( H) 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”ĥ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ” ( G)Ĥ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. For no one could perform the signs ( E) you are doing if God were not with him.” ( F)ģ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. ( B) 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, ( C) we know ( D) that you are a teacher who has come from God. If he has only 10,000 men, he will try to decide if he is able to defeat the other king who has 20,000 men.3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus ( A) who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. “If a king is going to fight against another king, first he will sit down and plan. They would say, ‘This man began to build, but he was not able to finish.’ And if you could not finish it, everyone would laugh at you. If you don’t do that, you might begin the work, but you would not be able to finish. You must see if you have enough money to finish the job. “If you wanted to build a building, you would first sit down and decide how much it would cost. You must love me more than your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters-even more than your own life! Whoever will not carry the cross that is given to them when they follow me cannot be my follower. He said to them, “If you come to me but will not leave your family, you cannot be my follower. I want my house to be full! I tell you, not one of those people I invited first will eat any of this food I prepared.’” “Later, the servant said to him, ‘Master, I did what you told me to do, but we still have places for more people.’ The master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and country roads. Bring me the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ He said, ‘Hurry! Go into the streets and alleys of the town. “So the servant returned and told his master what happened. Please excuse me.’ A third man said, ‘I just got married I can’t come.’ Please excuse me.’ Another man said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of work animals I must go and try them out. The first one said, ‘I have just bought a field, so I must go look at it. The food is ready.’ But all the guests said they could not come. When it was time to eat, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come. Jesus said to him, “A man gave a big dinner. The man said to him, “It will be a great blessing for anyone to eat a meal in God’s kingdom!” One of the men sitting at the table with Jesus heard these things. But God will reward you at the time when all godly people rise from death.” Then you will have great blessings, because these people cannot pay you back. Instead, when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, and the blind. At another time they will pay you back by inviting you to eat with them. Then Jesus said to the Pharisee who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite only your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. But everyone who makes themselves humble will be made important.” Everyone who makes themselves important will be made humble. Then they will come to you and say, ‘Friend, move up here to this better place!’ What an honor this will be for you in front of all the other guests. “So when someone invites you, go sit in the seat that is not important. And if you are sitting in the most important seat, they will come to you and say, ‘Give this man your seat!’ Then you will have to move down to the last place and be embarrassed. They may have invited someone more important than you. So he told this story: “When someone invites you to a wedding, don’t sit in the most important seat. Then Jesus noticed that some of the guests were choosing the best places to sit.
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