Hey there, thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie, encouraging you, if you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org. Hey, you can turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 3 if you'd like to. Flip ahead there, Philippians chapter 3. Hey, I want to let you know real quick that next week, my dad is going to be back in the pulpit.
Yep, he's going to be back after a couple weeks' hiatus. He's actually here today wandering around somewhere. He sat in services and he's doing great. Thank you so much for praying for him. This surgery has really been a success.
And so he's stoked. He's up and mobile and feeling good.
So thank you again for your prayers for him.
Well, Philippians chapter 3.
So recently, I got a new surfboard from a friend of mine who's a shaper in Costa Mesa, and that's one of my favorite things to do. I love getting a new surfboard. I don't know, I'm sure you're the same way. If you're like into bikes, you know, you love getting a new bicycle, or if you're a guitar guy, you love getting a nice new guitar, or if you're a girl, A new haircut, I don't know what girls like, but you get excited about something, something new, something fresh, something that's different, right? And so, one of my favorite things to do is go talk to the guy that's actually shaping it.
Know your local shaper, support your local shaper, right? And so, I go down, I talk to this guy, and one of the things that's fun to do is just talk conceptually. What do you want? What do you want this surfboard to do?
So, usually, the way it starts is you think of a specific wave that you want to surf it at. There's a certain wave, and you start talking about what you want this surfboard to do differently from other surfboards you have. And then you talk about what you like about these other surfboards you have and how you want to pull the best elements from them and apply it to this new surfboard, right? And sometimes, if you're lucky, you get a magic board. And the magic board is the board that does everything really well, right?
So, I got a new board recently. I got a 5-7, and I was talking with my buddy just about what I wanted it to do, and as soon as He got it to me. I'm eager to go surf the thing. And so I go out, and the conditions were terrible. It was like knee-high, I can barely paddle into a wave, it's so small, and I just was really struggling with it.
I got a couple waves where I was like, okay. I can tell it's doing some of the stuff that I wanted to.
Okay, that's a good sign. I just need to wait for some actual swell.
Well, if you're a surfer and you live in Southern California, you know that this last week had a great, great run of swell. And so I was able to surf this board and actually see, like, oh, cool, it actually came to life. Like, it's doing the things that I wanted it to. It's performing the way that I was expecting to. It did some things that even I forgot that it wanted to.
So I'm just stoked, right? Dave, we were talking about this yesterday. Your board is doing the same thing. My father-in-law got a new board, and he was like, I didn't get to write it very good, surf, but today I'm really stoked. This board's really working.
I wrote this illustration before we talked about that. And so, too funny, but It's a great feeling and it brings you back to why you like surfing. It brings that throwback, oh, dropping in, getting the rush down the face of the wave, and it carries the momentum, and then you're able to fly down the line. Speed is so important in a good surfboard. If it can generate speed, that's kind of what makes a magic board because speed can carry you through a close-out section, it can carry you through a barrel if you're coming up to it, it can make that turn that you're going to do.
If you're going fast, it makes a turn that much better. If you're gonna go and hit the lip, it can make that air that much better. None of these things I know how to do, but I like to think that I can, right, when I get a new surfboard. Doesn't usually work out for me, but speed is so important and a new surfboard. It's what you want.
You want it to carry momentum. You want it to move you forward down the line. And it's again what keeps you coming back over and over again. Speed and forward energy is everything. For those of you that are not surf-inclined, you could think of it like trying to be on a bicycle without moving forward.
Like it doesn't really work. You need to have speed on a bicycle, like trying to balance, because if you don't have speed and you're trying to balance on a surfboard, you fall, you fade out the back, and it just doesn't work out. And so momentum on a bicycle, can you balance on a bike without momentum? Maybe, if you're like really good for a second or two, right? You get that track stance for those of you that are clipped into your pedals.
You can maybe do it for a little bit, but it's pretty hard. Or if you're a motorcycle rider. It'd be like if you were trying to get to the top of a hill and you're giving it all the power, trying to get up to the top of that hill, and right when you hit the crest, the engine cuts out. And it's just like, that's the worst feeling ever. That's not good.
You don't like that. Or think if you're in an airplane. If you have no airspeed, the airplane's not flying. It's falling, right? And that's gonna be a bad thing.
It's gonna crash. That's a bad day.
So again, speed. Is everything with a surfboard, with a car, you want your car to be able to go fast, with a new bicycle or motorcycle, whatever it might be, you want speed. That's an important factor.
Well, I don't think it's any coincidence that the Bible talks about kind of this same thing. Momentum. Speed, it uses this imagery of endurance to describe our faith. That's why the Apostle Paul, who wrote the majority of the New Testament and planted churches all over the ancient world, had this to say in Philippians chapter 3. He said, I press on.
Forgetting what is behind and looking forward to what lies ahead. And that is why a stagnant Christian A Christian who is not moving forward in their faith In their spiritual discipleship, in their disciplines, is an oxymoron. A stagnant Christian should be an oxymoron. And so, whether you're a brand new believer or you've been walking with the Lord for 10, 20, or literally 80 years, as some of you have. You should never arrive at a place where you can stop moving forward.
There's no coasting in the Christian life. Because the moment you think that you have arrived, And you can put your feet up and you can relax and take your foot off the gas pedal, is the moment that your backsliding begins to happen, or the moment that your spiritual fall begins to take place. The moment you start drifting, the moment you think that you've made it, take your foot off that gas pedal, it's when things start to fall apart. Starting next week. My dad is starting a brand new series that he is calling Upward, Inward, Outward.
And in this series, I would encourage you to all come and listen and take good notes for it because he is going to be talking about. principles and really secrets of the Christian faith. That he has applied to over 50 years of ministry, over 50 years of walking with the Lord, and how it's been able to propel him to where he is at today. They have served him well, these spiritual disciplines.
So you'll want to come and check that out. But today is a bit of a prelude to that of upward, inward, outward. I wanna talk to you about the importance of. continuing in your walk and we were calling this message Forward. Forward, moving forward, going forward is the name of our message.
And so, just again, talking about not stagnating, not resting on your laurels, not taking a spiritual siesta. When you stumble in your Christian faith, it's not about. If you stumble, but when you stumble, how long are you going to stay down? You should get right back up. Get right back up and keep walking in your faith.
Keep pursuing that finish line. Amen?
Okay, that was encouraging. Let's uh Let's go on to Philippians chapter 3. And we're going to be looking at verses 7 to 21. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. Again, this message title is going forward.
forward. Paul says this, I once thought that these things were valuable. But now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Jesus as my Lord. For his sake, I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.
I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law. Rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead.
Now, I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already achieved perfection, but I press on to possess the perfection for which Jesus Christ first possessed me. Verse 13, no, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you.
But we must hold on to the progress we have already made. Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine and learn from those who follow our example. For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many who. Whose conduct shows they are actually enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction.
Their God is their appetite. They brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives, and we are eagerly awaiting for Him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak, mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like His own, using the same power with which He will bring everything under His control. What an insightful passage from the Apostle Paul, how relevant that is, talking about.
You know, the appetites that people have and how quickly that can lead us away from the Lord. Man, living in Orange County, Southern California, over on the island of Maui in America, it's easy to get caught up with that stuff, isn't it? It's easy to get distracted, but Paul reminds us: we are citizens of heaven. What a great picture that is. We are citizens of heaven.
We should know the culture of where we're going to be spending eternity, right? When you go and decide to spend time overseas in Europe, it's nice to know what the cultural differences are between a place like France and the United States, or if you're going to the Middle East compared to what it's like here, pretty different. It's a good idea to have that stuff in the back of your mind as you're talking to people and what kind of dress is appropriate, you know, ladies, whatever else.
So it's crazy. As we are citizens of heaven, we should know what the culture of heaven is like. And we should be not waiting until we get to heaven to live that way. We should be living that way here on earth first. Amen?
Amen.
Okay. That was a little bit better. And so. Just some context to what we just read here in Philippians chapter 3. Philippians, commentators speculate and believe, and I think it's pretty much confirmed, the Apostle Paul, when he wrote this letter, he was under house arrest.
He was in chains. He was basically awaiting a death sentence that was going to happen there in Rome. It's believed that Paul was decapitated for his faith as he went and bore witness of the gospel about King Jesus to Caesar at the time. And uh Paul He didn't have a whole lot to look forward to, but he talks so much in the book of Philippians about joy and the things that are coming in the next life that it's just remarkable how much he was looking forward to spending time with Jesus, how optimistic he was about his current situation. And so, as Paul talks about, I count it all as lost, that's a big deal compared to knowing Christ.
His previous life was pretty good. Paul was an affluent guy. He was successful. He was well respected. He had education.
He had status. He had reputation. He even had religious credibility. And yet he says, I count at all as lost compared to knowing Christ.
Now, what did knowing Christ bring him? Suffering. Affliction. Bondage, literally execution for his faith. And so he's saying, I count it all as garbage, is refuge.
And that word garbage that he uses there is actually the word skabbala, which literally just means human excrement. That's what he is saying. He compares it to knowing Christ. It's amazing. And so that's what I would call a holy discontentment.
Paul had a holy discontentment. He's saying, Listen, I have not arrived. Just because I sacrificed that old way of living doesn't mean that I've checked the box. I'm not satisfied. I'm not done.
In fact, I forget what is behind because I'm pressing forward. forward. And that brings us to our first point about going forward in the Christian life. Number one, forward is fundamental. Forward is fundamental.
Paul says again in verse 12, I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. Paul was not perfect, but he was in pursuit of perfection as he looked to Jesus, the author and finisher. of our faith. Acts 2.42 tells us what some of those fundamentals are when it says they continued steadfastly talking about the early church and the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and the breaking of bread and the prayer.
So you've got the apostles' doctrine, that's Bible study. That's really what that is right there. You've got the breaking of bread, that's fellowship, and you've got prayers. Those are some fundamentals of the Christian faith, going and spending time with other believers, talking about what the Lord is doing in their lives, praying for each other, community, fellowship. Um of being uh a human being really, but of being a Christian.
is to walk with God. To be in his will and to know his voice and to love him. That's the goal. For every Christian, it is to know God, to love Him, and to know His voice. The Westminster Catechism says this: man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
And I would agree with that. It's true. That is the purpose for which we were created: to know God, glorify Him, and enjoy Him forever. That is the most satisfying and fulfilling thing you can do as a human being. Everything else lets you down, everything else leaves you empty.
Nothing else really satisfies or delivers the ultimate, but a relationship. With God through His Son Jesus Christ, it's transformative, and you can never have enough. You're always hungry for more, and it leaves you with peace and contentment like nothing else in this world ever can or ever will. And so, if that is the goal, It is to know God, love Him, and glorify Him. What are some strategies that we can employ in this life to help us get to that goal, right?
What are some strategies we can employ?
Well, I tell you this: at the Harvest Crusade, we tell everybody that comes down on the field: really, there's four things that they can do so that nobody will ever write the word backslider after their name. If they follow these four disciplines, it can literally change their life. We tell them at the Harvest Crusade. We tell them every Sunday morning when people come over to the room here for follow-up. We tell everybody on our radio audience that prays with my dad, that wants to receive Jesus Christ, to do these four things.
And we call them really the weapons of our warfare. It's RPGS. Read your Bible. Pray. Go to church.
And share your faith. RPGs. A friend of mine came up with that acronym who was in the military, and he was trained when he was over in Iraq to use all kinds of different weapons, really in his training before he got to Iraq. That wouldn't be good on the job training. No, he was given that training while he was here in the US.
But they showed him how to manipulate all kinds of different weapon systems, not just Americans, but also, you know, AK-47s and whatever else. He was trained how to use RPGs and all kinds of different things. RPGs are rocket-propelled grenades. And so when we were looking at this, he said, oh, this is like the weapons of our warfare, you know. We don't fight against flesh and blood, but against rulers and principalities.
We are in a battle. And just like he was preparing for battle, a physical battle, we need to be prepared for a spiritual battle. Otherwise, we'll be conquered. And so, these are the things that we can equip ourselves with: are these RPGs? Read your Bible, pray, go to church, and share your faith.
And these are going to enable us to really help fight these spiritual battles. They're the weapons of our spiritual warfare. You need to hone these skills. You need to polish these skills. Just like with your weapon in battle, as you're overseas or, you know, whatever it might be, actually wanting to have to use a weapon to defend yourself, a sword, a gun, a knife, your hands.
You want to hone that skill. You want to work at it. You don't want to just think about it when it comes time to defend yourself or when it comes time to take new ground. You want to be ready and capable with those tools. And so those are the weapons of our warfare, and we never outgrow these things.
As Christians, we never outgrow the fundamentals. There is no checkbox after each one of these disciplines. They should be. ongoing.
Something that we do each and every day. Read your Bible. Pray, go to church, share your faith. You might think that. If you went forward at a Harvard Crusade, you put a check by that box there.
Okay, I did that. You attend a small group for a whole semester.
Okay, you put a checkbox by that. I went to church 52 weeks this year. I didn't miss one Sunday. You put a checkbox by that. You serve as a volunteer for a season.
You put a checkbox by that. You read the Bible in a year. You put a checkbox by that. And some point in our minds, we begin to think. I've arrived.
I have achieved spiritual maturity. I have done these things. I can relax now. I don't need to do that. Oh, Jonathan, I did that when I was younger.
That's for you, younger guys. No, this is for you too, seasoned saints. Wherever you are on that spiritual spectrum, there is a next step for you. There is something you need to continue. Forward in your faith with.
Again, you feel like you've arrived. This is the moment that you have earned the ability to put your feet up. Oh, I don't have to worry about anything when I come to church. I just come and attend and enjoy the music and the worship. Listen, you are missing out.
Not only are you missing out on serving the Lord, but we are missing you out as well. We're missing you as well. Because when you kind of hit that level, it is such a blessing. And I can speak from experience here. I have so many older men and people in my life that I am able to go to and hear from and ask them questions on and ask them, you know, to give me wisdom on things with my family and things with relationships and things with work.
And I'm so thankful for the men and women in this church who are willing to pour into the next generation.
So maybe you've been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt, spiritually speaking.
Now it's your turn to now pour back into those who have not experienced these things. Let us learn from your wisdom. Don't think that because you've graduated spiritually or you've done these things for however many years that it's time for spiritual retirement. There is no spiritual retirement. You should not stop.
You should always be continuing. Um Whenever I start a new little Fix it project at my house, which isn't very often. I'm not very handy. But I try, and I like to watch a YouTube video or something, and I get an idea of how to fix this. Recently, I was fixing some stucco stuff around my house.
And I realized I am horrible at following up with the next step. Every step that I took, there would be like a two-week gap between each one. I realize there's some stucco work on the side of my house that needs to be done.
So I go over, I assess what needs to be done, I go online and I research everything. Check that box two weeks later. I now go to the hardware store and I acquire the materials that I need to fix it. Check that box. Week later.
Now I go and I start to prep work and I clean it up and I sand the area down. Another couple days go by. And before I realize it, it's taken me six months to do a job that I could have done. I mean, according to the YouTube guy, I could have done it in one day, right? But it took me forever.
Guys, I know that you're not, I'm not the only one here. Guys, you're doing the same thing. You've got that deck in your backyard that you said you were gonna build out, and you never got around to it. You stopped halfway through, and there's still exposed nails everywhere. We've all got projects that we're constantly working on, right?
Well, sometimes we treat our faith like that. Whether it's one box we check, or 10, or 20, or 200. We need to always be advancing and never retreating. Don't hit pause on your spiritual development. Keep advancing.
Keep taking new ground. You never outgrow the fundamentals. I heard a great illustration about this. A sports journalist was talking about how he was able to go and observe Kobe Bryant when he was playing at his absolute peak for the LA Lakers and see his training regiment, see what he was doing for practice each and every morning. This is when Kobe was scoring upwards of 81 points a game and just destroying everybody.
There was no question he was the best in the world. And the journalist said this: quote, You know what astounded me? Not the flash or the sizzle. but how basic the workout was. For the first 40 minutes, Kobe did nothing but very basic footwork and pivoting drills.
To be honest, I was bored. After the workout, which was about two hours long, I asked him, Kobe, you're the best player in the world. Why are you doing the most basic drills? And he just kind of chuckled and he looked at me in the eye and said, Why do you think I'm the best player in the world? The best never get bored with the basics.
And if that doesn't speak to us as believers, I don't know what will. The best never get bored with the basics. You never outgrow reading your Bible. You never outgrow spending time in prayer. You never outgrow going and attending church.
You never outgrow sharing your faith. We need to constantly be doing these things. The same basics that started your walk will sustain your walk. The same basics that started your walk will sustain your walk. We need to be doing those.
That brings us to point number two. Forward requires focus. Forward requires focus. Paul said in verse 13: No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it. I have not achieved perfection.
But I focus on this one thing. forgetting the past and looking forward what lies ahead. I feel like this is vivid imagery used by the Apostle Paul. I forget everything else. I don't look at anything else.
I focus on this one thing, this one thing I do.
Now as a preacher, I love lists. It's helpful when we're outlining a sermon. Oh, here's 10 things every Christian needs to know. I love lists. Three ways you can have a stronger prayer life.
72 times the Bible uses this exact phrase, and how it can change your life. I love that kind of stuff, right? It's easy, it's easy to preach on. But what does Paul do? He says, This one thing I do.
Here it is, make it really basic, straightforward, this one thing I do, narrowing it down. And what is it? I believe we see what he's alluding to in Hebrews chapter 12, which says this: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.
Now listen to this. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, the champion who initiates it. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.
Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. We do this. By keeping our eyes on the body. On Jesus. That's how we keep our focus.
That's how we keep our course straight, is by looking unto Him, the author and finisher. of our faith. How many of you here today? Um are runners. Let me see.
How many of you like to run? You like to run. Raise your hands up.
Okay, there's a good amount of you.
Some of you are kind of like timidly raising your hand, like, does anybody actually enjoy running? I don't think anybody enjoys running. Yeah, I know I don't. My dad's talked about running. Why'd you laugh so hard when you said I don't?
Settle down over there. Um Yeah. My dad talked about how he doesn't like to run. He says that it's pain and more pain for him, which is definitely true for me, too. I don't like running.
I don't like sweating, I don't like being hot, it's not my favorite. But recently, I was invited by a friend to go for a run with him. And I'm like, dude, I'll go for like a walk with you. I'll go for a jog. I'll go for a hike, but a run.
And he's like, no, no, come on, we'll hang out. I was like, okay, you're going to have to go at my pace though, bud. Like, it's not going to work out. No worries. And so he was really gracious.
He's very fit. Really good athlete. And so we start off. And we're just going to do a little run up to the top of this hill and back. And so we start off and we get to the top and man, I'm gassed because it's hot and we're running at a faster pace than I was kind of anticipating.
And as we get down the hill, I can see where we're going to ultimately get to. The destination was. His house, and I could see it was like a mile away. And my body was just telling me: just stop, just give up, just walk the rest of it out. And I was over it.
I was totally done. But I started tricking myself and playing little mind games like, okay, All I've got to do is make it to that car right there. And you know, it's maybe an eighth of a mile there.
Okay, I can hold on for that much longer. I can make it to that car. And then by the time I was getting close to that car and I could feel my knees beginning to get weak again, I felt everything hurting. I said, nope, just kidding, I'm going to the next car.
Okay, and somehow I was able to do it. I made it all the way to the destination. My goal was to make it to the house, but my strategy was to find achievable targets. And when I hit them, I adjusted my focus to the next few. thing.
So let's apply this to us now spiritually. Just because you've got the testimony, you've got the wild story. Oh, yeah, I used to be a drug addict injecting needles into my eyeball, and I went to prison for 72 years, and I'm only 35 years old. I don't know how that worked out, but. I've got the crazy testimony, and you know, God healed my marriage, and God did this, and so you know, that's it.
And you know, I'm just here, and I'm just thankful for the work God did. Listen. You've got the story, that doesn't mean you're done. Just because you've got the testimony, that doesn't mean that God's finished with you yet. Until you see Jesus, you're not done yet.
Paul said all of that stuff. He had all of these things too, and yet he still said, This one thing I do, I press on. I forget the things behind me. I forget about it and I keep moving forward. That doesn't mean you forget God's faithfulness.
Don't get me wrong here. Look at this in context. He's saying that stuff doesn't matter. My past testimony, my past history, my past everything. I'm looking forward to what's next.
God, what do you have next for me? What's the next thing you want me to do? What's the next hill you want me to accomplish? You don't stop because you've got some spiritual highlights in the scrapbook. You don't stop because you've had a season where you were on fire.
You don't stop because you've already served and given and led. Listen, the race is not over. The finish line is not behind you, it is in front of you. and harvest there is coming a moment where you must decide will you coast Will you stall? Or will you lift your eyes up to what God has next for you?
What's next, Lord? Thanks for bringing me to this place. You give me the strength to be able to accomplish it. I know you're not done yet. What's next on the task?
The Bible doesn't call this life a casual stroll. It calls it a race. And it's not about how fast you start. It's about how faithfully you finish. And the only way we can finish is to keep going forward.
You've got to keep your eyes on Jesus and keep going forward in your faith. Therefore Since we are surrounded by such a great crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, Faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set. before us, amen? Amen.
That brings us to point number three. Forward means action. Forward means action. Verse 14. I press on.
To reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Jesus Christ, is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. And I love the way the author of Proverbs puts this and Proverbs 4, verse 25. Look straight ahead.
Fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet. Stay on the safe path. Don't get sidetracked. Keep your feet.
from following evil.
So clearly the message is to keep moving. Don't lag. Don't let off the accelerator. Don't lose ground. Keep doing those fundamentals of read, pray, go to church, and share your faith.
But also, you should find that it drives you towards exercising your faith. Those things that you learn as you're being filled up and edified and encouraged and instructed, and you have all of this biblical knowledge, make sure you exercise it. You don't just become a fat sheep, right? You want to be exercising, you want to live out that faith that you are learning. And so you can do that through fellowship.
Through serving, through generosity, and through outreach, sharing your faith. What you find is when you get filled up spiritually, you need to channel your faith. You need to exercise that faith. Recently, my wife and I just celebrated our 15-year anniversary in April. That's a pretty big deal, right?
She gets prettier and younger looking and better, and I feel like I'm getting grayer and balder and. fatter and whatever else. And so we got away for a couple days to Palm Springs, and we had a great time. And before lunch one day, we wanted to find a good little hike to go on, a nice walk. And so I was looking for places.
I'm like, what the heck is a good walk in Palm Springs, somewhere that's not 120 degrees? For those of you that are outside the area, Palm Springs literally gets 120 degrees in the summer. It was April when we went there, and it was like 110 during the peak of the day.
So even then, it was hot. And so we looked for a place, and I just found a random spot. We went early, like 8:30 in the morning, so the sun wasn't at its full peak yet. And we arrived at this spot, just randomly selected, called Tauquitz Canyon, Tiquet's Canyon. I don't know how to say it.
And I was blown away by this hike that we did. It was one of the coolest things we've ever done. The hike was super easy, which made it a plus. It was like two miles round trip, the whole thing. But we start off on it, and there's like this little creek running by it.
I'm like, oh, that's cool. Where is this thing being fed from? There's no lakes in Palm Springs. I mean, I should have taken it as a hint that it's called Palm Springs, right?
So obviously, there's a spring somewhere. But it's like this cool little stream running by where we're walking, and there's lots of vegetation and plants making it a little bit cooler, which was nice. And as we go on, like this stream turned into like more of a stream, bigger and wider and deeper. And I kept commenting, like, how clear is this stream? This is amazing.
All I've seen in Palm Springs are just like stagnant ponds and golf courses with fake water, you know, water features. And as we finally get to the very end of the thing, There's like a 60-foot waterfall that's dumping water in this place. I was blown away. Where in the world are we? This is not Palm Springs right now.
And as we made our way on the backside of it, there are some killer little streams and little ponds you could actually go in. And I'm not kidding you. If you have the opportunity, go check it out. But some of these little ponds were. All of them actually were just crystal clear.
Crystal clear. You could see all the way to the bottom, the little fish swimming around it, and it was amazing. And the reason for that is. The reason why these little ponds were so clear is because they had an inlet Being fed by a natural spring, in this case a giant waterfall, and they had an outlet. They had an outlet.
It wasn't just an inlet, because what happens when you just have an inlet? That's when it turns into like a swamp, right? Just a constant inlet. It just turns into a swamp, into a marsh. Everything gets flooded.
That's where you get bacteria and flies and gross stuff. And that's not good. You don't want that. And what happens if you. Uh only have an outlet.
If you only have an outlet, it ultimately just dries out and you turn into a dry lake bed.
Now, if you have neither, that's where it turns into what? Like a completely dry lake bed, and that's when you see these places turn into salt flats and whatever else, and the ground gets so hard from the baked sun that nothing can grow in their vicinity. You don't want that. And so think of us as having an inlet and an outlet. If you have a good spiritual inlet, that's good.
You're getting healthy and deep and wide. Um But you need to have a good spiritual outlet for those things. You need to be able to share what you're learning. You need to be able to exercise your faith. You need to have that outlet to stay healthy.
And so here's the challenge. Don't just fill yourself with God's word and fill yourself with worship. Yes, do that, but don't only do that. Go forward by pouring yourself out. Forward means action.
Some of the ways that you can do that are taking your next steps spiritually. Take your next step today at all of our campuses. We are having a group's open house. This could be a next step for many of you if you haven't joined a small group yet. We're going to be basically showing anybody that wants to come and check it out after the service what it's like to be in a harvest group.
We have a demo group that you can join. And if you want to go and check it out and sit in, it'd be like, I don't want to be in this group.
Okay, no worries. There's another one that you could go and check out right next to another group leader that has an open space for you to come and join. And so joining a small group, man, it could change everything for you. You can find community, deeper Bible study, answered prayers, literal miracles, and you get to see the church on display. God's people getting to minister to each other.
It is a blessing. And so, check that out after service. That's our group's open house. Another step you can take is by signing up to volunteer here. Yeah, you could go and volunteer, you could serve in some capacity.
We have a follow-up ministry, a children's ministry, parking lot ministry, ushers, security, all kinds of things. AV, we'd love to have your help. We always need more volunteers. But maybe, You're a guy, and hopefully, you know, you're more inclined to be a fix-it-guy than I am. But guess what?
Here at the church, we always have things that need to be fixed and repaired. And so maybe you're like, yeah, sitting in a small group with a bunch of guys talking about their feelings and whatever else, that sounds like death to me.
Okay, that's all right. If you're more interested in going and doing something and doing a project, hey, we have a place for you too. You could help us do stuff here at the church, and we'd love to get you plugged in doing that. Another way that you could take that next step in faith and practice it is through generosity, giving to the church through your tithe and offering, helping us. Fund a special project can help you get skin in the game.
I can't tell you how many people I have talked to that have told me that once they started giving, Of their finances through their tithe and their offering, it transformed their relationship with God and it redefined their relationship with finances for the better. And so that could be the next step for you. And then there's outreach. We have an outreach ministry, and this is something that we're all called to do: go and live out our faith, meet the needs of our community, is go, I had a card here. Oh, here it is.
Is go and meet the needs of your community, share your faith, be evangelistic, go do cool outreach projects, but really what you should be doing. Is be an evangelist. Go and invite your neighbor to church. Go and talk to your co-worker or your boss or whoever it might be about. What God has done for you, about that answered prayer that He just answered.
And so let's bring this to a close. Paul is saying, I haven't arrived. I haven't gotten to the destination yet. There's still work to be done. I'm not done.
I forget what is behind, and I press forward towards the goal. And that is our calling too. That's our calling too. Whether it's moving forward in the fundamentals, not outgrowing the basics, whether it's growing forward in our focus, looking to Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith, or moving forward and doing these actionable items, not just. taking in but pouring out.
We need to be doing that. Maybe the next step for you is to jump into a small group, or step out and serve, or start giving financially, or open your mouth and share your faith. Or maybe for some of you, it's to return back to these things which you abandoned. Oh, I thought I outgrew those, but I need to return to those things. Yes, you do.
But for some of you here today, Um you need to take the first step. The first step, which is surrendering your life to Jesus. As we talk about this race, as we talk about these things, you can't join this course and run this course until you've received your instructions from Jesus, until you've been able to enter this race. You need to know what God's plan is for your life. You need to embrace God's course for your life.
And here's the best news of all. Is that Jesus took steps in our place? He moved forward in order. for us to be forgiven. You see, all of us here, we've all sinned.
We've all fallen short of God's standard. And the reality is Because of our sin, the Bible tells us that we deserve hell. We deserve death. And that's the worst news that we could ever receive. The Bible tells us the wages of sin is death.
But the second part of that verse is really great. And if you know it, say it with me: the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That is what He did for us. He made a way when there was no way.
He poured out all of His judgment and all of the wrongdoing that mankind had accrued. He basically took that out on His Son, Jesus. Jesus did that for us.
So if you don't. Have a relationship with Jesus. Today is the day. Don't stall in this. Don't put this off.
Go forward into forgiveness, into freedom, and into eternal life through God's Son Jesus. Would you pray with me? Father, I thank you for each and every person that's here today. Lord, I thank you that you continue to work inside of us and you grow us, Lord, and you stretch us and you put us in positions that we're not comfortable in. Lord, help us to have the boldness and the confidence.
To know that you are leading us into deeper water. Lord, sometimes we just like to hang out in the shallow end. But Lord, you are calling us into a deeper place. Help us to swim. Help us to come to you with confidence, knowing that you are the one that's calling us there.
Lord, we want to bless you with our lives. We want to enjoy you, and we do that by offering you new spaces. Inside of us, inside of our lives, and surrendering new things, Lord. Help us to do that. All of us, Lord, whether we're brand new believers or we've been walking with you for some time, help us to see your plan.
for our lives. And while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying together, I know there may be some who have not yet put their faith in you. Who haven't yet put their faith in Jesus Christ? They don't know that they're going to heaven when they die.
Well, listen, friend. right here, right now. You can make that decision. You can put your faith in God. You can have your sin forgiven.
You can be that new creation, and you can start your spiritual race. And so, if you're here today and you're listening, or you're watching online, or you're at one of our campuses watching a screen, sitting outside here in the sanctuary, wherever you might be. If you would like to put your faith in Jesus Christ today, just pray this prayer out loud after me. Pray this out loud. Say this, Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner.
But I know Jesus is the Savior. who died on the cross for my sin. And I turn from that sin today. From this moment forward. I look to you.
Lord, help me to walk with you. and hear from you. and to know this course that you have laid out for me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Hey everybody, thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God. Yeah.
