Greg Laurie at Harvest Ministries recommend a great resource about the end times by Dallas Theological Seminary professor Mark Hitchcock. He's written a brand new book called The Revelation Answer Book, 125 Common Questions People Ask About Earth's Final Days. And guess what? We have a copy with your name on it.
So for your gift of any size, we will rush you your own copy of the Revelation Answer Book. Available at harvest.org. Pastor Greg Laurie is concerned that believers have the greatest news of all. but we rarely share it with those who need to hear it. 59% of all Christians say they seldom or never share their faith with others.
And what's ironic about this is we'll tell our friends about some series on Netflix. Or a new app we just discovered, but we won't say a word about Jesus, the one who has changed our lives.
So why? Why don't we share the gospel more? This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace now sweets the sound.
But can you hear all the angels are singing? This is the day, the day when I begin. In 1860, The Pony Express could deliver a letter from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California in just 10 days.
Now we can send a document around the world in a split second. We have such capacity for delivering information But Pastor Greg Laurie is concerned we're not delivering the best information. Today on a new beginning. He launches a study in Shona. and we'll see we're to deliver the good news faithfully and dependably.
No horsing around. I heard a story about a man who was. driving his car with two penguins in the back seat. He was pulled over by a police officer, and the officer said, sir. The penguin is an endangered species.
Take them to the zoo immediately. And he let the guy go. The next day, the officer sees the same man driving around with the penguins, but this time they were wearing Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses. The officer said, I thought I told you to take those penguins to the zoo. The guy said, I did, and now we're going to the beach.
I think he kind of missed the point. And I think sometimes in the church we can miss the point as well: the point of the Great Commission. And what is the Great Commission? It's given to us in Mark 16 and Matthew 28. And it tells us to go into all the world and preach the gospel and to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and lo, I am with you even to the end of the age.
We're all called to do that. You know, I think sometimes some churches think church growth is evangelism. Church growth can be evangelism. A church can grow evangelistically, but sometimes when a church grows, maybe they're a new church that started, some people will leave another church and go over there, so it's church transfer growth. And by the way, I'll meet people from time to time that will come up to me and say, we used to go to this other church, but now we come to your church and we like your church better.
And here's what we don't like about our old church, and they'll go on and on. And I'm tempted to just look at my watch and ask myself the question: how long is it going to be until you say the same things about this church? Because some people just hop from church to church and a church thinks they're growing. But the best kind of growth in a church is not people coming from other churches. The best kind of growth is people coming to Christ in the church.
And that has always been the way we've grown. It's always been the thing we have hope for actually because in Acts chapter 2 Verses 42 to 47, you read about the early church and all that they did. And it concludes with these words: And the Lord added to the church daily those that were being saved. New converts are the lifeblood of the church. As I've said before, the church has a choice.
We can evangelize or we can fossilize.
Well, anyway, we all have the memo. We know we're supposed to proclaim the gospel, but if we're honest, a lot of us don't do it. At best, we're reluctant evangelists. I read that 95% of all Christians have never led another person to Christ. I don't think it's true of this church.
I'll take a poll just to see. How many of you have led a person to Christ? And let me explain what that means. It means that you played a role in someone else coming to Jesus. Maybe you brought them to church and they responded to the gospel.
Maybe you brought them to a crusade or you personally shared the gospel with them, but you played a role in them coming to Christ. How many of you with that definition have led someone to Christ? Raise your hand up.
Well done, you guys. Come on. But uh But many have never shared their faith with Others. 59% of all Christians say they seldom or never share their faith with others. And what's ironic about this is: we'll tell our friends about some taco truck.
or some series on Netflix. Or a new app we just discovered, but we won't say a word about Jesus, the one who has changed our lives.
So why? Why don't we share? the gospel more. We'll hear some reasons. And they could also be defined as excuses.
One is, well, The fear of rejection. You know, if I initiate a conversation, they might just tell me to go away or be angry with me or label me as intolerant and narrow-minded, and I don't want that to happen.
Well, that could happen. But in many cases, actually, it doesn't happen. And you'll find people are very open to what you may have to say. Another might say, well, I just don't have enough knowledge of scripture. You're afraid someone's going to ask you a question you don't have the answer to, and that may happen.
In fact, it happened to me very early in my Christian life. Was out talking to people about the Lord and I was sharing the gospel with someone I met and some other person eavesdropping interrupted our conversation and peppered me with some hard questions, which I didn't have the answer to. And I walked away a bit embarrassed and even ashamed. And I determined I needed to start studying the Bible. I was only a believer for a few weeks at that point.
I needed to start studying the Bible and knowing the answers. The Bible says, study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And then over in 1 Peter 3:15, it says, Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But listen to this: do this with gentleness and respect. Do it with gentleness and respect.
Sometimes we can come off like know-it-alls.
Sometimes we can come off holier than thou.
Sometimes we can be overly argumentative. And that is not what we're supposed to do. The objective is not to win the argument, it's to win the soul. The goal is to build a bridge, not burn a bridge.
So be friendly, be humble, be loving. and be clear, and maybe you won't have the answer to the question. And it's okay to say you don't have the answer. You might say, that's a great question. I actually don't know the answer.
But let me get back to you on that. That's all right. But here's what I suggest. I think you know more than you think you know. And I think when you put yourself in this situation to share the gospel, you'll find that the Holy Spirit will help you.
Jesus said, don't worry when you're brought before the leaders. The Holy Spirit will give you those words. And I know you've probably experienced this.
Someone asks you a question and you don't even know what the answer is. And all of a sudden, you're giving them an answer that's so good, you want to take notes on yourself. But that's not going to happen if you don't put yourself in this situation and take a step of faith and take a risk and engage someone in a gospel conversation. Maybe another reason or excuse. As to why we don't share the gospel is we assume everybody knows and they've already made a decision.
That's just not true. I was just back in Europe. I spoke at an event for evangelists, and there were evangelists from all over Europe. And I was shocked to discover that only 2% Of Europe identifies as evangelical Christians. Two percent.
And that could be the future of America if we follow in their footsteps. That's why we need to take advantage of the liberty and the freedom we have in this country and boldly proclaim the gospel wherever we can, right? I suggest to you that most Americans have never heard an accurate presentation of the gospel. I think they've heard a version of it. But has it really been accurate?
Has it been a biblical... Definition. 51% of American adults say they're at least somewhat open to a conversation about faith. or the gospel with a stranger. 51 per that's pretty good.
One out of every two people is open. to you having a conversation with them. And if they're a part of your friends or your family, that number shoots up to 92%. They're literally waiting for you to start the conversation. Many Americans are like that man from Ethiopia that went to Jerusalem searching for God.
He didn't find the Lord. but he obtained a scroll of Isaiah, which he was reading. in his chariot. as he made the journey home. And the Lord directed the evangelist Philip to engage him.
And Philip asked that man from Ethiopia, do you understand what you're reading? The man was reading from Isaiah 53. Which happens to be a graphic description of the death of Jesus hundreds of years before it happened. Do you understand what you're reading? asks Philip.
And the man from Ethiopia says, How can I unless someone shows me the way? A lot of people are waiting for someone like you to show them the way, and you know how to show them the way. I was one of those people. I was a confused kid. I wanted to know God.
That's why when people give me religious literature, I never threw it away. I would shove it into my pocket. And I would take it home and throw it in a big drawer in my little room. It was sort of like my God drawer. And every now and then I would empty the drawer on my bed, and I would sit there trying to figure out what it all meant.
I had little Bibles. information from Krishnas and Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses and Amway, you name it, I had it. And I would read through it like, how does this work? How can I come to know God? I was literally waiting for someone to show me the way.
And there's a lot of people like that out there right now. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We hear from listeners all over the country. and from countries all over the world. Hi, Pastor Greg.
I am riding from Caracas, Venezuela. I've been listening to you for a while now. Your messages are simple and at the same time so profound. Similar to how I think Jesus wanted us to share the gospel. Your messages, Pastor Greg, are just so comforting and educational for me.
Thank you so much. How have Pastor Gregg's studies touched your life? Would you let him know? Send an email to greg at harvest.org. That's Greg at harvest.org.
Well, today Pastor Greg is talking about our calling to share the good news. and why many believers often don't. Let's continue. Here's really a reason why we don't share our faith. You probably won't like this one, but I think it's true.
We just don't care. We don't care. It's like, well, that's their problem. I've got my salvation. Why should I care about their salvation?
I mean, this goes back to our childhood, established fact of the universe. We don't like to share. You know, put a little child, give them a toy, they're happy. Put another child there, and tell the one child to share the toy with the other child. Watch what happens.
We don't like this share. Years ago, when my grandson Christopher was younger, my son Jonathan said to him, Son, Can I have one of your chips? Because he had just given Christopher a big bag of potato chips, and Christopher was enjoying them.
Son, can I have a chip? asks Jonathan. Christopher takes the tiniest fragment of a chip. You've ever seen No, son, that's not big enough. I want a bigger chip.
He takes a slightly larger one. No, no, son. I want a big chip. And finally, Christopher fished a big chip out of the bag, and you can see the pain on his face. to give that precious chip up and that's us.
You know, we don't want to share. We don't want to tell them. And sometimes we even see non-believers as the enemy. And they're not the enemy. They're under the power of the enemy.
And the enemy is the devil. In fact, speaking of non-believers, the Bible says we should be patient in our dealing with them. And in 2 Timothy, Paul says, so they will come to their senses and escape from the devil's trap, for they're being held captive by him to do whatever he wants.
So you need to pray. I need to pray. We need to pray. That God would give us a heart for non-believers. And often we want to stay away from them, we want no contact with them.
I don't know if you've ever heard of Penn Gillette. He's a magician, comedian. Has an act with his partner in Vegas. He's an outspoken atheist, but he made an interesting statement. And it was after one of his fans gave him a Bible.
And Gillette, again, an atheist, said, Quote, I don't respect people who don't proselytize. You think that it's really not worth telling someone because it would make you socially awkward? If you believe in heaven and hell, And people could be going to hell or missing out on eternal life. How much do you have to hate someone to not tell them? End quote.
That's a really good insight from an atheist. And he's absolutely right. I mean, really, if I believe this stuff. How many of you believe that heaven and hell are real? Raise your hand.
Okay, we really believe this stuff. Why don't we tell people more often? I don't know if it's that we hate people. But we don't care enough about them. I think that's true.
But I want to tell you the story about a man who actually did. Hate, literally hate the people God called him to go to. This guy drank hater ain't. And his name was Jonah. Jonah was the reluctant evangelist.
Jonah was the original chicken of the sea.
Some of you don't even know what that means, but uh Chicken deceit tuna. Anyway. He was called to go to Nineveh. And he didn't want to go. And I'm going to tell you why in a few moments.
But now, when we think of Jonah, we think of one other thing, and you already know it: Jonah and the. That's it. The whale. It's all about the whale, but it isn't about the whale. There's only a few verses about the whale if it was a whale.
The actual word that is used in the original language could be translated sea monster. It could have been a whale. It could have been some unique creature God created just for Jonah. I don't know. Frankly, I don't really care.
The message of Jonah is not some dude got swallowed by a fish or sushi eating in reverse. The real story of Jonah is a man was called to go preach to a city that he didn't want to preach to because he hated the people of the city and God persuaded him otherwise. And when he finally obeyed, it resulted in one of the greatest spiritual awakenings in human history.
So there's a lot we can learn. from Jonah. He wasn't just reluctant. He was recalcitrant. That's a word that means someone who is stubborn and defiant.
Reluctant is, well, maybe I'll do it, but I really don't want to. To be recalcitrant is to say, I'm not doing it. I flat out refuse to do it. And that's who Jonah. Was now.
Let's think about Nineveh for a few moments before we read some verses. Nineveh was around the size of San Francisco. After Jonah preached to them, the entire city came To believe in God and turn from their sin. Can you imagine if all of San Francisco repented of their sin? Or all of Riverside, or all of Irvine, or all of Orange County, or all of Los Angeles, or all of New York City.
Well, that's exactly what happened. And it could happen. Because with God all things are possible. Let's read Jonah chapter 1. I'm going to read three verses.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshes from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa. He found his ship going to Tarshus, so he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish. from the presence of the Lord.
We'll stop there. Important statement. It says in verse 2, their wickedness had come up before God. This is a phrase that could be translated. It reached a high degree or the highest pitch.
Nineveh was like an overflowing septic tank that stunk to high heaven. Years ago, I was in on a houseboat. Uh out on Lake Powell. A few friends have had house boats and so We were done and we were bringing it into the dock and and we had to you know clean out the septic tank. And my friend said, Oh, I know how to do this.
I said, I've had it.
Well, he didn't know how to do it that well because when he opened it up, it blasted in his face. Horrific. I just wish I had a camera. That's all I'm once. I laughed, I admit I laughed, I shouldn't have laughed, but I did.
But it's and it smelled bad. And so did Nineveh. It smelled really bad. Why? Because they are a really wicked city.
Nineveh was a city of the Assyrians and it was legendary for its cruelty. I was in England years ago and I went into one of their museums and they actually have artifacts from Nineveh. They have the gates of Nineveh, which is so amazing to look at. But Nineveh was known for their savagery. Assyrian kings would boast of skinning enemies alive.
cutting off limbs, burning children, and stacking corpses like trophies. One inscription says, quote, I flayed many and spread their skins on the walls, end quote. Reminds us of stories of the Nazis or of Hamas or ISIS. Or even the drug cartels today that this horrific kind of activity, and yet. God loved them enough to send Jonah to to preach to them, but they were the avowed enemies of Israel.
Has God called you to go to An enemy, or someone you just don't want to talk to. I mentioned earlier. That my mom was married and divorced seven times, and I had a full-time ministry evangelizing her former husbands. And I didn't enjoy that, quite frankly. But that was something I knew I needed to do.
And maybe there's someone you know right now. That God's called you to evangelize, and there's a discomfort, it's a cranky neighbor. It's that co-worker that always is hitting you with hard questions. It's someone you knew from your childhood that's always harassing you for your faith, or someone else. And I don't want to talk to them.
In fact, the idea of them going to hell doesn't bother me that much at all. You need to say, God, changed my heart, because that's not the attitude we should have. It would be like God going to an Israeli today. And saying, go to Hamas and preach to them, because if you don't, I'm going to destroy them. Oh, the Israeli would say, well, that sounds good.
Go for it. Still, God loves those people. He loves all people. He loves all of the people in Iran right now. And by the way, I'm hearing stories of hundreds of thousands of Iranians coming to put their faith in Jesus Christ.
Isn't that great?
So we pray that more of that will happen, and we pray will happen in Israel as well. But this conflict they're having over there, that Israelis, Iranians would come to Christ. That's what really needs to be happening. Pastor Greg Laurie. talking about the important responsibility of sharing the message of the gospel.
And there's more to come as this study continues here on a new beginning. Pastor Greg, as we talk about sharing the gospel, we should speak to those who've never heard how easy it is to come to Christ.
Someone can enter into that kind of relationship today. Can't they? They can, and it's so simple. And I think because it's so simple, people think: oh, it can't be that easy.
Well, look, Jesus did all the heavy lifting. He carried the cross for you. He died on that cross that he carried. This isn't about what you do, it's about what he's done. But here's what the Bible says: Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
So let's just say that you're caught in a riptide out in the ocean and you need help and there's a life guard at the stand and they see you. You've got to call out to them and let them know you need saving. And the same is true when it comes to eternal life. Jesus is ready to save you. Will you call out to Him?
You say, Well, okay, how do I do that? You do it through prayer. And prayer is just talking to God.
So listen, I'd like to lead you in a simple prayer. And if you pray this prayer after me. I believe God will hear it and answer it, and Christ will come to live inside of you. Thousands of people have prayed a prayer like this over the years that we've been doing this radio broadcast and have seen their life change. There's no power or magic in a prayer, it's all about your commitment to Christ, but this is a way to.
Call on the name of the Lord in this prayer.
So, if you want Jesus to come into your life and forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want to fill that big hole in your heart, Just pray this prayer. After me, you could pray it out loud if you like. Pray it in the quietness of your heart, but pray these words if you would. 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. I am sorry for my sin, and I turn from it now. and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Be my Saviour and my Lord.
Be my God and my friend. Thanks for hearing this prayer. in answering this prayer, In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Listen, if you just prayed that prayer.
I want you to know that God has heard you and has answered it. The Bible says, These things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, that you may know. It's yours now. God has given it to you because it's the gift. of eternal life.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, congratulations And welcome to the family of God. Yeah, yeah, that's right. And listen, we want to help you get started in this new relationship with the Lord. Would you let us send you something? It's free of charge.
It's Pastor Greg's New Believers Bible. You know, scores of people have read this edition of God's Word. New Believers love the study helps written just for them, and they appreciate that it's in an easy-to-understand translation. We'll send it to you today. Just ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300.
You can call anytime, 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 and click No God. You know, Pastor Greg, we hear from people all the time who tell us how these daily studies have impacted their lives.
So many have found the Lord and been encouraged through this teaching. That's right. And we hope our listeners might pray about making an investment so these studies can continue. Yeah, it's really true, Dave. You know, and even a little bit helps.
You know, people. 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 anytime day or night at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300.
Or write a new beginning box 4000. Riverside, California 92514. or just go online to harvest. Yeah.
Well, next time, more insight to be learned from the reluctant evangelist Jonah. Join us here on a new beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins.
