From the Chosen series, Pastor Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries are pleased to offer the Chosen graphic novel. Here at Harvest, we want to reach unexpected people in unexpected places with an unexpected message. And I can't think of a better way to do that than with the Chosen graphic novel. It's going to be a great tool to share the story of Jesus.
So get your copy of the chosen graphic novel for your gift of any size. Available at harvest.org. 85% of the stuff you worry about will never happen to you. Today, I want to talk about the other 15%. When that thing that you feared actually does happen to you, when you hear the worst news imaginable and you wonder if you can survive it.
The Bible says God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind. Pastor Greg Laurie helps us put that hope to work. You do not have to be hopeless, no matter what you're facing. This is the day. It's a statistical certainty that someone listening to a new beginning today has just received the toughest news of their life.
A diagnosis, a court order, an eviction, a pink slip, a phone call. It's so often a phone call. What do you do when you don't know what to do? Today, Pastor Greg Laurie reassures you that God knows, God sees, and God cares. And God has power bigger than this crisis.
And he can make a way when there seems to be no way. Why don't we grab our Bibles and turn to John chapter 11? And the title of my message is Hope for hurting hearts. It's a day like any other day. You get out of bed.
You get dressed, you have breakfast, cup of coffee. Check your emails, maybe. Hopefully, you'll read your Bible before that. And then it happens. That phone call out of the blue from a police officer.
Or a friend. Delivering bad news, or a note on your counter from your spouse. Saying they want out of the marriage, a new pain in your body you had never noticed before, a call from your doctor saying he's concerned about a test that was just done on you and he wants to do some more tests. Crisis. It hits fast, it hits hard.
And it takes no prisoners. Pain has knocked on your front door, it's moved in without your permission, and it refuses to leave. And this crisis that you've experienced can alter the course of your life dramatically. In fact, you wouldn't even wish it on your worst enemy, but yet it's happening to you. For Job.
His whole world came crashing down on him in one day. For Joseph, it was a betrayal by his brothers that changed the course of his life. For Jesus, it was the religious leaders and one of his own friends who actually betrayed him. And for you, it might be something else. You feel like you're in an unexpected, overpowering storm, and your little ship is starting to capsize.
And you're even beginning to lose hope. It's been said: quote: Men can live 40 days without food, three days without water. But not Even minutes without hope. We all need hope in our life. That day happened to me on July 24, 2008, when we heard the news no parent wants to hear that our son Christopher.
Had left this world and had gone on to the next one, that he was now in heaven. He was killed in an automobile accident.
Okay. To say an event like that is devastating. It's an understatement. It's life-altering. I felt like all the air was sucked out of the room.
I was in an immediate state of shock. I collapsed to the ground. I thought if I could die from hearing something, I literally could physically die from that information that was given to me, and somehow I survived it. And so as I was dealing with this new reality that he did not want to face, I had people who had gone through it say you should keep a journal.
Well, I've never really had a journal, you know. When I think of a journal, I think of something a little kid has, maybe with a little lock on it or something, a journal. And so I started opening up Word documents and just kind of typing my thoughts the way I was feeling each day. And then they began to sort of take shape. And I read some other books on sudden loss.
And I thought, you know, I want to share this with other people.
So it turned into a little book that became known as Hope for Hurting Hearts.
Now, over the years, I've written 70 books. I didn't say anyone has read them, I just said I've written them, okay? And this is probably the most important book I've ever written for the simple reason. I've heard so many stories from people who've told me how it helped them in an hour of crisis. And I wrote it from the valley.
It's a dispatch from the valley of the shadow of death. It's not theoretical, it's real because it's close to when it happened in real time. And basically, the book talks about what happens when pain or hardship comes. And in my case, it was the loss of my son. And then the hope that I found from scripture.
The hope that I found from my relationship with God. The hope that has sustained me all these years and continues to sustain me as other hardships come my way. And this hope is here for all of us right here, right now. You do not have to be hopeless, no matter what you're facing at this particular moment. You know, we have a generation that's been dubbed the hopeless generation.
That's Generation Z, born from 1995 to 2008. The hopeless generation is also the most depressed generation. In fact, this generation for them, antidepressants are the best selling pharmaceuticals and they also have the highest suicide rate.
Well, listen, I have hope for the hopeless generation. I have hope for the millennials. I have hope for the baby boomers. I have hope for the greatest generation. It's the hope of a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
And I want to share that hope. The Bible describes hope as an anchor. Hebrews 6:19 says, We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. And we need this hope. Because I'll tell you, when you're going through hardship, the thing that helps you.
are not pious platitudes. The thing that will help you Is the word of God. Psalm 38:15, the psalmist says, In you, O Lord, I hope. You will hear, O Lord, my God. Psalm 130, verse 5.
I'm counting on the Lord. I've put my hope in his word. That's where we're going to find the hope. From God. and from his word.
I just finished a three-part series, as you know, called God's Answer to Fear, Anxiety, and Worry. And one of the points I made was, 85% of the stuff you worry about will never happen to you.
Okay?
So why stress out over that stuff? Today I want to talk about the other 15%. When that thing that you feared actually does happen to you, when the worst case scenario takes place, when you hear the worst news imaginable and you wonder if you can survive it, the answer is yes. Yes, you can. For me, at first, it wasn't getting through the day.
It was getting through the next five minutes. I felt like I had the weight of the world on me. I felt almost a physical weight on my chest. And I'll tell you, what helped me was reading scripture. See, Living in grief and grieving is a little bit like wiping out on a wave.
How many of you have ever been out in the surf and been thrown over the falls of a wave? Raise your hand up. I guess most of you.
Some of you, you don't go in the ocean. It seems to happen to everyone eventually. But I can think of times where I've been out there, and you know, when a big set is coming in. And by big set I mean a bunch of waves, and the one after the one coming is even bigger, and they get bigger and bigger. Your inclination is to turn around and paddle towards shore as fast as possible, and that's a bad decision.
Because then you're going to get hit in the impact zone. What you need to do is paddle out toward the waves, try to go under them before they break. Keep going, keep going. If you get to Catalina, you've gone too far. But I can think of times where I've gone over the falls, as they say.
And so you're in like just like this washing machine of white water, and you can actually lose direction. And more than one person has gone down when they should go up.
So if you have a boogie board or some kind of a flotation device with you, it's probably attached to your leg.
So here's what you do. If you're caught in whitewater, this is a tip for summer. You might thank me later. If you're caught in whitewater, And you have a boogie board or something, grab your leash and pull on it, go in the direction of the leash. It'll always take you to the surface.
Okay, so here's how it works for us. When we're dealing with grief, we don't know which way is up, we're losing perspective. The Bible is the leash you need. You grab the word of God and you pull on it. And it takes you to Jesus.
You get your head above water, you take a big gulp of air, and you go, uh-oh, eight more waves coming. And now you got to go under them and under them. But the point is, the Word of God is what helps us in those times of need. Um 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 of 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, today, Pastor Greg is offering full strength and courage for those times when the bottom drops out of our lives. Let's look together now at God's Word.
Well here before us in John eleven. is a story of a loved one dying. It's a story of severe grief that accompanies the death of someone you love. It's also a story of how Jesus reacts in such situations, and it tells us how God can actually be glorified through difficult circumstances. But it's also a hopeful message.
So we will remember that no matter what we're going through, God is going to be with you. He'll give you the strength you need in your hour of need. Not necessarily before, never after, but he'll give you what you need when you need it. This is the story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
Now, These people were personal friends of Jesus Christ. They had cell phones in those days, they would have had his number. They would have had a text thread constantly going. Jesus liked to hang out at their house. They lived in Bethany.
And he would go to their home in Bethany when he would be going into Jerusalem. Whenever he went into Jerusalem, there was conflict, there was drama, there were things going on.
So he'd go hang out with his friends first. And by the way, Martha was a killer cook. And I'm sure he loved her food, as did his 12 buddies he took with him everywhere he went.
So he'd just show up, and Martha would whip him up a feast, and Jesus liked to spend time in their home. And it could be accurately said that Mary, her sister Martha, and their brother Lazarus were personal friends of Jesus Christ. I think that's an important thing to note. And so, as our story picks up, Hardship has come their way. Sickness has invaded their home.
John 11.
Now, a certain man was sick. Lazarus of Bethany. the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was then Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sister sent to him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.
Stop there.
So what do we learn from this? Here's point number one. Life is filled with pain, sorrow, and the death of loved ones. Is that not the most depressing point ever? Seriously.
But it's true, unfortunately. Life is filled with pain and sorrow, and the death of loved ones.
Now, You don't know this so much when you're young. But as you get older, You start seeing loved ones pass. It usually starts with your grandparents. Than your parents? all very significant stages of life.
But then it might be an unexpected loved one dying like a spouse, Or a child. And that affects you in a dramatic way.
So these things do happen. You don't know when it's going to happen, but it reminds you of your own mortality. This is just a reality of life. Point number two: despite the hardships of life. We must remember that God loves us.
Despite the hardships of life, We must remember that God loves us. Shortly after my son went to be with the Lord, Pastor Chuck came to visit me, Chuck Smith. We sat on the steps of my home in front. And Chuck looked at me and said, Greg, never trade what you. Know for what you don't know.
Never trade what you know for what you don't know because when Crisis hits, your mind is filled with whys. Why is this happening to me? Why, why, why? It's not fair. Other people don't suffer like this.
Why? That's what I don't know. Don't trade what I know. For what I don't know.
Okay, what do I know? I know that God loves me. Right? Do you know that? I know that God is in control of my life.
I know that when a believer dies, they go to heaven. Therefore, I know that the moment my son left this world, he entered the next one, and he's there in the presence of God. I know that I will see him again. As David said when his child died, he cannot come to me, but I will go to him.
So, you can spend all of your time asking the why question, the what you don't know stuff, but go to what you do know. And replace what you don't know with thoughts about what you do know. God, Loves you.
Now it's this very interesting. Because Lazarus is sick, and they just sent a message to Jesus saying basically. Lord. Your buddy is sick, loose pair phrase. Your friend Lazarus is sick.
They didn't tell him what to do. They just said he's sick. They figured, well, he'll take care of it. I think they were assuming Jesus would heal him, and he could do that. He healed many people.
He never Touched any two people the same way, though. Have you ever noticed that?
Sometimes he'd speak to a person, they'd be healed. Another time, someone would touch the hem of his garment, they would be healed. Another time he would just speak the word and the person would be healed. And on one occasion, a guy who was blind had Jesus spit on the ground, wipe his spit in the dirt, and put it in the guy's eye. Here's mud in your eye, buddy.
Now that was a weird way to see someone healed. Can you imagine coming for prayer? Pastor, would you pray for me? Sure. Hold on.
No, I'm sorry, that's gross. But hey, that's what he did.
So he could heal people. He didn't even need to be there. They probably thought he'd just say the word, and Lazarus would pop out of bed, and Martha would whip up a great meal, and everything could be wonderful again. Yes, he loved them. But then here's an interesting little twist on the story.
They say, Lord, the one that you love is sick, verse 3. And then he basically delays his arrival. Look at verse 4. When Jesus heard that he was sick. He said, this sickness is not to death.
But for the glory of God. That the Son of God may be glorified through it.
Now look at this.
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Therefore, therefore, When he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. Huh? What? When he heard he was sick, because he loved him.
He stayed two more days in the place where he was.
Now, that doesn't make any sense at all to us. And in the same way, when hardship hits, we're saying, Lord, where were you? Why aren't you doing something? Why aren't you engaged here? Don't you even care?
Well, I don't know that I can answer why Jesus delayed his arrival, but here's one little thought: Jesus knew ultimately that Lazarus was going to die. And so by the time he arrives in Bethany, Lazarus has been dead a number of days. But where did Lazarus go when he died? Does anyone know the answer? He went to heaven.
The Old Testament version of heaven, if you will. known as Abraham's bosom, a place of comfort and bliss.
So, hey, Lazarus was good. Maybe Jesus thought, I'm going to let the guy enjoy it for a little while. He'll be back here soon enough. And he won't be happy when I bring him back either. And then there was a plot afoot to kill Lazarus because the religious leaders were angry.
He got resurrected by Jesus, so they wanted to kill him. Man, that's miserable, isn't it?
So, maybe you just wanted him to enjoy it a little bit longer, you know, have a little fun, like when the kids are in the pool and it's time to go, and you say, Let's go. Oh, let us say, okay, you can have five more minutes, all right? Jesus is thinking, let him have a little enjoyment up there. Life is going to get hard enough for him soon. But now here is Jesus waiting because he has a purpose in mind.
You know, one of my favorite hope verses is Jeremiah 29:11. Where God says, I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. That phrase A future could be translated an expected end, or as another translation puts it, a ground of hope or things hoped for. Basically, God is saying there's going to be an outcome and ultimately it will be good.
Some of you are saying, hold on now, Greg. What possible future can I have with my loved one who has died? Here's the answer. If they died with faith in Jesus Christ, they're not just a part of your past, they're also a part of your future. Because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
We will be reunited with loved ones again. And God will tie up the loose ends, and somehow.
Somehow He's going to make this up to you. On the other side. You know, we see the small picture, God sees the big picture. We see the temporal, He sees the eternal. And he has bigger plans afoot than what you're thinking about right now that will all be made clear to you in that final day.
So, in the meantime, you're going to have to just have hope. Say, well, Greg, actually, what is hope? One person defined it this way in this acronym, H-O-P-E, holding on with patient expectation. Hope is just holding on. Holding on, knowing that God is ultimately going to accomplish his purposes.
Through it. Pastor Greg Laurie. pointing out where to find hope in a time of true hopelessness. Good encouragement today here on a new beginning, and Pastor Gregg has more to come in this message. He mentioned his helpful book, Hope for Hurting Hearts.
So many have found encouragement in this resource. We've heard from scores of people. You can find out more about the book in our Harvest Store at harvest. org. Look for the tab right up at the front that says Store.
Yeah.
Well, Pastor Gregg, you mentioned that we'll see our departed loved ones again if they were believers and if we're believers. That's right. What if someone's realizing they've never taken that step of coming to the Lord and beginning a relationship with Him? What I would say is. He is only a prayer way.
Which means if you will call upon the name of the Lord right now through prayer, He will hear your prayer and answer your prayer. Listen, if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you want Him to forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, just pray this prayer right now after me. Just pray, 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 turn from my sin now, and I choose to follow you. From this moment forward, as my Savior and Lord, as my God and my friend.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. And listen, if you have just prayed that prayer along with Pastor Gregg and meant those words sincerely, we want to welcome you into God's family. And we want to help you get started in your new faith.
Pastor Greg wants to send you his New Believers Bible free of charge, along with some other helpful resources. Just let us know you prayed with Pastor Greg and that you want the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime at 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click the words Know God. And then let us say a word of thanks to those who support us financially, those who make it possible for us to bring you these studies each day. We are definitely a listener-supported ministry.
It's the generosity of listeners that help us be here with these programs.
So, if you've partnered with us, thank you. And if you have yet to partner with us, well, thank you. I hope you'll get in touch today and let us know that you're standing with us. Even a small investment would help. It's actually an investment in changing lives.
Thank you for partnering with us. You can donate securely online at harvest.org or write a new beginning box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514, or call us at 1-800-821-3300. Again, that's 1-800-821-3300.
Well next time we have a front row seat for a harvest crusade. Where Pastor Greg points out, it's a great time for the next great spiritual awakening in our culture. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. This is a day, the day when life begins.
