Hey there, I'm Pastor Greg Laurie with Harvest Ministries.
Now our mission here at Harvest is to make God known to as many people as we can with the good news of the gospel. That's why I want to tell you about a special opportunity to help further the gospel and share God's love.
So check this out. People around the world are celebrating something called Giving Tuesday. Have you heard of it? It's a day to give generously and make a difference in the lives of others.
Now, this day only comes around once a year, and it is a unique opportunity for us to further the kingdom of God through our giving. Your support helps us to spread the hope of Christ through all of the evangelistic things that we do at Harvest.
So here's what I'm asking. Would you be willing to partner with us? Here's how it works. You give your special Giving Tuesday gift by going to harvest.org slash donate. your support ensures that we can bring the gospel to more people who desperately need it.
So thank you in advance. And God bless you. Committed Christians are the true rebels in culture today. Coming up next, Pastor Greg Laurie urges us to resist conforming to anything other than Christ-likeness. Don't tell me it's rebellious to do what everybody else does and say what everybody else says and be a woke person and conform to pre-existing culture that is changing before our eyes.
You want to be a rebel? Follow Jesus Christ. You'll be a real rebel today. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning.
Amazing grace has sweetest sound. But can you hear all the angels a single? This is the day, the day when I begin. Scripture warns us that wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. Lots of folks going that way.
It's the way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Today on the new beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie shows us an alternative. He helps us through the narrow gate. It won't make us popular or politically correct. but better to live in a way that's pleasing to God, even if it displeases people.
rather than the other way around. I want to talk about a man that. really changed his world. He is what we would call a hero of the Bible. And he did it during a very dark time in human history.
Maybe the darkest it has ever been. I'm talking about the time before the great flood when God brought his judgment upon planet Earth. Jesus called it the days of Noah. And it's relevant to us because Christ said, as it was in the days of Noah, so also shall it be when the Son of Man returns.
So Christ is saying, remember how it was in Noah's day? It's going to be very similar in the time before my return. Yet, Against this very dark background lived a man Who walked with God, showing you can live a godly life in an ungodly culture. And I like to call him a world changer. What is a world changer?
A world changer is someone who does not accept the status quo. Rather, a world changer wants to change the culture. They think for themselves and they do what is right. A world changer is a follower of Jesus Christ and they affect their surroundings more than their surroundings affect them. And a world changer is someone who Wants to make a difference.
In fact, World changers, or let me put it another way, committed Christians are the true rebels in culture today. Don't tell me it's rebellious to do drugs and party. That's status quo, man. Don't tell me it's rebellious to do what everybody else does and say what everybody else says and be a woke person. And conform to pre-existing culture that is changing before our eyes.
A world changer, a real Christian, is someone that believes this book and they live by what this book says. You wanna be a rebel? Follow Jesus Christ, you'll be a real rebel today. You don't even need a leather jacket or a motorcycle. Or your wallet attached to a chain.
I don't know why bikers always do that, you know? Who's going to take a biker's wallet anyway? But, you know. But that's real rebellion in the best sense of the word. World changers are thermostats, not thermometers.
A thermometer just tells you what the temperature is. A thermostat changes the temperature. And in the same way, a world changer changes the world.
Well, the guy I want to focus on, well everyone knows the story. His name was Noah. We think of Noah, we immediately think of Noah's Ark, and that's appropriate. That there's a lot more to his life than then. But Noah is one of a number of people, men and women, that are mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, which has been described as the hero's hall of faith.
Sort of the rock stars of the Christian world, of the Bible culture, the people that just. Stood out and lived as God wanted them to live. They're not in the Kiro's hall of faith because they were perfect. In fact, they were far from it. They're there primarily because they exercised Faith, that's the word that keeps popping up again and again.
By faith, they did this, by faith, they did that. And it just reminds us that you don't have to be a perfect person to be used by God. God is not looking for ability. He's looking for availability. God does not call the qualified.
He qualifies the called. He's just looking for some man, some woman, young or old. To just say, all right, Lord. Here I am. Send me.
I want to make a difference in my world. I want to make a difference in my family. I want to make a difference in my culture. I mean, look at some of the people God used, for Pete's sake. I mean, there's some people that messed up pretty badly.
When we think of Abraham, Abraham, the father of faith, yeah, he had faith. but he stumbled in his faith at least twice lying. Sarah, his wife, laughed at the promises of God, then she denied that she laughed. Samson, he made it into the hall of faith. He was a woman chaser and a pretty immoral guy.
Kide had struggled with fear and self-doubt. Rahab was a prostitute. David had an affair and murdered a man to cover it up. Elijah the prophet struggled with depression. and wanted to die.
The Samaritan woman Had multiple divorces. The disciples fell asleep when Jesus asked them to pray. Simon Peter denied the Lord three times. Timothy had an ulcer. Lazarus was dead, so what's your excuse?
I mean Seriously, God cannot use you, and no other guy we're going to focus on for the next two times. Is a man who got drunk and put himself in a compromising position. But God gave him a second chance. But here's what Moa, Moa, who's Moa?
Okay, that's a new character I just invented. Moa was his brother, his lesser-known brother, Moa. He just built a little rowboat with a hole in it, but no, he, you know. Noah built an ark, right? But Noah Had great faith.
And a great God. I think he's a misunderstood character, even caricatured. Of course, I see him in cartoons. Steve Carell portrayed him for laughs in Evan Almighty. Then there was that film where Russell Crowe Portrayed, no, that was one of the weirdest films I've ever seen.
I think he was channeling Gladiator more than Noah. Because there's a scene when he's getting the ark ready to go, and people are trying to get in. And Russell Crowe, as Noah, is killing people so they don't enter the ark. That's actually not what happened in the Bible. The fact is, the door to the Ark remained open for a long time, so anyone who wanted to come.
could come. The fact is nobody wanted to go in the ark. But so there's all these distortions of the story. And it's important to go back to what the Bible says.
So Hebrews 11. Tells us this. By faith. Noah. Being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear.
and prepared an ark For the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according. To faith.
So there are several principles in this passage that help us to understand what made Noah tick. Here's point number one. If you're taking notes. God revealed secrets to Noah. God revealed secrets to Noah.
Hebrews 11, 7, he was divinely warned of things not yet seen. See, God spoke to him and his faith was activated. And I wonder if God has spoken to you lately. You know, sometimes people say, I don't think God ever speaks to me. I remember hearing Pastor Chuck Smith tell the story of his grandson.
who said to us, Mom, Mom, God never speaks to me. She said, honey, you're not. You know when you do something wrong and you feel bad in your heart? for doing it. He says, yeah.
She says, that can be God speaking to you. And he paused for a moment and then said, Mom, God speaks to me all the time. Yeah. There's a lot of ways God speaks to us. But he does speak to us, and the primary way he speaks to us is through the word of God.
But God revealed a secret to Noah. The Bible says, the secret of the Lord is with those that fear him.
Well, my grandkids were smaller. I used to take them to secret places. I would say, you know, we're going into a restaurant. Do you want to go in the regular way, like all the other people, or do you want to go in the secret way? Oh, it'd get all excited.
The secret way, Papa, and I'd just take him in through a side door. But they thought it was secret. There was this park Uh that's uh not far from our house.
So I said, we can go to the regular park, or we can go to this other park. I call it the secret park. And that's where we went. It's not secret. Anyone can find it.
But to this day, we still call it the secret park. Kathy said, I'm going to walk through the secret part.
Well, you know, but we like secrets, right?
So the secret of the Lord is with those that fear him. God reveals things to Christians that people who are not believers don't understand. As an example, as a Christian, I know that God's word is true. You see, The basic Christian. in many ways knows more than some of the great intellects of our world.
Because we believe this book. And we know because we believe this book that there are certain things that are true and certain things that are not true. For instance, we know man is not basically good. Man, that's a hard one to believe, isn't it? Oh man's basically good.
Really?
Well, the Bible doesn't teach man is basically good. The Bible teaches that Man is basically sinful.
Now that makes sense, and the world makes more sense when I accept the premise we're not basically good, we're basically sinful. But the Bible also teaches that God is good. The Bible teaches that one day judgment will come to the world. The Bible teaches that it's going to get worse before it gets better. The Bible teaches that one day Christ will return and he will right every wrong.
And Jesus even said to the Father, Father, thank you that you've hidden these things. and reveal them to your children.
So, when you believe the Bible, you know things other people don't know. And Noah. understood that and God revealed secrets to him. Uh Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Uh We really enjoy hearing when Pastor Gregg's teaching and preaching touches lives.
I wanted to call it and share it. There has been, in the last six months, I found Pastor Greg's messages very helpful. But one time, I guess it was about 4:30 in the morning, and I was going through, guess what you'd say, a breakup. And I kind of prayed out loud. I said, Lord, I feel abandoned.
And I then had turned on the radio. And my time is when Pastor Greg's message comes on, and then he was talking about how God does not abandon us. And it was just really comforting, really helpful to listen to that message. I found hope in that. And I was actually able to pass it on to a number of other people who were also going through some difficult transitions.
So I just wanted to share that. Thank you so much. If you have a story to share, why not call us and give us all the details? Here's the number: 1-866-871-1144. Again, that's 866-871-1144.
And now, Pastor Greg continues his study called The World Changer at the End of the World, Part 1. Last lesson. Number two, Noah had a great reverence for God. He had a great reverence for God. I think that maybe this is lacking in our culture today.
Have we become too casual with the Lord? Have we taken him for granted? Possibly. When it says he moved with godly fear, that does not mean that he cowered in fear before God. A better way to translate that would be he moved with reverence.
We need to have reverence for God. And one definition of the fear of the Lord that I like is a wholesome dread of displeasing Him, a wholesome dread. Not cowering in fear, like God's gonna smack me, but rather, I love God so much. And God is so holy, I have this respect for him. But maybe we've gone too far the other way.
You know, Jesus is my homeboy, man. Hey, newsflash your homeboy so-called created the universe. Have a little respect. when you talk to him. Have a little respect when you worship him.
Have a little respect when you speak his name. And so Noah had this reverence and respect for God, and he never lost that reverence for the Lord. And so. He was a last days believer because he was living in the time before the flood came. Why did the flood come?
Why did God send judgment on the earth the first time? The answer is found in Genesis 6. I want you to turn over there if you would. Genesis 6. If you don't know where that is, it's right after Genesis 5.
Hang a hard left and go all the way. And you will find Genesis 6, first book of the Bible. Genesis 6, 5. Gives us a description of the world in the days of Noah. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of his thoughts was only evil continually.
You might underline that. Only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry he made man on the earth. And he was grieved in his heart. I'd underline that too.
I'll come back to it.
So the Lord said, I'll destroy man whom I've created from the face of the earth, man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air. I'm sorry I made them. We'll stop there. What exactly was going on here on planet Earth to bring God's wrath so heavily? Genesis 6:5 gives the answer.
The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intent of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. I'm just amazed at the things I read in the news today. You know, the news feeds, just the atrocities, the the horrible acts that people do against people. It's just endless. And you know, I don't even have to illustrate this.
It's just heartbreaking, it's disturbing. And it just seems like people find new ways to do evil things. And that's what was happening at this time. But you know, what this shows us is God is aware of the wickedness of man, He's paying attention. And their wickedness is full to the brim, would be a better translation.
Sort of like an overflowing trash can or a septic tank, you know? It's bad. It was stinking to high heaven. It was so bad. You know, it's interesting, the book of Genesis can be divided into three sections: generation, degeneration, regeneration.
Generation, degeneration, regeneration.
So, first it was generation when God created all things and said it was good. Then, degeneration, that's when sin entered into the garden. Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, then regeneration. We're at phase two here, degeneration. And God said he's grieved.
Now, it's interesting that the word grieved is used here in verse 6. You only grieve for those you love. You don't grieve when some random person cuts you off on the road. You get angry maybe, upset. But it doesn't grieve you.
It grieves you when you're a child. Is disrespectful or goes astray, or someone you love or care about says or does something that hurts you, you're grieved only by the people you love, right?
So the fact that God uses the word grieve shows us that This is hurting the heart of God because he loves humanity. You remember Jesus looked over the city of Jerusalem and he wept over them because he knew they were effectively bringing judgment on themselves. And we read in Luke 19, 41, he saw the city and wept over it, said, oh Jerusalem. If you had only known this your day the things that made for your peace. Let me ask you a question.
Have you ever shed a tear for someone who is far from God? Have you ever shed a tear over a prodigal son or daughter, over a prodigal mom or dad? over someone you care about. It's going the wrong way. God takes no pleasure in bringing judgment on anyone.
Pastor Greg Laurie. Pointing out God's heart for lost sinners. Good insight today, here on a new beginning from Pastor Gregg's series Heroes of the Bible. You know, God's grace is extended to everyone, no matter what they've done. and if we'll come to him and ask for his forgiveness, he will respond.
The Bible says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Have you ever come to the Lord in that way? Pastor Gregg, what would you say to the person listening who is not sure if they've ever come to the Lord and asked Him to be their Savior? I think they need to make this commitment to Christ. Here's what the Bible says: Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
So you need to reach out to God. Not just think about it, not just say, one of these days I would like to, just do it. In fact, you can do it right now. You say, well, how do I call out to the name of the Lord? You do it through prayer.
God is just a prayer away. He desires a relationship with you. He wants you to know him. He wants to reveal himself to you.
So you just need to call out and say, Lord. Save me and help me. How about if I lead you in a prayer? And you could pray this prayer after me. You can pray it out loud if you like.
You can pray it quietly in your heart, but. Direct this prayer toward God and you could pray it after me right now. You ready? Pray this after me, Lord Jesus. I know that I'm a sinner.
But I know that you are the Saviour, and I want a relationship with you, so as your word says, I am calling on the name of the Lord. I'm asking you to save me from my sin. And I'm asking that we begin a new relationship today. Thank you for loving me and sending your Son Jesus to die on the cross for my sin and then raising him from the dead. I now put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
And I ask this In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Listen, if you have just prayed that prayer along with Pastor Gregg and you've meant those words sincerely.
Well, let us be the first to welcome you into the family of God. And we want to help you get started off right in this new daily walk with the Lord. Pastor Gregg would like to send you his New Believers Bible. It's a special edition of God's Word for those who are new to the faith, with scores of helps for new believers written by Pastor Greg.
So get in touch and ask for the New Believer's Bible. We'll send it to you free of charge. Just call 1-800-821-3300. 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click the words Know God.
Well, Pastor Greg, today is Giving Tuesday. Yes, it is, Dave. Maybe people have heard that term, but they don't really know what it means. Maybe you can. I feel like it needs something, some fanfare, a flourish, some trumpets, something.
To distinguish that, this is Giving Tuesday. Do you have anything? How about this?
So, can you explain? Yeah, you know, I don't know who invented Giving Tuesday, but I like it, of course. And I think it's appropriate to have something like that on the heels of Black Friday. Because Black Friday is about getting the killer deals, right? Going down to your local Walmart and buying the one large screen television at a discounted price that will probably be grabbed before you even get in the front door.
But, you know, people go online, they want to get the big deals, and that's fine. But no, Giving Tuesday is about giving to charities or ministries or people out there doing good things. And the fact of the matter is, you're going to feel a lot better about Giving Tuesday than Black Friday because Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive. See, Black Friday is about getting stuff. Giving Tuesday is about giving stuff.
And, you know, studies have been done that have revealed that there is actually something they call the helper's high, a release of endorphins that one experiences when they give.
Now, you've heard of the runner's high. I've heard of it. I've not experienced it. I don't know if there's an eater's high. I have experienced that release of endorphins, but you know how it is.
Like maybe when you were a little kid, you thought if you got this one gift, or maybe you were an adult, if you got this one gift, you'd be happy you got it and you got over it really quickly. But then when you did something nice for somebody else, something sacrificial, you felt so good. See, that's what that is. More blessed to give than to receive.
So today, being Giving Tuesday. I'm going to ask you to give. And to give to our ministry in particular. As you know, we are dedicated to the preaching of the gospel. And the teaching of the Bible, we are here to disciple people to help them get grounded in their faith in Jesus Christ.
That's our mission.
So, if you believe in that, and I hope you do because it is the great commission specifically given to us by Christ Himself. then why don't you send a gift our way? To us here at Harvest on this Giving Tuesday, and we'll put it to good work. And in advance, let me just say thank you. Yeah, your partnership means so much to us.
In fact, let us send you something to say thanks tangibly. It's the boxed DVD set of the popular Amazon Prime series called House of David. You can own it for yourself. We'll send it to thank you for your generosity. You can call us at 1-800-821-3300.
Again, 1-800-821-3300. or write a new beginning box 4000 Riverside, California 92514. Or go online to harvest.org.
Well, next time, Pastor Greg brings us more insight from the life of Noah. We'll continue learning from this great hero of our faith. Join us here on a new beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laura. This is the day, the day when life begins.
