LIFE AFTER WITH NICOLE STEVENSON
Had someone asked me as an Adventist what being born again meant I would’ve said, “Choosing to follow Christ and being baptized”. To me, the new birth was a metaphor for a new way of life which was entirely dependent upon and sustained by my cognitive decisions and behavior changes. Succeeding, I believed, meant remaining committed to “Adventist truth” and protecting myself from the deceptions of Babylon and worldly temptations. If I failed, “grace” meant that I could be “born again” again by being re-baptized and re-committing myself to the doctrines and life-style of Adventism—“God’s remnant church”. Retrospectively, I see that my concept of being born again was about my relationship to Adventism and not about my dead spiritual nature which needed life.
In 2010, everything changed. The Lord opened my eyes to the truth about Jesus and about my depraved nature and need for a Savior. Through a series of providential encounters with people, Scripture, books, videos, and ultimately the FAF conference, I came to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ according to Scripture alone. I knew that despite all my efforts to live right before God, I never had saving faith. How can one have saving faith without the gospel that saves? At the end of that conference I repented and confessed my need for Jesus. I also told Him I wanted to spend the rest of my life getting to know Him on His terms—through His Word!
The days that followed brought a cascade of new feelings, thoughts, perceptions, and desires which all became my new ongoing reality. I knew these changes were happening to me, not because of me, and the newness of life I was experiencing was explained to me clearly by the Scriptures, which had suddenly come to life! God had caused me to be born again by the resurrection life of Jesus Christ and sealed me with His Spirit, changing my heart and causing me to walk in His ways (Eph. 2:1-3; 1 Pet. 1:3-5; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 1:13-14; Ez. 36:26-27; Rom. 6:4)! This reality isn’t a metaphor, and isn’t the result of human will; it’s the creative work of God in a literal human spirit (Jn. 1:13, Eph. 2:4-9)! Further, this new birth is sustained by the power of God (1 Pet. 1:5)!
Understanding the secure position of God’s born-again children moves us past faithless and pathological do-gooding and gives us a better understanding of our perpetual Sabbath rest through the finished work of Christ. In that rest we can give our greatest effort to knowing our true Father as He revealed Himself in His Word. The study of God has been the most rewarding endeavor of my life! As I’ve grown in my knowledge of Him I’ve also grown in my love for Him and in the desire to live faithfully, striving to serve and obey Him—counting losses as gain.
Dear reader, we who were once Adventist cannot assume we received the true gospel inside Adventist theology—it just doesn’t teach it. We must be certain we’re trusting the unadulterated gospel of Scripture. Another gospel simply will not save (Gal. 1). It’s only in believing the “word of truth”, the gospel of our salvation, that we’re literally born again and sealed by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13-14; 1 Pet. 1:23). I pray that you know the miracle of new birth in Christ, and that you would give your life to knowing Him according to His Scripture as you walk with Him in the Life After. †
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