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.
Next to knowing Christ yourself, one of the most joyful things you will ever do is see somebody else come to Jesus.
So many believers miss out on the privilege of bringing someone to the Lord. Today, Pastor Greg Laurie points out it's one of the most important reasons we're here. You're blessed to be a blessing. And there's something wonderful that happens when you begin to articulate your faith to someone else and something even greater happens than that person This is the day. When the lost are found, this is the day for a new beginning.
A ration grace has break the town. Oh, can you hear all the angels are singing? This is the day, the day when I begin. God can use just about anybody to share. share the gospel.
He can use a former shoe salesman such as D.L. Moody. He can use a young dairy farmer such as Billy Graham. or use an aimless young high school kid looking for answers, such as Greg Laurie. The Bible is full of people whom God used in surprising ways.
And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Gregg points out the time is right for God to use you. What's holding you back from saying yes to what the Lord has in mind? I want you to grab your Bible and turn to the book of Jonah. One of my favorite books in the Bible, and we're starting a brand new series, and the title of it is. The reluctant evangelist.
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. Jonah was the reluctant Evangelist. He was called to go to Nineveh. And he didn't want to go. Why?
Because they were a really wicked city. And yet God loved them enough to send Jonah. But We all have our nineveh in life, and by nineveh, I mean the places we don't want to go. Let's take California as an example. Everybody's leaving California right now.
From July 2021 to 2023, 750,000 people left California. From 2020 to 2021, so many were moving out of our state that U-Haul literally ran out of trucks and trailers. It seems like the number one export of California is Californians, right? But listen to this. God has not given up on California, and I haven't either.
And that's why We continue to pray that people will come to Christ in this state. Let's not forget. The last great spiritual awakening happened in Southern California. It was called the Jesus movement.
So don't give up on our state.
So God wants to reach Nineveh. What does he do? He raises up a A man of God. And he's still looking for men and women of God to raise up. He said, But, Greg, I'm not qualified.
Oh, give me a break. Nobody's really qualified, are they? God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. He's just looking for someone to say, Here I am, send me, Lord, instead of saying, There they are.
Send them, Lord. I mean, think of the people that God called in the Bible, Moses. was called by God. Moses thought it was over for him. He had messed things up big time.
He had murdered that Egyptian, was living in exile. Lord comes to him at the burning bush and tells him he wants to use Moses to deliver Israel from the bondage of Egypt. And Moses says in Exodus 4, Lord, I'm not very good with words. I get tongue-tied and my words get tangled. And God said, Now go.
I'll be with you as you speak. And Moses again pleaded, Lord, please send someone else. Does that sound familiar? Have you ever said anything like that before to the Lord? When Jeremiah was called, he said, Lord, I'm too young.
But think of the people who got used in the Bible and how flawed they were. Noah got drunk. Abraham is very old. Jacob was a liar. Peter openly denied Christ.
The disciples fell asleep while praying and abandoned him when he was arrested. Timothy had an ulcer and Lazarus was dead, so what's your excuse? See, God can and God will use you.
So God told Jonah to go. As I've said before, God said go. Jonah said no. God said, oh? God will always have The last word, well, he caught in that little boat.
and a great storm king. And all of the sailors began to call on their various gods.
Well, Jonah was asleep. They said, wake up that guy, get him to call on his God. Who knows? Maybe he has the right one. Jonah comes up and admits, okay, listen, guys, I'm a Hebrew.
I'm a prophet of the Lord. I'm running from the Lord and the storm has come because of me. But if you throw me overboard, the storm will stop. They said, great, see ya. Over the side he goes.
And yes, the great fish, the whale, whatever it was. Swallowed him. In the belly of the whale, Jonah repented. And God gave him a second chance. The Bible says the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, and then Jonah.
Was vomited on the shore of Nineveh. This to me is very humorous. I mean, the whale could have just opened his mouth. Jonah could have walked out. No, he was barfed on the shore.
Abnine.
So he was believing and barfed. digested and deployed. I have more. He was righteous and wrathed. Bleached and beached.
Victorious and vomited. And finally Barfton born again.
So Little humility there. Lord and humble you a little bit, buddy. His skin was probably bleached white from the digestive juices of the whale. And he comes out. 40 days and then it will be overthrown.
Ah, who is this guy? But amazingly God worked through him. He only spoke eight words and it resulted in a revival. of the entire city. But what did God tell him to do?
The Lord said, go preach to them. And we're very apprehensive about preaching. We usually use that word in a negative way. You know, you're saying something to someone that's a human, don't preach to me. I don't need a sermon.
So, when someone finds out what I do for a living, like if I'm on a plane, I'm sitting next to someone, we're having a conversation, what do you do? And I say, well, I'm a preacher. They're like, oh no. Five hours next to a preacher.
So we don't think of preaching in a positive way. But the fact of the matter is Is the primary way God has chosen to reach non-believers is through preaching.
Now, let me define preaching. It doesn't mean yelling, though sometimes you have to elevate your voice. It's proclamation, it's declaring. It's giving this important information to people, and the Bible says, how will they hear without a preacher? And 1 Corinthians 1.21 says, it pleased God to the foolishness of the message preached to save those that believe.
So we all have been Nineveh. we may need to go to and we have a choice are we going to go or not Now let me tell you the real reason Jonah did not want to go. The real reason Jonah did not want to preach to Nineveh. was because he had a fear of success. Not a fear of failure.
a fear of success. In Jonah 4.2, after he preached to them, And indeed they did repent. He says this to God. Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshis.
I knew you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I knew how easily you could cancel your plan. We're destroying These people. Not amazing. Oh, I knew you'd do this.
I knew you'd forgive them, and that's why I didn't want to preach to them because, God, I wanted you to destroy them. You know, it's funny, people say, well, there's a God of the New Testament in the Old Testament. The God of the New Testament is loving and compassionate, and the God of the Old Testament is angry and wrathful. Nonsense. There's one God of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
And here we see in the Old Testament how he shows mercy to the people that need to hear it. Master Greg Laurie We'll have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everyone, I want you to know about our app called Harvest Plus. Think of it as a harvest version of Netflix. We have all of our resources in one place.
We have our movies like Steve McQueen, The Salvation of an American Icon, Johnny Cash of Redemption of an American Icon, A Rush of Hope, and much more. Then we have our television program, daily devotions, and much more.
So go and download the Harvest Plus app. You've joined us for an important message from the book of Jonah today called Jonah the Reluctant Evangelist. Here's Pastor Gregg once again. I want to end with one last point. Sharing your faith.
can be exciting And believe it or not, Fun at times. It's really true. Sharing the gospel is life-giving to us. as well as the person we share it with. You see, the gospel.
By its very design, it is meant to be given out. It's not meant to be hoarded. You're blessed to be a blessing. And there's something wonderful that happens when you begin to articulate your faith to someone else. And something even greater happens when that person believes and you play some kind of role in it.
Next to knowing Christ yourself, one of the most joyful things you will ever do is see somebody else come to Jesus.
Through your influence. It's really true. Jesus said it's more blessed To give than to receive in the word, blessed means. Happy. It'll bring happiness to you as you tell others about it.
I have found that the happiest Christians are the evangelistic ones. I have found that the unhappiest Christians are the nitpickiest ones. And some Christians just love to critique and debate. instead of go out and share their faith. Let me give you an example.
We're out riding motorcycles. And so we go to this taco place. It was Taco Tuesday. And we ordered tacos, so it's like four pastors in total. And one of them was a guy named Steve Wolburn that used to work for us at Harvest for years as our youth pastor.
And one day I just said to Steve, Steve, I think you're the oldest youth pastor in America. What are you, like 60 now? Not quite that old, but maybe you ought to start your own church.
So Steve went up to LA, started a church called Coor Church that's done really well. He's a great. Preacher and a real evangelist, not just in the pulpit, but one-on-one. Steve is always engaging people with the gospel. And here's how he always opens his conversations: he goes up to people cold and says the following.
Has anyone ever told you? that there's a God in heaven who loves you. I've seen every reaction you can imagine to this question. Because I'll be standing with him. We're in line at Starbucks, you know, and there's like 10 people behind us.
And we get to the front, and they'll say, Has anyone ever told you? And I'm thinking, here we go. And I just want what's going to happen.
Sometimes they say, no, what's your order? Other times, no, no one's told me that.
So, anywhere we're in this Mexican restaurant.
So, two of the pastors are having a theological discussion about something. And Steve is sitting there, and the server comes up, and he's talking to the server, and he turns to the server and says, Has anyone ever told you there's a God in heaven who loves you? Server says, No one's ever told me that before. And Steve starts sharing the gospel with this guy.
Meanwhile, the other two pastors are having their theological debate. I'm just watching all of this. And then next thing I know, Steve is saying, Would you like to pray right now and accept Christ? And the server says yes. He leads a server in a prayer.
He accepts Christ on the spot. And the two pastors are oblivious. They're still having their discussion. After it was done, I said to them, guys, do you know what just happened there? No, what?
While you guys were discussing whatever Steve was leading that man to Christ. That to me is a picture of the church, right? That's how the church can be. We're having our little debates about this and that. Minutia.
Theological minutia. While a world is on its way to judgment, and we won't take the time to just tell them that they can be forgiven of their sin, we need to seize these opportunities. You can be one of those people that plays a role in somebody else coming to Christ. Opportunities are all around you.
Sometimes we're saying, Lord, I want to be used by you. I want to be a missionary. I want to cross the sea for Christ. Hey, start by crossing the street for Christ. Talk to those that are around you.
Go into your world and preach the gospel. You have a sphere of influence. You have a pulpit. Doesn't look like this, probably. But you have a platform.
Could be a social media platform. It could be your friendships, your coworkers. Whoever it is, you have people that you can speak to. Go into all of your world. and proclaim the gospel.
But a lot of times we don't want, no, I'm not going to do what God wants me to do. I don't want God's will. I want to live my own life and do what I want to do. It's not going to work out so well for you. You'll see.
God's plans are always better than your plans for yourself. Heard a story about a man It was approached by an attorney. This man knew that attorney was going to serve him with papers, so he avoided him. And the attorney kept trying to get in touch with him, and this man managed to obey this attorney for 14 years.
Well, sadly, this man got sick. With cancer. and went into a hospital and he was dying. and the attorney came into his hospital room. He said, fine, go ahead, serve me with your papers.
Attorney said, I'm not serving you with papers. I've been trying to tell you you have an inheritance of $15 million.
Now that's probably not a true story. Just some weird preacher story I heard somewhere. Maybe it is true, who knows? But the point of it is, here is God wanting to bless us and reveal his plan for us that's so much better than our plan for ourselves. And we're running from it thinking we have something better when we don't.
It's like the story of the prodigal son. He didn't want the rules and regulations of his father's house, so he went as far away as he could, just like old Jonah. And then he came to his senses and returned home. And maybe there are some prodigals listening to me right now that need to come home again, back to the Lord. Or maybe there's some of you.
You have never put your faith in Jesus. I've been talking about telling others about Jesus. Let me close by just telling you about Jesus. And ask you that question: Did you know there's a God in heaven who loves you? Agado was a plan for you.
He loved you so much, he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for your sin. And Christ rose again from the dead, and now he stands at the door of your life, and he knocks, and he says, If you'll hear his voice and open the door, he will come in. And I ask you: have you asked Christ to come into your life? He's ready to come in right now. and everything can change for you.
but you must respond.
So we're going to close in prayer. And I'm going to give you an opportunity. To ask Christ to come into your life or give you an opportunity to come back to the Lord again if you find yourself. living as a prodigal. God gave Jonah a second chance.
God will give you a second chance or a third or a fourth or a fifth one. But you must come to him. Let's pray now. Father, thank you for your word to us. Thank you for your love for us.
and thank you for your offer of forgiveness to anyone who will believe. And now we pray for any that are here or are joining us, watching us, hearing us somewhere. If they don't have this relationship with you, Let them come to you now, we pray.
Now while our heads are bowed. Maybe God has spoken to your heart. and you realize you need Jesus Christ. If you would like Christ to come into your life, If you would like him to forgive you of your sin. If you would like to know that when you die, you will go to heaven.
If you would like to fill that hole in your heart, so to speak. If you want to come back to Jesus Christ. Return to him again, like Jonah did. Like the prodigal son did. Pray this prayer with me now.
Just pray this. Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. And I know that you are the Savior. I know you're full of love and compassion. And I want this relationship with you.
Thank you for dying for me on the cross. and rising again from the dead. I turn now from my sin. and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. as my Savior and my Lord.
is my God and my friend. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie. with an important word of prayer.
And if you've made a first-time decision for the Lord today, if you've asked Him to forgive your sins, well, we want to first welcome you into the family of God. And we'd also like to help you get started living the life of faith. Let us send you Pastor Gregg's New Believer's Bible. It's a Bible that answers some of the basic questions about the Christian faith and will help you build a solid foundation for your walk with the Lord. We'll send it free of charge when you call us at 1-800-821-3300.
Reach us anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300. or write us here at A New Beginning, Box 4000. Riverside, California, nine two five one four. or go online to harvest.org and click on Know God. And then let us say a word of thanks to those who support us financially, those who make it possible for us to bring you these studies each day.
We are definitely a listener-supported ministry. It's the generosity of listeners that help us be here with these programs.
So, if you've partnered with us, thank you. And if you have yet to partner with us, well, I hope you'll get in touch today and let us know that you're standing with us. Even a small investment would help. It's actually an investment in changing lives. Thank you for partnering with us.
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So download that app right away, Harvest Plus, and you can enjoy being a part of our extended church family every Sunday.
Well, next time, we'll see Jonah, the reluctant evangelist, got a second chance. And we can too. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins.
