Testimony

John 3:6-11 – Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 – The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

John 1:7,18 – He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe…No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 7:17 – Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.

Application:

• ·         “Person without the Spirit” is described as one who follows “mere natural instincts”. The non-Christian is governed in thought and life by an unrenewed, worldly heart. Such persons are yet untouched by the Holy Spirit and are not equipped to receive appreciatively truth that comes from the Spirit.
• ·         “Person with the Spirit” is renewed by the Spirit. One who does not have the Spirit is not qualified to judge anyone who has the Spirit.
• ·         Therefore, since no human being can see God as He really is, those who saw God saw Him in a form He took upon Himself temporarily for the occasion. Now, however, Christ “has made Him known”.
• ·         A person sincerely set on doing God’s will welcomes Jesus’ teaching and believes in Him.
• ·         John the Baptist’s singular ministry was to testify about Jesus.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV