Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries recommend a great new children's book by Sally Lloyd-Jones called Jesus, Our True Friend. You have kids and they need to hear the story of Jesus. And I bet you struggle at times trying to read Bible stories to your children. This is a great tool.
So order your copy of Jesus, Our True Friend, Stories to Fill Your Heart with Joy, written by Sally Lloyd-Jones. Yours for a gift of any amount at harvest.org.
Sometimes non-believers have a better understanding of what a Christian ought to be than some Christians have. Many of us have been on the receiving end of a non-believer's admonishment about our conduct. Pastor Greg Laurie says sometimes they're right. They actually expect us to be different. They actually expect us to be friendly.
They actually expect us to be loving. And they expect us to be forgiving. And they expect us to be caring.
So they'll remind us of that sometimes. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Can you hear all the angels are singing?
This is the day, the day when life begins. You'll know we're Christians by our protests, by our self-righteousness, why all the things we're against.
Sometimes it might seem that way. Jesus actually said, by this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us re-evaluate how our faith is seen by others. Is it off-putting or irresistible? As we consider the bad example of the prophet Jonah, we'll ask ourselves if our witness is working.
This is the day, the day when life begins. Here in the book of Jonah, it's a story of a man who ended up in a storm. And he ended up in a storm because he was running from the will of God. He was called to preach to a city called Nineveh.
So he's reluctant. He doesn't want to go. And he's on this boat. And he's headed as far from Nineveh as he can humanly get. And the following happened.
Jonah chapter 1 verse four. And the Lord hurled. I like that. This is the New Living Translation, by the way. The Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart.
Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hole.
So the captain went down after him and said, How can you sleep at a time like this. Get up and pray to your God. Maybe He will pay attention to us and spare our lives.
So the Lord sent a powerful wind. The Lord sends a mighty storm to get the attention of the prodigal prophet.
So the sailors on the ship, they don't know why this is happening. They've never seen a storm like this before. Verse five, fearing for their lives, they shouted to their gods. This is what people do when things are really bad. They cry out to their gods.
Whatever your God happens to be. I remember when I was a kid, any crisis came, I called out to God. You know, God helped me. And my God was Jesus. I didn't know much about Him.
I'd seen all of His movies. I'd never read the Bible. I knew really very little about Jesus Christ, but I believed He was out there somewhere and I'd call out to him. People call out to their various gods in times of trouble. Heard about an old sea captain who was quite vocal about his atheism.
One night there was a horrible storm and he was swept overboard. And some of the other sailors heard him crying out to God for help. They were able to rescue him and brought him back up on deck. And one of them said, hey, wait a second. I thought you were an atheist.
I heard you call out to God for help. And the old atheist captain said, well if there isn't a God there ought to be at a time like this. And we'll call out to God when we need to. And that's what they're doing.
Sort of an emergency religion. Interesting to note they cried out to their gods, plural, but Jonah did not cry out to his God.
Somehow they determined this storm came as a result of Jonah. We read they cast lots. We're not really sure how that played out, but it was sort of like drawing straws. And they found out it's because of this stranger, this guy that's asleep in the lower part of the boat.
So they say to him in verse eight, why has this awful storm come down on us, they demand. Who are you? What's your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?
Jonah says, I'm a Hebrew. I worship the Lord God, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land. Hey, let's give Jonah a little credit. He didn't deny his faith. He may have been a prodigal, but he still was a believer.
Yeah, I worship the Lord God of heaven.
So the guys are thinking, you're telling us that you serve a God that's so powerful, he can do this, and you're running from him? Are you insane? This is crazy. They had heard about the Lord. They had heard about the power of God.
They heard about this God that parted the Red Sea, this God that fed his people with manna in the wilderness, and they were perplexed as to why a person would run from a God this mighty. You know, there's nothing more pathetic than a Christian who has lost their testimony. It's even worse than a person who never had one. Let me say that again. There's nothing worse than a Christian who has lost their testimony It's even worse than the person who never had one.
Jonah had lost his testimony at this point. Jesus said, salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, it's good for nothing. If we were to update that, we might say, Coke is good, but if it's not carbonated, it's worthless, right? And we could say the same thing. people go into coffee places and they order a decaf soy latte It like why Really a decaf soy latte Or worse yet a decaf almond milk latte I mean, that's, or now they have oat milk, right?
All these crazy things. Why don't you just order a kale latte? When are they gonna come out with a kale latte? I think the time is now. You can go drink it in your Prius with your cat.
I don't know, but. I don't know why I Googled this, but I decided to do a Google search on weird things that people have ordered in coffee shops. And this was from Starbucks people. And they said this is what they've heard people order. One person ordered an iced venti caramel macchiato with 15 pumps of vanilla syrup made with heavy whipping cream, barely any ice, and extra caramel drizzle.
That's just sick. Another person ordered a 25 pump chai latte. Excuse me, go to 31 flavors, all right? We're no longer drinking coffee.
So back to my salt analogy. A salt that isn't salty, well it's worthless. A Christian that isn't following Christ is pretty worthless too. And sometimes, listen to this, non-believers have more faith than believers, and sometimes non-believers understand what we're supposed to believe better than we understand it. Example, after Jesus was crucified, he told his disciples he would rise again.
He told it to them again and again and again. And it was very specific, I'm going to be crucified, and three days later I will rise again from the dead.
Okay, there it was. But yet after he was crucified, we read of those two disciples on the Emmaus Road who were joined by none other than Jesus himself incognito. And they said to Jesus, we had hoped, past tense, he would have been the one to deliver Israel, but now it's been three days since he died. Jesus is probably thinking, oy vey, are you serious? How many times did I say three days?
So the believers forgot his promises. But listen to this. Matthew 27, 63. We have the non-believers. The Romans saying, you know, the deceiver when he was still alive said, after three days I'll rise again.
Maybe we better put a guard on the tomb. Wait, what? The non-believers believed it and the believers did not believe it. The nonbelievers say he's the deceiver, but they believe the deceiver, in quotes, enough to think they better pay attention to it. You know, it's a bad thing when you're called out by a nonbeliever, isn't it?
Has that ever happened to you? Where actually a non-Christian says to you, excuse me, I thought you were a Christian. You know you have a temper tantrum.
Something ticks you off. You scream, road rage, you know. And that's with a basket in the supermarket, sadly. Supermarket road rage. You lose it.
Someone says, aren't you a Christian?
Well, yes, I am. Doesn't seem like you're acting much like a Christian.
Well, let me just theologically break. Shut up. They got you. The hardest thing of all is when they're right. And you know what you should say when that happens?
You're totally right. I'm really sorry. I apologize. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We really enjoy hearing when Pastor Greg's teaching and preaching touches lives.
Pastor Greg, I want to thank you for leaving me to Christ over the radio back in 2007. I was a meth addict at the time and could see my life ending soon because of the addiction. God used you that morning as I listened on the radio, as I prayed the sinner's prayer along with you. Instantly, I knew that I was set free. Since then, I've studied God's Word and have never turned back to drugs.
God's presence means everything to me, and I consider myself a living miracle. Thank you, Pastor Greg, for your faithfulness. 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. 866-871-1144.
Well, today, Pastor Greg is helping us re-evaluate our Christian testimony as we consider the failings in this area of the prophet Jonah. This is one of our listeners' most requested studies. I remember one time I went to a pizza place that's now closed, and I'm sorry because it had great old-school doughy pizza. They just don't make it like this anymore. It's kind of greasy, too hot.
Burn the roof of your mouth out. I love this place. You go into a food coma after you eat it. It was down in Newport Beach. Anyway, so I've been going there since I've been a little kid.
And I went in there after I was a Christian. I had long hair at this point, very long hair, a long beard. And I went with a friend of mine, a Christian musician, and we ordered a pizza. And I've always been a prankster. And so before I tell you what the prank was, I noticed a guy sitting next to us.
And I recognized this guy. And I said, excuse me, is your name Paul? And he said, yes. I said, I remember you from school. You know how some people don't change?
They look the same from their childhood to their adulthood. Literally look the same. But then other people, they change dramatically. I change dramatically. But he looked the same.
I said, I was with you in class. He says, who are you? I said, I'm Greg Laurie. You're Greg Laurie? Yeah, I kind of grew my hair out.
Wow. You have to use your imagination for a moment, don't you? Wow, Greg, you've really changed. I said, not only that, Paul.
So I see this as an evangelism opportunity. I'm a Christian now, Paul. No way. No, I'm a Christian. Because he knew how much I got in trouble in school.
I was constantly sent to the vice principal's office. And I said, not only that, Paul, not only am I a Christian, I'm a pastor of a church. He said, they're letting people like you pastor churches now. He couldn't believe it. He reminded me of what a goof off I was and what a prankster I was.
I said, yes, Paul, I used to be that way, but I'm serving the Lord now. and I not the same Greg Laurie you used to know He said all right So good to see you Paul and God bless you I was feeling very good about that I thought that was a great witness Then my pizza came. My friend had gone to the bathroom.
So I thought, you know what would be really funny is to take the really red hot pepper flakes and pour it all over his side of the pizza. Then when he eats it, you know, he'll pass out. I don't know.
So I mean, I'm really putting the pepper flakes. I forgot all about this guy, Paul. He's sitting right next to me. Forgot about him. I'm pouring in the flakes.
And then suddenly I hear Paul say, haven't changed much, have you, Greg? What can I say? Paul is right. I blew it. Joan is busted.
Hey, why would you run from a God this powerful? I read a story about a bar that was being built in Texas. The local church started a campaign with petitions and prayers to stop the bar from being built.
So as the work progressed, a week before opening, lightning struck and it burned to the ground.
So the bar owner sued the church saying they were responsible for this happening because of their prayers. The church denied any responsibility for any connection between their prayers and the fire. The judge read through the plaintiff's complaint and the defendant's reply and says, I don't know how I'm gonna decide this, but it appears from this paperwork that we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer and an entire church congregation that does not.
Sometimes we're shocked when God answers our prayers. And sometimes nonbelievers have a better understanding of what a Christian ought to be than some Christians have. They actually expect us to be different. They actually expect us to be friendly. They actually expect us to be loving.
And they expect us to be forgiving. And they expect us to be caring.
So they'll remind us of that sometimes. And so here's old Jonah and he's busted and he's being exposed for a man who's running from God. He admits he is a Hebrew prophet. And he says, I'll tell you what, fellas, if you throw me overboard, the storm will stop. They're like, okay, bye.
over the side he went.
Now in fairness, they threw a bunch of cargo overboard first and tried to fight the storm but to no avail.
So over the side Jonah goes. But the Lord was ready with this custom designed watercraft. Look at Jonah 117. The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
By the way, this word prepared means ordained or called.
So this is, and we'll get into this in the next message. People get so hung up on the whale or the fish, whatever it was. Sea monster is a literal translation. There's like a couple of verses about this thing. Everyone talks about this fish.
This is not what the story is about. They're so busy looking at the big fish they miss the great God. And they miss the big picture of the book of Jonah which is the greatest revival in human history up to that point happened to the preaching of this reluctant prodigal prophet. Showing that God can use just about anybody. Even someone as flawed as you or me.
But let me just close by asking this. Are you running from God? Maybe the Lord has told you to do a certain thing and you've said no. You know you were raised in a Christian home and you're running from that. I don't want these values.
I don't want to live this way. I want to live my way. My parents don't know what they're talking about. Even God doesn't know what he's talking about. And off you go.
All right, how's that working out for you? Because the Lord will give us the freedom to make our own choices and he'll also allow us to experience the repercussions of those choices. And Jonah was finding out it's a really bad idea to run from God. Those folks called out to their gods and ultimately he called out to his God. And here's the thing that we need to know.
Ultimately as Christians, we will live happily ever after, but there might be some rough seas along the way. What would you rather have, a nice easy flight and a crash landing or a bumpy flight and a safe landing?
Well, I would like a safe landing, thank you very much. there are some people in life that seem to have no suffering at all. Then there are others that seem to have more than their share of suffering. Why is this? Are you ready for my answer?
I don't know.
I just don't know. But I also, I know this. There's more than life on earth. There's eternity. Listen to this.
Life on earth is as good as it's gonna get for the non-believer. and in the same way for the believer, life on earth is as bad as it ever will be because for the Christian, the best is yet to come. For the non-believer, this is it, baby. Enjoy it because it's gonna get a lot worse if Jesus Christ is not a part of your life. Don't run from God.
Run to God. He loves you. His plan for you is better than your plan for yourself. Even though you think you know best, actually you don't. and I hope you'll come to your senses and realize that.
So we're gonna close now in prayer and I'm gonna extend an invitation for any here that may not know Jesus Christ yet. Maybe you're hearing this for the first time. Maybe you've never really thought about a relationship with God. Maybe you are like I used to be where I would just call out to Jesus when I was in trouble but I never understood I could have a relationship with him. I want you to know that Jesus died on that cross for your sin.
He paid the price for every wrong you've ever done, every sin you've ever committed, and then he rose again from the dead three days later, and he stands at the door of your life, and he knocks and says, if you'll hear his voice, and open the door, he'll come in. You think, well, what do you mean open the door? Is there a little door in my heart somewhere? No, it's not literal, but it's an idea of open your heart up, open your life up, say, Jesus, come in, and he will forgive you of all of your sin I gonna extend an invitation for you to believe in him but I also going to extend an invitation for some prodigals out there Some prodigal boys and some prodigal girls Some prodigal men and prodigal women. You say, what do you mean by prodigal?
I mean people that know what's right but they're running from it. They know the Lord but they're running from the Lord. And I'm going to ask you to come back to the Lord and you will be glad that you did. If you need to do either one of those things, why don't you respond as we close now in prayer. Let's all bow our heads.
Father, I pray that you'll speak now to the heart of every person here and every person that is watching and listening wherever they may be. If they don't know you yet, I pray that this will be the moment when they come to you and believe in you. The moment when they can be forgiven by you of all of their sins. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer with those who want to make a change in their relationship with God today.
And if you'd like to do that, Pastor Greg will help you in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. Please stay with us. Are you receiving Pastor Greg'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. Pastor Greg, a few moments ago, you spoke of the need to get our hearts right with God. Could you help someone who wants to do that very thing right now. Yes, I'd be delighted to. Listen, as you've listened to this program today, maybe something's been happening inside of your heart where you're sensing, I need to do this personally, but how do I do it and what do I do?
Let me help you. It's very simple. In fact, it's so simple you may be shocked. God, this relationship with Him is just a prayer away. The Bible says, if you will call upon the name of the Lord, you'll be saved.
So I'd like to lead you in a prayer where you do just that. You call on the name of the Lord. You know, sometimes when I'm talking with someone one-on-one and they want to accept Jesus Christ, I'll have them pray a prayer after me. Maybe you'd like to do that right now. Thousands have done this over the years, listening to our broadcast, and the Lord has changed our lives.
And it can happen for you right now. This can be the moment where you change your eternal address literally from hell to heaven. I'll pray a simple prayer, and I would just ask you to pray this prayer out loud if you like. After me, just pray these words. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for me and rose again from the dead.
Jesus, I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In your name I pray, amen. I know. It's such a simple, short prayer, but you just called on the name of the Lord. And you know what?
He heard that prayer. And if you meant that prayer in your heart, he answered that prayer.
Now let me help you to get started on the right foot in your new life in Jesus Christ. The greatest adventure awaits you, the life of walking with God. I want to send you what we call a New Believers Growth Pack. What is that?
Well, first of all, it's a copy of the new New Believers Bible. And by that, I mean we have redone this from ground level up. I've rewritten the notes, and it's a New Living Translation with a lot of notes on how to grow spiritually woven through this unique edition of Scripture.
So I'll send you the New Believers Pack that includes the New Believers Bible and a whole lot more. And let me be the first to say to you, congratulations and welcome to the family of God. Yeah, and to get that free New Believers Bible, along with the other items in our growth pack, just let us know you prayed along with Pastor Greg to receive Christ today. We'll be glad to send our New Believers Growth Pack your way, free of any charge. Call us at 1-800-821-3300.
You can call anytime 24-7. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. And 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, or your mom or 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 and 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 call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300.
Well, next time we'll see our feelings can get in the way of our faith. We'll learn how to live a life of faith Even when our feelings aren't wanting to come along for the ride Join us here on A New Beginning With pastor and Bible teacher Greg Lord
