The Gospel of St. John - Chapter 3, Part 2 - Bro. John "Ernie" Perez

Bro. Ernie leads the class through a deep dive into what John is saying about being born again!  Get your Bible, your notebook and let's go!

You can read John 3 a hundred times and still miss how practical Jesus is being with Nicodemus. We slow the conversation down and take Jesus at His word: “born again” is not presented as a slogan or a quick moment, but as a real birth process that starts with an experience and continues into growth, maturity, and eventually spiritual fruit. Around the table, we talk honestly about why people can respond to God, then struggle later, and how Christian discipleship keeps the seed of faith from shrinking back.

Brother Ernie walks line by line through John 3:8-12 and highlights the wind analogy: you cannot see wind, but you can hear it and feel its impact. From there, we trace a powerful Bible study theme that shows up again and again, the presence of God revealed through sound. We connect Exodus 19, Psalm 29, Elijah’s still small voice, and other Old Testament patterns to what Jesus is teaching Nicodemus, then we follow the thread forward into John 7 and Acts 2. If you care about Bible doctrine, Holy Spirit baptism, water baptism, and how the early church understood speaking in tongues, this lesson gives you Scripture to stand on, not just opinions.

We also clear up a common hang-up: the Holy Ghost is not something we earn or “get,” it is a gift we receive, just as Acts 2:38 says. The invitation is to open your Bible, “chase” the references, and seek a lived experience with God that matches the Word and keeps growing long after the first moment of belief. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with the biggest question you still have about John 3 and being born again. (*Recorded on 8/12/2026)

Ways to Give at https://m3mi.org...Thank you for your seed!  :)

Transcript

Welcome And Study Roadmap

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Thank you so much for joining me. Simple supple ship on the filter. I'm your host, Sister Diana. So good to be with y'all today as we're continuing our studies around the table. Well, we just uh did a part of chapter 13, part two, number B on simple presentation of the Book of Acts. It's just been an amazing study, Brother Ernie, and just so thankful for that. Now we're gonna switch gears and go over to our study for the book of St. John, chapter three, part two. But we've got Sister Audia around the table. Good afternoon, brother Ernie, Sister Ann. Hello. I know Sister Sandy's back there, Sister Tammy and Sister Joyce. Hello. I think Helen slipped out on us, didn't she? Yes. Yeah, she's a she's a birthday girl, so she so she's got a lot going on. You know, her birthday was what yesterday or Sunday. Yeah, so happy birthday, Sister Helen. So and we're missing Mama today. Uh we pray send prayers for mama. She's got a lot going on too. So anyway, if you're not here, you're missed. But we're thankful that you're joining us today. If you haven't already begun studying with us on our study of St. John with Brother Ernie, go back to the beginning. There's the intro, and then we go into the study. We've been doing it for quite some time, but we really want to dig into it. I didn't ever imagine that simple discipleship would be a quick fix for everybody. I wanted people to begin to, and this is what I love about you, Brother Ernie, is because you don't just read the scripture, talk a little bit about it, and move on. You read the scripture, go back and show us in scripture how this is applied, how it's been used, where it originated from, and where we're going into with it. And that's important because that's discipleship. We can easily lead someone to Jesus through the Holy Spirit. He he pulls them in, he drags them in, and we just give the words, right? But then if we don't disciple people after that, then we really do an injustice to them because the battle begins then.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

When you read the parable of the sower and the seed, read about people who received the word in their heart, but for various reasons it never matured.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Never mature, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

If we could put that in our terminology and say they never received discipleship. What happened to the life that they once received? It didn't mature. Yeah. Instead, it died.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

It died. It shrivels up and dies. All right, so here we're gonna

Born Again As Ongoing Process

SPEAKER_01 3:18

go. We're gonna continue into this uh book of St. John, chapter three, part two.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

All right. Okay, here we go. We haven't been here for a little bit, so we're we're gonna recap just a little bit before we go on. We're only gonna touch four verses today. And I know that if you go and buy a book on the Gospel of St. John, it'd be written by someone who loves God very much, and they're studious, and their approach will be different because that's who they are. I'm not writing a short book for you. I'm sure they wrote it with the burden in their heart, but my approach is a little different. And we're taking this apart bit by bit because we want to understand. So it's a much slower process. There are smarter people than me than you could have here who've walked with God longer, but since you got me, I'll do the best I can. And we'll give God the praise and the glory. Can you say amen?

SPEAKER_03 4:25

Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

So we have looked at St. John chapter 3, and the fact that this is teaching in the form of a parable regarding a man being born again. From this, we understand that being saved or being born again is more than a momentary event. Being saved is not just something that happened in the past. Remember, we talked about the process of birth and how Jesus chose the term, be born again. When you think about all that takes place from the point of conception to cutting the umbilical cord and the child inhaling and exhaling, we call that birth. If the child does not inhale, exhale, and cry, what do we call that? Say it loud. Doesn't inhale and exhale? Yeah, if the child doesn't breathe and doesn't cry out, what do we say about that baby? Death. What happened to the life that was in the womb? It never matured. Yeah. The potential for that life is gone. We don't want to be like that in the spirit. So, yes, salvation begins with an experience, but it's not about the past. You that there was a point where you believed in time. There was a point where you repented. There's a point where you decided I'm gonna follow the Lord in water baptism. Uh, and there's a point where you believed God and you received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Uh

Receiving The Holy Ghost Gift

SPEAKER_00 6:16

I was talking to a my chiropractor who loves God deeply, and he was telling me about how his son, for the first time, his son's buddy got it exposed to speaking in other tongues. And he was asking me about it. And I said to him, Listen, brother, if it's one thing that I think it's silly and makes no sense at all, is when somebody asked me, Do I have to speak in tongues to receive the Holy Ghost? To get the Holy Ghost. First off, you don't get it, you receive it. And I said to him, Don't listen to that question. That's a silly question.

SPEAKER_03 6:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

You get the privilege of speaking in other tongues when you receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I asked him, if I had a big hope chest full of hundred dollar bills, and I gave you the hope chest, would you look at me and say, Do I have to receive these hundred dollar bills with this hope chest? Do I just have to have them? No, no, man, I'll keep them. No, you don't have to. Why would you ask, do I have to? It is the free gift of God. And he sacrificed so much so that we could have the gift, not so that we could earn it, not so that we could achieve it, not so that we could gain it, but so we could receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. When it's first preached by the Apostle Peter, in probably the most familiar scripture that you guys know, Acts 2.38, repent, be baptized, says you shall receive the gift. Doesn't say you shall get holy enough to obtain, doesn't say you shall earn, you shall receive the gift. God and the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. God doesn't make promises he doesn't keep. So it begins this born-again process within experience. Conception leads to gestation and ultimately the emergence of life from the womb. Or in the case of a plant, life springing forth from the soil. The seed goes through many stages before it becomes a sprout and bursts through the ground as a shoot. In both instances, life comes from the experience or process of reproduction. Listen

Creation And Spiritual Reproduction

SPEAKER_00 9:01

to me. The creator made the living part of creation creative because it reflects himself. The reason you had sex was not just because uh it feels good or it was the honeymoon experience. It's because God gave us a covenant whereby we could fulfill his command, multiply, and replenish the earth, and we have the godlike quality of procreating. We have three children. God created Adam and Eve, but everyone else was procreated.

SPEAKER_03 9:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Birds reproduce. Why? Because God made the living to procreate, because the creator is creative and he put creation in his creation. And we are a part of the imagination of the creator come to fruition. That's why the scripture says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. That's why the scripture tells us, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light, because the imagination of God manifested beyond his thinking process into our reality in time and space. So we have learned that Saint John 3 and the teaching regarding being born again is the same lesson taught in Luke 8, chapter 4, Luke chapter 8, verse 4 through 15. Just like Pharaoh's dream of the cows and the corn was the same. This teaching about the seed reproducing and man reproducing, it's all about reproduction.

unknown 11:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

It is a process or a continuing experience because once the child is born, Audia, how many children did you have?

SPEAKER_02 11:18

Um, I have two.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Don't you wish you could have had seven more?

SPEAKER_02 11:23

Um, no.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Okay. Well, frankly, I'm glad I didn't birth one. I had a kidney stone. If I thought I was pregnant, I'd shoot myself. I do not have the strength or the courage to do what you ladies have done. That is a unique gift that God gave you. You receive the seed of life and it becomes life. The creator has made you creative, and you are like him in that capacity. How awesome is that. That's something that was uniquely given to you. Maybe God did it because he felt sorry for you that you ate the fruit on purpose. So he said, I'm gonna give you something to balance out that sorrow. You will bring new life into the world.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

And it will hurt.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Well, it it I I will be pain. Yeah. I'm so thankful. I told you I had a kidney stone. If I thought I was pregnant, I'd shoot myself. And that's I believe that's simply because they had to have children outside the garden.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

Right. Yeah. I feel for it.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Oh no, I ain't having you don't have to feel for me. I ain't having one. Oh, that was a bummer.

SPEAKER_03 12:57

Well, if they didn't have the children outside the garden, the garden would be very overpopulated.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

I doubt that. God would make room for all of his procreation. Probably, probably, yeah. So so we've learned this that being born again is not only a process, but once the child is born, you don't want them to remain infants.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

No, no.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

That's just the beginning of new life, not the end. So it's not to say, oh, we've arrived here. No, you're not mature yet. No, you're not ready to reproduce yet.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

No. Not ready to feed yourself.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Come on now. So Nicodemus had a very limited understanding of the birth process. He understood the basics of birth. I mean, he probably saw sheep and cows and cats and dogs, and he was a parent himself, no doubt. But being born again was something that he could not wrap his head around.

unknown 13:56

No.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Jesus, however, being the designer and creator of all life, had the perfect knowledge of both conception and birth. And the second birth, both the experience and the process. Now we have discussed being born of the water and of the spirit and how that's related to water baptism and spirit baptism. And we will see as we read through the scripture this chapter, water baptism. Okay, we get that. But in verse eight, we will listen to Jesus describe spirit baptism. So we're going to read verses eight through twelve. Then we're going to come back and discuss those verses. And thou hearest the sound thereof. But canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things? Verily, verily I say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? Now let's let's look at that now.

The Wind Analogy For Spirit

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Jesus now goes into a detailed explanation of what it means to be born of the Spirit. And he begins by stating an obvious truth. The wind blows where it whisteth, or listeth, or the wind just blows. We have no control over it. Okay? That is the wind. If it were an entity with a mind of its own, you, Nicodemus, and we here are unable to initiate or to control it. It just is. Nicodemus had not studied weather like a modern-day meteorologist. He could not fathom things like air pressure, temperature, barometric pressure, or geographical lay of the land, how mountains will affect the winds and tide forces generating wind patterns. But he knew that the wind did indeed blow. So Jesus picked on something he knew. You understand the wind blows? That's all you know about it? It blows, right? He said the wind blows where it will, and you hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell whence it cometh and whether it goes. You don't know all you all the wind coming off the ocean. Why? I don't know. Well, the wind is whipping through the canyons and the valleys. Why? Because and the wind brings rain. Yeah, it does. You may not know why, but you know, Nicodemus, you know that this is a reality. The wind blows, right? So is everyone that is born of the spirit. The wind blows where it will, and you hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the spirit. So let's look at this for a minute. Jesus advised Nicodemus that he would recognize people being born of the Spirit initially by hearing the effects of it. Because wind you cannot see. You can see dirt in the wind, you can see leaves in the wind, you can see rain in the wind, but if the wind's blowing on a clear day, there is no dirt, no tree, all you do is feel the wind. And you hear it. Nicodemus, I'm explaining it to you. Now, Jesus advised Nicodemus that he would recognize people being born of the Spirit initially by hearing the effects of it. There is much Jewish biblical history to substantiate Jesus' claim. So we're going to look at a few examples of God making his presence known in the Old Testament using sound.

Hearing God Through Biblical Sound

SPEAKER_00 19:02

So we need Exodus chapter 19. And I'm going to get you to read verse 9 and audio, verse 16.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Exodus 19.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

Verse 9. Verse 9. And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

That the people may what? Hear. So sound is gonna, it's not just the cloud you see. The people are gonna hear. Hear what? Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

Hear when I speak with you and believe you forever.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Hear when I speak with you. That means the voice of God boomed down from the mountain. Now, if you read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, you'll find more than one testimony of a booming voice that Israel heard. All right, verse 16. Audio.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

And then it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there was a thundering and lightning and a thick cloud in the mountain. And the spirit of just, I'm sorry, and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in camp trembled.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

What the sound of God manifesting himself not only by what they saw, but by what they heard. When you get to the book of Corinthians and you read about the certain sound, that's where it's coming from. Their history. This ain't sad, say. Okay? So all the people experience sounds that reveal the presence of God. Psalm 29, verses 3 through 9 is full of examples of the voice of the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 21:20

Do you want us to read that?

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Yes, yes. You can read like three, four, and five in Isaiah. Isaiah audio can read six through nine. That's in the Old Testament.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

Three, four, five.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

The voice of the Lord is over the waters.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

What's over the waters?

SPEAKER_03 21:50

The voice of the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Is that something you can hear?

SPEAKER_03 21:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

That's a manifestation of God's presence. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 21:56

The God of glory thunders.

SPEAKER_00 21:59

He does what?

SPEAKER_03 22:00

He thundered.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Can you hear that?

SPEAKER_03 22:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

So God manifests Himself in the sound of thunder.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Right. And the Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

The voice of the Lord. How would you know that unless you had heard it?

SPEAKER_03 22:18

Unless you heard it.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

All right. You're you're three, four, and five.

SPEAKER_03 22:21

And the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 22:27

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

So the voice of the Lord has physical consequence.

unknown 22:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

So when the psalmist is writing about the voice of the Lord, these are all the possibilities for the voice of the Lord.

unknown 22:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

The main thing is that the voice of the Lord can have physical consequence. Go ahead, Audia.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

Verses eight and nine.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

Seven, eight, and nine.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

Oh, wow. It manifests.

SPEAKER_02 23:07

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Do you remember when Peter and John and them left the Sanhedrin and they went and found people of their own company and they prayed until the place was shaken? It didn't say until hearts were stirred up. It said until the place was shaken. Manifestation of God's presence will often have physical consequence, and it can begin with sound. All right. Did you finish that, Audi? No. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare, and in his temple everyone says glory.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

All right. So here's some scriptures we won't read, but you should have them in your notes. Elijah heard at last a still small voice. Why do I mean at last? If you'll read 1 Kings chapter 19, verses 9 through 15, you'll see God manifesting himself many ways to the prophet. But Elijah knows that this is not the way God has spoken to him in all of these things. And he says, But the Lord wasn't in it. Not that the presence of the Lord wasn't there. The presence of the Lord is announced by all these things that happen. But when the still small voice speaks to him, now the will of God is clear. In the still small voice, sometimes the voice of the Lord is a still small voice in your heart and mind, in your ear. I will tell you. He asked me, What was it like when I heard the voice of God? He's a man of integrity. And I said to him, it was the strangest thing. There was so much power in the voice. It was frightening. But at the same time, there's so much peace and love. It's amazing. And he looked at me and he said, Man, I just asked another person what it was like when they heard the voice of God and they described it exactly like you described. There was something he was looking for, and God sent him a witness. If you're hungry and thirst for righteousness, you shall be filled. God will send you the witness. Then in 2 Samuel, chapter 22, verses 8 through 14, the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice. In other words, the writer is saying, This is how the presence of God impacted me like thunder from heaven. So if nobody else heard it, that's how he felt it. There was a physical consequence to the voice in the presence of the Lord. Go back to Exodus 19, Ann. And read verse 16.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

And Audien, get 2 Samuel 5. You're going to read verses 23 through 25. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 27:03

Then it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Wow. I interpret that as being not just loud, but long enough for everybody to recognize it. Both loud. And for how many seconds or a minute, I don't know. But it seems to me it's it sounded loud, of course, which made it feel like it took a long time. And God answered by voice.

SPEAKER_03 27:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

You need to find that testimony again where God answers by voice. Use your reference Bibles. 2 Samuel 5, 23 through 25, Audia.

SPEAKER_02 27:58

Therefore David inquired of the Lord, and he said, You shall not go up. Circle around behind. Who said? The Lord.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

The Lord said. It wasn't a note that a prophet writ wrote down and sent to him. The Lord said, said to who? Said to David.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

Go ahead. You shall circle around behind them and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. And you and it shall be when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees. When you hear what? The sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

When you hear the sound in the trees, the wind blows where it listeth, and you hear the sound thereof, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it's going. Here is the sound of the wind in the trees. In

Living Water Pentecost And Tongues

SPEAKER_00 29:01

John 7, verses 37 through 39. You probably know those by memory. Right? You shall receive right, and you'll you'll receive rivers of living water out of your belly. Let's read it because I'm misquoting it. But I have it here in front of me. John chapter 7, we'll read 37 through 39, lest I misquote. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Oh listen, the the water that they drank from the rock had a spiritual source. It was just a rock until the power of God touched it. And out of it came water for how many millions of people plus their livestock. Now, he said, Come to me and drink. He doesn't mean I'm gonna give you a glass of water. This is speaking in the form of a parable. He that believeth on me as the scripture hath said. We got to know what the scripture says, because we got to believe on him as the scripture hath said. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Have you ever been near the sound of rapids? Rushing waters. Jesus is saying to be born of the Spirit is to have this experience that carries with it not only sound but physical impact. Why? Because when you hear, that's physical impact on your ears. In Mark 16 and 17, one of the signs that shall follow them that believe, Jesus states, they shall speak in new tongues, with new tongues. Who? Them that believe, not a select few. Jesus says there's going to be a sound that accompanies them that believe. They will speak with new tongues. I believed, how come I didn't speak in tongues? Maybe you didn't realize you don't have to hunt speaking in tongues. You just have to believe God keeps his word in filling people with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And the natural consequence of that is the sound. And in the book of Revelation, many waters represents people. All right. One of these signs is a specific sound you can hear. We're talking about being born of the Spirit. In Acts 2 and 1 through 4, there are two specific sounds that demonstrate the things that Jesus prophesied. First, a sound of a rushing mighty wind. Then there's a phenomenon. There appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire. Okay, scholars disagree. Does that mean flaming tongue that looks like fire over their head? Or does that mean their tongue look like a flame of fire as it moved? I've seen that and I've seen, or I've actually been there when someone says, I saw the fire on their head. When they received the Holy Ghost. Okay. She had prayer meetings in her home where the neighbors called the fire department because they reported fire coming out of the windows of her house. Not just once. But when the fire department got there, just prayer. Just praise, just worship. God can manifest Himself in many, many ways. But here there is a sound of a rushing mighty wind. They're all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to do what? Speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. There was the sound of the wind, and there was the rushing. What did Jesus say? He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. There was the sound coming from deep within them that everybody could hear, out of their innermost being. Nicodemus is still not understanding this teaching. This is still being taught in the form of a parable. And it's beyond this most educated man because he can't put it together yet. He's a ruler of the Jews. So he's not just any ordinary Pharisee. Look at

Why Nicodemus Struggles To Believe

SPEAKER_00 34:31

verse 10. Look at how Jesus replies to Nicodemus. Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master, or that is a teacher, a rabbi of Israel, and knowest not these things? How come you don't know these things from Scripture? Do you know where Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Isaiah prophesy regarding the outpouring of the Holy Ghost? You need to find out. Okay. Verily, verily, I say unto you, we speak that we do know, and testify that what we have seen. And you receive not our witness. Who exactly is we? For me, that understanding is the we relates to the Old Testament prophets and writers who wrote the stories of how God revealed his presence to Israel on multiple occasions, and also the testimony of Jesus Himself when he tells Nicodemus about hearing the sound. You're not receiving what the prophets prophesy, and you have a tough time with what I say. Verse 12. Well, if I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, so he's I've already told you about the born-again experience. You know about birth, you know about water, you know about sound. I'm telling you all this and you don't comprehend it. How shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? If I start telling you what's on the other side of time, what you're gonna see in eternity, how are you gonna believe me if you can't believe this simple teaching? If you can't find that the prophets have said it, Nicodemus has studied real historical events in the history of the Jews, the nation of Israel, of God identifying his presence by using multiple sounds. We read about some of them today. These proofs, however, have not helped Nicodemus understand the reality of sound and of the being born-again experience. So Jesus says, How shall you believe? I'm going to tell you about some heavenly things. I'm going to tell you about eternity. What kind of question is that? Why would Jesus ask such a question? I think Jesus was provoking Nicodemus not only to deeper contemplation, but he was also giving Nicodemus a chance to think about it and to prepare and to understand the next topic that Jesus will address. And we'll get to that in our next lesson, beginning with verse 13 of chapter 3. So I hope this helped you.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

And I hope you're inspired to go home, open up your Bible, and chase things. Listen, I'll just confess to you, before I ever knew anything about scholarship, and somebody like Josh McDowell who can prove to you, scholarship-wise, that the Bible is accurate. I never was the scholar he is, but I tell you what happened. I experienced the word of God and then found it in the word of God. And then I knew this is the word of God. You want to, great scholarship is great, but you want to experience the reality of God's word in your life.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Ah, good stuff. Good stuff. I heard y'all gasping in here during some of that. That's always a good sign, right? Yeah. Because the Holy Spirit at a certain point just kind of takes over and just brings revelation, and you like the light bulb goes on, and it's like, man, that's powerful. And I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_03 39:08

I think Nicodemus didn't understand it because he has to see it to believe it.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

But Jesus prepared him to see it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:17

That was it. That was it.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

But before, he said, I don't know what they're talking about. He was not prepared to see it. Yeah. That's so good. That's so good. Alright, y'all. So thank you,

Closing Motto And How To Connect

SPEAKER_01 39:30

Brother Ernie, for that powerful, powerful lesson. I just love the book of John. Alright, so we're gonna go ahead and close this out with our motto for today to go show some love, show some compassion, give mercy, and go be Jesus today. Okay, so hey STU family. If you have enjoyed this podcast today, would you please like, follow, and share our podcast link? And we would love to hear your feedback and your podcast topic suggestions. To do that, simply go to our website at www.m3mi.org, scroll to the more tab, and select contact us. Also, if this team has been a blessing to you, you can also go to our website and select sew a seed. There are several ways that you can give, whether it's health, in medicine, or if there's an address to send a check from the order. All your gifts are tax-detectable, and we thank you so much for selling your seed with us. I want you to remember this. This person once said that a person is giving you their time, they've given you their most precious gift because they can never ever get it back. Thank you for sharing this day with me. We love you.