He came to make spiritually dead people live. The problem with us is not merely that we do bad things, the problem is that our nature is falling. The problem is not just that what we do, the problem is what we are apart from God. We do not fix a corpse by changing his clothes. So you do not kill dead with cosmetics. You do not saw spiritual knowing with religious activities. If a person is dead in trespasses and sin, then the spiritually dead person does not need a motivational speech but resurrection power. That is why Jesus said in John chapter 3, verse 6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Flesh can only produce flesh. Falling humanity can only reproduce falling humanity. Natural birth can give you physical life, but you cannot give you spiritual life. By our first birth, we are born corrupt, shaped in sin and iniquity. We must therefore experience a second birth. Our soul must be formed and made alive anew. We must be born from above, born into a divine and heavenly life, a life of communion with God. Your parents can bring you into the world, but they cannot bring you into the kingdom of God. Your church can teach you doctrine, but it cannot regenerate your soul. A preacher can preach to you, but it cannot create only life in you. Only the Holy Spirit of God can do that. I do not care how polished or beautiful the flesh becomes. Flesh is still flesh, flesh. Educated flesh is still flesh. Rich flesh is still flesh. Religious flesh is still flesh. Church trained flesh is still flesh. And flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God unless there is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. You can turn over a new leaf, but if the root is still dead, the leaf changes nothing. You can make resolution in January, promises in March, an emotional decision in April, but if there is no inward rebirth by the Holy Spirit, you are still the same old person wearing a different face. Listener. Born against me, born from above. When Jesus spoke of being born again, he was not talking about starting your life over by human effort. He was talking about God from above with the Holy Spirit, a supernatural work of God that gives a sinner a new heart, new desires, new affection, and a new life. Years before Jesus said you must be born again, prophet Ezekiel, under the Holy Spirit of God, prophesies in Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 26, when he said, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from your heart heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 26, verse 26, Commit powerfully. To the being born again because it describes the inward transformation that only God can perform in a sinner's life. Jesus says a person must be born again, and the secret shows what that miracles look like. God give a new heart, put a new spirit within, removed the heart of stone, and give a heart of flesh. A heart is the inner control center of a person where thoughts, desires, motives, values, and choices come together and direct how that person lives. In biblical language, the heart is not just emotion, it is the governing core that shapes judgment and action. A heart of stone implies inflexibility and willfulness. Why a heart of flesh means submission and compliance? The heart is the spiritual and moral center of a person where intention has shape and decision are made. So, what does it mean to be born again? I know you want to know that. This is the big question of the day, and one of the reasons for this message. What does it mean to be born again? Many are throwing this statement around that I am born again, but their actions shows otherwise. To be born again means sin, no longer sit comfortably on the throne of your heart. To be born again means confliction becomes real. It becomes a pursuit. To be born again means you cannot live at peace with the thing that molded Jesus to the cross. To be born again means repentance is your daily song. Now, let me be plain. Being born again does not mean you become perfect overnight, but it does mean you become different. It means your direction changes. It means your appetite changes. It means your love. The love of your holy changes. It means your attitude towards sin changes. It means your relationship with God changes. Before you could sin and laugh or brag about it. Now you sin and grieve over it. Before, you could ignore God in everything you do. Now something in you longs for Him. Before, holiness, first heaven. Now compromise, fill heaven. Before, Jesus was a religious figure. Now He is your Lord, your life, your Savior, your treasures. That is the new birth. Ultimately, the presence of genuine birth is not merely superficial, but it is reflected in your words, thought, action, attitude, obedience, and the trajectory of your faith journey. The tragedy in many churches is that we have people, we made people more comfortable with a Christianity that has no evidence of spiritual life. We have reduced salvation to a phrase repeated without repentance, a card signed without surrender, a moment remember with a life without a life transform. But when God truly said, something happened. Chains begin to break, the souls begin to shift, pride gets wounded, sin gets confronted, the conscience wake up, the word of God opens, prayer becomes rich, Jesus becomes beautiful. This is life. Where once there was death and the spirit does what flesh cannot do. When one is reborn, there will be a genuine change of heart, characterized by a shift from craving indulgence in sin to yearning for holiness. This involves assessing whether the alloy of wording of worldly precious, precious previously embraced, has diminished in significance, replaced by exclusive joy found in heavenly pursuit. Jesus further said in John chapter 3, verse 8, the wind blows whoever it pleases. You hear a sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Holy Spirit. What was Jesus saying? He was saying the work of the Holy Spirit is suffering, mysterious, powerful, and undeniable. You cannot see the wind, but you can see what the wind does. When wind moves, straight bend, does rises, leaves shakes, door rattles, and the atmosphere changes. In the same way, you may not see the Holy Spirit with your physical eyes, but he moves on his soul. Things change. A proud man becomes broken. A dirty mind becomes convicted. A hard heart becomes tender. A careless churchgoer becomes a praying saint. A secret sinner becomes a public repenter. A Christless professor becomes a true disciple. You do not have to understand every mystery of the wind to know it is blowing. And you do not have to explain every detail of regeneration to know when the Holy Spirit of God has made somebody anew. The new birth is not self-produced, it is spirit-produced. That is why no portion should boast. If you are truly safe, you are a miracle of mercy. I'm telling you, if you are truly safe, you are a miracle of mercy. If you are truly changed, God did it. If your heart is alive to Christ, the spirit did what no sermon, no song, no tradition, no human effort could ever do. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 to 9. Make this Christoph. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of work, so that no one may boast. This passage comforts human pride. Pride wants partial credit. Pride wants a role in its own salvation. Pride wants to say, I did this, I earned this, I helped God out. But doctrine of a new birth crush pride because it tells man the truth. You are so spiritually ruining that God can give you life. Only God can give you life. A dead person cannot help himself. We are all dead in our sin, and only God can save us. Pride hates to hear that. Flesh hate here and that. Religious hate here and that. But it is still true. It is true. Some people will rather be told what to do than fully give themselves to God. They prefer rules and outward action instead of letting God change their heart. They would rather fix how they look on the outside than allow God to deal with what is broken inside. But no one can be truly born again while holding on their own righteousness. You must come to Jesus Christ empty. You must come to Jesus Christ honestly. You must come broken. You must come repentant. And let me say it strongly: hell will be full of people who are almost persuaded, almost changed, almost broken, almost surrender, almost saved. But almost born again is still lost. Since without being born again, you cannot enter heaven. Consequently, the greatest question of the day is what is the evidence of this new birth? Let me explain in a simple way. Jesus Christ told us in Matthew chapter 7, verse 16 to 18. Say, by their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from torn bushes or figs from thistle? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. Jesus' word means that the new bird is not proved merely by a profession with the leaves, but by a change life that eventually produces feasible spiritual fruit. Jesus thought that a real tree produced rich fruit. In the same way, a person who has been truly been born again will show evidence of that new life. New birth is infeasible at the moment it happens, but its fruit becomes feasible over time. You do not prove salvation by talking alone, but by transforming evidence of a change of heart and a life. You once enjoyed sin, but now you hate it. Hear what 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 says. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here. So to be born again is not a game, it is a rechange made possible by the Holy Spirit of God. This means salvation is not cosmetic change, but a retransformation, a new creation life in Christ. The sinful thing you used to say, you say no more. Your old sinful habits have become things of the past. You once lived carelessly in sin, but now repentance is your daily song. Congratulations! You are born again. That is what Jesus Christ meant, that true conversion can be recognized by its result. The evidence of being born again is a life that increasingly bears the fruit of a changed heart, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Many people can put labor of born again on themselves as much as they want. But let me tell you today, if nothing has changed in you towards God and holiness, then nothing has happened. Brothers and sisters, listen to me when I tell you this. If nothing in you has changed towards God and holiness, then do not call it salvation because nothing truly happened. Nothing truly happened. A real encounter with God will shake your soul, break your love for sin, and set your heart on fire for righteousness. If your heart still cold towards God and your life still resists holiness, then your profession means nothing, because true transformation has not taken place. When God truly moves in a person, he changes their desires, conflict their spirit, and make holiness a hunger, not a burden. We should stop hiding behind religious and run towards ontetic relationship with God. You know what Nicodemus came by night. Many say come by night. They come in secret, in fear, in uncertainty, in confusion, religious language. But without assurance, without life, and without peace. There are people under the sound of my voice right now who have built a hidden place out of religion. You hide behind your church position, you hide behind your family heritage, you hide behind your outward discipline, you hide, you hide behind your theology vocabulary, you hide behind your ministry involvement, but God sees through every covering. He sees beneath the suit, he sees beneath the smile, he sees beneath the title, he sees beneath the public reputation, and his word to you is the same word he gave Nicodemus. You must be born again. Do not hide behind your father's faith. Do not hide behind your mother's prayer. Do not hide behind your denomination, and do not hide behind your religious routine. Do not hide behind your good manner. You need a heart changed by the power of God. You must be born again. Let me preach where it hurts. Some of the hardest people to reach are not the drunkard in the street, but the self-satisfied in the pill. The prostitute knows she is broken. The addict often knows he is born, but the religious man can sit in the darkness and call it light. The danger of many church cultures is that it can teach you how to blend in without ever being born again. Many learn when to stand, when to sit and when to clap, when to smile and when to say, Praise the Lord. Many learn the culture without receiving Christ. They learn to respect an atmosphere they have never entered. They learn to discuss truth they have never experienced. And so I ask you, not gently but lovingly, what is the evidence that you have been born again? Where is the holy disturbance over sin? Where is the hunger for righteousness? Where is the inward weakness of the Holy Spirit? Where is the change appetite? Where is the new affection for Jesus Christ? If your Christian equity cannot comfortably coexist with rebellion, secrecy, fearlessness, worthlessness, and a cold heart toward Christ, then you need more than encouragement. You need compassion. You must be born again. Brethren. And those who are yet to be born again, the door is still wide open. The voice of grace is calling loudly and persistently. Jesus did not expose Nicodemus to destroy him. He confronted him to wake him up. I hope this message will wake you up. That is what this message is for. Not to shame the younger, but to shake the force. Not to crush the repentant, but to uncover the counterfeit. Not to condemn the broken-hearted sinner. But who want who wants mercy? But to strip away the lie that religion without the bath can say. Christ still saved the guilty. The Holy Spirit still changes heart. The blood of the blood of Jesus Christ is still available. Mercy is still flowing. Grace is still available. The door is still open, but hear me. The door is open through Christ, not through your effort. True repentance, not pretend. True surrender, not self-confidence. Through the Holy Spirit's work, not religious performance. So what must you do? Repent of your sin. Stop defending what God is condemning. Don't do that. Stop excusing what nailed Christ to the cross. Stop hiding behind religion. Stop trusting in your goodness to come to Jesus Christ in faith. Ask God to do in you what you cannot do for yourself. Cry out for mercy. Cry out for pleasing. Cry out for a new life. Do not tell me you are waiting for a better season. You are not promised another season. Do not tell me you will deal with this later. Later is the language of perishing soul. Do not tell me you need more evidence. The word of Christ is evidence enough. You must be born again. I fear this strongly. There are people listening to me right now who know who know this message is about you. You know your heart is not right with God. You know your religions have become a cover. You know your form without a fire. Wars without light, routine without reality. And the Spirit of God is pressing on you right now. Do not resist him. Do not silence confliction. Do not harden your heart. Do not protect your image and lose your soul. What will he promise a man to gain applause in church and lose his soul in eternity? What will he profit a woman to keep her image in her while her heart remains untouched by God? What will he promise you to be called religious on heart and be found lost before God? This is the moment to surrender. This is the moment to repent. This is the moment to come clean. This is the moment to say, Lord. I don't want a religious mask. I want a new heart. I do not want empty profession. I want holy life in Christ. I do not want church without Christ. I want to be born again. Let me close with this. A man may fool a preacher. A woman may fool a congregation. A person may fool family, friends, and follower. But no one fools God. No one. So the question is not whether you are respected. The question is not whether you are emotional. The question is not whether you are active in church. The question is not whether you know the Christian language. The question is not whether. You had a moment years ago. The question is this. Because if you are only born once, you will die twice. But if you are born twice, you will die once. You need more than a torture. You need more than a habit change. You need more than a new change. You need more than religion. You need more than church culture. You need more than morality. You need a new heart. You need a new strength. You must be born again. My prayer is that before this message ends, pride will break. Excuses will die. Religious will lose his grip, and the Holy Spirit will bring somebody from death to life. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Thank you. For joining Faith Hour today, where faith is not a slogan, but a surrender. Not emotion, but obedience. Not talk, but transformation. Where the word of God calls through excuses. Awaken the sleeping conscience and call you to follow Jesus Christ without compromise. If you like to reflect this message or our past and future messages, as you are preparing your art, you can tune in to our radio station, Voice of Grace Ghost Spare Radio. You can download the mobile app for free and listen anytime, anywhere in the world. We are also available on YouTube, Facebook, and our official website. For those always on the move, our messages are also available on major audio platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and many, many others. We humbly ask for your prayers for faith wallet and global gospel ministry. As we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ across the world, we are asking God to use this message to awaken soul across the world. Your prayer may seem small, but heaven uses them to open heart and prepare life for eternity. We are also praying for you that the Lord will guide your heart, straighten your faith, and lead you in repentance, and help you live ready for his return at any moment. If you like to support this ministry financially, we will greatly appreciate it. Please visit faithwallet.org and click the donation button. May the Lord our God bless you richly with spiritual understanding, awaken your heart to audience and keep you ready for the return of Jesus Christ. Until we meet again, live together, walk in obedience and keep your faith burning as you wait for it to become a king. I am the evangelist, Dr. Gabriel Ulua Kutame. And on behalf of all of us at Faith Wallet Global Gospel Ministry, stay blessed and keep watching because the king is coming back and heaven is preparing. Be ready. Be ready. Be doing in the mighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 47:53

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SPEAKER_04 48:22

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