The World Changer Who was Out of This World, Part 1 - II

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Go to harvest.org. Or you can live to please others, and that will be very frustrating, because you can't please everyone always. Or you can live to please God.

And that's what Enoch did. He lived to please the Lord. Are you living a life that's pleasing to God? A few years ago, the Christian rapper Lecrae tweeted, if you live for people's acceptance, you'll die from their rejection. A lot of truth in that statement.

Who is it that you try the hardest to please? Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps you reevaluate. We'll walk with Enoch, because Enoch walked with God. The Bible says Enoch walked with God and was not where God took him.

Can you imagine? Step, step, heaven. Let's learn more. Let's grab our Bibles, and we're going to turn to Hebrews chapter 11.

And we're in a brand new series. As you recall, we're calling World Changers. And today, the title of my message is The World Changer Who Is Out of This World.

And we're going to talk about a man now. He was a world changer, and his name was Enoch, and he walked all the way to heaven. Enoch walked with God.

We'll see in a moment. And he was not, because God took him. It's sort of like they would take walks every day, and one day the Lord, in effect, said, hey buddy, we're closer to my house today than we are yours.

Why don't you just come home with me? But he's an amazing character that made it into what we call the hall of faith. Hebrews chapter 11. So if someone makes it into that place, we want to pay careful attention, because Enoch was a world changer. And there's a couple of things I want to point out about Enoch in this message, and we'll do a part two next time and wrap it up. But two things I'm going to bring to your attention about what Enoch did. Number one, we've already alluded to it, Enoch walked with God. There's a verse that I think really opens this subject up beautifully.

It's Amos 3-3. The verse says, can two walk together unless they are agreed? Simple verse, short verse, but actually it's loaded with meaning in the original language. Three very important things sort of bubble up from that verse that we need to know that explain to us what walking with God is. Number one, when it says can two walk together unless they be agreed, it means walking together as a single unit. See, the idea of walking with God is getting in sync with God.

When you do this, your Christian life is going to start firing on all cylinders. You know, Jesus told us, or actually scripture tells us I should say, that he that says he abides in him ought to walk as he walked. Really abiding and walking are interchangeable metaphors. I know they are different. One is movement. One is staying put. Abiding is sort of like planting a tree.

But the concept is the same. Staying in fellowship. Jesus says if you are walking with me, you should abide in me. And then Jesus said in John 15, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you can ask whatever you want and it will be done unto you. See, when I am in sync with God, I will start praying according to his will.

I will be in harmony with him and I will start seeing a lot more of my prayers answered in the affirmative. Number two. Can two walk together unless they be agreed? Amos 3.

Three again. Can we translate it? Unless they have made an appointment. See, you have an appointment with God.

Can two walk together unless they have agreed or unless they have an appointment? God has made an appointment with you. You say, I didn't see that on my calendar.

Oh, it is there every day. You need to make time for the Lord. And for me personally, I find mornings the best time. You know, I get up. I will admit I have coffee first.

Okay? Because I want to be in my right mind. I have coffee. I do that before anything.

Don't hold it against me. Then I read my devotions and commit the day to the Lord. You make time for what is important. Don't tell me you don't have time.

You need to make time. Adam used to have an appointment with God every day there in the garden. I mean, imagine this. The Lord would show up every day when the sun was setting and take a walk with His friend Adam. I don't know if God took on a human form or if the Lord just spoke audibly how that worked, but what a great time that must have been. But one day God showed up and Adam was late for his appointment.

Why? Because Adam had sinned and the Lord said, Adam, where are you? And I wonder if the Lord says that to some of us sometime. Where are you? How come I don't hear from you? How come you're not reading my word? How come you're not showing up at church with my people to worship me? How come you're not praying? What's going on?

Where are you? Keep your appointment with God. One last thing. To walk with God is to pool your resources.

Can two walk together unless they pool their resources? Have you ever seen that TV show called Shark Tank? Entrepreneurs will try to convince successful business people to invest in their product.

It's kind of entertaining because people come up with really weird things that they want these folks to invest their money in. One guy came up with something he called a man candle. Now first of all, let me just say ladies in general, men don't get candles. Like if you gave a candle to a guy we'd be like, oh great.

What do we do with this? Why don't you give me a candle? Girls like candles. I don't know why.

So this guy thought, I'm going to resolve this. It's a man candle. I'm not making this up. It didn't have a fragrant scent to it. Rather it smelled like things men like. Or at least what he thought men like. One smelled like barbecue.

Really? A candle that smells like barbecue. Another one smelled like football. What does that smell exactly? I guess leather. Another smelled like golf course. Whatever that would be. And finally popcorn. I get that one.

By the way it was rejected. Another person came to the shark tank and said okay I've got this bird feeder. But it keeps the squirrels away because the squirrels come and steal the bird seed. The problem is it was electrified and so it zapped the squirrels but the problem was it zapped birds too.

So this is, come get food. Stupid bird. Now if they could find one to zap cats. I'm for that one. Okay now let me just. A word of explanation.

You won't even hear this but I'm going to say it. I actually like cats. I pet them. I enjoy them.

I don't have one but I like them. I mock them because of the reaction I get. People they get so mad at me so I keep mocking cats. Okay. And I'm going to continue on with the cats. So if you're a cat.

Are you a cat lover? Raise your hand. I don't understand you.

How many dog lovers do we have? Okay say I understand you. I'll stop there.

Okay so let's. But they do accept some of these ideas these folks in the shark tank. One lady came with something called the scrub daddy. Ever heard of that? It's a sponge with a smiley face that turns soft and warm water and firm and cold.

Since its introduction it sold more than 50 million dollars in sales. So here's how it works. We come to God with our broken life. We come to God with our problems. And we say Lord I want to go into business with you. And really more to the point he invites us into this relationship. He says let's form a partnership. That's not the only analogy.

This is one aspect. I want you to bring all of your resources. And I'll bring all of mine.

It's sort of like going into business with Bill Gates where you're equal partners. So Bill Gates okay says what do you have there? Well I have 100.

100 what? Pennies. Okay you have a dollar. Yes I do.

Put it on the table. What else do you have? A few debts. Okay let me know what those are. What else do you have? Some problems. Okay what else?

Well not much but here it is. Okay what do you have Mr. Gates? Billions. In fact I have so much money I may be worth a billion more than I was an hour ago. I am not sure.

I haven't checked. But I am going to bring that to the table. So here we are with God. We come with our problems. We come with our weaknesses. We come with our talents. We come with our abilities. We come with our dreams. Our aspirations. We come with it all. But then God comes to the table with all power that's given to him in heaven and earth and he says now I want to change you and transform you.

What a deal. What does it mean to walk with God? It means that I'm in harmony with him. I keep pace with him.

And it also means that I go into business with him. Did Enoch walk with God from his youth onward? Interestingly no. Pastor Greg shed some light on that in just a moment. We are learning from the example of Enoch today as Pastor Greg shows us how to walk properly with God.

And for a copy of this insight go to harvest.org. When did Enoch start walking with God? Genesis 5 21 gives the answer. It says Enoch lived 65 years and begot Methuselah. It appears that the birth of Methuselah brought about the conversion of Enoch. And by the way he was a late bloomer. Guess how old Enoch was when he started walking with God? 65.

65 years old. So his son Methuselah was born and because Enoch walked with God it was revealed to him that when his son died the judgment was going to come. Because the name Methuselah means when he is dead it shall be sent. Would you play with a kid named Methuselah? Hey man what's your name Methuselah? What does that mean? Judgment is coming. I don't want to play with you.

But that is what his name meant. Say wow. Well how long did Methuselah live? Well wait for this.

This is amazing. 969 years. So what does that say? It says A people live longer back then. But more to the point it means he lived super long because God takes no delight in bringing judgment. Sometimes we wonder Lord why haven't you come back to bring justice to this planet?

Why haven't you returned for us yet? And here is the answer. It is found over in the book of Peter.

2 Peter 3. It says no in the last days scoffers will come walking after their own desires and saying where is the promise of his coming? For since all things began nothing has really changed. But then God gives the answer.

But listen. One day with God is like a thousand years. A thousand years is like one day. God is not late. As some men count lateness. But he is long suffering toward us.

Not only that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. So God is waiting. By the way God always keeps his appointments. He is never late. Oh sorry my alarm didn't go up.

My watch wasn't working. God always shows up on time. He has an appointed time and he will return to this earth. So this is a man who walked with God.

And there is one more point I want to bring up about him. World changers live lives that please God. World changers which Enoch was live lives that please God. Go to Hebrews 11 verse 5. Enoch had this testimony that he pleased God. He had this testimony.

Listen every Christian has a testimony. What is that? That is your reputation. That is what people say about you.

What kind of a guy is he or she. Oh they are this or they are that. That is your reputation. What kind of a testimony do you have? Listen every Christian has a testimony. Some are good. Some are amazing.

Some are bad. But here was the testimony of Enoch. He had this testimony that he pleased God.

Oh listen that is an awesome testimony. May that be said of you and me that we live to please God. There are three people you can live to please in life. You can live to please yourself.

If you do that you are going to be miserable. Or you can live to please others and that will be very frustrating because you can't please everyone always. Or you can live to please God.

And that is what Enoch did. He lived to please the Lord. Jesus said I always do the things that please the Father. What a statement. I can't say that.

Can you? You always do the things that please the Father. You say but I don't know. What does it mean to please God? Let me give you three quick points on what the Bible specifically says about pleasing God.

Three specific things. How many of you want to please God? Raise your hand. You want to please God. Okay now listen. Here is what you do.

Number one. One thing that pleases God is when we are treated unfairly we hang in there. Look at.

Well actually I will just quote to you. First Peter 2 19 says, God is pleased with you when for the sake of your conscience you patiently endure unfair treatment. Of course you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong.

Listen. If you suffer for doing right and are patient beneath the blows God is pleased with you. Have you ever been mistreated? Have you ever been misunderstood? Have you ever been unappreciated?

Has anyone ever told a lie about you and you wanted to get them back and you wanted to defend yourself and it is just not right? Listen. It pleases God when you just kind of let it roll off you.

Here is what D.L. Moody said and I live by this. If I take care of my character God will take care of my reputation.

Alright. And you can spend the rest of your life chasing down everything that everyone says about you. Trust me. People say things about me that are complete fiction. And I read and what am I going to do?

You know I mean I can't control the universe. I just want to make sure to the best of my ability that I am walking with God and seeking to honor the Lord but you put it in God's hands. Vengeance is his. He will repay.

Number two. Another thing that pleases God is when we worship and help others. When we worship and help others. Hebrews 13 15 says, Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name but don't forget to do good and to share for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. When you came this morning and sang out loud lifting your hands that pleased God. Even if you were off pitch it is ok with the Lord.

He is not as concerned about pitch like I am. He looks on the heart when people worship. And sometimes we don't feel like praising the Lord do we? We come to church. We fold our arms. I don't want to praise God.

I have a cold. I don't want to praise God. I just had a disagreement with my spouse. I don't want to praise God. The kids are driving me crazy. I don't want to praise God.

I have this other problem. Yeah that is where you offer the sacrifice of praise. You don't offer praise to God because you feel good. You offer praise to God because He is good. The Bible says give thanks unto the Lord for He is good and His mercies endure forever.

And then when you do good for others you see someone in need. Let me help you. Simple. It might be opening the door.

Holding the door open. Let me help you. Hey can I pray for you?

You seem troubled. Let me pray for you today. Here do you need. Let me get that meal for you. Let me do this for you. You don't think a lot about it.

You just do it. That pleases God. God likes it when we do those things. So if you are doing those things you are pleasing God. Third and lastly giving of your finances is pleasing to God. Philippians 4 17 Paul says, Not that I am looking for a gift. I am looking for what may be credited to your account.

I have received full payment and even more. I am amply supplied now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you gave. There are fragrant offering and acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God. So when you give of your finances to the Lord that pleases God.

And it is interesting how Paul says look I don't want this for me. I want it for you. I am not looking for a gift.

I want it to be credited to your account. What do you even think it means when the Bible says lay up for yourself treasure in heaven? Do you think it means that you have stuff waiting for you?

No. This is every time you give to the Lord it is duly noted by God. And it will be a heavenly reward. When you invest in the lives of others and give of the resources God has given you.

You share in that. That is pleasing to God. So here it is when you lift your voice in sacrificial praise you please God. When you are mistreated and you take it you please God. When you invest your financial resources in His kingdom you please God.

Are you living a life that is pleasing to God? Well we know that Enoch did not die. He went to heaven. It was sort of like he was raptured. It was like a solo rapture.

It is an amazing thing. We will talk about it next time. He walked with God and was not for God took him or literally translated him to heaven. Now look that could happen to us. I believe we are living on the last days. I believe Jesus Christ could come back at any time.

And as far as I can see in my study of Bible prophecy I believe the next event on the prophetic calendar is what we call the rapture of the church when all true followers of Jesus are caught up to meet Him in the air in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. That could happen. Just like it happened to Enoch. It could happen to us. Or we will die. And if the Lord doesn't come in our lifetime we die because as I have said before the statistics on death are really impressive. One out of every one person will die.

Right? The Bible says it is appointed unto a man once to die and then comes the judgment. There is no escaping this. But here is the good news. Enoch walked with God on earth. Therefore he was received by the Lord in heaven. When you walk with God and death comes hey you don't look forward to it necessarily.

But you don't fear it either. Because you know when you die you will go to heaven. To be absent from the body the Bible says is to be present with the Lord. The moment you take your last breath on earth you take your next breath in heaven. That is the hope of the Christian.

Do you have that hope? And if you don't I want you to leave with it today knowing your life is right with the Lord. Knowing your sin is forgiven. Listen God made this possible by sending His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for you two thousand years ago. Jesus died in your place. He died for your sin. And if you will turn from your sin and believe in Him you can be forgiven.

And know with certainty you will go to heaven when you die. Now I am going to give you an opportunity to pray and ask Christ to come into your life. If you have not done it yet and if you have wandered away from the Lord I will give you an opportunity to come back to Him as well.

Let's all pray. Father thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sin. Lord Jesus thank you for coming and dying and rising. And now you are here with us now standing at the door of our hearts and knocking. Help those that don't know you to see their need for you and help them to come to you we pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important word of prayer. And if you'd like to make that kind of change today in your relationship with the Lord, Pastor Greg would like to help you do that and he'll do so before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. But if you'd like a permanent copy of the full study Pastor Greg has brought us in the last two programs, get in touch and mention the title, The World Changer Who Is Out Of This World, Part 1. You can call us any time 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300.

Or just go online to harvest.org. You know Pastor Greg, when God wants to use us, does he reveal his plan in small increments? You know many of our listeners know that you found Christ while you were in high school. Is it a good thing God didn't reveal to you that you'd be one day speaking to millions of people in a long running crusade ministry and doing weekly online church services for hundreds of thousands every single week?

Would that have freaked you out? Yes, you know it's interesting Dave, early on in my ministry I got a little glimpse of my future and it's a story I've told before but I went down to a baptism at Coronado Mar State Beach. This is early 70's and I was a little bit late and I had missed the baptism. Now I have to point out I wasn't a pastor at this point, I was just a person attending church and so I'm sitting there wondering how I got the time wrong and I noticed a little group of Christians sitting around singing a song. So I went over and joined them and we sang along and I realized there was no leader and after we'd finished our song I just felt prompted by the Lord to share something from the Word.

Again, understand I'm not a Bible teacher at this time, I'm just someone going to church but I read something in scripture I thought might be relevant so I shared it. And as I was speaking some people joined us who apparently got the time wrong and the baptism as well and they leaned over to me and said, pastor we missed the baptism, could you baptize us? And I said, oh I'm not a pastor, I'm just a Christian and I felt prompted by the Lord to baptize these people. I thought, why not?

Because what is the great commission? It's to go into all the world and preach the gospel, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. I thought, I don't see why I can't baptize them. So I took them down to the beach and I never really studied the technique of baptism, I just attended them and so I'm thinking, wait, do you hold their nose? How long do you keep them under the water? The whole thing was perplexing to me but I baptized them and after I was done, it crowded and sort of gathered up on the top of the rocks.

This is like a natural amphitheater down at the Corona Del Mar State Beach called Pirate's Cove. And so I looked up and this little crowd had gathered and the Lord spoke to my heart and he said, preach the gospel. Understand, I had never spoken publicly before. I preached the gospel and before I knew it, I was inviting the people I was preaching to to come down and accept Christ and I would baptize them. And sure enough, some people came down so it was like the Lord gave me a glimpse into my future but it was still the distant future. That type of thing did not happen for me until much later so sometimes the Lord will sort of put a little seed in your mind or your heart that's sort of a dream, a dream of what can be in your life. And so you know in a sense where you're going but you don't know how you're going to get there, you don't know how it's going to be accomplished. And here's what I've learned, Dave, God has always led me one step at a time. Sometimes what looks like an accident is actually providence. What might look like an interruption is divine intervention. So here's my simple point, God leads you a step at a time.

Be faithful in the little things and he'll give you bigger things to do. So I write about that and a whole lot more in my brand new book that I'm calling World Changers. It's about ordinary men and women that did extraordinary things because they were willing to take bold steps of faith. And God has given to every Christian faith and it's up to us how much we use it. So this book will inspire you and encourage you to go out and change your world and I'd love to send it to you for your gift of any size. And when you order this book, just be reminded of the fact that we'll take your gift and use it to reach more people with a life-changing message of the gospel.

Because it's America's only hope and for that matter, it's the world's only hope. So were you still a pretend pastor in 1978 when you married me and my wife? No, I was real then. I was actually ordained, so don't be alarmed.

Your marriage is official and legal. So I may have looked like a pretend pastor and then I had long hair and a beard then or had I cut some of it off. No, you had a long hair, beard.

Yeah, you had a lot of hair. It's all gone now. We've got wedding pictures. Let's show them on the radio right now. On the radio? Yeah.

In living color. Look at your radio right now. We're showing one of the photos. Yeah, and if you can actually see it on your radio, drop us an email.

We want to hear from you. Can we send you a copy of Pastor Greg's new book, World Changers? It's our thank you gift for those that make an investment right now so these daily studies can continue. It's only through listener support that these daily teaching opportunities are possible.

So thank you for your generosity and be sure to ask for World Changers when you give. You can write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us any time of the day or night, seven days a week at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg, you spoke today about having a relationship with the Lord. Yes. They can enter into that kind of relationship with God right now, can't they? Yeah, they really can. That's the amazing thing. I think people are surprised that it doesn't take years to become a Christian. It doesn't take months. It doesn't take weeks. It doesn't take days.

It doesn't even take hours. You can believe on the spot. And I would like to lead you in a prayer where you can ask for His forgiveness, a prayer where you can receive Jesus Christ into your life as your Savior and Lord. So if you want Christ to come into your life, if you want Him to forgive you of your sin, if you want a second chance in life, if you want to go to heaven when you die, stop what you're doing and pray after me these words. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, and I'm sorry for my sin.

And I turn from it now, and I choose to follow You from this moment forward. As Savior and Lord, as God and friend, thank You for loving me and calling me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. And listen, if you have just prayed those words with Pastor Greg and meant them sincerely, the Lord has heard you and forgiven you of your sin.

The Bible tells us Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And we'd like to send you some materials to help you begin to live this new life. We call out our New Believers Growth Packet. Just ask for it, and we'll send it to you free of charge if you prayed for the first time today with Pastor Greg. Write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us anytime, day or night, 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 as Pastor Greg continues his World Changers series, we'll talk about ways to build bridges to those who don't yet believe. You'll see it starts with kindness. That's next time here 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.