Max Lucado - 3:16: January 31, 2010

So, friends, we can now – without hesitation – walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.”  Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God.  The “curtain” into God’s presence is his body.  So let’s do it – full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out.  Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going.  He always keeps his word.
    Hebrews 10:19-23 The Message

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 30, 2010

[“…born again” (John 3:3).]  Check the strategically selected word again.  The Greek language offers two choices for again: 1) palin, which means a repetition of an act; to redo what was done earlier, [and] 2) anothen, which also depicts a repeated action, but requires the original source to repeat it.  It means “from above, from a higher place, things which come from heaven or God.”  In other words, the one who did the work the first time does it again.  This is the word Jesus chose.

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 29, 2010

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.
    2 Corinthians 5:17-19

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 28, 2010

Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him.  It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding.  It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.
    Daniel 2:20-22 NASB

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 27, 2010

The mother pays the price of birth.  She doesn’t enlist the child’s assistance or solicit his or her advice.  Why would she?  The baby can’t even take a breath without umbilical help, much less navigate a path into new life.  Nor, Jesus is saying, can we.  Spiritual re-birthing requires a capable parent, not an able infant.

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 26, 2010

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
    Psalm 51:10-12

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 25, 2010

As those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other...just as the Lord forgave you....  Beyond these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts...and be thankful.
     Colossians 3:12-15 NASB

Max Lucado - 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 24, 2010

[Nicodemus] speaks self-fix.  But Jesus speaks – indeed, introduces – a different language.   Not works born of men and women, but a work done by God.  Born again.  Birth, by definition, is a passive act.

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 23, 2010

Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death.  But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
            Romans 6:23 The Message

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 22, 2010

By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
            Ephesians 2:8 NASB

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 21, 2010

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5 NKJV).  About this time a gust of wind blows a few leaves through the still-open door.  Jesus picks one off the floor and holds it up.  God’s power works like that wind, Jesus explains.  Newborn hearts are born of heaven.  You can’t wish, earn, or create one.  New birth?  Inconceivable.  God handles the task, start to finish.

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 20, 2010

When a woman gives birth, she has a hard time, there’s no getting around it.  But when the baby is born, there is joy in the birth.  This new life in the world wipes out memory of the pain.  The sadness you have right now is similar to that pain, but  the coming joy is also similar.  When I see you again, you’ll be full of joy, and it will be a joy no one can rob from you.
            John 16:21-22 The Message

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 19, 2010

Nicodemus hesitates on behalf of us all.  Born again?  “How can a man be born when he is old?” (John 3:4 NKJV).  You must be kidding.  Put life in reverse?  Rewind the tape?  Start all over?  We can’t be born again.

Oh, but wouldn’t we like to?  A do-over.  A try-again.  A reload.  Broken hearts and missed chances bob in our wake.  A mulligan would be nice.  Who wouldn’t cherish a second shot?  But who can pull it off?

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 18, 2010

As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God.
            John 1:12-13 NASB

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 17, 2010

Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and its offspring, Who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it… “I will appoint You as  a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison.”
            Isaiah 42:5-7 NASB

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 16, 2010

Behold the Continental Divide of Scripture, the international date line of faith.  Nicodemus stands on one side, Jesus on the other, and Christ pulls no punches about their differences.

Nicodemus inhabits a land of good efforts, sincere gestures, and hard work.  Give God your best, his philosophy says, and God does the rest.  Jesus’ response?  Your best won’t do.  Your works don’t work.  Your finest efforts don’t mean squat.  Unless you are born again, you can’t even see what God is up to.

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 15, 2010

Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
For the word of the Lord is upright,
And all His work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.
            Psalm 33:3-5 NASB

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 14, 2010

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
            Ezekiel 36:26 NASB

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 13, 2010

We expect, and Nicodemus expected, some hospitable chitchat.  None comes.  Jesus makes no mention of Nicodemus’s VIP status, good intentions, or academic credentials, not because they don’t exist, but because, in Jesus’s algorithm, they don’t matter.  He simply issues this proclamation: “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 NKJV).

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 12, 2010

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
            Romans 6:4

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 11, 2010

Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”  “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked.  “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”  Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.”
            John 3:3-5

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 10, 2010

You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.
            John 3:2 NKJV

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 9, 2010

Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.  Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
            Psalm 119:34-35

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 8, 2010

I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me.
            Proverbs 8:17 NKJV

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 7, 2010

Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid…for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you.  He will not leave you nor forsake you.
            Deuteronomy 31:6 NKJV

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 6, 2010

O god, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water….
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
            Psalm 63:1, 3

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 5, 2010

[Nicodemus had] questions for…this backwater teacher who lacks diplomas yet attracts people.  Who has ample time for the happy-hour crowd but little time for clergy and the holy upper crust.  He banishes demons, some say; forgives sin, others claim; purifies temples….  [Nicodemus] witnessed Jesus purge Solomon’s Porch.  He saw the fury.  Braided whip, flying doves.  “There will be no pocket padding in my house,” Jesus erupted.  By the time the dust settled and coins landed, hustling clerics were running a background check on him.  The man from Nazareth won no favor in the Temple that day.

So Nicodemus comes at night.  His colleagues can’t know of the meeting.  They wouldn’t understand.

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 4, 2010

You will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
            Deuteronomy 4:29 NKJV

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 3, 2010

Show me your ways, O Lord,
teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
Psalm 25:4-5

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 2, 2010

He’ll gather with religious leaders and do what religious leaders do: discuss God.  Discuss reaching God, pleasing God, appeasing God….  Pharisees converse about God.  And Nicodemus sits among them.  Debating.  Pondering.  Solving puzzles.  Resolving dilemmas.  Sandal-tying on the Sabbath.  Feeding people who won’t work.  Divorcing your wife.  Dishonoring parents.

What does God say?  Nicodemus needs to know.

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: January 1, 2010

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
            John 3:16


Max Lucado – 3:16