LA International Christian Center 

We have been in an awesome time at our Church with the School of Leaders;  last night I had the privilage to teach a wonderful group of leaders on the subject of being born again.    

One of the great privilages of learning/teaching the word of God is that,  God always has a way of bringing  fresh revelations that inturn cause growth.   As we press in and seek Him, He opens us to new revelation, new illuminations.   

What is the "Born Again" experience and what are the effects of this experience?

I believe a greatest summary of the what new life is, can be no better represented than by the story of the prodigal son and summerized by this process:

• Accept my need for saving
• Believing
• Repentance
• Forgiveness
• Yielding our lives to Christ Control

Luke 15:11-32 (read here)

We Were Living a Life in Need of Saving.

The prodigal son he ask's his father for his portion of the inheritance, and this passage tells us as soon as he recieved his portion he left to spend it in a foriegn land on wild living.    

Before Christ we lived wildly squandering the purpose and plans that God had for us on fast living.   We were as Paul said in "Romans 7" the worst of sinners.

In verse 17 it says that He came to himself, that is (Recognizing the Need for Saving.)

We Must Believe Christ Paid The Debit and Has the Power to Save Us

Verse 17, goes on to say how he recognizes that his father has everything he needs and can meet his needs.

Recognizing My Need For Repentance

Verse 18, the son recognizes the need for repentance and he tells his father "I have sinned."   No excuses, no reasons why, just an honest confession to a God who "allready knows what you did." 

We Must Accept Forgiveness

Verse 22, I love this verse, because his father did not give him what he deserved but instead gave him what he didn't deserve.   He forgave him, so too often we cannot forgive ourselves, or others but forgiveness should be just as much received as it is extended.   We need to forgive ourselves and out of the forgiveness we have received forgive others.

Yielding our lives to Christ Control

Verse 22, the father restored his son to the place under his covering and control and received him back into the family.  We must give over our lives to Christ's care and control, we must invite him into the most personal places of our lives and allow Him to influence them.

I would like to invite you to come be a part of our School of Leaders.

LAICC 5833 Laurel Canyon Blvd, Valley Village, CA - Wednesday Nights at 7:00 PM