John Thweatt is a child of God seeking to introduce other people to his Father. He is a husband to Kim and a father to Hannah, Hope, Hollie, and Kimberly Joy. He has served as pastor of three churches and has been teaching/preaching in the local church for over 20 years and is currently the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Pell City, AL.
John graduated from Boaz High School, Boaz, AL and then received a BS in Education from Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, AL.
He received a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX and a Doctor of Ministry from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, LA.
His main gifts lie in preaching and teaching and he is committed to teaching through the Bible book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, and word by word.
When he is not with his family or working John enjoys running (he tries to complete a marathon or a half marathon every year) and an occasional round of golf.
Feb 6, Born Again
44 years ago today I was born. I can’t believe I am 44 years old…my mind still thinks I’m 22—that is until my eyes break out the can of reality! 44 years ago I was born—I left my mother’s womb and I entered this world. Almost 25 years ago I was born again! I left the death of this world and entered new life. I have never been the same.
For years I thought I was saved, but my life simply did not bear the fruit of that confession. As I think about it I think God turned the switch on for me when I was five or six, but true salvation did not take place until a few days shy of my 19th birthday.
I’ve written a lot about being born again this week, but I’d like to close with some marks of the new birth that I found some time ago. Read them and do some soul searching. Make sure the Gospel you claim to believe in is actually the Gospel.
This new birth is experiential—you are born from above and when that happens to you, you “see the kingdom of God.” The word “see” speaks of your experience, your participation, and your encounter. God moves in your life and you experience Him—you can’t help but do it because you have been brought from flesh to spirit.
The new birth is also evidential. He moves upon us with the gift of faith and because we can see into the spiritual realm our life is now changed. We often sing, “You ask me how I know He lives—He lives within my heart.” We experience Him and we experience His saving work and our changed lives are evidence of His work.
Have you been born again? Have you entered into the realm of the Spirit? Does He live within you? I want to close with five marks of a person who has been born again. Turn over to 1 John and let’s look at the marks.
1 John 3:9, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.” 1 John 5:18, “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who has been born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”
The first mark of a person who has been born again does not habitually commit sin—he or she does not sin with their whole heart and will because they hate sin.
1 John 5:1, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him.”
The second mark of a person who has been born again is that they trust in Jesus and Jesus alone for the salvation. Their salvation is not be works, but it is by grace through faith. 1 John 2:29, “If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.”
The third mark is righteous living. Are you a new creation? Are you different from the world? John Newton said, “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be and by the grace of God I am what I am.”
1 John 3:14, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.”
The fourth mark is love—especially love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. How can you love them if you never hang out with them or worship with them or minister to them?
1 John 5:4, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
The fifth mark of a person who is born again is victory over sin and over the things of the world. We are not governed by the way the world things and we are not bound by the things the world loves. We love Him.