The devil's two favorite words are, give up. And I think I'm talking to someone right now that's thinking of giving up, giving up on your faith. Don't give up. Get up.
Don't listen to him. The Lord wants us to press on to the upward call. Pastor Greg Laurie points out the devil urges us toward a downward fall.
We choose who we listen to. The Christian life is like a race. So the key is looking to Jesus, keeping your eyes on the Lord. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace how sweet the sound. Oh, can you hear all the angels are singing?
This is the day, the day when life begins. It can be like tending a garden. What we water grows. If we spend all our time feeding worry, pleasure, and listening to the voice of our adversary, we shouldn't be surprised when weeds take over. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us focus our attention carefully. The voices we listen to are like seeds. Some bring peace, others just bring pests.
At some point we've got to ask, are we planting the right crop or just giving the weeds a comfy home? This is the day, the day when life begins. I was at my grandson's lacrosse game the other day. He was playing very well with his team and I was standing next to his sister, Allie, and I reminded her when she was a little girl and when she was playing soccer. She was in some team called the Purple Princesses or something like that and she wasn't scoring any goals and I said, Allie, you need the eye of the tiger. She looked at me quizzically.
What, you haven't seen Rocky III? Okay, the eye of the tiger. And I said, I'll tell you what, I'll give you a doll if you score a goal. Well, she got the eye of the tiger and she started scoring goal after goal. I thought someone should write a song like the eye of the doll.
I don't know. But she was scoring so many goals I said, okay, the doll deal is over with. You're scoring too many goals but, you know, the eye of the tiger, if you don't know what I'm talking about, is a song and it's from Rocky III. So in Rocky III, Rocky is the undefeated champion of the world and he's kind of getting lazy and complacent. He even has a pet tiger.
He's not taking anything seriously. He has a challenger in Clever Lang played by Mr. T who beats him. So the rest of the movie is a surprise about Rocky making a comeback, right? Isn't that what all the Rocky movies are about? The big comeback?
And so at one point he's being trained by Apollo Creed, his former opponent, and Apollo says to Rocky, Rocky, you need the eye of the tiger. And, you know, spiritually we too can grow complacent and lazy and that's what was happening to Israel. Of course they had gone to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. They were successful.
The walls were completed in 52 days. Nehemiah felt like, hey, my job is done. He went back to Babylon to continue on as the cupbearer, advisor, counselor to the king and then a report came to Nehemiah that the people had gone back again. That there was sin among them again. That there was compromise. That everything was falling apart.
Reminding us that just because you have a good beginning doesn't mean you will necessarily have a good finish. The Constitution of the United States had just been signed when America was a nation. Benjamin Franklin walked out of a meeting room to a waiting crowd and one lady came up to Benjamin Franklin and said, so Mr. Franklin, what type of government have you and the delegates given us? And his response was, well, a republic, madam, if you can keep it. The idea is we've laid the foundation.
Now it's up to you and the nation and the future to maintain this. And the same is true spiritually. You know, we'll be on a roll, we'll be doing great, and then we'll do something that is completely self-destructive. Has that ever happened to you?
You're doing well spiritually, you're reading your Bible, you're going to church, you're praying, you're sharing your faith, you're firing on all cylinders. And then you just do the dumbest thing of all. Something that sabotages you.
Something you can't believe you even did. And you want to know why you do that? Here's the answer.
You might want to write this down. Sin makes you stupid. There's nothing rational about it. There's nothing logical about it. Go back to our first parents in the Garden of Eden.
How crazy was it to abandon literal paradise to take a bite of some piece of fruit offered to them by the devil? But that's exactly what they did. So that brings me to point number one if you're taking notes. And it is starting strong is good, finishing strong is better. Starting strong is good, but finishing strong is better. You can have the worst start, but if you have a great finish that's really all that matters. Or you can have a great start and a horrible finish and undo all the good that you did.
And so we want to finish well. You know, we'll make commitments to things that we won't follow through on, like diets. How many of you went on a diet at the beginning of this year? Raise your hand. Some of you should have, I don't know.
I won't say who, but I'm looking at them right now. No, I'm just kidding. Looking at mirrors is what I should be looking at, right? But diets are a great idea for the first couple of days maybe. Like a high protein diet. How great of a diet is that? Oh, I can eat meat and I can eat cheese and I can eat all these great things. I just can't have carbs.
Who cares? And after three days you are withdrawing, wanting carbs so badly, right? Or joining a gym. Planet Fitness is the biggest gym chain in America, or at least one of them. And one of their gyms has a capacity to only hold 300 people, but they signed up 6,000. And the reason they can do that is because they know, guaranteed, half of the people that sign up will never show up even once.
And then the rest will be sporadic at best. Oh, I'm going to join the gym. Yeah, but then you don't ever go to the gym. Or maybe you volunteer to serve here at church. You find out there is a need in children's ministry. So you volunteer to help out the three year olds. And after they have tied you to a chair, and they are talking about selling you into slavery, because you taught that lesson on Joseph and his brothers, you are reconsidering.
Do I want to keep doing this? The Bible is filled with stories of people that started well, but did not finish well. Samson comes to mind. The he-man with the she-weakness.
Superhuman strength, but he is self-destructed. We also think of Moses. He did not finish all that well. Nor did Noah, for that matter. David started very well.
He crashed and burned, but he did make a comeback, as did Peter. So you want to finish well, because the Bible tells us the Christian life is like a race. And the objective of this race is to run to win. Paul says, run to win the race. But you also want to finish the race you started. Paul also talked about finishing his race with joy.
And in his final epistle, he said, I fought the good fight, I kept the faith, I finished the course, henceforth there is later for me a crown of righteousness. So we want to finish this race well. Kathy and I just celebrated 51 years of marriage together last week.
People have asked, what is the secret to a long and happy marriage? Well, it goes back for us to our honeymoon. So we went to the Grand Canyon for our honeymoon, and we rented those mules. You know the little pack mules, and they go along those narrow little paths. And so she was on the mule in front of me, and we're riding along. And her mule stumbled. And so she leaned forward and said into the mule's ear, that's once. I thought, what on earth?
It's kind of surprising. I'd never seen her do that before. Then we went a little further. Again, her mule stumbles. We're very close to the edge. You don't want to fall. She leans forward again, says in the mule, that's twice.
We go a little further. The mule stumbles for the third time. She reaches into her purse, pulls out a gun, holds it up to the mule's head, fires and kills the mule. I was shocked. I was outraged. I said, Kathy, what are you doing? She turned to me and said, that's once. This is a true story.
Not really. But our marriage is similar to our relationship with God. In fact, the Bible tells husbands to love their wife as Christ loves the church and wives that submit unto the Lord.
See, the key to a marriage, there's many keys, but let's just say a key to a marriage, a good marriage, is maintenance, giving attention to it. You know, I think husbands and wives need to read their own mail. Far too often the husband is reading the verses addressed to the wife, telling the wife to do a better job. Or the wife, she's reading the verses directed to the husband, telling him to do a better job.
My response is, read your own mail. Focus on your part. The Bible says to husbands, love your wife as Christ loves the church.
That's a lifelong pursuit. Love your wife as Christ loves the church. And then to the wives, it says, wives, respect your husband. You know, it's interesting that God specifically tells a woman to respect her man. And God specifically tells a man to love his woman. That's not to say a man doesn't need love, and it's not to say a woman doesn't need and deserve respect, but it is to say it's worth noting the Bible specifically says, husbands, love your wife. Wives, respect your husband. Do you know that song by Aretha Franklin? R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Did you know that was originally written by a man to his woman? So he's saying, woman, I go out and I work hard all day.
Give me a little respect. So this is something that is actually biblical. So, wives, turn to your husband and say this. Okay, you're not doing it. Turn to your husband, wives. Turn toward your husband.
Repeat after me. Greg is more handsome than you. No, turn to your husband and say, I respect you. Go. Did you mean it? You're in church, don't lie. Husbands, turn to your wife and say, you know you're right, Greg is more handsome than me. No.
Say, I love you. I want to hear it. Beautiful. Well done. It's maintenance. I read that the Golden Gate Bridge is constantly being painted.
They paint it from one side to the other and start over again. It just needs constant maintenance. So does marriage. So does your Christian life. The Bible says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. It doesn't say work for your own salvation because it's a gift from God. It's a finished work given to you by Christ. So when the Bible says, work out your own salvation, it can better be translated, carry to the goal and fully complete.
The idea is of going into a mine and getting out the silver or the gold. You've got to go in there and get out what God has put in. Work it out. Live it out. So we need to keep at it.
Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey, everyone, I want you to know about our app called Harvest Plus. Think of it as a Harvest version of Netflix.
We have all of our resources in one place. We have our movies like Steve McQueen, The Salvation of an American Icon, Johnny Cash, The Redemption of an American Icon, A Rush of Hope, and much more. Then we have our television program, Daily Devotions, and much more.
So go and download the Harvest Plus app. Well, Pastor Greg is presenting the final message from Nehemiah today, a study called Finishing What You Start. His first point was starting strong is good, finishing strong is better. Number two, stay focused. Don't lose the eye of the tiger. You know, the Scripture tells us that we are to run with perseverance, the race marked out for us.
How do we do it? Answer, we keep our eyes on Jesus. In Hebrews 12, the writer says, we're all running a race, so lay aside the weight and the sin that so easily besets you or slows you down.
Run this race with endurance. Here's the key. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and now is set down on the right hand of God. So the key is looking to Jesus, keeping your eyes on the Lord, because the devil wants you to get your eyes off of the Lord, and he wants you to give up. The devil's two favorite words are give up. Don't listen to him. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. And I think I'm talking to someone right now that's thinking of giving up, giving up on your marriage, giving up maybe even on your life, giving up on your faith, giving up on your ministry. Don't give up. Get up and remember this.
Fix your eyes on Jesus. In fact, Nehemiah 4.14 says to the people, don't be afraid of the enemy, remember the Lord. But Israel had forgotten this. They were not remembering the Lord. They were going backward again. Though they had rebuilt these walls and had a spiritual awakening, they were returning to their old ways. They had to return again to the Lord. So that brings us now to our text, Nehemiah 10, verse 28.
And this is what they did before their fall began. Nehemiah 10, verse 28, the rest of the people, the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants, and all who separated themselves from the pagan temple of the land in order to obey the Lord together with their wives, sons, daughters, and all who were old enough to understand, join their leaders, and bound themselves with an oath. They swore a curse on themselves that they failed to obey the law of God as issued by the servant Moses. They solemnly promised to carefully follow all the commands, regulations, and decrees of the Lord our God.
So number three, they promised to carefully follow all the commands of Scripture. I think sometimes people want to pick and choose what parts of the Bible they like and discard the rest. I'm reminded of Thomas Jefferson who had his own version of the Bible. It was called Jefferson's Bible. And basically what he did was he took scissors and cut out all the parts of the Bible he did not agree with. So in Jefferson's Bible there were no miracles.
So no walking on water, no feeding of the 5,000, no resurrection of Jesus. He also cut out all references to the deity of Christ because Jefferson did not believe Jesus was the Son of God. However, he left in the ethical teachings of Jesus like the Sermon on the Mount and parables about kindness, forgiveness, and love and other lessons on humility, compassion, etc. Because Jefferson regarded Jesus as a great philosopher, nothing more.
Well, you can't do that. You can't go to the Bible and take out the parts you don't agree with. Jesus said, you are my disciples if you continue in my word. So we need to continue in what his word says. Number four, they chose to obey the word of God. To obey what it says. So they surrendered from God's word.
Everyone did it. Verse 28 says, the wives, the sons, the daughters, everyone joined themselves and they made this commitment. And I want to point out something. It was a public commitment. They took a note.
We are going to do this and we want everyone to know it. It's important to make public stands on certain things like marriage. This is why a wedding ceremony matters. Because people will say, well, we're just living together. It's like being married.
No, it isn't. Because, you know, you could walk away at any given moment. And when you really are in love with someone, you need to make that commitment.
Oh, it's just a piece of paper. No, it's a commitment you're making to God. And it's a commitment you're making to your family. And it's a commitment you're making to your friends and anybody else who happens to attend. You're saying publicly, I take you to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, from this day forward, in sickness and in health, et cetera. So that's a public stand. And by the way, if you want to sabotage a marriage, live together before you get married.
Statistics actually show that those who live together before marriage are more likely to divorce than those that don't. So you make a public commitment. And the same is true of your faith. Make a public stand for Christ. Do people in your neighborhood know you're a Christian? Do people on your campus know you're a follower of Jesus Christ? Do people who follow you on social media know you believe that the Bible is true? Make your stand. That's what I love about baptism.
It's something you do openly. And it's a beautiful thing when people watch and see a believer going into the water and saying goodbye to the old life and making that commitment to Christ. Here's another thing, number five. They separated themselves from ungodly influences. They separated themselves from ungodly influences. Look at verse 28. Then the rest of the people, the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, separated themselves from the pagan people of the land in order to obey the law of the Lord, saying, We promise to not let our daughters marry the pagan people of the land and not to let our sons marry their daughters. If you want to be a godly person, you have to separate yourself from some things and join yourself to others. Being a Christian is saying no to some things and saying yes to others. Someone sums it up perfectly. It's as happy as a man or woman who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful.
That's what they don't do. But, in contrast, their delight is in the word of the Lord. And in it do they meditate day and night. In Timothy, Paul writes, Flee youthful desires and follow righteousness, faith, and peace along with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. . Some good insight today on a new beginning from Pastor Greg Laurie's study series in the book of Nehemiah, some practical instruction on finishing well, and there's more good teaching yet to come. But, you know, the very first step in living for the Lord is coming to the Lord.
Have you ever come to him and entered into a relationship with him? Pastor Greg, what would you say to the person listening who just doesn't know if they're really a Christian? They can't think of a time when they made a deliberate decision for the Lord.
It's just not a good idea to assume everything's going to work out okay, is it? No, this is one area of your life you want to be sure about, where you're going to spend eternity. The Bible says, These things we write to you that you may believe on the Son of God and that you may know that you have eternal life. Listen, I know I have eternal life.
I know I'll go to heaven one day, and I hope that doesn't sound boastful, and if it does, I'm boasting on what God has done for me, not on what I've done for God. The reason I know these things is because I've turned from my sin and I've put my faith in Christ, you see, and if you do the same, you can have the same hope. You just need to call out to the Lord, an adventurous sinner, and ask Jesus Christ to forgive you and come into your life. The Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Will you call upon Him right now? I'm going to pray a simple prayer, and I'm going to ask you to pray this prayer after me, if you would. So if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want to know for certain that Christ is living in your life, then pray this prayer with me.
Just pray these words. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, but I know you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin. I turn from my sin now, and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and my Lord, as my God and my friend. Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer, and I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. And listen, if you have just prayed that prayer with Pastor Greg and you've meant those words sincerely, the Lord has forgiven your sin, and you're now a Christian. And we want to help you get started in living this new life of faith. Let us send you Pastor Greg's New Believers Bible.
It's in an easy-to-understand translation, and there are scores of features to help a new believer build a solid foundation. So get in touch and ask for the New Believers Bible. We'll send it without charge. Just call 1-800-821-3300. You can call anytime 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514.
Or go online to Harvest.org and click Know God. And Pastor Greg, we're so thankful for the work God is doing through this ministry. We're touching lives for eternity, and we're really thankful for our friends who see the fruit of this ministry and invest so this work can reach even further.
Isn't that right? Absolutely. When you invest in Harvest Ministries, you're investing in the souls of men and women, boys and girls. And what is the value of a soul?
Well, let me personalize it. What's the value of your soul? What's the value of the soul of your husband, your wife, your son, or your daughter? Or your mom or your dad?
Or your best friend? Well, I would say you probably couldn't put a price tag on it. It's so valuable. Well, listen, God says all souls are mine.
God loves us and sent His Son to die on the cross to pay the price for all of our sins so we could be forgiven and come into a relationship with Him. I can't think of a better investment of my resources, of my money, than in the work of the kingdom of God. So we would ask you to prayerfully consider investing in Harvest Ministries as we continue on to fulfill the Great Commission.
Yeah, that's right. And you can make your donation right now at harvest.org or write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Well, next time, more insight from our Nehemiah study on how we can finish well. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie.
