Expert: Rev. Robert Woods - 12/29/2007

Question
I saw your answer to the question of why people pray for their salvation and in the bible they did not. The bible says as you say, "You must be born again", but you never mentioned what Jesus meant by this. Jesus explained it to Nicodemus as being "born of water and the Spirit" which nobody today ever preaches. They preach about being born again but never mention what it means to be born of water and the Spirit. The apostles preached the good news and that message what acted upon Acts 2:30-42 (this is not the only mention of this type of conversion in Acts). Most TV evangelists and evangelists at large meetings get people to pray the sinners prayer but the number of those who actually get baptized and receive the Holy Spirit are few, even fewer go to a church and become a member. We have nothing of this practice at all in the bible. None whatsoever. How does the church justify this? It is modern tradition. We are becoming more and more like the Catholics by adding and subtracting to the Word of God.

Answer
Blessings and thank you for your question.

Being Baptized with water or baptized with the Holy Spirit is not being born again.  Salvation comes with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  It means you must repent, then confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in Him.  That is what being born again is about. You ask "we have nothing of this in the Bible" but we do.  Paul said it best:
Ro 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
The process of doing this is best accomplished through the sinners prayer.  You pray for repentance, you confess Jesus is Lord, and you believe in Him.

Now you are right that most preachers just worry about the salvation part and not what follows.  But when we baptize someone in our church, they must either give a testimony or say "Jesus is Lord" in front of other believers.  Then they are baptized "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Then they are immersed in water.  
Now after their baptism, I or one of my associates, pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit into their lives.  We think this whole process is the best way to insure someone is "born again."
It is ultimately the job of the church to disciple and lead people into baptism and church membership.  The problem today is that we have the great commission backwards.  Jesus said to "make disciples and then baptize them."  We try to do it the other way around.  That is why so many "accept Christ" but never follow through on that committment.

Blessings