How to Never Stumble or Fall - III

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Hey, I want to hear from you. Would you consider emailing me? You can reach me at Greg at Harvest dot org. Again, that's Greg at Harvest dot org.

And you can also make me one of your friends on Facebook and drop me a comment. Maybe you didn't plan on falling, but you fell. And you're wondering, can I get up again? Well, the answer is not in your own strength.

You need a helping hand. Before we fall, we don't think we will. After we fall, we don't think we can get up.

Pastor Greg Laurie has good encouragement today. Maybe you're saying, yeah, I have fallen and I've tried to overcome this addiction and it's become a worse addiction. I've tried to fix it. It's gotten worse. Okay, Jesus is saying, take my hand now. Let me pull you up.

In 1998, the Etch A Sketch was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. With it, of course, you can draw picture after picture, as complicated as you want. If you mess up, turn it upside down, give it a shake and start over. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie says no matter how your life is messed up, God offers you the chance to turn your life right side up and start over.

Shaking is optional. A case in point today from the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Luke. Here in Luke 22, Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples. He's headed to the cross. He's told them he's headed to the cross. He's gonna break bread with them and tell them to do this in remembrance of him.

But before that, he has a fascinating conversation with Simon Peter. Luke 22, verse 31. Jesus says, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. And when you have repented and turned to me again, you'll strengthen your brothers.

Peter said, Lord, I'm ready to go to prison with you and even to die with you. Jesus said, let me tell you something, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even knew me. Look at Luke 22, verse 39. Coming out he went to the Mount of Olives as he was accustomed and his disciples followed him to the place and he said to them, pray that you enter not into temptation. Now this place being referred to by Luke is the Garden of Gethsemane. As he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, he knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done. When he rose from prayer, he came to his disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow.

And he said, why did you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation. So they're there in the Garden of Gethsemane. They're sleeping when they should have been praying. Here comes the temple guard. And along with them Roman soldiers, they've got swords and spears and shields and torches. And they're coming to arrest Jesus. But before that happens, as the guards come in to grab Jesus, one guy named Malchus, probably his first, and Simon Peter in an attempt to defend Jesus, pulls out his sword and slices off the ear of Malchus. Jesus is like, you know, he has to pick the ear up.

He puts it back on the guy and he heals him. So the last earthly miracle of Jesus was covering the blunder of a disciple. So coming back to our story, now we shift over to John 18. I'm reading from the New Living Translation starting in verse 15. Simon Peter followed Jesus as did another of the disciples. That would be the apostle John, the writer of this gospel. The other disciple was acquainted with the high priest and he was allowed to enter the high priest's courtyard with Jesus. Peter had to stay outside the gate and the disciple who knew the high priest spoke to the woman watching at the gate and she let Peter in. The woman asked Peter, you're not one of that man's disciples, are you? No. He said, I am not. Because it was cold, the household servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire.

They stood around it warming themselves and Peter stood with them warming himself. And now a woman asks him, this is his first denial, you're not one of that man's disciples, are you? He said, no, I am not.

Whoa. He just did it. Now you would have thought that Peter would have said, hold on, I just, I did the thing I said I would never do.

I got to get out of here. No one was holding him here. He could have escaped if he wanted to but he did not do it.

That leads me to his next step down. Verse 25, as he was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him again, you're not one of his disciples, are you? He denied it saying, no, I'm not. Ah, but one of the household slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off asked, didn't I see you in the olive grove with Jesus?

Your sin will find you out. Oh yeah, right, you were there. And that brings us to the third denial and here's something you may have missed. Between the second and third denial, there was a one hour interval. That's a long time.

That's plenty of time to get out of there. But he stayed there. He's compromised now.

He's not thinking rationally. And finally someone says to him, yes, you were with Jesus and I know you're one of his disciples because your accent betrays you. And then we read that Peter began to curse and swear and he took an oath saying, I never knew the man. Now when we read curse and swear, it does not mean that Peter used profanity or swore like a sailor, though he was one.

It means he took an oath. He took an oath and swore to God he didn't know Jesus. Now this is the worst kind of taking the Lord's name in vain. And the Bible says, God gave him the commandments, a specific commandment, thou shall not take my name in vain.

And we've heard people do it. Now there's the obvious applications when people curse using the name of God. But even when someone uses the name Jesus to punctuate a sentence, you've heard that. Someone will say, Jesus Christ, what's going on here? When I see someone do that, I'll say, careful, he might answer you sometime.

I don't even think people realize what they're doing. But we could even take the Lord's name in vain in church because the phrase to take it in vain means to use it in an insincere and frivolous way. So I might be singing a song with the name Jesus in it and when I'm singing the song, I'm judging the person in the pew in front of me.

How could she wear that to church? Or I'm thinking about lunch, hamburger, In-N-Out Burger, animal stuff. Wait, you're singing Jesus, Jesus and you're thinking burger, burger, right? You're doing it in an insincere, frivolous way. But Peter did even more than that.

Here's what he effectively did. Because people will take a note that says, I swear to God, I put my hand on a stack of Bibles. I think a stack will be more important.

Not just one, a stack. A stack of Bibles, they swear. Here's what Peter effectively said, I swear to God, I never knew Jesus. And guess what happened? At the moment he said that Jesus was let out of the courtyard of Caiaphas and he made eye contact with Peter.

So here's how it works. I swear to God, says Peter, I never knew Jesus. Oh, hi Jesus. Literally.

Right there. Oh, Jesus. And the Bible says Jesus looked at him.

I wonder what kind of expression that was. You know, we all have looks we get, right? Parents, we've got these looks down.

Kids are acting up. We say, Johnny, look at me. All that means is stop.

Stop it now. Or someone says something ridiculous, we roll our eyes. Oh, that's a look. Or we look at someone with anger because they cut us off on the freeway.

We have our looks. What kind of look did Jesus give to Peter? Was it a I told you so look? Did he roll his eyes like, loser?

Why did I choose you? I don't think it was. No, I can't. I say with certainty because the Bible doesn't tell us. But here's an interesting thing. The Bible says Jesus looked at Peter. For a better translation, Jesus looked through Peter.

Have you ever had anyone look through you? I'll restate the question. Do you have a mother? You're out late. You come in. Where have you been?

Nowhere, Mom. Look at me. Look at me.

Whatever. He looked at him. Looked right through him. I think it was a look of love.

And I'll tell you why I think it was a look of love. Because Jesus predicted this, right? He said, you're going to deny me, but don't forget the rest of it. When you have returned, you'll strengthen your brothers. Peter, you're going to mess up.

Trust me, it's going to happen. Roosters are involved. But when you have returned, you'll strengthen your brothers. Peter, you're coming back. I don't think Peter heard the you're coming back part because the Bible says he went out and wept bitterly. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

Hey, everybody. Greg Laurie here inviting you to join me every weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a church service. It's a worship service. It's a Bible study, and it's wherever you want it to be. In your home, in your car, sitting on a beach, walking down the street, watching it on your phone, wherever you are, you can take it with you and be ministered to every weekend. Join us for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well, just a word of thanks to those who support this daily study, especially our Harvest partners.

Your generosity allowed us to present this message today. Pastor Greg is examining the denial of Simon Peter today. Contrast Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter. Judas, going back to the Garden of Gethsemane, was given one last chance to repent. When they came to arrest Jesus, Jesus said to Judas, Friend, why have you come? Jesus was giving Judas that one last chance.

Well, of course, Judas went on, he betrayed the Lord, and he hung himself. So two men came short. Two men sinned against the Lord. One went out and took his own life. One went out and wept bitterly. One left and never returned.

One came back again and was restored. And that was Peter. Because three days later, Jesus rises again.

Oh, yeah, remember? He not only said he would be crucified, he said he would rise again from the dead. And here's the message that went up from the angels. Go tell the disciples and Peter he's risen. Not go tell the disciples and Peter, James, and John, or go tell the disciples and Matthew, or go tell the disciples and Mary. No, go tell the disciples and Peter. Why was Peter singled out? Because he needed an encouraging word.

Maybe there's someone here today that needs an encouraging word as well. You've fallen away and you don't know how to get back. You're like the lady in that commercial. I've fallen and I can't get up. Now, I'm not making fun of that lady. But I don't think she actually fell.

I think she's an actor, okay? And saying her lines, not that convincingly in my opinion, but I've fallen and I can't get up. Okay, sorry. But if you've ever fallen, you know what it's like. I was playing racquetball a while ago and I went for some shot and I lost my footing, went in the air, and landed on my back. It was so loud a guy upstairs on a treadmill stopped and said, are you okay? I'm like laying there.

Yeah, I think so. I didn't plan on falling. Maybe you didn't plan on falling, but you fell. And you're wondering, can I get up again?

Well, the answer is not in your own strength. You need a helping hand. If you're flat on your back, someone says, let me help you get back up again. Grab my hand.

And you pull them up, right? So maybe you're saying, yeah, I have fallen and I've tried to make this better and it's gotten worse. I've tried to overcome this addiction and it's become a worse addiction. I've tried to fix this.

It's gotten worse. Okay, Jesus is saying, take my hand now. Let me pull you up. You have to reach out to me.

You have to call out to me. You have to ask me for forgiveness and I will extend this forgiveness to you. Listen, I don't know what trajectory your life is on right now, but I know this. God can change your story.

He can change it today. Yeah, well, my dad did this and my mom did that and my grandparent in this pattern of sin. Shut up.

I don't care. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away.

Everything becomes fresh and new. I'm sorry I said shut up, but I think sometimes we use a pattern of sin or bad behavior and a family to excuse our actions and there has to come a point where we just say I'm responsible for my own actions and I make my choices and then my choices make me and I have Christ living inside of me and He will give me the power to live the life He's called me to live. You know, yesterday at the baptism, I'll take a few moments with every person and I'll ask them when did you come to Christ and they'll tell me their story. I heard amazing stories. I wish I could have filmed them right there, but one guy just covered in tattoos and he said I was a heroin addict and he showed me a hole in his arm that was still there. He had used so much heroin over the years.

He had a permanent hole in his arm. But he was just radiating the love of Jesus because God had changed his story. I talked to couples. We were on the verge of divorce.

Our marriage is falling apart and we came to the Lord and now we're here today getting baptized and our kids are with us and I'm looking at that. A whole family changed because you know, here's what can happen. You know, the parents will get divorced and the kids are caught between the two parents. They remarry and they divorce again and now the kids follow that same pattern and then they have kids and they follow the same pattern and these sins go on for multiple generations. But then you look what happens. Christ intervenes, changes this, and instead of ungodliness going to multiple generations, godliness goes to multiple generations. It happens.

It happens. That's why we're so committed to calling people to Christ but I didn't just baptize people who had lived crazy lives. I baptized some little kids too and you know, I always want to make sure a child understands and so someone came up to me, would you baptize my son? So I talked to him and I baptized him and then they said, would you baptize his little brother? I said, how old is he? They said, he's four. I said, you know, that's kind of young and you know, it's not a bad thing to wait till later to baptize a little one so they understand what they're doing, you know, because it says repent and be baptized. What does a four-year-old repent of?

You know, I've had a lot of timeouts lately. Anyway, whatever it is. So I said, well, let me talk to him and this cute little kid, his name was Graham. So I sat down on the beach with him. I said, so Graham, do you want to be baptized today? He said, yes.

I said, hmm. Now, tell me who Jesus is. He says, Jesus is God and God is Jesus. And I said, that's pretty good. And then Graham says, and then there's the Holy Spirit. I was like, ooh, wow. So we talked a little bit more and I thought, okay, the way I see it is this little child wants to get closer to God, knowing as much as he knows in his little four-year-old mind.

Who am I to say no to him? So I took him out and I baptized him and it was such a great moment and it reminded me of a young lady that came to me. I was at our church in Maui last Sunday. A young lady came and said, I came to Christ at one of your crusades when I was four years old. I said, you came to Christ at four? She says, yeah.

I said, you know, don't get mad at me. How old are you now? She looked like she was 21. When she says, I'm 30 and I've been walking with the Lord all these years. So someone can come to Christ at four, right? But my point is simply this, young or old, whatever life you've lived, we all need Jesus and we need to come to him. And if we reach out to him, he'll take hold of us and he'll forgive us of our sins.

So I'm gonna close with this thought. Is there someone listening to me right now that does not have the certainty that they will go to heaven when they die? Is there someone listening to me right now that is not sure that their sin is forgiven? You can come to Jesus and be forgiven of your sin because he died on the cross for you.

This can be the day where everything changes. But there might be somebody else here or wherever you are that has fallen and you can't get up and it's no joke. Well, the Lord can lift you up but you must admit your sin and he will forgive you and restore you. So we're gonna close now in prayer and I'm going to extend this invitation for you to get right with God. Let's pray. Father, I pray for every person here, every person listening or watching wherever they are.

Help them to see their need for you and help them to come to you now. Amen. Amen. An important prayer from Pastor Greg Laurie. And if you'd like to follow through and do as Pastor Greg suggested and make a change today in your relationship with the Lord, Pastor Greg will help you do that before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. And if you missed any part of today's presentation, you can get a replay at harvest.org. We're able to make these online versions available thanks to our Harvest partners and others who help make this outreach possible. Again, just go to harvest.org and look for the title How to Never Stumble or Fall or get a permanent copy on CD by calling 1-800-821-3300. Reach us any time 24 hours a day at 1-800-821-3300. You know, Pastor Greg, I'm sure you've seen all the 2020 memes about the mess we're in right now.

Someone wrote, Has anyone tried unplugging it and then plugging it back in? You know, the world is just out of control on so many levels, and things need to change. And you have a new book called World Changers that explains how our culture can find its way back to God and His plan. It's a plan that'll work even in the mess of 2020. Isn't that right? Yeah, totally true. You know, 2020 has been the craziest year.

I think that pretty much any of us can remember because nothing is gone as expected. There was a buoyant optimism at the beginning of this year. 2020 sounded so futuristic, so many opportunities, and all of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere comes the coronavirus, and on the heels of that social upheaval, riots in the streets. In some ways, it looks like our country is starting to unravel. And I think that people are so uncertain and they're searching and they're trying to figure out what's going on, and there's never been a more important time for Christians to let their light so shine before men that people might see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven.

It's time to be a world changer. So I've written a brand new book called World Changers, and it's based on Hebrews 11, which is sometimes called the Hall of Faith instead of the Hall of Fame, because it's the stories of great men and women of God who did extraordinary things. And again, I wanna emphasize, they were ordinary people, but they were willing to step out of their comfort zone and take a step of faith. And the theme of Hebrews 11 is what these people did with their faith, how their faith motivated them. You know, another interesting thing is some of these people were pretty flawed characters. Samson made it into the Hall of Faith, and we all know about his shortcomings and downfall, but it's interesting to note that none of their mistakes or sins are recorded in Hebrews 11, only their victories. And I think that's just a perfect picture of grace, is God forgives us, and he sees us in Christ, and he says, your sins and iniquities, well, I remember no more. So if you've messed up in life, if you've failed, and you feel that there's no more chances for you, you need to read this book, because it's gonna encourage you.

It's gonna show you how people that failed, like Samson, like David, and others, got up again and served the Lord and really impact their culture, their world. You know, Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Well, the world's a very big place, isn't it?

So let's personalize that for a moment. Go into all of your world and preach the gospel. You know, some people say they wanna cross the sea and be a missionary.

How about crossing the street and talking to your neighbor? How about your sphere of influence? You can change your world. You just need to take steps of faith, and this book is sort of like a blueprint on how to do it based on biblical characters that made an impact on the culture they were living in and then reminding us of how we can do the same in our culture today.

Yeah, yeah, that's right. And there's never been a time when our culture was more ready for solid answers and real hope. And we'd like to send you Pastor Greg's new book, World Changers, to thank you for your investment. It's an investment in changed lives. We're working to change the world each day here on A New Beginning, and your investment helps us reach even further.

So we hope you'll get in touch today. You can write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. And there's someone to take your call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Again, dial 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to Harvest.org. Pastor Greg, you mentioned our need to come to Christ for forgiveness of sin in today's program. Yes. Maybe there's somebody listening who'd like to do that right now, that'd like to take that step. Maybe you could help them. I'd be delighted to. Listen, if you would like to accept Jesus Christ into your life right now, and by that I mean if you would like your sin forgiven and have the assurance that you will go to heaven when you die, would you pray this prayer with me? Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I thank you for dying on the cross for my sin and rising again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin, Lord, and I turn from it now, and I put my faith in you to be my Savior, my Lord, my God, and my friend.

Thank you for loving me and calling me and accepting me. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Listen, if you just prayed that prayer in a minute, I want you to know on the authority of God's word that Jesus Christ has just come to take residence in your heart. The Bible says these things we write to you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. Listen, we want to send you some resources that will help you grow spiritually. So here's Dave with some details, and let me say God bless you and welcome to the family of God. Yeah, and those resources Pastor Greg mentioned are all included in something we call our New Believers' Growth Packet.

It'll help you get started in living your life for the Lord. So can we send it to you? Just ask for the New Believers' Growth Packet. Our mailing address is A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click on Know God. Well, next time Pastor Greg brings a powerful step-by-step study on how to follow the Lord's plans for a more successful and rewarding prayer life. Join us next time on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins. The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.