You know, there is a very special group of people I want to introduce you to. They are a group of people who are passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ being proclaimed in this nation and beyond. Without them, harvest ministries could not even exist. We call them harvest partners. They're people who have chosen to give monthly to harvest to keep the gospel moving forward.
Will you become a harvest partner and help us fulfill the great commission in our lifetime? Let's do this together. Just go to harvest.org. If you want to live in the land of promises, Keep your eyes on the Lord. Today, Pastor Greg Laurie brings important principles for a faith-filled walk with the Lord.
The kind of Christian walk of focus and perseverance. Don't put your eyes on people because people are going to let you down. People are gonna disappoint you. Guess what? You're gonna disappoint someone.
And so keep your eyes on the Lord. Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.
But can you hear all the angels are singing? This is the day, the day when I begin. The Christian life has been compared to a race and It certainly is that. But given the opposition we often face, it could also be compared to an obstacle course. It's a tough assignment to run to win when our adversary is trying to trip us up and stop us in our tracks.
Well today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie offers biblical advice on keeping our focus and priorities where they should be. God can give us the spiritual power, but we need to supply the determination to succeed.
So let me start my message with a few questions. Are you satisfied with your present spirit? Spiritual state. Do you wish You could be stronger as a Christian in your faith and even be used by God more. Do you feel like maybe you're stagnant spiritually?
And maybe have even lost some ground in your Christian experience. And would you like to overcome sin in your life and take new ground as a follower of Jesus Christ? And the most important question of all. Don't you think that Prius drivers should get out of the fast lane? All together because they can't seem to drive the speed limit.
I want you to think about that. Not really, but these are. questions that we maybe all Ask it from time to time, how can I grow more? How can I do more? How can I see more happen in my life as a follower of Jesus?
Well, here we are in the book of Joshua. This is a pivotal moment. The wilderness wanderings are done. The spies have gone into the land and they've come back with a good report. Rahab has been a great hero of the faith.
And she has protected the spies, and so now they're poised and ready to enter into this promised land. There was just one really big problem. An obstacle in their path. It was the mighty rushing Jordan River.
So it was time for them to get their feet wet.
Now For them, it was entering the promised land. But for us as Christians, it's entering what we might call the land of promises. And when you say, I'm going to go forward as a follower of Jesus Christ, you better brace yourself for spiritual warfare. Because the Christian life is not a playground. It's a battleground.
And we have to understand that it's not really a choice of fighting or not fighting, it's a choice of victory or defeat. advancing or retreating. Winning or losing, as believers were either gaining ground or were losing ground. We're either gonna be overcomers or we're gonna be overcome. We're either gonna be victims or we're gonna be victors.
It's really up to us. God brought us out of sin. To live a new life in Jesus Christ, a life of power over sin. And for the Israelites, God brought them out of Egypt to bring them into the new land. He didn't want them wandering around in some wilderness experience.
As scripture says in Deuteronomy 6:23, He brought us out that He might bring us in. And in the same way, he doesn't want us as followers of Christ to be living some wilderness experience. Because this new land was pivotal to the plan of God. This promised land would become known as the nation Of Israel, and it would play an important role in biblical history. Israel, of course, would be the place where King David would be born there in Bethlehem, fulfilling the role that God had for him.
Bethlehem would also be the birthplace of our Lord, fulfilling Bible prophecy. Jerusalem, also here in this promised land, would be the capital of Israel, still is today. And David would be the greatest king in their history. It is here in this land that the messianic prophecies would be fulfilled because Christ would be born, as I said, here in Bethlehem. In Jerusalem, he would be crucified and he would rise from the dead and he would ascend to heaven.
And it's also here in this land of Israel that end times events will unfold.
So the devil opposes this. He didn't want the Israelites to enter into this promised land. And they had an enemy and the people of Canaan.
Now, know this about. The inhabitants of this land. These were extremely wicked people. They worship false gods. They lived extremely evil lives.
They even sacrificed their children to their Canaanite gods. And they heard about the mighty works of God. And if they had turned to God, The Lord would have spared them, and he would not have judged them as he did. Because when people repent, God relents. Right?
When people repent, God relents. God does not want to pour his judgment upon any nation or on any person, but if we continue. to violate what he says and oppose him. And do everything we can to undermine the work that he wants to do, there will be consequences.
Now, take as an example Nineveh. Thou was this city renowned for their wickedness and atrocities. Uh, the wickedness of Nineveh was so great, it literally stunk to high heaven. And so, God was going to judge it, but He sent a prophet named Jonah to go through the streets of the city and warn them: 40 days in Nineveh will be overthrown. And shockingly, amazingly.
Beautifully, they turn to God, and God does not judge them. The same would have been true. for the people of Canaan, but they refused to believe. In fact, in Joshua 2:10, we have Rahab saying to the spies, We've heard from the Lord how he made a dry path for you to the Red Sea. No wonder our hearts have melted in fear.
No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things, for your God is a supreme God. In other words, we know your God is God, but they Refused to believe.
So just understand that as we see Israel conquering these people as they enter into the promised land.
So let's read now Joshua chapter 3 as the Israelites come to the point of entry of the promised land and they face the Jordan River. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. When you see the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, move out from your positions and follow them. For you have never passed this way before. You might underline that phrase.
I'm going to come back to it. You have never passed this way before. They will guide you. Stay about a half mile behind them. Keep a clear distance between you and the ark.
Make sure you don't come any closer. Then Joshua says to the people, Purify yourselves, or tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you. In the morning, Joshua said to the priests, Lift up the Ark of the Covenant and lead the people across the river. And they started out and went ahead of the people. The Lord told Joshua, Today I begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of the Israelites.
They'll know that I'm with you, just as I was with Moses. Give this command to the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant. When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few steps into the river and stop there. Kibble stop here. And here's point number one.
If you want to enter the land of promises, you must be bold and strong. Let me say it again. If you want to enter this land of promises, you must be bold and strong. Look at verse 4. They had never passed this way before.
They were making history. The problem with the people in the book of Joshua is they had never read the book of Joshua. They didn't know what happened next. They just saw this incredible obstacle before them. But they were experiencing this all real time.
And by the way, this is a whole new generation because you might say, well, wait, didn't they see the parting of the Red Sea? Actually, they did it. And those were their parents that saw it. And that generation was gone. They died in the wilderness.
The only survivors of that first generation were Joshua and Caleb. They heard about it. But they didn't see it for themselves.
Now they need to see their own miracle, reminding us that every generation needs to have their own encounter with God. You know, the job of my generation and the generation before me, and the generation before them. is to pass these truths on, right? Pass these truths on to the next generation. And then they need to have their own encounter with God.
Habakkuk 3:2 says, Lord, I've heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds. Lord, repeat them in our day, in our time, make them known. And in judgment, remember mercy. That should be the prayer of you who are younger.
Lord, we've heard about what you've done in the past, and it's awesome. But we want to have our own Spiritual awakening. We've heard about the Jesus movement, but we want our own Jesus revolution. That's a prayer that you should all be praying. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.
We hear from so many people who find Christ through these studies, some in person, and even some on the road. I came to Christ listening to Pastor Greg, but I didn't understand how to surrender to Christ. One day, Pastor Greg was talking while I was driving for my work. After I heard him give the gospel presentation, I stopped and then got down on my knees, confessing my sins to God. Allowing the Lord to take over my life.
That was the day I finally felt complete. God is so amazing. If you have a comment or story to share, would you send Pastor Greg an email? Send it to Greg at harvest.org. That's Greg at harvest.org.
Well, Pastor Greg is basing his study in Joshua chapter 3 today. He's pointing out that what God did in the past, for instance as depicted in the Jesus Revolution movie, can happen again. You know, when we made the Jesus Revolution film. Our hope was to sort of take people back in time and have them almost experience it for themselves. And we wanted you to feel as though you were there.
And I think the movie did a pretty good job of that. I had a lot of people tell me how moved they were as they watched this film, and they've watched it over and over. And some people have watched it so many times. It's almost weird. But I like it, you know?
I love that people have really come to identify with this film. But there's a statement I've made before: the fame of revival spreads the flame of revival.
So we thought if we told a revival story in a way that people could almost experience it and feel it, then maybe they would say, Lord, do it again in our generation. And we've had a lot of people pray for that. But here's what I say to you: if you wanna see a revival, do revival-like things. Don't wait for something to happen. Just go do it.
You say, I don't understand what you mean.
Well, let's go back to the Jesus movement as a point of reference. We had a passionate love for the study of the Word of God. Everybody came to church with a Bible. You know, when I guest speak, which is not that often, but I go to another church, I can take the spiritual temperature of that church in about four minutes. When I begin to preach.
Number one, I notice if people are or are not carrying Bibles to church. If no one's bringing a Bible to church, I think this is not a good sign, right? I know you have it on your tablets and your phone, so we're going to excuse you. But I actually think it's a really good idea to get yourself an actual Bible. And bring your Bible with you to church and mark up your Bible.
Because a Bible that's falling apart is usually an indication of a life that isn't.
Okay? But still, you know, you can follow along in your tablet and phone too. But we love the word of God. We loved worship. People engaged in worship.
Check this out. No one was ever. Late for church. And they didn't leave early. These are just things that we did.
We can do these things today. We can have that same passion for the Word of God. We had a desire to share the gospel. It wasn't uncommon when you would just be out and about on a Saturday afternoon to see people walking around telling other people about Jesus. Yes, Lord, send another awakening.
We want to see that again. Why do you need another awakening to do that? Just go out and start talking to people about Jesus again. You see? And And you will have a personal revival.
It will revive you.
So if you want to see revival, Do revival-like things. Going back to what Jesus said to the church of Ephesus in the book of Revelation. He says, loose paraphrase: I know you guys are working hard, you're discerning. You're doing everything right, but I have an issue with you. I have this problem.
You have left your first love. But then he says, So remember from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works quickly. Hey you guys, you used to have a greater passion for me. You seem to have lost it.
So here now are the three R's of getting right with God. Remember, repent, and repeat.
So I remember, oh. There was a time When I was closer to Jesus, there was a time. When I started every day with the Word of God, there was a time. When I did engage people with the gospel pretty much wherever I went, remember.
Now repent. Lord, I'm sorry I'm not doing that.
Now repeat. Go back and do those first works quickly.
So Joshua said, You guys, you've never passed this way before. Maybe I'm talking to somebody right now who's in a new season of life. Um Maybe you've just moved out of your parents' house. You are 50, but still, you've done it.
So that's good. And they're very happy about that by the way. Maybe you're newly married. Maybe you just had your first child. Maybe you've started a new career.
Or maybe you've started a new ministry and you're kind of afraid.
Well, I don't know what's going to happen next. You've never passed this way before. God was with the people of Israel. He'll be with you as well. Point number two, if you want to live in the land of promises.
Keep your eyes on God. Keep your eyes on God. The key for the Israelites was the Ark of the Covenant. Look at verse 4. They had to keep their eyes on the priests and the ark leading the way.
Verse 4, it says, When you see the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, move out from your positions and follow them. The Ark of the Covenant.
Now many of us know more about it because of the Indiana Jones film. And we think, isn't that stored in a warehouse somewhere?
Well, there was an Ark of the Covenant given to the people of Israel. It's mentioned, by the way, 16 times in chapters 3 and 4. What was in the ark were the commandments of God, the ten commandments were in the ark. Aaron's rod In a jar of manna. It was a visible symbol of the presence of God.
So the priests would pick it up. They would carry it on their shoulders. They were not to put it on a cart. They were to carry it by hand. And that visible symbol of God's presence was to be at the forefront of what they are doing.
So the people of Israel are told: keep your eyes on the ark and keep your eyes on the priests who are leading the way. And the same is true for us. When you're going through life following Jesus, keep your eyes on the Lord. Don't put your eyes on people because people are going to let you down. People are going to disappoint you.
Guess what? You're going to disappoint someone. Right? And so keep your eyes on the Lord, as the author of Hebrews 12 says. Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith.
Lay aside the weight and the sin that so easily besets you. He says before that, and keep your eyes on the Lord. I don't want to go anywhere if God isn't going there first. I want to be where the Lord is. I'd rather be in a lion's den with Jesus.
than in a palace without him. I'd rather be in a fiery furnace with Jesus than on a tropical island. Without him. I'd rather be in a storm with Jesus than on dry land without him. I want to be where he is.
And this is what the Lord is saying: keep your eyes on the ark. Because when you keep your eyes on the Lord, You see your problems differently. You know, when you came to church today, I'm sure you've come with some big problems. Maybe you had a disagreement with your spouse or. Trouble with the kids, or you're not feeling that well, or you have some other issue looming large in your life.
And so much so, you thought maybe we shouldn't even go to church today, but you made a decision to come. And something begins to happen when you worship the Lord, right? And now you open up the Word of God, and it's not like your problem is changing, but your view is changing. Because when you see God in His greatness, you see your problem in its relative smallness. Your problem hasn't gone away, but you see it differently.
Because if you have a big God, you have relatively small problems. But if you have big problems, is your God too small?
So we need to keep our eyes focused on the Lord and be looking to Him.
Okay. Pastor Greg Laurie. With important insight today on what we should be doing if we want to live in the land of promises. And there's more to come as this study continues here on a new beginning.
Now, all that we've talked about today begins with having a relationship with the Lord. That's where His promises begin, that's where forgiveness is found. That's where eternal life is found. Maybe you'd like to begin a relationship with God today. Pastor Greg, someone can do that today, can't they?
They can do that right now. It's an invitation open to everybody. That's right. The Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
So think of it this way: maybe you're out in a riptide in the ocean and you can't get your footing and you're in trouble and you see a lifeguard. Call out for help, and the lifeguard will rescue you. The same is true spiritually. You're drowning in your sin. You need help.
Jesus will save you. He will rescue you. But you must call out to him. And you know how you do that? You do it in prayer.
So let me just lead you in a simple prayer. And you can pray this prayer after me. You can pray it out loud if you'd like. And this is where you are calling out to Jesus to save you. Just pray this: Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, and I know you are the Savior.
who died on the cross for my sin, and rose again from the dead, Now, Lord, I turn from my sin and I put my faith in you. Be my Savior, my Lord, be my God and my friend. I choose to follow you, follow. From this moment forward. In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen. Hey, if you just prayed that prayer, I want you to know that Christ Himself has come to live inside of you. Yeah. And I have a resource I want to send you. It's called the New Believer's Bible.
So, the New Believer's Bible is the New Testament in the New Living Translation with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you are making to follow Christ. There's some other materials included as well in what we call the New Believers Growth Pact. But let me get this New Believer's Bible into your hands as quickly as possible. Here's Dave to tell you more. Yeah, we'll be glad to send it all your way free of any charge if you've prayed along with Pastor Greg today.
Just ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. You can reach us anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Yeah. You know, Pastor Greg, we hear from people all the time who tell us how these daily studies have impacted their lives.
So many have found the Lord and been encouraged through this teaching. That's right. And we hope our listeners might pray about making an investment so these studies can continue. Yeah, it's really true, Dave. You know, and even a little bit helps.
You know, people need to hear the gospel so badly. They need to hear the teaching of the word of God. It changes everything because it changes us. And I'm so passionate about it, and I'm called to do it, and I'm thankful for it. But I can't do it alone.
So I'm going to ask folks that are listening, if you think more people need to hear the gospel, if you believe more people need to hear the teaching of the Word of God, then. carefully consider investing in harvest ministries and maybe even become a harvest partner, which means you're someone who stands with us every month in your faithful giving And that opens up a lot of new opportunities for us.
So Thanks for that. Yeah, that's right. And we really are thankful for your partnership. You can reach us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300.
Or write a new beginning box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org.
Well, next time, we focus on faith and the pivotal part it plays in living in the land of promises. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Loring. This is the day, the day when life begins.
