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<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center">"<font size="3"><b>TWO
ARE BETTER THAN ONE" MINISTRIES</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"><font size="3"><b>Jim
& Marie Watt</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"><font size="3"><b>PO
Box 25116 -- Federal Way WA 98093-2116</b></font></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"><b><font size="3">Tel:
253.874.4265 -- Email: <a href="mailto:jmbetter@gmail.com">jmbetter@gmail.com</a></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"><b><font size="3">Web:
<a href="http://www.2rbetter.org/">www.2rbetter.org</a></font></b></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center">
<b>2008.08.15 - <u>The Evidence of the New Birth</u> </b>
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"><b>(From
"My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers)</b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">"<b>You
must be born again" (John 3:7).</b></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">
The answer to Nicodemus' question, "How can a man be born when he
is old? is: Only when he is willing to die to every thing in his
life, including his rights, his virtues, and his religion, and become
willing to receive into himself a new life that he has never before
experienced (3:4). This new life exhibits itself in our conscious
repentance and through our unconscious holiness.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">
"But as many as received Him ..." (John 1:12). Is my knowledge of
Jesus the result of my own internal spiritual perception, or is it
only what I have learned through listening to others? Is there
something in my life that unites me with the Lord Jesus as my
personal Savior? My spiritual history must have as it underlying
foundation a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. To be born again
means that I see Jesus.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">
"...unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God"
(John 3:3). Am I seeking only for the evidence of God's kingdom, or
am I actually recognizing His absolute sovereign control? The new
birth gives me a new power of vision by which I begin to discern
God's control. His sovereignty was there all the time, but with God
being true to His nature, I could not see it until I received His
very nature myself.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">
"Whoever has been born of God does not sin ..." (1 John 3d:9). Am
I seeking to stop sinning or have I actually stopped? To be born of
God means that I have His supernatural power to stop sinning. The
Bible never asks, "Should a Christian sin?" The Bible
emphatically states that <i>a Christian must not sin.</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
The work of the new birth is being effective in us when we do not
commit sin. It is not merely that we have the power not to sin, but
that we have actually stopped sinning. Yet 1 John 3:9 does not mean
that we </span><i>cannot</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> sin -
it simply means that if we will obey the life of God in us, that we
</span><i>do not have to sin.</i></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal;" align="left">
<u><b>NOTE:</b></u><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">
Here is the nature of the New Birth - from a new perspective or
vantage point. For 5 years until 1915 Oswald Chambers taught a group
of missionaries, missionaries in preparation, and serious students of
the Bible at the "Bible Training College" in London.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal;" align="left">
<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">It
had a most important effect, though small in numbers. Chambers at
the same time lectured on weekends throughout England and Scotland,
and during the week at nights, many extra students attended. Those
during the day were boarding students. The lectures during these 5
years served as the basis for the majority of his 50 books, all but
three of which his wife Biddy published post-posthumously. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal;" align="left">
<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">Again
and again, challenges such as appear in the above selection made by
his wife Biddy following his premature death at 43 in 1917, caused
students to vigorously contend with Chambers. He was delighted to
receive such challenges. Sometimes when his answers were not received
he would reply, "Let it simmer - it will become clear after a
while!</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal;" align="left">
<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">Now
100 years later approximately - the c hallenges of OC in his over 50
published books continue to intrigue 21</span></span><sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">st</span></span></sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">
Century readers. Should you like his students of 100 years ago desire
to know more about this outstanding man - by all means purchase his
3</span></span><sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">rd</span></span></sup><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">
biography, "Oswald Chambers, Abandoned to God" - The Life Story
of the Author of My Utmost For His Highest by David McCasland. Or, if
you purchase the Collected Writings of Oswald Chambers, edited by the
same author, his biography is contained in a free DVD which is part
of the package.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal;" align="left">
<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">Blessings
on us all as we let the challenges of such men as Oswald Chambers
sink deep into our hearts. And we need to remember - that it is not
only Oswald we are listening to, but the Lord Himself through His
Spirit. For the "Personal, Passionate Devotion" of Chambers to
Jesus enabled His Lord to speak through him. Though it is not on the
same level of importance as the 33 writers of the 66 Bible books -
yet it is definitely on the next concentric circle after the Canon of
Scripture - as contained in Important Writers on the things of God.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal;" align="left">
<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">Your
friend - Jim Watt</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal;" align="left">
<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">PS.
On my last mailing I spoke on the Divine Inspiration of the whole
Bible, 66 books. This actually means that God so inspired the 33 +
writers of the Bible, that what </span></span><u><span style="">He</span></u><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">
wanted written and recorded, indeed took place, whether He was
speaking, men like Job's 3 friends, or Satan to Eve in the Garden of
Eden. God oversaw that the recording was according to His design,
apart from any speaker.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal;" align="left">
<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">However,
in the 21 New Testament Epistles, the 4 Gospels, the Book of Acts and
the Book of Revelation -- the words especially in the 21 epistles are
the words of God, </span></span><u><span style="">not</span></u><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">
the words of man. So many people today tend to say - even Evangelical
believers - "O - that's just what Paul or Peter or John thought and
said!" </span></span><u><b>Not so!</b></u><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">
Paul categorically corrects this most erroneous view by giving 1
Corinthians 14:37, and Pater states the equivalent for </span></span><u><span style="">all</span></u><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">
Bible writers in 2 Peter 1:21.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal;" align="left">
<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">I
believe few readers would have misunderstood the intent of this in
the previous mailing. It was especially to correct those who fail to
understand that the epistles are God's word to man, </span></span><u><span style="">not</span></u><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">
man's word to man. JW</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal;" align="left">
<br>
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