Morning Matt,
You said you wanted answers to the questions troubling you, well, let's look at Matt 25 concerning the sheep and the goats.
First let's use a guide for studying the Bible, let's answer these questions when reading the text,
Who, What, When, Where and How can I use the Truth presented in the text in my life.
Who - the nations (actually, to be more specific a race of people or a tribe)
What - how they treated His brothers (Jesus was born a Jew, hence His brothers would be the Jewish people)
When - at the end of the 7 year Tribulation period, choosing which nations would enter into His Millennial reign (the sheep) and which would not (the goats)
How can I use the Truth from this teaching in my own life - The Lord is not finished with His chosen people, so I must reject any form of Antisemitism and/or any false teaching that the Church has replaced Israel
However, like any Truth in the Word there are many facets to it that the Holy Spirit can use in our personal lives.
Ya got it?
Now, like my brother Mitspa and I have asked you, ...are you born again?
You said you thought you were and then you said you were not sure, here is how you can be sure,
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Let's examine what Peter has written,
We are born again, not like our first birth which was the result of our father's corruptible seed (sperm) entering into the ovum in our mothers womb, but by seed that is incorruptible, since every human male is a descendent of Adam and his corruptible seed then this has to be talking about the Holy Spirit who's seed (sperm) is incorruptible.
What does Peter tell us is the ovum, the Word of God, putting it all together, Peter is telling us we are born again when the seed (sperm) of the Holy Spirit enters into a particular verse of the Word of God (ovum) and then he records the verse the Father used to regenerate him,
1Pe 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: (Isa 40:6-8)
Then he goes on to say,
1Pe 1:25 But the word of the Lord abideth for ever. And this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you.
The word word in the verse is not logs, but rhema, which means it is a spoken word, Father will speak a specific word to you/me/someone and that mixed with the seed of the Holy Spirit and the faith given to us at the moment Eph 2:8 cause us to be born again, .......regenerated spiritually or in our spirit.
So what can we deduce from this teaching, ...just like our first birth we know who our father and mother are and the day we were born, so too for our regeneration, we know our Father is the Holy Spirit, our mother is a specific verse the Father used and we know what day we were born again because we repented from our old lifestyle, for me it happens to be the same verse Father used to regenerate Peter, Isa 40:6-8 and I was born again at a Wednesday night bible Study in the month of July in '86 at or around 9:00PM.
So, do you know in your heart the verse Father used for you to be born again and can you remember the day it happened?
Every true born again child of God can answer these questions.
I hope that helps to clear up the confusion you have, so, are you born again or if not, would you like to be?
In His Love,
Gene
