From Hopelessness to Happiness: Keeping Your Focus on the Lord

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by some special friends of this ministry. Pastor Greg? I wanted to say a special word of thanks to the Harvest Partners who make this ministry possible.

Next time you're online, check out Pastor Greg's personal blog at blog.GregLaurie.com. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.

Again you hear all the angels are singing. This is the day, the day when life begins. What things are most important in our lives? Our computers probably know. Our smartphones have a good idea.

Or certainly our checkbook or our charge card. What captures our attention? What steals our thoughts? What is it that's always near the top of our minds? Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out that idols are anything or anyone that takes our focus off of God.

And we'll see the Lord recognizes the danger and mentions it in his Ten Commandments. This is the day, the day when life begins. The title of my message is From Hopelessness to Happiness. Am I talking to somebody right now that is feeling hopeless?

Am I talking to somebody right now that is just terrified of the future and you don't think you can ever be happy again? Then you want to hear what I'm about to say to you from the Word of God. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 20.

And I'm going to read quite a few verses with you so I hope you'll read along. Exodus 20 verse 2, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. Commandment number 2, Exodus 20 verse 4, you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that's in heaven above or the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. Nor shall you bow down to them or serve them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity on the fathers, on the children of the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. And showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments. Commandment number 3, Exodus 20 verse 7, you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.

The Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Commandment number 4, Exodus 20 verse 8 and 9, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Commandment number 5, Exodus 20, 12, honour your father and mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord has given you. Commandment number 6, you shall not murder. Commandment number 7, you shall not commit adultery. Commandment number 8, Exodus 20 verse 15, you shall not steal. Commandment number 9, Exodus 20 verse 16, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbour or don't lie. And then one final commandment, Exodus 20 verse 17, you shall not covet your neighbour's house or covet your neighbour's wife or his male servant or female servant nor his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbour. So there they are. Those are the Ten Commandments. Start working on memorizing them.

Then start working on internalizing them. Now the order of the commandments is very important. If you or I were to write the Ten Commandments we might prioritize some over others. For instance we might say well the most important commandment and maybe we should start with this one is you shall not murder or you shall not commit adultery. I mean no matter how culture is going it seems like we all can agree on the fact that murder and adultery are wrong, right?

So we might put those at the top of the list. But it's interesting how the Lord starts the Ten Commandments. He is saying that to Him the first thing that we need to start with is not having another God before Him because that deals with everything.

Here's another way to look at it. Jesus said you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbour as yourself. So if you get this down you will have the Ten Commandments working in your life. If I love God with all of my heart, soul, and mind I'm not going to have another God before him. I'm not going to bow down before a false image of God. I'm not going to take His name in vain and I'm going to set a day aside to worship Him. If I love my neighbour as myself I'm not going to steal from Him. I'm not going to lie to Him.

I'm not going to kill Him, etc. So as Augustine once said, love God and do as you please. But I think the reality of that is if I love God I'll do the right thing.

I'll want to honour Him in the right way. So let's start with commandment number one. You shall have no other gods before me.

So here's what the Lord is saying. I don't want to share you with somebody else. You belong to me. We have an exclusive relationship.

I mean what if a wife were to say to her husband, honey I love you so much. And by the way I'm going out on a date tonight with Chad. I don't know why Chad.

Chad. And I don't know when I'll be back. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow. Bye. Love you.

No clear thinking husband would go along with that game plan. Or we'll say oh Lord I love you so much but effectively we have another God in our life. Or we'll say Lord I love you so much but we'll be breaking His commandments left and right. But listen here's what the Lord says. Look at Exodus 20 verse 6. I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me but showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Having another God is easier than you may think it is. The Bible says little children keep yourself from idols. A lot of things can become an idol in your life. You know a vehicle can become an idol. A house can become an idol. A career can become an idol. A ministry can even become an idol. A person can be an idol in your life. Or we take our eyes off the Lord and we're more passionate about that thing.

Or it might be something you do for fun or for a hobby or some other thing. You can put other gods in the place of the true God. And the Lord is effectively saying I don't want to share you with anyone or anything else. Bringing us to the second commandment. Don't have graven images. Now that's just making some false image of God.

And that's very easy to do. This is even more absurd. I talked about the wife telling her husband she's going out on a date with some guy named Chad. How about if the husband said no problem I'm going to spend the night with my favorite girl. I call her Mary Manny. And why do you call her that? Because she's a mannequin.

Yeah you say I found her down at the department store. She does whatever I tell her to do. She's always smiling. She's dependable. And she never talks back. Oh this is even crazier. Your wife is leaving you for some dude named Chad.

And you're leaving your wife for some stupid mannequin. Is it any more ridiculous when we allow some object to take the place of the Lord in our life. So have no other gods before him.

Don't have any graven images. Commandment number three. Don't take his name in vain. Don't take the Lord's name in vain. Verse seven of Exodus 20. You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. Now what does that mean?

Well there's obvious ways. You see people who use the Lord's name in profanity. To me that's weird. They'll say I don't believe in Jesus Christ but I use the name of Jesus Christ to punctuate a point. And that is obviously one way you can take his name in vain. But the phrase in vain means to use in a frivolous or insincere manner. So sometimes we can say something to the Lord and have no thought of the Lord whatsoever as we're saying it.

Or sometimes we use it when we text each other. O M G all caps. And we'll just say oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

All the time. Wait. Why are you taking the Lord's name to make your point. Don't take his name in vain. But perhaps the easiest way to take his name in vain is by being a hypocrite. The person who says Lord Lord but does not keep his commandments. Jesus says why do you call me Lord Lord and not do what I say.

Listen to me. The hypocrisy of the church is far worse than the profanity on the street. Let's not take his name in vain. That brings us to commandment four which is remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy Exodus 20 verse 8.

Now let's get real. The Sabbath day always was and always will be the day of Saturday given to the Jewish people in a special covenant between them and God. But for the Christian we worship often on Sunday which is the first day of the week. That's the day Christ rose from the dead. That is the day that the early church worshiped and that is the day that Chick-fil-A is closed in a connected way actually. But the fact of this is is we want to remember to take a day aside and set it apart for the glory of God. A day set apart to rest from our labors.

A day set apart to be recharged spiritually. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We love to hear stories of how lives have been changed through Greg Laurie's teachings of God's word through the years. Pastor Greg I grew up listening to you whenever we were in my mom's car driving somewhere.

My first concert was in the fourth grade to see Zoe girl at your Riverside campus. Recently I've been overcome with anxiety and fear in regards to the coronavirus and the end of the world stuff. I started listening to your sermons again and you've helped me so much. Your voice and teaching is one that really calms me. I feel like the Lord is drawing me nearer and closer to him when I had unknowingly been distanced from him. Thank you for the wake-up call and for your continued ministry. I find myself tearing up because I'm so blessed. Thank you. It's so encouraging when we hear that listeners are growing by hearing these studies. Do you have a story to tell of how Pastor Greg's teachings have impacted your life?

If so, would you let us know? Call us at 1-866-871-1144. That's 866-871-1144. Well, we're considering the Ten Commandments today in Pastor Greg's message, From Hopelessness to Happiness.

And our thanks to our Harvest partners for their support, which helped to make today's study available. Okay, so now let's shift gears. We've just left the first tablet. Remember, there's four commands on the first tablet. You shall not have any other gods before him.

No graven images. Don't take his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day. Now we come to tablet number two. So the first tablet has to do with our relationship with God.

The second tablet has to do with our relationship with other people. And it begins with these words, honor your father and mother. Did you know the most formative years of a child's life are ages birth to three? And Moses, who we're talking about, had some very good advice when it comes to raising our kids.

He says in Deuteronomy 6, write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside of your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street. Talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night.

I mean, how practical is that? So it's great to have maybe a little devotional time with your kids. By the way, if you're trying to do devotions at home, don't make them too long. Don't make them boring. Involve the kids in the conversation.

The greatest compliment a child can pay a parent, a mom or a dad, is I want another story. Tell me more rather than them rolling their eyes or falling asleep while you're trying to be some great expositor for an hour and a half with them. Enter into their world. Instead of telling them they can't do all these things, do those things with them. You know, watch television with them and help them to interpret what's going on around them.

Talk to them about conversations they have with their friends because they need your input and they need your counsel. Did you know that the age most kids start to turn away from their faith is the age of 13? You might have thought it was 16 or 17 or 18. It's age 13. Am I talking to a parent with a 13-year-old? You've just entered the teen years and you're wondering, what happened to my sweet kid? Well, they're going through a transitional time and they need you more than ever. Listen, am I talking to a 13-year-old right now? Talk to your parents.

Get their input because you need it more than ever. And the best example of a good father is our father in heaven. You say, well, yeah, but he's in heaven. I can't relate to him. Oh, really? Well, if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.

Why? Because Jesus is God. Jesus was God walking among us. Jesus was God with skin on.

God had a face. He breathed our air. He walked our earth. He lived our life.

And then He died our death. And Jesus told us a story that shows us what God the Father is like. It's a story that we often refer to as the parable of the prodigal son. And it's a father who had two sons. I relate to this because I have two sons. One of them is in heaven.

One is on earth. A father had two sons. And one of those sons ran away from home. One of those sons took his portion of the inheritance and squandered it on foolish choices and horrible living.

And he faced the consequences of it. And that son decided one day to return to his father. And in this picture that Jesus gives us of God, in this selfie of God, if you will, God has presented to us as a loving father who misses his child when they're gone. God has presented as a loving father that longs for his child to return, as shown by the story that Jesus told. When He said, When that boy came to his senses and returned home, when the father saw him a great way off, he ran to him and threw his arms around him and kissed him and welcomed him home and said, Let's rejoice. My son who is dead is alive again.

He who was lost is found. That's how God feels about you. The Ten Commandments. Some people say, Well, I live by the Ten Commandments. That's all the religion I need.

Look, I don't even know you, and I'm going to say something really blunt. You don't live by the Ten Commandments because you've broken them. Some of you may have broken every single one of them in some way, shape, or form. The commandments were not given to make us holy. The commandments are given to show us how unholy we are. They're given to open our eyes and shut our mouths because I realize how many I fall short of those commandments. Who among us right now has not broken one of these commandments? Well, you say, Not me.

Really? Then you must not know them. Have you ever had another god before him? Have you ever taken the Lord's name in vain? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever lied in your life? No, I haven't.

You're lying right now. Every one of us have broken these commandments. The Bible says that we have been in one point of the law.

We're guilty of all of it. A while back, I was driving, and I ran through a red light. I didn't do it intentionally, but I wasn't paying attention. It was my fault, and I broke the law technically.

Boy, I tell you what. I did it right in front of a cop. Immediately, I saw that light in my rearview mirror, and I pulled over, and I rolled down my window, and I put my hands on the steering wheel, and the officer comes approaching me on my left, and he asked me for my driver's license and insurance and so forth. I just said, Officer, I'm really sorry I was wrong. I wasn't paying attention.

It's my fault. That's all I said. So the officer checks my license and comes back a few moments later. He says, Well, I'll tell you what. I'm going to let you go today with just a warning. I said, I have to say, Officer, thank you for that, but why? He says, Well, I'm going to let you off with a warning because most people don't admit it when they're wrong, and since you did, I'm going to let you go with a warning. I was like, Thank you, Jesus, and thank you, Officer.

I deserve to be ticketed, and I think this is the thing. We don't want to admit to God we're wrong. We don't want to admit to God that we've sinned and broken His commandments, but that's what we need to do, and the Ten Commandments are given to show you that you need Jesus.

They drive me into the open arms of Jesus because I can't live by these standards on my own, but Jesus can come in me and forgive me of all of my sin. Remember, the title of my message is From Hopelessness to Happiness. Am I talking to a hopeless person right now? Listen, that can change. Hope has a name, and it's Jesus Christ, and He can send a rush of hope into your life right now and change your life. Now, maybe your circumstances will not change.

Maybe they will, but I know this much. Your heart will change, and when your heart changes, everything changes. You need Jesus. He's the one you're searching for.

He's the one who died on the cross for you 2,000 years ago and spilled His blood to pay for every sin you have committed, and then He rose from the dead three days later, and He stands at the door of your life, and He knocks, and He says if you'll hear His voice and open the door, He will come in. Have you ever done that? I mentioned the story of the prodigal son a few moments ago. Maybe I'm talking to somebody here who was raised in the church who knows what's right, but you've ignored it. You've disobeyed it. You've said, I don't care what the Bible says.

I know it's true, but I don't care. I'm gonna live the way I wanna live, and you have faced the consequences of it, haven't you? Just like that prodigal son, the Bible says he came to himself, which just simply means he just came to reality, like what am I doing?

This is insane. Why have I made these choices? But he went back to his father, and that's what you need to do. You need to come to your senses, and you need to come back to Jesus or come to Him for the first time. In a moment, I'm gonna lead you in a prayer, and I'm gonna ask you to pray this prayer with me. This is a prayer where you will be saying to God, Lord, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you sent the Son to be my Savior, and I turn from my sin, and I ask Jesus to come into my life and I choose to follow Him from this moment forward. So listen, if you want your sin forgiven, if you wanna know that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you wanna go from hopelessness to happiness, if you wanna be ready for the Lord's return or if you've fallen away from the Lord and you wanna come back to Him right now as a prodigal son or daughter, I want you to pray this prayer with me. That's right, you can pray it after me. It's a simple prayer. We are saying to God, I'm turning from my sin and I'm putting my faith in you now. If you want Jesus to come into your life, pray this prayer with me right here, right now. Just pray these words, Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin and I turn from it and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Pastor Greg Laurie, with an important prayer for those making a change in their relationship with the Lord today.

And if you've just prayed with Pastor Greg and made a decision for Christ, we'd like to offer a resource to help answer your questions about this decision. We call it our New Believers' Growth Packet, and we'll send it free of charge upon request. Just write us at a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514, or call 1-800-821-3300. We're here to take your call anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300, or go online to harvest.org. If any interruptions came up during today's study, you can hear what you missed by listening again online at harvest.org. The title to look for is From Hopelessness to Happiness. You can also request a CD copy by calling 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. We're living in a time like no other. Many are anxious, stressed, looking for answers, and people are talking about the reassurance they find in Pastor Greg's new film, A Rush of Hope. Turn on the news or go to your favorite news feed, and there's so many things to cause us to just freak out.

Thank you so much for your movie. I'm an emotional mess. Thank you for reminding me of hope and bringing the Lord back into focus. We need God to show up in America right now. We need to talk to each other. We need to forgive each other. We need to pray for each other. Our country is at a crossroads, and what we need right now is a rush of hope. Now available on DVD exclusively from A New Beginning.

Get your copy of A Rush of Hope. Pastor Greg, tell us about this unique presentation. Yes, it was seen by thousands and thousands of people around the world. Thousands came to Christ as a result of it.

It was a film that had vignettes from other kingdom films in it like I Can Only Imagine, I Still Believe, and Woodlawn, along with special sections that we recorded, live concert with For King and Country and Jeremy Camp, and a message that I did against one of the most beautiful backdrops of nature I've ever seen in my entire life. And we've seen that this really moves people deeply. This is a tool you're gonna be able to use again and again and again. You can invite someone over and say, watch this movie with me.

It's not longer than an hour. And then you can talk to them about how they can come into a relationship with God. What a great tool to have in the holiday season, especially as we're having our first Christmas in the middle of a pandemic. So not only will we send you this DVD copy of A Rush of Hope, but we also send a special information piece that shows you how to host a watch party. That simply means that it tells you how to put an event on at your house using this film, inviting people over from your neighborhood or from your family or your workplace or wherever you wanna do it. Wherever you can show a DVD, you can do this. And also we have a downloadable version as well that you can show on a tablet device or a computer or even a phone. In the special offer that we have right now, have a little evangelistic booklet called A Rush of Hope.

Find answers to life's most important questions. And so all of this is in the special resource that we wanna send you for your gift of any size. Yeah, that's right. You can view it anytime by way of the DVD or the digital version that you can download with the code we'll provide. So thank you so much for your donation here at this most important time of the year. And we'll show our appreciation by sending A Rush of Hope on DVD. So write today at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call us anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here inviting you to join me every weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a church service, it's a worship service, it's a Bible study, and it's wherever you want it to be.

In your home, in your car, sitting on a beach, walking down the street, watching it on your phone. Wherever you are, you can take it with you and be ministered to every weekend. Join us for Harvest at Home at harvest.org. Well next time, Pastor Greg continues our studies of the Ten Commandments as we consider the freedom and peace we'll enjoy as we commit ourselves to telling the truth always. Join us next time for A New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.