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.
God says, I'll be merciful, and your sins will I remember no more.
Some of us think our sins are like boat anchors. keeping us away from God. Pastor Greg Laurie says we're forgiven because of the Lord's sacrifice. We should not choose to remember what God has chosen to forget. His mercy is greater than your mess.
His grace is deeper than your guilt, and his forgiveness is immediate and complete, and it will transform you. 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 ancients are singing.
This is the day, the day will I begin. For years, dry cleaners have used strong chemicals to remove tough stains from delicate fabrics. things like perchloroethylene. Yeah, yeah. Liquid silicone.
and usually the stain goes away. But what do we do with the stain of sin? the stain that's evident on every human heart. What can wash away my sin? nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Today on a new beginning. Pastor Greg Laurie shows us how the Lord can wash our sins. as white as snow. John is what we might describe as an insider. He spent a lot of time with Jesus.
I mean, for starters, he was one of the chosen apostles. Jesus him picked him. But then he was in a special group of Peter, James, and John that went with the Lord to certain places on certain occasions. For instance, we read about Jesus transfigured, and we read he took Peter, James, and John with him. We read that when he raised Jairus' daughter from the dead, he took Peter, James, and John with him.
When he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he took Peter, James, and John. But John. Was the one apostle that's identified as standing at the foot of the cross. And in fact, one of the seven statements of Christ was directed to John. When he said, Son, behold your mother.
And then to Mary, who was also there, he said, woman, behold your son. In effect, Jesus was committing the care of his mother to the apostle John, quite an honor.
So John had a unique access to Jesus.
Now, 1 John can be divided into three sections. And they are God is light, God is love. And God is life. First, God is light. 1 John 1 says, This is the message we heard from Him and declare to you: that God is light.
In Him there is no darkness at all. Secondly, God is love. Uh 1 John 2. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. It finally caught his life.
1 John chapter 5, he that has a son has life. He who does not have the son of God does not have life. All right, so let's dig in. 1 John chapter 1. I'm reading from The New Living Translation.
We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning. whom we heard and we have seen We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life.
He was with the Father, and then He was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard. that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so you may fully share our joy.
We'll stop there. Here are the apostles now. talking about the fact that they spent time with the son of God. And here's the thing. This is what John is really saying.
You can have this relationship with God too. He's not saying, hey man, too bad you didn't live 2,000 years ago. We were there, you weren't. And said, he's saying, no, this is for you as well. Look at 1 John 1:3.
We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ, who's writing these things so you may fully share our joy. We want you to have the same joy. That we have had and that we have experienced. And so this is the thing he's bringing to our attention. But there's something that keeps that joy out of our life and it's unconfessed sin.
Go back to 1 John, look at verse 5. This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
So we're lying if we say we have fellowship with God and we go on living in spiritual darkness and we're not practicing the truth. But if we're living in the light, as God is in the light, Then we have fellowship with each other and the blood of Jesus Christ. cleanses us from all sin. God wants us to live in the light. And in the Bible, light is a picture, a metaphor.
For walking closely with God. Darkness is a picture or metaphor for walking in sin. In Ephesians 5, it says, You were formerly darkness, but now you're light in the Lord, so walk as children of the light. For the Christian who is living in light, he will not be living in sin. Real faith is proven by obedience.
You're either in the light. You're not in the light. And so When you're in the light, it means that you will be honest. God is not looking for perfection, He's looking for transparency.
So he shines a light in our life to expose our sin, so we will turn from it and find his forgiveness. A great example of this is David. The man after God's own heart.
Now how could a man Who committed adultery. and also be responsible for effectively bringing about the death of another man that would be Uriah the husband of Bathsheba. Be called a man after God's own heart. I'll tell you how. When he was confronted with this sin, he came clean, he admitted it, and God forgave him.
Contrast him to King Saul. the first king of Israel. who was rejected. from ruling on the throne. Saul would justify his sin.
He would excuse his sin. He would lie about his sin. David, in contrast, admitted it. When David was confronted by Nathan the prophet, Basically, said, you know, your sin has found you out. David said, I have sinned against God.
That is why he was a man after God's own heart. Because he admitted it and turned from it when confronted with it. Listen, when you fall into sin, you have no one to blame but yourself. James 1:14 says, Each person is tempted when they're dragged away by their own evil desires, and they sin, and then sin, when it's full grown, gives birth. to death.
So we are responsible. You say, well, the temptation was too strong. It was irresistible. That's not true. Nothing is irresistible.
You can resist it. The Bible says resist. The double. and he will flee from you. But first it says submit to God.
So first I submit to God, then I resist the devil. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, There's no temptation that you're going to face that is not common to everybody else. But God, who is faithful, will not allow you to be tempted above your capacity to resist, but woe with him temptation. Make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Bottom line: there's always an exit sign, you just need to look for it.
But see, we excuse it. We don't take responsibility. Say, well, I'm only human. Yeah, that's true. You're only human.
But you're also, if you're a Christian, a spirit-filled child of God. And the Bible says you can walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
So God shines His light in your life. Not to shame you. but to heal you. Verse 7. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.
And the way to be forgiven of your sin is to confess it. To confess it. Look at 1 John 1. 1.8. If we claim we have no sin, we're only fooling ourselves.
And we're not living in the truth. But if we underline this in your Bible, please get your pen out if you have a pen. Underline it. If we confess our sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What a promise that is.
It's time to stop making excuses. that start Making confession. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We love hearing from our listeners, whether it's a short word or they take some time to tell us what's going on with them. Pastor Greg, I listen to your podcast every morning and am also thankful to attend Harvest Christian Fellowship.
You have a way of transforming the Bible into something even I can understand. You make it relatable and exciting, and you're also hilarious. There isn't a Sunday that I haven't cracked up at one of your jokes. Thank you, Pastor Gregg. Has Pastor Greg heard from you?
Why not drop them an email and let them know? Send it to Greg at harvest.org. Do it today while you're thinking about it. Again, that's Greg at harvest.org.
Well, Pastor Gregg continues now with his message in John chapter 1. We're talking today about walking in the light and about confessing those sins that keep us away from God. it doesn't come naturally for many people. See, I don't even know if people know how to apologize anymore. You know, you're in a conflict with someone, a disagreement, and you you want to end the conflict.
So you say Listen, I'm sorry if You Misunderstood what it was actually trying to say. Or, I'm sorry if this offended you. That was not my intention. We don't just own up to it. An apology goes along these lines.
Hey, I'm sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me. No, I'm sorry if Shut up. Just.
You gotta do a proper apology. And we do the same thing with God.
Well, God, I'm sorry if you thought. Oh, no, come on, give me a break. The Lord knows all things. Just be honest with him. Tell him the truth.
And be honest and confess your sin. I'm sorry, Lord, that I sinned against you. When the Bible uses this phrase, Confess. It means to agree with. All right, to agree with.
So let's uh Use an analogy, and this is for our friends over in Maui.
So let's talk about Maui sunsets. All right, so California sunsets can be pretty awesome, I have to say. Every now and then I'll watch one and post it, but Maui sunsets are on the next level. There's a beautiful little beach there on the island of Maui. Called Napili Beach.
You just watch the sun slowly set. I remember one in particular not too long ago where the sky took on a pink hue. It's just unbelievable. You know what you're seeing.
So let's say you and I are sitting on the beach, and I say, now that is a beautiful sunset. And you say, you know what? I agree.
So we just confess something together. You agreed with me.
Now, let's say I said, let's go and get some dinner. And I take you to my favorite Italian restaurant on the island of Maui called Sale Pepe. By the way, that's run by some folks in our church, and it's so good. And I One of the owners is from Italy. He has an Italian oven that he imported.
He gets his flour from Italy. He gets his tomato sauce from Italy.
So when he makes a pizza, or they make fresh pasta, it's on another level.
So I say, That is amazing, possibly you say, I agree.
So we're confessing something together.
Now, let's say we leave and we go by a roadside stand and buy something to eat there. And I say, This is rancid. And you say, I agree.
So, when we say I agree with God, or to confess means I see things the way God sees them. God says that is good. We say I agree with you, God. God says that is bad. We say, and I also agree with you on that, Lord.
So to confess is to see your sin as God sees it. Not excusing it. Not making excuses for it. Not blaming it on others, but owning it. being responsible for it.
And then the promise is that we will confess our sin. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And what a promise. If we will confess our sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from some unrighteousness, right? No, all.
No matter what you've done. It's been covered by the blood of Jesus Christ when he died. On the cross for you. And listen to this. God not only Forgives your sin.
And cleanses your sin, he forgets your sin. Because he says on Micah 7, 19, you will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean. God says, I'll be merciful, and your sins will I remember no more.
See, sometimes we drag up old things we did wrong. And we go over them again and again. And the fact is we should Put those things in the past as God does. Our God has a big eraser.
So let him use it in your life. We should not choose to remember what God has chosen to forget. His mercy is greater than your mess. His grace is deeper than your guilt, and his forgiveness is immediate and complete, and it will transform you. And it doesn't take years and it doesn't take months.
And it doesn't take weeks or days or even hours. It can happen just like that. You can be forgiven of all of your sin. Can you imagine? You don't have to imagine.
It's real. And it can happen for you because I'm talking to somebody right now that is wrapped with guilt. And you've tried to suppress this guilt, and you've tried to drown this guilt with alcohol or perhaps drug use or other things, but the reality is it comes back to haunt you, especially when you lay your head on your pillow at night. And you can be free from this guilt, it can be removed from your life because the issue is not guilt, it's the source of the guilt. That's what you want to deal with.
What is the source of the guilt? A source of the guilt is You've done something wrong. And you're guilty. But the good news is. Christ can forgive you because he paid for that sin when he died on the cross for you.
So you must accept and receive that guilt. Maybe you feel like you're sinking, you're taking on water. What do you do now? I love the story in the Bible where. Peter was walking on the water with Jesus.
And he started to sink. And we read that he cried out, Lord, save me. And Jesus said to him, You got yourself in this mess, figure it out. You read that verse? I haven't either.
The verse I read instead is: Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and pulled him up. That's the answer. Lord, save me. Immediately, Jesus will hear your prayer. Maybe you would say, Man, I've made a mess of my life, I've tried to figure it out.
You need to say, Lord, save me. You might say, I have this addiction. I can't break free from it. I've tried everything. You need to cry out, Lord, save me.
That's the answer. You need to call out to him, and he will hear your prayer, and he will answer your prayer because the Bible says, whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
So we're going to close now in prayer. And I'm going to extend an opportunity for you to call on his name. and be saved. Maybe I'm talking to somebody right now who has never heard these things before. That there's a God in heaven who loves you, who has a plan for your life.
It sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross. For your sin, because God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, and whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Maybe I'm talking to somebody that was raised in the church. I mentioned this earlier. And You don't really have your own relationship with the Lord.
You need to ask God to forgive you. You need a relationship with Christ yourself. That's what this is all about. You can have this relationship with God. It's nice someone else has it.
God wants you to have it. You know what's so amazing to me is How personal My relationship with the Lord is. You know, John. The author of this gospel refers to himself as the disciple that Jesus loved. That almost might sound boastful, like I'm the disciple Jesus left, not at all.
If he would have said, I'm the disciple that loves Jesus, I might have been boastful. But I'm the disciple that Jesus loved. And sometimes I feel like my relationship with God is such that I don't know if anybody else has this relationship with the Lord like I do. Then I meet someone else and they have it too. God is so amazing, He can make Himself known to us as individuals, and we feel like we might even be His favorite.
I have five grandchildren and two of them have hijacked my phone. And they've gone into contacts and taken their name out and instead put in. Your favorite grandchild. And so now, when I get a call from my favorite grandchild, I have to figure out which one it is, one of them sitting in the front row right here. And I saw the other one earlier.
And I'm going to now reveal who my favorite grandchild is. All of them. But That's the kind of relationship we can have with God. Your favorite grandchild is calling Lord. Your favorite daughter, your favorite son.
The apostle whom Jesus loved, Jesus loves you. This is personal. This is for you. This can happen now. But you must call on the name of the Lord.
Let's pray, Father. I pray that you will speak. To any person here. It does not have a relationship with you. Help them to see their need for you and help them to come to you right now.
We pray.
Now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying. Maybe you would say I want this relationship with Jesus you've been talking about. I want to know him as my Savior. My Lord is my friend, is my father. I have this guilt.
I have this sin. I want it removed. I want it cleansed. I want it forgiven. Pray for me 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 when you die, you will go to heaven. If you want your guilt removed, Just pray this prayer. after me right where you are. Just pray, Lord Jesus, I know him a sinner. But I know you are the Savior of the world who died on the cross for my sin.
I'm sorry for my sin. I turn from it. I repent of it. And I ask you to come into my life. And forgive me of all of my sin.
I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Such an important prayer. From Pastor Greg Laurie.
Today, here on A New Beginning, he's been praying with those who've made a decision for the Lord. And if you've just prayed that prayer, and you've meant it sincerely, We want to be the first to welcome you into the family of God. And we'd like to send you Pastor Gregg's New Believer's Bible to help you get started living as a believer. It'll help you build a strong spiritual foundation. The introductions to each book are short but so helpful.
And it answers common questions new believers often have. We'll send it free of charge. Just contact us at 1-800-821-3300. That's one eight hundred eight two one three three zero zero. Or write a new beginning box 4000.
Riverside, California 92514. or go online to harvest.org. You know, Pastor Gregg, 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. 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.
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 prayerfully 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 any time, day or night, at 1 800 821 3300. That's 1 800 821 3300.
or write a new beginning box 4000 Riverside, California, nine two five one four. or just go online to harvest.org.
Well, next time, Pastor Greg brings some great reassurance from this new series called Unshakable. It's a message titled Signs of the Last Days and Why You Shouldn't Panic. Join us here on a new beginning. with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laura. This is the day, the day when life begins.
