Good News in a Bad World: Keeping God as Our Top Priority

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. God cares about being number one, and He will not share His glory with another. He expects our faithfulness to Him.

He is faithful, certainly, to us, and He says, I don't want you to have any other gods before me. When you boil it all down, the preeminent reason God created man is so man might have fellowship with God. We were created to worship God. Now if we worship another God, money, our jobs, our hobbies, another person, our lives become the antithesis of what we were created for. It's such a foundational issue God reserved the first of His Ten Commandments to address this.

And so we'll address it today here on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. The Bible says 2 Kings chapter 7. 2 Kings chapter 7. This was a very dark time in the history of the nation Israel. A time that in many ways parallels ours.

Things could not have been more bleak. But we are going to see how God broke in on this difficulty and brought some very good news. We will see the problem. We will see the promise. We will see the people God chose to bring that promise.

And finally the proclamation of that good news. First let's identify the problem. This as I said was one of the darkest moments in the history of Israel. Everything had gone wrong. They had sunk to the lowest of the depths and their economy had completely collapsed. A famine had swept the land and the king was powerless to do anything about it.

Things were so bad. People were so hungry they were eating what is identified in the King James Version as dove dung. I don't know if you know what that is. That would be pigeon poop. Ok.

I mean what do I say. That is what it was. In fact the delicacy of this time would have been the head of a donkey. They were so impoverished and so hungry. In fact there was one incident that broke out where two women decided to kill and eat their own sons. And they struck an agreement that they would eat one boy on one day and the other on the next. So they killed the first boy and they ate him. And then the next day the mother of that boy changed her mind and hit him.

And the lady who killed her son the day before was upset. So they went to the king. King this isn't right. It is her turn to kill her boy so we can eat him.

What are you going to do about it? And the king couldn't believe this was happening. And we read that he ripped his clothes. And that was sort of a biblical way of saying usually that you are repenting. But he was frustrated and he was angry.

So what did he do? Did he drop to his knees and say God what is wrong? What have we done to bring this calamity upon us? Lord have mercy on us.

No. The king said where is that stinking prophet of the Lord Elisha? I want him dead now. What? He strikes out at God's representative because they were reaping the consequences of their sinful actions. You see God had withdrawn His blessing from the nation of Israel.

Why? Because He had turned to worshiping false gods. Let me be straight with you. Idolatry really bothers God.

A lot. Now we don't think it is that big of a deal. I read a poll a while back where people sort of assessed the Ten Commandments and they believed that murdering was the worst thing that you could do and maybe adultery wasn't far behind it. But a lot of the people said we don't think idolatry is that big of a deal.

Really? Well God begs to differ. Because the first two commandments actually deal with the topic of idolatry. Why is that a big deal to God? Because if you are not worshiping God you are going to be worshiping someone or something in His place. And all these other actions and sinful activities really are the result of God not being in His proper place in our life. God cares about being number one.

I know some people are bothered by that. I read that Oprah Winfrey once said that she can't worship a jealous god. A god that wants our praise. Her god would never be that way. Well I don't know about Oprah's god. But I will tell you about the god of the Bible. He is a jealous god.

And he will not share his glory with another. You say well that is a little paranoid in God's part isn't it? Is that how you see it? Let me ask you a question husbands. How would you feel if your wife was going out with a different guy every night of the week? Are you good with that? Oh yeah.

It is cool. You are an idiot. Wives how would you feel if your husband had a girlfriend for every day of the week? Well of course you would never accept that. Because when you enter into a marriage relationship you expect Him to be faithful to you.

And that is what you should expect. In the same way when we enter into a relationship with God He expects our faithfulness to Him. He is faithful certainly to us. And He says, I don't want you to have any other gods before Me. But the king was worshiping other gods. And so the famine came. And so the consequences came. But instead of turning to the Lord He wants to turn on God's servant.

It is an interesting thing. You know people will sin against God. They will reap the consequences of sinning against God. And then they will get mad at God for letting this happen to them as though He somehow did it to them. When in reality God warned them all along don't do this or thus and so could happen.

And then they will also strike out against God's people. Maybe you will go up to someone and say, You know what? This situation that you are in right now a lot of it you brought on yourself.

And if you would just turn from your sin. Who are you to judge me? Who do you think you are? Are you perfect?

No I am not perfect. Not at all. But I just know the Word of God. No I don't care what the Word of God.

You know what? You are a hypocrite. And you are judgmental. And you are holier than thou. And doesn't the Bible say judge not lest you be judged?

Well yeah the Bible does say that but it is actually not. I don't care what it is saying. Ok fine.

Whatever. But have you had that happen to you? You go to someone even in love and in meekness and you try to offer a solution and they get angry at you. You know that just means you are doing your job. Jesus said in John 15 21, The people of the world hate you because you belong to Me but they don't know God who sent Me. So when people strike out at you for no reason, rejoice. It probably just means you are doing what you ought to be doing. Jesus said in Matthew 5 11, Count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit Me.

What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when this happens. Give a cheer even. For though they don't like it I do God says. And all the heavens applaud.

And know that you are in good company because My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble. Yes. This was coming because of their disobedience and because the king couldn't solve it. You know a lot of times when we have problems like with our economy we expect government to fix it.

But guess what. Government can't fix everything. I don't know if government can fix anything.

In reality I think they often make it worse. It was President Ronald Reagan that once said, and I quote, The government's view of the economy could be summed up into a few short phrases. If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it.

If it stops moving, subsidize it. And Reagan also said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, I am from the government and I am here to help. The king was powerless. He didn't have the answers. Because the answers were not economic. The answers were not military. The answers were not political.

The answers were spiritual. They needed to turn to God. And I bring this up because we can't help but see a parallel between their times and ours. It has been said, He who refuses to learn from history is forced to repeat its mistakes.

Malcolm Muggerig said, quote, All new news is old news happening to new people. And really all that we see happening, we have seen it happen before and we have seen what can happen if we turn to the Lord. Our answer is to turn to the true and living God. The God that yes we called upon when we founded this country. Don't let anyone engage in revisionism and tell you that our country was not clearly founded on Judeo-Christian principles. It was founded on the teachings of Scripture. I am not saying that every one of our founding fathers was a believer in Jesus Christ. But I am saying that they had a respect for the Word of God and they invoked the name of Jesus Christ. We didn't build this country on the teachings of Islam or Buddhism or any other religion. They were built on the clear teachings of Judeo-Christian ethics.

More specifically the Christian faith. And I think if we will turn back to the true God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He will hear and He will answer. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

Whenever you send us a letter, an email, or post a comment on social media, we read every word. Fifteen years ago I quit using heroin. During that time I choked two hours every day to the methadone clinic and would listen to Pastor Greg on the radio. He changed the way I thought about God and Jesus. I am now raising my three teenage daughters in Christ the best way I can with God's help.

Thank you so much. It's so great to hear how these lessons in God's Word have impacted this man and his family. And if you have a story to tell, why not drop Pastor Greg an email at greg-harvest.org.

Again, that's greg-harvest.org. Well today Pastor Greg is pointing out how to call on God in our time of need as we go to 2 Kings chapter 7 to the time of Elisha the prophet. We see what happens now as we turn to our text. It is 2 Kings chapter 7. I am going to read verses 1 through 9 to you.

And you can read along of course. And I am going to be reading, by the way, from the New Living Translation. So Elisha the prophet appears on the scene. And he says, verse 1, Now the story shifts.

There were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. Why should we sit here waiting to die, they asked one another. We will starve if we stay here. And we will starve if we go back into the city. So we might as well go and just surrender to the Syrian army.

If they let us live, so much the better. But if they killed us, well we would have died anyway. So that evening they went out to the camp of the Syrians.

But no one was there. For the Lord had caused the whole army of Syria to hear the clatter of speeding chariots and the galloping of horses and the sound of a great army approaching. And they said, The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us. And they panicked and fled into the night, abandoning their tents, their horses, their donkeys, and everything else. And they fled for their lives. So the lepers arrive at the edge of the camp.

They went from one tent to another, eating, drinking wine, carrying out silver and gold and clothing and hiding it. Finally they said to each other, Hey this is not right. This is a day of good news and we are not sharing it with anyone. If we wait until morning some terrible calamity will certainly fall on us. Come let's go tell the people at the palace. Therefore come let us go and tell the king's household.

So we have already identified the problem. It was sin. It was idolatry.

It was the fact that Israel had abandoned God. Here is the promise. The promise was God was going to change things.

Elisha said that food was going to be affordable the next day. And the king's aide says, Well that is not even possible. He says in verse 2, Even if the Lord opened up the windows of heaven that couldn't happen. And then Elisha shoots back, Well I will tell you what. You will see it happen.

But you personally will not eat any of it. And so here is what it comes down to. This man was unwilling to believe God's solution.

And it was a spiritual solution. And God has told us to call upon Him in the day of trouble. But this guy is saying, Well it won't work. I just refuse to believe. And you know by the way it is not a bad thing to be skeptical. But unbelief is different. Unbelief says I choose to not believe what God says in His Word.

No. That is simply not true. And that is what this man was doing. He was simply full of unbelief.

And I will tell you what. Hebrews 11 says, It is impossible to please God without faith for anyone that comes to Him must believe that He is and is a rewarder of those that sincerely seek Him. If you want this relationship with God you need to come in faith. And the Bible is replete with stories of men and women who had their lives transformed because they reached out in believing faith and took God at His Word.

Will you? God can do some pretty amazing things. And that brings us to the people that God used to bring the message about. We have looked at the problem Israel was facing.

We have looked at the promise of provision. So who did the Lord call to bring this message to the people? He chose four lepers.

It is hard for us to understand how significant that was. You see a leper was a man or a woman who had an incurable disease. They were a person that was experiencing a slow death.

They lost the ability to feel and sense pain. And what they had was highly contagious. And so they were quarantined.

They were isolated. And if a leper was out and about they had to cry out to any person coming near them unclean. So everyone kept their distance from lepers. In fact if you were a leper your only other friends would be fellow lepers. So God says, let's see who can I use to herald this message? I know. I will choose lepers.

It is kind of cool. And so these lepers go into this camp and here is how they reason. They think, look, you know life is pretty bad for us no matter what happens.

It can't get much worse. We are going to die no matter what. And we are really hungry. Now if we stay here in the wilderness we will die. But you know let's go over to the camp of the Syrians. Maybe they will be sympathetic toward us and throw us some table scraps and we will have a meal. Maybe they will kill us.

But what does it matter? We are going to die anyway. What have we got to lose? So they go over to the camp of the Syrians and not only are they not just throwing table scraps. The Syrians have fled.

And there is food everywhere. But why did the Syrians flee? Because they heard the noise of an approaching army in the Syrian camp.

They thought the Israelites had hooked up with some allies to drive them out of their camp and so they fled. Now this is a great example of how God can work both naturally and supernaturally at the same time. Because what happened was God supernaturally cleared out the Syrians with this noise of an army. Well what was the noise of the army? Was it an illusion or a trick by God?

No. God just allowed the Syrians to get a glimpse behind the veil of the spiritual army. Because around us right now we have an army of angels. And there are also demons present as well. If we could see behind the scenes to the supernatural realm encircling us at this very moment it would blow our minds.

Frankly it would probably freak us out a little bit. And we are reminded of that story in 2 Kings 6 where Elisha is with his servant. And the Syrian army is approaching to apprehend them. And the servant sees the approaching army and he cries out to the prophet. And he says, "'I am afraid.' And Elisha says, "'Hey man, don't be afraid. For there are more on our side than there are on theirs.' And then Elisha prayed, the Lord opened his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened his servant's eyes and when he looked up he saw the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire."

Oh you see we have more on our side than they have on theirs. And did you know that the Bible says the angel of the Lord encamps around those that fear Him. And the Bible also tells us that angels are ministering spirits sent to minister to those who are the heirs of salvation. Hebrews 1.14.

You might say, well I have some pretty big problems. Are there enough angels to go around? Absolutely. Because Daniel 7.10 tells us that there are thousands and thousands of angels. Well over a hundred million angels doing the bidding of God.

So that ought to do the job don't you think? So the Lord supernaturally cleared out the Syrians but then He led the lepers naturally. God worked both openly and secretly. In other words an angel of the Lord did not come to the lepers and say, Hey lepers go over here. There is free food now.

No. The Lord drove all the Syrians away. Meanwhile the lepers are just standing out there talking with each other. And you know what drove them to that camp? Hunger.

Just something as simple as wanting to get a meal. Have you ever found yourself in the middle of the will of God when you were doing a rather mundane thing? I suggest to you that, and you might be surprised hearing me say this, but I suggest to you that the will of God is not always easy to discern. And anyone that says they always know the will of God I don't think they are being completely honest. I don't always know the will of God. Most of my life quite honestly as a Christian is one of faith whereby I read Scripture. I pray for wisdom. I make decisions and I act on them. And I hope I am in His will.

I hope that is not a disappointment to you. I don't know if you thought that every morning God woke me up and spoke to me audibly. Good morning Greg. Here is your mission should you decide to accept it. At 1.45 there will be a man named Joe at the gas station pumping gas across the street from Harvest Christian Fellowship.

Your mission should you decide to accept it is to share the gospel with him. This message will destruct in five seconds. That was the message destructing.

Here is the way it really works. Greg is driving along in his car and he is out of gas. And the idiot light goes on and Greg says, Must get gas now. I pull over to the gas station.

I am standing there pumping away and I look over and there is some guy. He goes, Hey how is it going? Hey how are you doing? Good. What is your name? Joe. Ok.

I am Greg. And we start talking and all of a sudden I realize divine appointment. See that is how it works for me most of the time. So we are looking for visions and we are looking for angels and we are looking for pillars of fire and audible voices. And meanwhile God is saying, You know what?

I have an opportunity for you right now if you will just pay attention. He will lead you both supernaturally and naturally. But for the most part the Christian life is one of faith where you study His word. You pray for direction. You apply its principles and you go out and do the right thing.

That is our objective and that is what we ought to do. Great practical instruction from Pastor Greg Laurie about remaining faithful in our walk with God and letting Him lead us along the way. And Pastor Greg will have more insight for us in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning wraps up. But listen if you missed any part of what Pastor Greg brought us today you can catch up by going online to Harvest.org.

Just look for the title, Good News in a Bad World. And then it is a real joy to have children's author Sally Lloyd-Jones with us today. We are making available two of her books right now, Near and Babies Carry Along Bible.

Both are full of biblical truth and practical encouragement for kids. And Sally, with school starting up in the fall and things getting back to normal or some kind of new normal, how can your resources, Near and Babies Carry Along Bible, help lay a foundation for young kids that have been just as unsettled as parents have been during this whole pandemic? That is a great question. I mean I think in some ways we all need the same thing. We are all adjusting to this new normal and there are fears that weren't there before. Even just getting used to not wearing a mask when we used to have to get used to wearing a mask and now we don't wear a mask. So it is very unsettling and for me I just think what calms an adult down calms a child down. And it is taking your eyes off the thing that is scary and putting it back on God who is so much greater than anything that we could be afraid of. And to keep remembering, I have a father who loves me and he is all powerful and he is good and he loves me. So even if you have something that you repeat in your head when you get scared, you know like, God I am feeling scared, help me. I think giving children something simple like that, that they can do so that when they are scared they have something they can say or remember. Yeah, that is so good. We need to plant those truths in their little hearts.

And Sally's resources are full of that kind of truth. That is why we want to make available Near about the closeness of God based on Psalm 139 and Baby's Carry Along Bible. So the little ones can have their own Bible with a built-in carrying handle containing 10 of their favorite Bible stories. We'll send both books your way to thank you for your donation and investment in keeping Pastor Greg's teaching coming your way each day here on A New Beginning. So contact us today at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. You can call us anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well next time Pastor Greg continues his message called Good News in a Bad World. But before we go for today, Pastor Greg comes back to wrap up this way. Pastor Chuck Smith. I remember a time I had lunch with him and I said, Chuck I have a question for you.

If an older Chuck were talking to a younger Chuck with all these years of knowing the Lord and walking with the Lord, what would you tell yourself as a young man, as an older man? What would you say this is what you need to remember Chuck? Chuck says, I would say hold your course. I said, that is it.

Yes. Hold your course. So I said, when you say hold your course you mean just keep doing what you are doing.

That is right. Hold your course. And I thought that is what we all need to be doing right now. We need to hold our course.

Hold the course. Sometimes it is easier. Sometimes it is harder. Sometimes it is uncertain.

Sometimes it is more clear. Hold your course. The just shall live by faith. Keep moving forward. It is a commitment you have made. We honor that commitment. Visit us at Harvest.org.