How to Live a Successful Christian Life | Reconnecting with God

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Just go to harvest.org. If you want to succeed spiritually, you must know and keep the Word of God. Coming up today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how vital it is to dig into our instruction manual for living the Christian life. God will speak to you through the Bible, but what should I do? I should meditate in it day and night and you hide it in your heart.

You memorize it. That's how you bring forth fruit in the spiritual life. When astronauts used to orbit the moon, there was a period of about 45 minutes when they were on the backside of the moon and couldn't receive any signals from NASA's mission control.

Those were the longest 45 minutes of the mission. Well, believers often go through periods of disconnection from the wisdom of God's Word. We're without that supernatural power and direction. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us reconnect to Scripture and see more success in our walk of faith. We all remember the day that Jesus Christ came into our life, right? It's a big day.

A day you don't forget. It was like we went from darkness to light. It's like we went from black and white to color. I remember, I'm old enough to remember when color television came out, okay. I don't know some of you have never heard this before, but we used to watch black and white television and the TV sets were gigantic boxes.

There was no remote control. If you wanted to change the channel, you had to walk up there and turn to one of three channels that you could watch, right? And then one day color TV came out. It was like a revelation. We couldn't believe it.

We'd been fiddling around with rabbit ears on top of black and white TVs and now it's color television. Well, that's what it's like when you come to Christ. You go into this whole new world. Sin no longer is controlling you as it once did. Your addictions fell away. Your depression cleared. Your guilt was gone and there was an inward peace and a joy you did not previously have and you opened up the Bible and this is like the user's manual of life you've been searching for.

Here it is. I remember as a 17 year old boy reading the Bible for the first time and it spoke to me in my young life and it still speaks to me now in my 40s because plus a few more years, but it was relevant then. It's relevant now and then of course prayer. What an amazing thing it was to pray and know that there was a God in heaven who listened to our prayers and cared about what we were facing and would answer our prayers. Do you remember your first answered prayer?

I remember mine. I was a brand new believer, 17 years old. I'd accepted Christ and my grandmother found out and I lived with her on my grandfather for a number of years when I was a little boy and and she said, Greg, I want to get you a brand new Bible, a nice leather Bible. Funny thing that very day I prayed Lord I would like a nice leather Bible.

I didn't have any money. I had this cheap paperback one. I wanted a proper Bible you know with ribbons and all the cool stuff that Bibles have and that was my first answered prayer. So amazing and I remember the first time I went to church how life-changing it was for me to be in this environment of people of all ages, different cultures, different races, men and women, young people, older people worshiping the Lord together and this is what happens when we come to Christ and we say, man I'm never going to go back to the old life again. This is the way I'm going to live. From this point on it's blue skies, singing birds, sunshine, butterflies, and maybe even a unicorn.

I don't know. It's looking good and then inexplicably you started having some issues. It was like you would take one step forward and you would take two steps back and you found you were falling into the same sinful patterns again. In fact if you were to describe it you might liken it to wandering in a wilderness or being in a desert. Listen that can change if you want it to and that's what we're about to look at together because the book of Joshua is the story of the end of the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites as they enter into the promised land and what happened for them can happen for you. Joshua chapter 1 I'm reading verses 1 to 4 from the New Living Translation. After the death of Moses the Lord's servant the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun. Moses' assistant King James calls him Moses servant. He said Moses my servant is dead therefore the time has come for you to lead these people the Israelites across the Jordan river into the land I'm giving them. I promise you what I promised Moses. Wherever you set foot you will be on land I have given you. From the Negev wilderness to the south of the Lebanon mountains to the north.

From the Euphrates rivers in the east to the Mediterranean sea and the west including all the land of the Hittites. No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live for I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. We'll stop there. Are those not powerful words?

So if you're taking notes here's point number one. To succeed in the spiritual life you must overcome fear and admit you need help. Let me say that again. To succeed in the spiritual life you must overcome fear and admit you need help and lots of it. Look at how many times God tells Joshua to have courage. Verse six be strong and of good courage. Verse seven only be strong and very courageous. Verse nine have I not commanded you be strong and of good courage don't be afraid.

Why do you think the Lord said this so many times to Joshua? Probably because he was afraid. There are things that you're scared of. Are you afraid of something right now?

Is something terrifying you? Maybe it's a job you've been asked to do. Maybe you're starting your family. Maybe you just got married.

Maybe there's some other thing that's frightening you right now. Remember what God said to Joshua. Joshua 1 5 I will not leave you or forsake you be strong and of good courage and that's his word to him and it's his word to us. Point number two the way to succeed in the spiritual life is to be consistent.

Be consistent not just in the big things but in the little things. Look at verse one after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of none Moses assistant. That's pretty accurate actually.

That's new living. King James says Moses servant. Joshua was like the executive assistant to Moses. I don't think he realized that he was effectively being groomed to become the one that would lead the Israelites into the promised land. It probably all assumed Moses would do that but in fact God was raising up Joshua and he was a worthy successor to Moses and it's just a reminder that God raises up new people.

You know people come and go on the stage. Our job is to be faithful in our generation. Acts 13 36 says after David had done the will of God in his own generation he died and was buried with his ancestors.

After he had been faithful in his own generation I have my generation and a new generation comes. One day you'll read maybe in the paper or newsfeed. I don't know if it'll make the news.

Greg Laurie died. Don't you believe a word of it. At that moment I'll be more alive than I have ever been right but I'm a realist. I understand death will come.

I'm kind of hoping the rapture will come first. Lord are you listening that I prefer that. Vote of transportation but whatever it is my job is to serve the Lord faithfully in my generation then the Lord raises up another.

That's what he always does. Some people think they're indispensable. Listen graveyards are filled with indispensable people. So just serve God in your generation.

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 glad you're joining us today for Pastor Greg's message from our studies in the life of Joshua. How to live a successful Christian life.

Okay that brings me to our third and last point. If you want to succeed spiritually you must know and keep the word of God. Again if you want to succeed spiritually you must know and keep the word of God. Look at Joshua 1 8. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written. Underline that all that is written in it.

Then you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success. What God said to Joshua was unprecedented historically. Up to this point when God spoke to people he spoke audibly to them. God spoke audibly to Noah and told him to build the ark. God spoke audibly to Abraham and told him to leave for a distant land he had never been to before. God had spoken audibly to Moses through a burning bush but now the Lord says I'm going to speak to you through the book. And that is how God speaks to us today. I'll be honest. When I talk to people that say God speaks to me all the time I get a little suspicious. I'm not so sure. But I know this he will speak to you through this book.

Right? Jesus said lo and the volume of the book I have come it is written of me. God will speak to you through the Bible. But what should I do? I should meditate in it day and night. Meditate in it. Now what does that mean?

What does that mean? When we use the word meditate biblically we're not using it in the same way they might use it in eastern religions. For them to meditate is to empty one's mind and sit on a yoga mat wearing lulu lemon clothes.

I'm not sure what but you know that's not what we're doing. In the Bible to meditate means to contemplate, to ponder, to consider these things. Another way to translate the word meditate is to mutter.

To mutter or to speak aloud. Sometimes it helps to read the Bible out loud. Because you know you can read verses and it doesn't penetrate your brain. Someone might say I read 10 chapters of the Bible today. Really? Wow.

What were they about? I have no idea. I'd rather read 10 verses with understanding than 10 understanding than 10 chapters without it. So that's where meditation comes in. You think about it. You consider it and you hide it in your heart. You memorize it.

The Bible says your word of I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. Don't tell me you can't memorize things. I can't.

It's hard. You memorize lines from films, lyrics to songs, sports scores going back decades. And you tell me you don't have any bandwidth in your brain to memorize the word of God?

Of course you do. And in Psalm 1 it says blessed or happy is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord or the word of the Lord and in it he meditates day and night. Notice day and night and he'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. He'll bring forth fruit and his leaf shall not wither.

I memorized that when I was 19 years old and I still remember it today. It's a great place to hide God's word in your mind and heart. You know you can carry the Bible in your purse or your briefcase or your man bag but I mean what do they call those now? Immerse? I'm not sure what it is. But the best place to hide the word of God is in your heart.

Meditate in a day and night but that's not all. You have to observe all that is written in it. That's what the verse says. Observe all that is written in it. It's not for you to pick and choose what parts of the Bible you like and throw out the parts you don't understand or like.

And some people do that. Well I like the Bible. I like what God says about forgiveness and love and grace and peace. I'm not so sure about what the Bible says about sexuality. I mean this is our choice and we can do what we want.

It's my body. So if I'm pregnant and I want to terminate that pregnancy my body my choice. I'm sorry that's in contradiction to what the Bible says. The Bible says that we're fearfully and wonderfully made and that life begins at conception.

That's another body now inside of your body that has the right to live. Well I don't agree. Well okay you can say you don't agree but you're going against what scripture says.

I'm just saying this. Oh we talk about sex. Well you know I don't really like the restrictions of the Bible on sex. You know I want to have premarital sex or extramarital sex.

No. God created sex in marriage. The only place that he will bless it is in marriage. Anything outside of that is disobedience to him. Well my God would not judge me. Well you I don't know who your God is but he's not the God of the Bible. We don't pick and choose what parts of the Bible we like like we're at some celestial salad bar. Jesus said you are my disciples if you do whatsoever I command you. And he says and if you really love me do what I tell you to do. So it's as simple as that. He gives us his word.

We need the word and by the way you never outgrow this. There's come a point where you say well I don't really need to read the Bible. I've read it so many times. Well okay and besides it nothing ever changes in the Bible. That's one of the great things about the Bible. It doesn't change.

I love that. Unchanging truth in a constantly changing culture. I'm glad there's something I can believe in and trust in and live by. But haven't you found that certain verses of the Bible that you've read before come alive to you in a whole new way when you read them again depending on where you're at in life. So you read a Bible story when you're 18.

It's different than when you're 68 or older or whatever it is. So that's why the Bible says his mercies are new every morning. And I can think of so many times I've been listening to someone preach and they'll say something it's like they wrote that just for me. Has that happened to you? Yes Greg not when you're preaching but others yes.

Okay it's all good. But God will speak to you through his word. This is the golden key of spiritual growth. This is a secret password that will unlock your spiritual life.

You say what is it again? Reading studying memorizing meditating on and obeying all that the Bible says. Now I'll be honest with you there are times I come to things in the Bible it's not that I don't agree with them I just don't like them. Example forgiving someone that has hurt me. I don't want to forgive them. I want to get back at them. That's human nature right. But the Bible tells me to forgive. Turn the other cheek.

Go the extra mile. Oh really but I have found that when I even do those things I'm uncomfortable with I see the blessing that comes on my life as a result. So we need to trust God's word. Jesus gave us what is called the parable of the sower. A sower goes out and sows seed. And back in those days they just threw the seed out. So some seed fell on the road and the the road and the birds came and ate it quickly. Other seed fell on ground and bedded with thorns and it began to grow but the thorns and the weeds choked it out. Other seed fell on shallow soil and shot up in the sun but withered because it wasn't rooted and some seed fell on good ground.

And then Jesus said there in Mark 4 the seed that fell in good ground represents those listen who hear and accept God's word and produce a harvest. That's it. You hear it. You accept it. You believe it.

You apply it. That's how you bring forth fruit in the spiritual life. So let's wrap this up. What have we learned together? Number one we found the golden key of spiritual growth is hearing receiving and obeying the word of God.

Also we discovered that we must overcome our fears and admit we need help and lots of it. And we also discovered we must be consistent in the spiritual life. Be faithful with what God has set before you. Be faithful in the small things and God will give you greater things to do. Be faithful with your finances. Be faithful in your marriage.

Be faithful in your singleness. Faithfulness in whatever you do and you will find the blessing of God will come to you. But this all starts with a relationship with God.

God loved us so much he sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross and shed his blood for every one of us and there is no person Christ cannot change. I was talking with a retired police officer named Mike a little bit earlier today and he was talking about our prayer meeting that we have at Harvest Orange County and Harvest Riverside and he was at a table with some guys that were very tatted up. These are not hipster tattoos.

These are like prison tats and when you're a law enforcement you know what different tats mean because it gives you a sense of who they were affiliated with or what kind of lifestyle they may have lived. And so here are former gang bangers sitting down with a retired police officer and he said he told them what he used to do and they looked a little alarmed. But here they are talking together and praying together and I thought only Jesus Christ could bring those kinds of people together right. So yes the gang banger needs Jesus. Yes the drug addict needs Jesus. Yes the criminal needs Jesus. Yes the upstanding citizen needs Jesus. Yes the relatively moral person who's not as moral as they think they are needs Jesus. Every man needs Christ. Every woman needs Christ. Every person needs Jesus.

He's here for everyone and he shed his blood for us so we can come into this relationship with him. Those Israelites had to take that blood of the slain lamb and put it on their door and we have to take that blood that Jesus shed for us and say Lord I'm sorry for my sin. I turn from it and I invite you to come into my life to be my Savior and Lord.

And I ask you in closing have you done that yet and if not would you like to do that. We're going to close now in prayer and I'm going to extend an invitation for anyone here anyone watching wherever you are. If you don't have this relationship with Jesus. If you don't have the confidence that you'll go to heaven when you die. If you're not ready for the Lord's return you respond to this invitation. In the beginning of my message I talked about what it's like to believe in Christ. Does that happen for you yet?

I talked about guilt being removed and a joy you didn't have previously. Has that happened for you? If not why not? It can.

Do you want it to? He's just a prayer away. Jesus says behold I stand at the door and I knock and if you will hear my voice and open the door I will come in. You say well maybe I need to get a little religion. You don't need a little religion. You need a lot of Jesus.

You need him to come into your life. So if you want Jesus to come into your life pray a prayer with me right now. This is a prayer where you're asking Jesus to come into your life. Again as I pray just pray this out loud right where you are. Just pray it out loud. Pray these words.

Lord Jesus I know I'm a sinner but I know you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord as my God and friend. Thank you for hearing this prayer Lord. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer with those making a change in their relationship with the Lord. If you've just prayed that prayer with Pastor Greg and have meant the words you just prayed, your sins have been forgiven and you're now a brand new child of God. And we want to help you get started in this brand new life of faith. Let us send you Pastor Greg's New Believers Bible. It's in an easy to understand translation with scores of special articles and helps to answer the questions new believers often have. We'll send it to you without charge. Just ask for the New Believers Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300.

Call anytime 24 7 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org. And then let us take a moment to thank you for praying for this ministry and for supporting it through your generous donation. It's an investment in kingdom business. Isn't that right Pastor Greg? Yeah it's really true Dave and I believe it's so important because you know the gospel saves lives. It saves eternal lives because when a person believes in Jesus according to scripture they pass from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God and then of course that changes the course of their future.

That impacts their children and their children's children. The gospel changes everything and thousands and thousands of people respond every single year. Thanks to the Lord. Also thanks to you for your investment in this ministry enabling us to reach people wherever they are. So if this is something you care about I encourage you to make a financial investment in A New Beginning and Harvest Ministries. Yeah that's right and we really do appreciate your support. Thanks for partnering with us today.

It can make a real difference not just for today or this week but for eternity. So get in touch with your support today by calling 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. Well next time we follow along with Moses as the Israelites move toward the promised land only to be pursued by a powerful Egyptian army. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie.