Greg Lorry and Harvest Ministries recommend a new resource from best-selling author Max Lucato dealing with your thought life.
So many people have Max Lucato books already in their library, but this is his brand new book to help you learn how to team your thoughts. Our thoughts really ultimately affect pretty much everything. And folks, we want to offer you this book by Max Lucato. Team Your Thoughts. for a gift of any amount at harvest.org.
Everyone is going to reap what they sow. Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. Pastor Greg Laurie says, Your good seed will produce good fruit.
Some pursued parties, and you pursued prayer.
Some pursued sexual pleasure, you pursued sexual purity.
Some pursued this world, you pursued the next. And while others reap corruption or deadness, you're reaping life. And while others feel used, you feel new. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Again, you hear all the angels are singing. This is the day, the day when I begin. they're glad they came to Christ. forgiveness of sin.
wish they'd done it sooner. You don't hear many say, yeah, I went back to partying and drinking and waking up with a hangover. I wished I'd done it sooner. No, few would choose pain and heartache over peace and freedom. Today on a new beginning.
Pastor Greg Laurie shows us a man of great power who sowed evil. and we'll see he reaped the fruit he deserved. Today, it's a look at the law of sowing and reaping.
Well, we are in our last. Message in the book of Esther. Have you enjoyed the book of Esther? I have. It's been a lot of fun to study for.
Even more fun to preach. And so, this is the final message. We're in Esther chapter 5. And the title of the message is: You reap what you sow. entered the villain of the story, Haman.
who hatches a plot to exterminate Mordecai and the Jews. And so Esther says to Mordecai, okay, I'm going to go to the king.
So our story begins in Esther chapter 5, verse 1. Let's read together. Three days later, Esther put on her royal robes and entered the inner court of the palace just across from the king's hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne facing the entrance, and when he saw Queen Esther standing there in the inner court, he welcomed her, holding out the gold scepter to her.
So Esther approached and touched its tip. Then the king asked her, What do you want, Queen Esther? What is your request? I'll give it to you up to half of the kingdom. She said, Well, if it pleases your majesty, let the king and Haman come to day to a banquet I prepared for the king.
So the king turned to his attendants and said, Tell Gaiman to come quickly to a banquet as Esther has requested.
So, King, the king and Haman went to Esther's banquet and they're drinking wine. And the king said to Esther, Tell me what you really want. What is your request? I'll give it to you, even up to half of my kingdom. Esther replied, This is my request and deepest wish.
If your majesty is pleased with me and wants to grant my request, Come back with Haman tomorrow. We'll stop there. This is amazing. Seems like she would have just closed the deal right there. You know, outed Haman and his plot.
Revealed that she was a Jewish girl. And this was an attack against her and her people. But she's waiting. She's waiting for the right time. Do you know timing is everything?
Because a lot of times we're impatient. Are you an impatient person? I can be. But we need to understand there's a time for every event under heaven, the Bible says: a time to be silent and a time to speak.
Now Hemen is oxided. He's thinking everything's going my way. All of my scheming, my plotting, my undermining is finally coming to fruition. The queen has invited me to a banquet with the king. Verse 9: What a happy man Haman was as he left the banquet.
He thinks everything's going my way. I'm going to wipe out the Jews. I'm powerful. Oh, it's awesome. But as he's on his way home, He walks by Mordecai.
And once again, Mordecai will not bow before him, and it just ticks him off. He goes home to his really, really creepy wife. Uh that was as bad as him. Her name is Zarish. And he says, that Mordecai is driving me insane.
He won't bow down before me. I want to kill him really soon. She says, Why don't you build a gallows, maybe 75 feet high, and he could be hung publicly for his rebellion? He says, Wife, that is a great idea.
So he brings in the building crew and they're working through the night. He can't wait to complete the gallows so he can hang. Mordecai high for his transgression.
So, as you look at this story, you're going, man, things don't seem to be going well. I mean, there's this horrible threat against the Jews. Haman's in power. The king isn't doing anything about it, but God is always on the move. And as I said earlier, as we began this study, though the name of God is never mentioned specifically in the book of Esther, the hand of God is evident in every single page.
And the Lord was working through events now as we're going to see how everything came together, and there was a lot of reaping what had been sowed.
Now, I debated if I should just paraphrase this and tell it to you, but I'm going to have you read it with me because this is one of the most powerful narratives in the Bible. Did y'all bring your Bibles today? You have your Bibles?
Okay, grab your Bible. Look at Esther chapter 6, verse 14. We're going to read a bunch of verses. You're going to love this. I'm reading from the New Living Translation.
While they were still talking, the king's eunuchs arrived to take him into the banquet Esther had prepared.
So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther's banquet. And they were drinking wine that day, and the king asked her, Tell me what you want, Queen Esther. What is your request? I'll give it to you, even up to half of my kingdom. And so Queen Esther replied: If Your Majesty is pleased with me and wants to grant my request, my petition is that my life.
And the lives of my people will be spared. Aquiso Wester's been waiting for the right moment. And now she's going for it. Verse 7, for my people, says Esther, have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us. Who would dare do such a thing?
King Xerxes demands. Who would dare touch you? I love verse 6. Ezra replied, This wicked Haman is our enemy. Imagine this scene.
There's him in sitting in there like Oh no. She's Jewish? Look at what it says next. Heman grew pale with fright. before the king and queen.
This is not good. The king jumped up to his feet in a rage and went out into the palace garden. But Haman stayed behind to plead for his life with Queen Esther, for he knew he was doomed. In despair, he fell on the couch where Queen Esther was reclining. And just as the king returned from the palace garden, he said, Oh, are you going to assault the queen right here in the palace before my very eyes?
The king roared. And as soon as the king spoke, his attendants covered Haiman's face, signaling his doom. Then Harbona, one of the king's eunuchs, said, Hey king, Haman has set up a gallows that stands 75 feet tall. in his own courtyard. The king says Hang Haman on it.
So they hanged Haman on the gallows, and he had set up for Mordecai. And the king's anger was pacified. And on that same day, King Xerxes gave the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. To Queen Esther. We'll stop there.
Talk about poetic justice. All right, so. What do we learn from this story? Number one, God is always present. And at work in our lives as Christians, whether we feel Him or not.
God is always Present and at work in our lives as Christians. whether we feel him or not. He was at work in the life of Esther. He was at work in the life of Mordecai. He was at work in the lives of the Jewish people.
people and we see how God worked through such Ordinary human events, insomnia. The reading of a book the anger of a man and the timing of events.
So, I don't know what you're facing right now, but God's at work. I don't see him, he's at work. I don't feel him, he's at work. He's working behind the scenes. He promises that To work all things together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose.
Number two. God can take impossible situations. and turn them around for his glory. God can take impossible situations and turn them around for his glory. Are you facing an impossible situation?
Is the deck stacked against you? Have you been given no hope? Listen to this. God can change that. As Gabriel, the angel, said to Mary, who would be the mother of Jesus.
With God, all things are possible. And this looked like an impossible situation for sure, but the Lord intervened. And point number three: you will reap what you sow. Again, I want to emphasize that can be positive or negative. For Haman, he reaped what he sowed.
His treachery, his deceitfulness, his envy, his hatred all came back. He hung on his own gallows. But Mordecai's faithfulness, his honesty, his integrity, also the honesty and passion of Esther, that was rewarded as well. In just a moment, Pastor Gregg emphasizes the practical application we find here in the story of Esther. Stay with us.
It's a joy to hear when these studies have truly impacted lives. Listen to these comments from one of our listeners. Hi, Pastor Gregg. My name is Steve. And I listen to you regularly just about every day here on the East Coast on my local Christian station.
And I love listening to you, Pastor Gregg, because you're very special the way you deliver the gospel. It's like listening to a best friend that I grew up with. You make it very simple. Straightforward, straight down the middle. And you've helped me and blessed me and come to my rescue more times than I can even begin to count.
Thank you very much for all you've done. Hope to meet you sometime. God bless you. When we hear from you, it's not only a blessing. It also confirms that the program is touching lives.
If you have a story to share, call Pastor Greg and leave him a message. Call 1-866-871-1144. Again, 866-871-1144. And now, Pastor Gray continues his message from the book of Esther. As life goes by, you realize That it's a good decision to obey God.
Now, some of you are young. And let me say something to you. And hear what I'm saying. And I guarantee what I'm telling you is true. And if it isn't, you can come to me later and I'll give you your money back.
But this didn't cost you anything. Here's my advice to you: do what God tells you to do. in life. Follow the Word of God. There'll be times when it's very difficult to make that stand for Christ, very hard for you to hold your ground.
Do what is right before God. I know there are people in life that seem to get ahead. They cut corners, they tell lies, they're dishonest, they get the promotion, they get the attention, you labor away faithfully, quietly, and no one notices you. It's all gonna come out in the wash because everyone is gonna reap what they sow. Just know it's true.
You know, as you look back in your life, you'll. Find some who pursued fun.
Well, you pursued faith.
Some pursued parties and you pursued prayer.
Some pursued sexual pleasure, you pursued sexual purity.
Some pursued this world. You pursued the next. And while others reap corruption or deadness, you're reaping life. And while others feel used, you feel new. You see?
So so does this spirit. Put God first in all things. Every day, from the moment you get up to the time you go to bed, you either sow to the Spirit or you sow to the flesh.
So, you know, you get up in the morning, you know, you can go ahead and check out how many followers you have on Instagram or how many friends you have on Facebook. By the way, they're not your friends. And. And you know, you can be obsessed with things that are secondary, or you can say, I'm going to dedicate this morning to first things first, opening the word of God and letting God speak to me through this scripture. And then you make decisions through the day.
What you're gonna listen to, what you're gonna do, who you're gonna hang around with, who's gonna influence you, who you're going to influence. And you'll find that you'll reap what you sow. It comes down to this, so a thought. Reap an at.
So an act Reap a habit.
So a habit Reap a character.
So a character Reap a destiny. It starts with a thought. What you let into your mind, what you contemplate, what you ponder, fill your mind with the things of God sow to the Spirit, you will not regret it. I was reading a news site yesterday about a man from Malaysia known as the Snake Whisperer. Did you read this article?
Uh Great skills in handling venomous snakes, specifically cobras. He was featured on a T V program Asia's Got Talent. He was a firefighter. He was even training other firefighters on how to handle venomous snakes. He would have these snakes, he would get them to do what he wanted them to do, and they wouldn't bite him.
He was a snake whisperer. And one day he was working with one of his snakes, and it bit him. And he died. Moral of the story. Don't mess around with poisonous snakes.
Seriously. What do you think? You're the sin whisperer now? Oh, I can handle this. I know this has been the downfall of many, but it will never be my downfall.
I can control this vice. I can keep a handle on this issue. And one day it gets control of your life. I'm sorry, you're not the exception. Don't play with sin.
Or Sin will play around with you. One last thought. Which is a preacher's way of saying I'm going 20 more minutes. No, I'm not. Esther was willing.
to lay her life down for her people. And she said to Mordecai, Okay, I'm going to go to the king. And if I die, I die. But I'll die trying. I'll do what I can.
Well, she didn't have to die, did she? She lived many more years. And because of her sacrificial act, save the lives of many.
Well, in the same way Jesus was willing to lay his life down. And he did die. He had to die because there was no other way to make us right with God. I went to the market the other day, second market story and one message. And as I was coming out, I was with my granddaughter Allie and uh there were these two sweet little old ladies sitting there.
They must have been in their mid nineties. And one of them said, Hello, hello, Greg. I'm trying to do their accent, I'm sorry. I said, oh, hi. Yes, yes, we watch you on television.
I said, well, thank you. It's great. Yes, yes, God bless you. God bless you. I said, well, God bless you.
So I walked over to him, tell me your name. And one of them was named Maria. And so we're chatting, these two sweet little old ladies. We pray for you. Thank you so much for praying for me.
There's another elderly woman standing there on a walker. And then the two sisters from Romania said, Greg, pray for her. She doesn't believe in God. And I look over at this lady, she's like, What? It's happening.
The lady said, I didn't say I didn't believe in God. I'm just not sure. It's hard to believe in God. I said, well, tell me why. She said, Well, there's just so much suffering in the world.
I said, It's really true. A lot of suffering. A lot of horrible things happen. That's because of sin.
Well, why did God let that even happen? Why doesn't God just get control of all of it? Why would all these horrible things have to happen?
Well, because God gave us a free will, you see, and we can make a choice. Oh, I've heard that before. You know, I have children, and I tell them what to do. I tell them what right and wrong are, and they should do what I tell them. Why doesn't God do that for us?
Actually, He does. It's called the Bible. And he gives us absolutes for life, but unfortunately, we don't always do what he wants us to do. She said, Well, it just doesn't seem fair. I said, Well, listen, God loves you.
You think God loves me? She says, I said, I know God loves you. He loved you so much, he sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for you.
Well, that seems very mean on the part of God to let Jesus suffer like that. I said, Ma'am. It's because he loves you. And Jesus paid the price for your sin. It was hard for her to get that.
And she said, I'm a good person. I said, You've sinned, I've sinned. We're all sinners and we all need Jesus.
So we talked about it for a little while, and I invited her to church too.
So pray for that lady. I didn't catch her name, but listen, here's the thing: a lot of people say this.
Well, this just doesn't seem fair. Yeah, but that's why Jesus died. He died on the cross and took the judgment that should have come upon you, upon himself. Why is this important? Because listen to me, you're going to reap what you sow.
See, if you believe in Jesus and ask Him to forgive you, every sin you have ever committed throughout your entire life, and there's a lot of them, by the way, will be forgiven, erased, and removed. Instantly. But if you do not ask Jesus to forgive you, every sin you've committed in your life will come back to haunt you, and you'll face the full repercussions of them. That's pretty scary. You don't want to do that.
And you don't have to do that. But if you reject God's offer of forgiveness through Jesus Christ, friend, you have sealed your own faith. Don't blame God for anything. It'll be on you. He has this great offer.
The Bible calls it the unspeakable gift. Or it's also translated the indescribable gift. It's so Awesome. It's so amazing. It's so free.
And all you have to do is reach out and say, Oh Lord, forgive me.
So we're going to close in prayer now. If you're not sure if your sin is forgiven, If it kind of freaks you out a little bit when you think about reaping what you'll sow, I strongly urge you to believe in Jesus. He died for you, He rose again from the dead. And he's here with us right now. standing at the door of your life and knocking.
And he is saying if you hear his voice, and open the door, he will come in. This can be the moment. Where your life changes. You've made a lot of bad decisions. You've done a lot of stupid things.
You have a lot of regrets. You can't change that. You can't change your past. but you can be forgiven of your past. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus.
He will do that for you. If you will ask him to, the Bible says that we will confess our sin. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin. and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. As we pray now.
I'll encourage you to say, Yes, Lord, I'm sorry, I'm a sinner. Forgive me. Come into my life and he'll do that for you today. Let's all bow our heads. Father, thank you for loving us so much that you sent Jesus.
And Lord Jesus, thank you for coming. and laying your life down for us. And now I pray for any person here or any person listening or watching. wherever they might be. Help them to see their need for you.
Help them to come to you. Help them to believe in you.
Now we ask. In Jesus' name. Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie. Pointing out the need to come to the Lord to find forgiveness for our sins and the hope of heaven.
And if you'd like to follow through and make a change in your relationship with God today, Pastor Gregg will help you do that in just a moment, so please stay with us. Are you receiving Pastor Gregg's daily devotions each day via email? If not, Let's take care of that right now. You can sign up today free of charge at harvest.org. And you'll receive a daily inspirational thought from God's Word each day in your inbox.
Again, go to harvest.org. And then here's Pastor Gregg once again. Let me close with this thought. Would you like to know that you will go to heaven when you die? Would you like to fill that big hole deep inside of you?
Listen, it's about a relationship with God. And here's the good news. God loved you so much that two thousand years ago He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for your sins and then to rise again from the dead. And now, Jesus, who died and rose, is standing at the door of your life, and he is knocking. And he says, If you hear my voice and open the door, I'll come in.
Would you like Jesus Christ to come into your life? Would you like your sin forgiven? Would you like to fill the hole in your soul? Would you like to go to heaven when you die? If so, Just stop what you're doing.
And pray this prayer with me. You can pray it out loud if you like, you can pray it in the quietness of your heart if you choose, but. Pray this prayer. This is a prayer of asking Jesus Christ to come into your life. Pray these words.
Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. But I know that you're the Saviour. who died on the cross for my sin. and rose again from the dead, I turn from that sin now, And I choose to follow you From this moment forward, Thank you for hearing this prayer. in answering this prayer.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Hey, did you just pray that prayer? If so, I Congratulates you. And be the first to say, Welcome to the family of God.
Yeah, that's right. You have a whole new life in front of you now. And to help you begin living this new life, Pastor Gregg would like to send you his New Believer's Bible. It'll help you get started living your life for the Lord. We'll send it to you free of charge upon request.
Just ask for the New Believer's Bible. You can call 1-800-821-3300. We're here to take your call around the clock. That's 1-800-821-3300. or write a new beginning box 4000.
Riverside, California, nine two five one four. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Pastor Greg, we're so thankful for the work God is doing through this ministry. We're touching lives for eternity. And we're really thankful for our friends who see the fruit of this ministry and invest so this work can reach even further, isn't that right?
Absolutely. When you invest in harvest ministries, you're investing in the souls of men and women. Boys and girls, and what is the value of a soul?
Well, let me personalize it. What's the value of your soul? What's the value of the soul of your husband, your wife? your son or your daughter. Oh, your mommy, your dad.
Or your best friend.
Well, I would say you probably couldn't put a price tag on it. It's so valuable.
Well, listen, God says all souls are mine. God loves us and sent His Son to die on the cross to pay the price for all of our sins so we could be forgiven and come into a relationship with Him. I can't think of a better investment of my resources, of my money, Than in the work of the kingdom of God.
So we would ask you to prayerfully consider investing in harvest ministries. As we continue on to fulfill the great commission. Yeah, that's right. And you can make your donation right now at harvest.org. or write us at a new beginning box 4000 Riverside, California.
Yeah. or call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300.
Well, next time, Pastor Greg launches a new series in the book of 1 John. A series about faith called Unshakable. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins.
