God Keeps His Promises | Attracting Others to the Faith

Today's episode of A New Beginning is brought to you by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Learn more at harvest.org. And while you're there, browse our library of free ebooks designed to help you grow in your faith. When a Christian walks with God, it should be the most attractive thing ever for a non-believer. And that's our job, to attract people to the Lord. Pastor Greg Laurie points out how it was that attraction that brought him to Christ. The reason I became a Christian is because I admire the Christians from a distance.

They had what I wanted. They had this peace. They seemed to have this purpose, and they had to love one for another. So I think when you're just walking with the Lord, it's a very attractive thing. It's easy to forget that the Lord uses people to reach people with the Gospel. Chasses are good that someone influenced you in your decision to come to the Lord. Chances are good that the Lord wants to use you to influence someone else. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us learn how to do that job effectively. We need to give some thought to whether we're attracting people to the faith or repelling them away.

Today's message is titled, God Keeps His Promises. Some would say God is done with the Jews. There's a certain theological teaching that you'll hear in some churches today called covenant theology.

Sometimes it's called replacement theology. And this theology would suggest that the church, that would be us, have taken the place of Israel. And all the promises that apply to them now apply to us. Well God made a covenant with the Jews that He is never going to break. And God has made a covenant with the church that He will not break either.

But I don't believe that we have taken their place. He still has a special plan for them as we will discover in this message. So that brings me to Romans 11 verse 1.

Paul is making this argument. I ask then. Has God rejected His own people, the nation Israel? Of course not. I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, and a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

No. God has not rejected His own people whom He chose from the very beginning. So Paul is arguing against the idea that the Jews are no longer the chosen people of God and that He has broken His covenant with them.

He is saying, hey if God can get hold of a guy like me God can get hold of anyone and certainly any Jewish person. Now let me take a quick poll. How many of you by birth are Jewish? Raise your hand.

Raise your hand. Shalom. Ok. Not many. Not many. But a lot of Gentiles. How many of you are not Jewish? Raise your hand.

Yeah. That is most of us. So we are Gentiles. We are not Jews. We are not the chosen people in that regard. But the cool thing is the great thing is is God has grafted us into their promises. Look at verse 17.

Some of the branches have been broken off and you though a wild olive shoot have been grafted in among the others you now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root. But here is the thing. I think when we walk with Jesus Christ we can reach out to Jewish friends. People we meet. Help them to come to know how wonderful their Messiah is. Look at verse 14.

I want to somehow make the people of Israel jealous of what you Gentiles have so I might save some of them. Here is the interesting thing about Paul. He was like as I said just the greatest Jewish scholar ever and yet God primarily called him to preach to non-Jews. Gentiles. And that is because he was largely rejected by his own people. So he has this great ministry among non-Jews. Gentiles.

And here is what he is saying. I am praying that as you Gentiles come to believe in Jesus that my fellow Jews who I love with all my heart will be jealous and want what you have. You know on a trip to Israel. And I had this guide I used a lot over the years. His name was David. We became very good friends. But he loved to debate. And so we would sit in the front of the bus and he loved to you know challenge me on things I said. And we would go back and forth about Jesus and the Jewish people and all these things. And so one day we had one of our discussions.

It went for probably almost an hour. And as it is done we get off the bus and you know I never seemed to make any headway with David. But then the driver, also a Jewish man, came to me who I hadn't even thought about in this discussion. He said, I was listening very carefully to your discussion with the guy David. I said, yes he says, I am jealous of your relationship with God. I thought, wait. I have heard that somewhere.

Jealous. A Jewish jealous of a Gentile. That is in Romans 11. And he said, I would like you to come over to my home and meet my family and I want you to tell them what you were saying to David. I said, well ok. So I went over to his home. He had a beautiful family. A very large family as I recall.

Maybe 25 people were there. And so his wife started serving this food and I am just chowing down. It was really good. And I realized that was just the appetizer and I was already full.

And then more courses came and more courses came and I am just bloated. And then he says, now talk to my family. And I had the privilege of telling his entire family about Jesus the Messiah and how he could change all of their lives.

So that is an illustration of this point. But you know when a Christian walks with God it should be the most attractive thing ever for a nonbeliever. The reason I became a Christian is because I admired the Christians from a distance on my high school campus. They had what I wanted. They had this peace.

They seemed to have this purpose. And they got to love one for another. And so one day I went and eavesdropped on one of their meetings and ended up accepting Christ. So I think when you are just walking with the Lord it is a very attractive thing.

You know if you want to win some be winsome. And talk about your faith and let it permeate every area of your life. Have you ever noticed if you go out to eat and you don't order anything you get hungry watching other people eat. You know see I am hungry right now by the way. How many of you are hungry? I am hungry. I am always hungry. This is a problem. I am always hungry.

Anyway. And I got hungry when I said hungry. You know just talking about food.

So I want you to join me in my misery. So maybe you go to a restaurant afterwards and you order. You know everyone orders. But you ate maybe before you came to church. You said, I am not going to order anything.

I will just hang out with you guys. So the burgers start showing up. And the fries start showing up.

And for that one weird person the kale shows up. So everybody is enjoying their meal and you say to your friend, could I have just one French fry. And they say take all that you want. You take the one fry. And it is almost like a fry from heaven or something.

It is so delicious. So you order your own fries. And they are not as good when you order them yourself.

Are they? Why is stolen food better? I found that to be true. Sometimes my wife is cooking and she has everything in little portions. Ok. Here is the meat. And here is the vegetable.

And here is this and that. And I will take a little bite. Don't eat that. It is in portions.

You will mess it up. And then she turns away. I am eating more.

I mean it becomes a challenge. Like how much can I eat without her seat. She knows. She knows what I am doing. Guys you are never fooling your wife by the way.

Just you never fool her ever. Ok. Anyway. Stolen food.

Yeah. But the point is watching somebody else enjoy a meal makes you want a meal. And watching someone else walk with God should make a person want to know God as well.

Provoking them to jealousy as well. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody. Greg Laurie here. And I want to personally invite you to the Harvest Ministries Israel tour.

April 9 to 19, 2024. Listen. This is your chance to walk in the steps of Jesus literally in what we call the Holy Land. Learn more at Israel.Harvest.org. Shalom. Well today Pastor Greg is presenting a message from the book of Romans called God Keeps His Promises. Let's continue. Well God is a place for Israel in the future.

And this is a big deal. Look at Romans 11 verse 25. I want you to understand the mystery dear brothers and sisters so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Blindness in part has happened to Israel but this will last only until the full number of the Gentiles come to Christ and all Israel will be saved. I was with my friend Joel Rosenberg recently in Israel. We actually were in Jerusalem in a little area shopping area called the Shook. Joel was talking about his spiritual blindness among many Jewish people. But I think we have seen a dramatic change. He mentioned 15,000 messianic Jews in Israel.

A messianic Jew is a person who is born Jewish who believes in Jesus as a Messiah. But nationally in America there is probably 300,000. Maybe as many as 500,000. That is a big change in recent days.

But here is the significant thing. There is no group of people on earth like the Jewish people. I don't think any group has suffered like the Jewish people. You know recently there was a commemoration of National Holocaust Remembrance Day. And the problem is they found that a lot of people, especially young people, don't even know what the Holocaust is. The Holocaust was that horrific stain on the history of humanity when 6 million Jewish men, women, and children were sent to die in Nazi concentration camps as part of Hitler's so-called final solution. They closed down their businesses in Germany and Poland and other places. Then they were sent to ghettos and they were ultimately put in boxcars sent to these camps. And they were systematically exterminated. 6 million people died. Unbelievable. So who would have ever thought after an event like that that the nation Israel would come into existence.

It would seem virtually impossible. But it was like a clarion call internationally. Jewish people in the aftermath of the Holocaust began to return to their homeland and on May 14, 1948 a modern day miracle happened.

Israel against all odds surrounded by enemies that wanted them destroyed became a nation. And that started the prophetic time clock ticking. And in Ezekiel 37 the prophet is called to go to sort of a boneyard. And the Lord says to him, preach to the dead bones. So Ezekiel is preaching to a bunch of dead bones. And in the vision the bones start coming together and muscle comes to the bones and flesh. And they come alive. And then God gives him the interpretation in Ezekiel 37 and 11. He says, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, we become old dry bones. All hope is gone.

But give them this message. Thus says the Lord, O my people I will open up your graves of exile and cause you to rise again and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. That is a very specific prediction. That the Israelites, the Jewish people would be scattered. That happened. That they would be regathered and specifically that they would become a nation again. And that is exactly what happened. Never has a decimated ancient people managed to retain their individual identity through almost 20 centuries and then reestablished their nation and their original homeland. Yet this was prophesied in Scripture and it happened.

But there is one other thing God says. They will be regathered. That has happened. They will be isolated. That is happening. And they will be attacked.

Well that hasn't quite happened. They are attacked all the time. People over on the outside of Israel in the Palestinian territory fired missiles into Israel. And then also of course there is the ongoing threats of Iran that want to completely destroy Israel. By the way Israel wants peace. And they have even offered a so-called two state solution to the Palestinian people which is rejected because not only do they reject a two state solution. They reject the right of Israel to exist.

It is kind of hard to have a conversation with someone who says, I don't acknowledge your right to exist. And that is exactly what they are dealing with. But Iran's hostility is even more overt. They threaten on multiple occasions to destroy Israel.

Eradicate Israel. And with their aggression and developing nuclear weapons this is a concern to the Jewish people living in their homeland again and for good reason. So the Bible says a large force. This is after Ezekiel 37, 38, and 39. After they are re-gathered again a large force from her north called Gog and Magog will attack her. And then God is going to intervene and do something supernatural because when Magog attacks the Bible says God is going to step in and intervene. And in Ezekiel 38, 18 it says, when Gog attacks the land of Israel my hot anger will be aroused declares the Lord. So Scripture tells us that God decimates the armies of Magog and then a national revival breaks out in Israel. And in Ezekiel 39, 29 we read that God will pour His Spirit out in Israel. You say okay this is interesting but what does this have to do with what we are talking about. Go back to Romans 11, 25.

Here is the answer. Some of the Jews have hard hearts. But this will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to Christ.

Look. God is not done with Israel. He is going to work in her future. He is going to send a spiritual awakening to her homeland. He is going to raise up 144,000 Jewish evangelists to proclaim the gospel during the tribulation period.

Kosher Billy Grahams if you like. So there are great days ahead for them. But before the Lord will pour His Spirit out on the Jews again He has to finish His work with the Gentiles.

So there will be a blindness there among Jewish people in general and Israel until the full gathering of the Gentiles comes in. What does that mean? It means when the last person that is going to believe in Jesus believes in Jesus will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So here is what it means to you. The Lord could come back at any moment for you. I believe out there somewhere walking around. What if they were even here today? It is possible.

Someone who is the last person the Lord is waiting for to believe in Jesus. Can you imagine if you knew who that person was? Would you be tempted to pressure them a little? Like will you believe? Like now?

I will give you a burger, fries, kale, whatever you want. Come on. No but seriously there is that person. They will believe and then boom we are caught up in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. That is what is said in Corinthians and 1 Thessalonians 4 says that dead in Christ shall rise first. We who are alive and remaining shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

Listen. God keeps His promises. He is going to keep His promise to Israel. He is going to keep His promise to you. And He is going to keep His promise to come again. Jesus is coming.

Believe it. And it can happen at any moment. So I ask you in closing are you ready? What if Jesus came today and He could? Would you be one of the ones who would be caught up to meet the Lord in the air?

Or would you be one of the people who would be left? And let me tell you something. What is going to follow is going to be hard. A great tribulation period is going to come the Bible says. And it will be inaugurated by this evil man. If the devil ever had a son it will be this guy. He is called the beast. He is called the antichrist.

Horrible times. If you don't believe in Jesus and you miss the rapture that is what you are going to face. That is why you want to believe now. That is why you want to be ready to meet the Lord. And if you are not ready why not get ready right now.

Because God will keep His promises to you. You know maybe you have come in here today with all kinds of troubles and all kinds of concerns and all kinds of worries and you don't know how to sort it out. Here is Jesus and He is saying to you, come to Me all ye that are laboring and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. You ever been carrying a bunch of heavy stuff and someone says, hey man let me carry that for you.

What a relief. Jesus is saying, will you let me take that off your shoulders. Let me take that burden off of you. Let me forgive you of that sin. Let me walk with you in life now. Let me save your soul. Why would I say no to that.

Why would I reject that. You know He wants to take all those burdens off of you. Walk with you through life and take you right to heaven one day.

Well I don't want that. I want to carry my burdens. I want to be stressed out. I want to be miserable and I want to go to hell. Hey man. You need to change your thinking because that is stinking thinking.

Also known as stupidity. Don't do that. Don't live that way. Jesus says, come to Me. Come to Me. Come to Me with your problems. Come to Me with your sins. Come to Me with your burdens. I will give you rest.

Just come to Me. And then you will be ready for His return. If you have never asked Jesus to come into your life why don't you do that as we close now in prayer. I am going to extend an invitation.

I am going to ask you to respond to this invitation. And if you are not sure that Christ is living inside of you. If you are not certain that you will be ready for the Lord's return that can all change right now as we pray. Let's all bow our heads. Father speak to every person wherever they are. Lord speak to them.

If they don't know you let this be the moment they believe. Let this be the moment they are forgiven of their sins. Let this be the moment they pass from darkness to light we ask in Jesus name. Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important closing prayer.

And if you'd like to make that kind of change in your relationship with the Lord Pastor Greg will help you do that in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning wraps up. Well Pastor Greg I've read so many comments from people all over the country who just love the movie Jesus Revolution. And a lot of people have been asking if it's going to be available in some form that they can take with them maybe play at home after it disappears from theaters.

What's your answer on that question? My answer is roll fanfare music now. Yes it's true Dave you can have your own personal copy of Jesus Revolution. You know I've talked to so many people who've seen this movie so many times. People have seen it two, three, four times. Some have seen it nine, ten, eleven times.

And you know one of the reasons they keep going back is A they love it and B they love to take friends to see it. So I'm so excited to announce that we have an exclusive version of the Jesus Revolution DVD available for you to get so you can have your own personal copy. Let me tell you a little bit about it. Now I know Jesus Revolution is streaming out there on Apple and Amazon but this is different what we're offering because number one this special edition of the Jesus Revolution DVD has a message that I recorded done in a cinematic way as the sun was setting on the beach. I share the gospel. I pick up where the film leaves off and so this is the perfect thing to watch right after you've seen the film especially if you had someone who was watching it who was not yet a believer. There's also a lot more bonus content that we will exclusively offer on our version of the Jesus Revolution DVD and also it supports our ministry. So instead of just buying it when you get it from us listen for your gift of any size and we're hoping you'll be generous with that gift because this is one of the more expensive resources we have offered but for your gift of any size we will rush you your own copy of the Jesus Revolution DVD and you can watch it nine times. You can watch it 90 times. You can give it away. It's there for you to keep. So order your copy today and help us continue to preach the gospel and teach the word of God right here on A New Beginning. Yeah that's right and it'll be our privilege to send a copy your way on DVD and we'll also include a free streaming code and we'll do that as soon as we hear from you. You can call us anytime 24 hours a day at 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300 or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514 or go online to harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg you mentioned our need to come to Christ for forgiveness of sin in today's broadcast. Yes. Maybe there's somebody listening who'd like to do that. They'd like to take that step.

Maybe you could help them with that right now. I'd be delighted to listen. If you would like to accept Jesus Christ into your life right now by that I mean if you would like your sin forgiven and have the assurance that you will go to heaven when you die would you pray this prayer with me Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner but I thank you for dying on the cross for my sin and rising again from the dead I'm sorry for my sin Lord and I turn from it now and I put my faith in you to be my Savior my Lord my God and my friend thank you for loving me and calling me and accepting me in Jesus name I pray amen. Listen if you just prayed that prayer in a minute I want you to know on the authority of God's word that Jesus Christ has just come to take residence in your heart.

The Bible says these things we write to you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. Listen we want to send you some resources that will help you grow spiritually. So here's Dave with some details and let me say God bless you and welcome to the family of God. And those resources Pastor Greg mentioned are all included in what we call our New Believers Growth Packet. It'll help you get started living your life for the Lord.

Can we send it your way? Just ask for the free New Believers Growth Packet. Just call us at 1-800-821-3300 that's a 24 7 phone number 1-800-821-3300 or write a new beginning box 4000 Riverside California 92514 or go online to harvest.org and click know God.

Hey everybody what are you doing this weekend? I'd like to hang out with you at Harvest at Home. When is Harvest at Home? It is a time of worship and Bible study exclusively designed for people that are viewing in from all over the place so you can be a part of our extended congregation at Harvest at Home. Join us this weekend Saturday and Sunday for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well next time as Pastor Greg continues our studies in Romans he tackles a subject nearly every believer wonders about. It's a study called How to Know the Will of God. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. The preceding podcast was made possible by Harvest Partners helping people everywhere know God. Learn how to become a Harvest Partner, sign up for daily devotions and find resources to help you grow in your faith at harvest.org.