The World Changer at the End of the World, Part 1 - II

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. To find out how to know God personally, go to knowgod.org. K-N-O-W, knowgod.org.

Hey, would you do me a favor? Share this message with someone who needs to hear it. Noah went 120 years and never had a single convert. So you think your evangelism isn't going well? As an evangelist himself, Pastor Greg Laurie points out our job is to deliver the message, regardless of the response. Understand my job is not to convert people.

I've never converted anyone, nor can you. Your job, my job, our job is to preach the gospel. So do what you can while you can. When we plant seeds in the ground and water them like we should, our job is done.

We can't make them grow. God gives the increase. Likewise, when it comes to evangelism, we're messengers, we're seed planters, and we have to leave the rest to God. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie brings us practical insights in that regard from our study of the life of Noah as a part of the new series called World Changers.

It's a good opportunity to take some notes. We're going to look at a time historically now where the world was very dark. In fact, it's the darkest the world has ever been, yet not as dark as it still will be. And in the midst of this very dark backdrop shined a very bright light, a true world changer. And his name was Noah. You know there have been movies made about him. There was Evan Almighty. Then there was a more recent film called Noah starring Russell Crowe. And that was a curious film. How many of you saw Noah with Russell Crowe? You know there were moments in the film I thought were pretty good. I thought the special effects, the ark, and the flood were pretty amazing. But then the rock monsters.

Like what? If you haven't seen the film it's like Noah is building the ark. Like the Bible says all of a sudden these big monsters made out of rock are helping him. I'm like what happened?

And then one of the scenes in the film that is so crazy is when the flood is coming down and Noah is trying to close the door of the ark and people are trying to abort. And he is killing them. Like he is in Gladiator again. All of a sudden he is reverting back to being Maximus. Killing the people.

Wait. That is not in the Bible. What a misunderstanding of who this character Noah really was. He was a rebel for sure.

He went against the grain. But he was a man that stood his ground and did what God told him to do. And by the way the door of the ark remained open and God wanted people to come in. It is just that nobody wanted to go in. Ok. So let's try to identify some principles as to why Noah was a world changer.

If you are taking notes here is principle number one. God revealed secrets to Noah. God revealed secrets to Noah.

Look at verse 7 of Hebrews 11 again. It says Noah was divinely warned. So the Lord spoke to his servant. He told him what was coming down.

He told him what was about to happen. The Bible says faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. Hey has God spoken to you lately? Maybe the Lord has sort of nudged you. I find a lot of times when God is speaking it is not so much words.

It is a nudge in a certain direction. Maybe it is a person that I am sort of nudged toward. Like go talk to that person.

I never know what I am going to say. Just start talking and things come and you realize the Lord wants you to minister to that person. Maybe it is a step of faith God sort of led you to.

Maybe he is leaving your comfort zone and do something you wouldn't normally do. Like start a Bible study at work. He is a few Christian people.

Let's get together at lunch time. Have a Bible study. Or maybe he has led you to go share your faith. Or he has led you to do something else. God has spoken to you.

Here is my question. Did you listen? God spoke to Noah. And he listened. And God revealed secrets to Noah.

Number two. Noah had great reverence for God. He had great reverence for God. Verse 7 says, He moved with godly fear. You know sometimes we hear the word fear and we don't know what it means. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So when we talk about fearing God does that mean that we are afraid He is going to smack us? Well really what it means is we have reverence for Him. One definition I sort of like about God's fear or fearing God is a wholesome dread of displeasing Him.

It is not so much a fear of retribution. It is a dread of displeasing Him. I don't want to dishonor Him.

I don't want to disappoint Him. And Noah moved with this reverence and fear. He helped bad with things when God spoke to Noah. As bad as they possibly could be. As bad as it has ever been.

But as I said not as bad as it still will be. And that is why Noah was the last days believer. But here is what he shows us.

He shows us you can live a godly life in an ungodly world. You think things are bad where you are right now? You have no idea how bad it was where Noah was. How bad was it? Now go to Genesis 6.

Let's read about it. Starting in verse 5. It was so bad that God saw the wickedness of man that was great on the earth. God saw that every intent of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry He made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart. And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth. Both man and beast creeping thing and birds of the air.

For I am sorry I made them. And of course judgment was about to come. But here is this man Noah. Living a godly life in an ungodly place. Shining as a bright light in the darkest circumstances imaginable.

Bringing us to point number 3. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Genesis 6 says that. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Does this mean that God had grace on Noah because he lived a righteous life?

No. The very opposite. Noah lived a righteous life because God had grace on him. What is grace? It has been defined as God's unmerited favor. Because he found grace or grace found him. Noah lived a righteous life.

Listen to this. God does not love us for what we have done or haven't done. Nor does God love us for what we are or are not. God loves us and extends grace toward us because He chooses to.

Just because He loves you. And so He extended His grace to Noah. Noah responded appropriately to that grace and was a world changer. And he obeyed God and honored the Lord.

Principle number 4. Noah walked with God when no one else did. Noah walked with God when no one else did. Verse 9 says Noah walked with God. Like his great grandfather Enoch, Noah responded to God's grace and walked with him. By the way, it is only said of two people in the Bible that they walked with God.

Not that others didn't. But it is specifically said of two people they walked with God. One is Noah. The other is who? Enoch. We talked about him.

He too was a world changer. Remember we gave a key as to what it means to walk with God. Amos 3.3 says, Can two walk together unless they be agreed? And the idea conveyed there is, unless they are in harmony, moving together to walk with God means I get in step with God. It means I conform my will toward God's will.

It means that I honor Him. But here is Noah who walked with God when no one else did. Do you ever feel like you are the only person walking with the Lord? That is one of the reasons I love our crusades. Because thousands of Christians gather together and worship God.

And you remember, hey I am not the only one. Because sometimes we feel like a minority. And that is because in many ways we are. But I love it that we can all come together and honor the Lord. And some critics have said of crusades, Well you know they are attended primarily by Christians. Yeah. So? What is wrong with that? Is it a bad thing for thousands of Christians to get together and pray and worship God?

Hey I think it is a wonderful thing. And you know what? A lot of those Christians bring nonbelievers with them. And those nonbelievers respond as we have seen over the years. Because it is a powerful thing when a nonChristian walks into a stadium full of 38,000 people or more praising Jesus they say, Wow.

You know. It is a great moment. And boy it really kind of softens our heart up for when we bring the gospel message to them.

But yes sometimes you might feel as though you are the only one. You know Elijah felt that way. He was called by God to go face off with the prophets of Baal up there and Mount Carmel. So they all got together at the Carmel Corral if you will. Remember the OK Corral. This was the shootout at the Carmel Corral.

It was better than the Thrilla in Manila or the Rumble in the jungle. This was the battle of the gods. And guess who won? The Lord. Who answered by fire and the fire came down on the sacrifice in response to the prayer of the prophet Elijah. And the prophets of Baal were killed. And Queen Jezebel who was underwriting the prophets of Baal was really ticked off. She was royally ticked off. She was a queen.

You can get royally ticked off when you are a queen. And she put a contract out on Elijah. She said, You are dead man. I am going to find you and I am going to kill you. So he was really upset. And he ran away and he was hiding. And he actually prayed this prayer. Lord enough already.

Take my life now. And he fell asleep. And then an angel of the Lord appeared to him and I love what the angel said.

The angel wakes him up and says, Hey Elijah have something to eat. That is so practical. Buddy you just need some food.

Ok. It is sort of like me. When I don't eat I get cranky. Is there anybody else that gets cranky when they don't eat? I mean my wife knows you are hungry aren't you?

How do you know? Because you are just cranky when you don't need to be. I am not cranky. She will throw a sandwich at me. I will be much better. Then I will be sleepy.

Pretty predictable. You know when you have a little child that can't speak yet and they are crying a lot there are usually three reasons. Number one they need their diaper changed. Number two they are hungry. Number three they need a nap. Change your diaper. Give them a nap. Give them something to eat. Not while they are sleeping until they wake up or before.

They will be much happier. We are not that much different. I don't know about needing your diaper changed.

Just practical. Hey man take a nap and eat something. Now snap out of it Elijah. The Lord says, I have plenty who have not bowed their knee to Baal.

You are not the only one. So Elijah understood that he was not alone in all of this. Coming up in a moment, Pastor Greg reminds us of our most important mission field. The number one area where it is most important.

That's coming up. Hearing about listeners who find Jesus because of the ministry of harvest is so encouraging. Pastor Greg, through your ministry I came to Christ. And because of that decision I have dedicated everything to God. Today I have the extreme honor of praying with my 13 year old son as he accepted Christ for himself. What a big day and I give glory and praise to the Lord. And Pastor Greg I pray you are blessed because Christ used you to save me. Now my son is saved and I couldn't be more blessed.

If you have a story to tell of how these studies have touched your life or that of a family member. I hope you will contact us today. Call our special number 1-866-871-1144. That's 866-871-1144. Well we are learning lessons today from the life of Noah as part of Pastor Greg's series, World Changers. And our thanks to our harvest partners and others who support us regularly for helping to make today's study possible. Here is another thing about Noah.

Number 5. He was a witness for God. You say wait I don't read about that here in Genesis or Hebrews.

No. That is found over in 2 Peter 2. It says Noah was a preacher of righteousness.

But listen to this. Noah went 120 years and never had a single convert. So you think your evangelism isn't going well?

120 years and did not have one single convert. But listen. Understand your job, my job, our job is to preach the gospel. My job is not to convert people. I have never converted anyone.

Nor can you. That is the work of the Spirit. Sometimes my job is just to sow the seed. Other times my job is to water a seed someone else has sown.

Occasionally I have the privilege of reaping where others have watered and sown. But the bottom line is I am called to be faithful. So be faithful with what the Lord has set before you. God isn't going to hold you accountable for what He has called me to do. He isn't going to hold me accountable for what He has called you to do. He is going to hold you accountable for what He has called you to do.

So do what you can while you can. But having said that. Though Noah never really reached anybody out there even though he was a preacher of righteousness he did reach his own family. Back to Hebrews 11. Verse 7 again. By faith Noah being divinely warned of things not yet seen moved with godly fear and he prepared an ark.

Listen. For the saving of his household. Maybe he didn't reach thousands. He didn't reach hundreds.

He didn't reach tens. But he reached his family and they believed and helped him build that crazy ark. Because they knew that dad loved God.

They knew that Noah was a man of integrity. Listen to this parents. God has given to you the responsibility to raise your children in the way of the Lord.

Do not fail in this mission. Don't tell me you are so busy you don't have time to read the Bible to your kids before they go to sleep at night. Don't tell me you don't have time to take your children to church. Not send them to church. You make time for what matters.

Because time passes quickly. And soon they will be older. It is not the job of the church to raise your children in the way of the Lord. Listen. We are here for you. We are here to reinforce what you do. Right now you that have kids they are being cared for by the volunteers here at the church that help out and minister to those little ones. And it is our privilege to do this for you.

But let me say this. We don't want to do it instead of you. We want to do it along with you. We are just reinforcing what hopefully you are already doing by first modeling it in your home and then of course teaching it in your home. When should you teach your children?

Moses said that you must commit yourself wholeheartedly to the commandments of God and repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home. Talk about them when you are away on a journey.

Talk about them when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. And it is such a joy when the kids get it. Isn't it? Because they rebel and they go through their phases and then one day they get it and they start walking with the Lord. And you know I look at my son Jonathan. He was a prodigal son like his older brother Christopher. And Jonathan recommitted his life to the Lord after God called his brother home to heaven. And it was a statement that Christopher made to Jonathan that really shook his life prior to Christopher dying. He said to his brother, what is it going to take for you to commit your life to Jesus Christ? And after Christopher went to heaven Jonathan recommitted his life to Christ. And now my son Jonathan is a pastor here at Harvest actually teaching and preaching the gospel. Isn't that great?

We have amazing discussions you know. Watching the Lord work in his life. Watching him grow spiritually.

Then he is doing it for his children. He was getting his daughter Allie already, my granddaughter, ready for school. It is her first day at school a few days ago. She is in kindergarten. So Jonathan is kind of preparing Allie.

Sweet little girl. Whenever I ask my granddaughters to pray Allie always volunteers first before all the others. She loves the Lord. And so he says, now Allie not everybody in school where you are going to be going believes in Jesus ok. So understand that.

They don't all love Jesus like you do. So you know we just pray that God will help you find friends. And she is listening. And then she said ok. So he prayed for her. And then she added this little piece of the prayer.

She said, Lord help me find some new friends and if they don't know about Jesus help me to tell them about Jesus. I thought right on. Yeah. That is good parenting.

Maybe good grandparenting too you know. One last thing I will say about Noah and we will close. It is about this ark. The door was open to the ark. Genesis 7.1 says, the Lord said to Noah, Come unto the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. The door of the ark stood open. Anyone could have gone into the ark. Noah wasn't killing them gladiator style.

They just didn't want to go in. And notice that the Lord said come into the ark. Not go into the ark. Come in. Implying that He is there. If I am in my house I say come in. God says here I am in the ark. Come in here. And in the same way Jesus Christ says come unto Me.

All of you that are laboring and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. A lot of times people don't have time for God until crisis hits. Remember the aftermath of 9-11. Remember how churches were filled.

Too overflowing. Everybody wanted a spiritual perspective on what just happened in our country. All of those people killed. There were prayer vigils on street corners.

Remember those? Remember when Congress spontaneously broke into God bless America in the Capitol steps. It was almost like a revival was beginning. And then it ended as quickly as it started.

People were back to their normal busyness. And that happens in our life. There might be a crisis and we call out to God and He is so gracious He hears us. How easily He can say forget about you man. You didn't call out to Me any other time. I don't have time for you. You didn't have time for Me.

I am too busy for you. Now someone God says. He says call upon Me and I will answer you says the Lord.

He is waiting for us to call on Him. And maybe something has happened in your life that has got you thinking about the brevity of life. It has got you thinking about the afterlife. It has got you thinking about the meaning of your life.

Well you have come to the right place. Because Jesus says come to Me. He will give you the answers you are looking for. He can give you the hope that you will go to heaven when you die.

He will forgive you of all of your sin but you must come into the ark. The door was opened. Jesus said I am the door. If anyone enters in by Me he will be saved.

He is the door. Walk in the door. You want to go in. Walk in. Those people didn't want to go in. And then when the rain began to fall the door was shut and it was too late.

Listen. There is going to come a moment when the door is shut. There is going to come a moment in everyone's life when it is too late. Now I don't know if we are the generation that will see the return of Jesus.

We will talk about that next time. I think we could be. Because Jesus said, as it was in the days of Noah so also will it be before the Son of Man returns again. We could be that generation. But even if He doesn't come in our lifetime I know one thing. The end of everyone's world is going to come. The end of your world and the end of mine.

And then there is the next world. Then there is the afterlife. And my question to you is are you ready for the afterlife and do you have the hope of heaven?

Because if you don't have it I want you to have it before you leave. And we are going to close in prayer and I am going to extend an invitation for anybody here that wants to be forgiven of all of their sin. Anybody here that wants to be sure they will go to heaven when they die. Anybody that wants to be ready for the Lord's return. You can come in. Just as the people could have gone into the ark you can come to Jesus and find forgiveness and rest.

So respond if you need to. Let's all bow our heads. Father thank you for your word to us. Now I pray for any that are here or listening that don't know you yet. Help them to see their need for Jesus and help them to come to you now. We pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important word of prayer from today's study. And if you'd like to make a change in your relationship with the Lord, Pastor Greg will help you with that before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. And to get a permanent copy of today's study called The World Changer at the End of the World Part 1 go to harvest.org or call us anytime night or day at 1-800-821-3300.

1-800-821-3300. Well Pastor Greg we're making available your brand new book called World Changers. It's a great compliment to our current studies. Yes. Getting down to basics, let me ask you what do you mean by world changers?

Well Dave I guess it comes down to this. Are we changing the world or is the world changing us? You know the Bible says don't be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Or as another translation puts it, don't let this world squeeze you into its mold. So the idea of being a world changer is asking the question are you making an impact in your world? In your sphere of influence? Because after all Christ said go into all the world and preach the gospel. But let's personalize that and say go into all of your world and preach the gospel. Do your friends know that you're a follower of Jesus? Do your neighbors know?

Does your family know? So the idea is instead of the world molding me into its image I want to impact the culture with the gospel. You know Jesus said that we are to be both salt and light in the culture. He says you're the salt of the earth, you're the light of the world.

And salt in the first century was used as a preservative to stop the rotting process. So a Christian living as they should as a world changer, as a follower of Christ will stop the spread of corruption. They'll hold back evil and then he also said you're the light of the world. And so the idea is that we let our light shine before other people and they see there's something unique about us and it attracts them to Jesus Christ. So this is all based on Hebrews chapter 11 which is sort of like the hero's hall of faith. You know Dave years ago I went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cincinnati.

It's kind of a cool place and they have all kinds of guitars and various artifacts from rock and roll history. And this is sort of like God's hall of faith, of the great heroes of faith that we can look to and learn from. So in this book World Changers I talk about many of the people featured in Hebrews chapter 11 and how we can be a world changer wherever we are. It's full of practical insight to take us to the next level in our walk with God and our service to God. And we'd like to send it your way to say thank you for your investment so we can continue to change the world through Pastor Greg's teaching from God's Word.

In fact we recently received this comment on social media. Good evening from Finland. We even have a Harvest Church here in southern Finland. I discovered Pastor Greg through his online devotionals and I still read them daily. You can help us continue to reach out and be world changers as we help you become a world changer by sending Pastor Greg's new book called World Changers. So thanks for sending your investment today to A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514 or call any time 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org. And then Pastor Greg, as we get close to the end of today's program, we want to give an opportunity for those who'd like to to make a change in their relationship with the Lord. Yes. Could you help them with that? I'd be delighted to. Listen, if you would like to accept Jesus Christ into your life right now, 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 as Pastor Greg said, we have some resources we'd like to send your way to help you as you begin to live the Christian life. We call this resource collection our New Believers Growth Packet, and we'll send it to you free of charge. Just write a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or call any time around the clock at 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click on Know God. And our thanks to our Harvest partners for helping to make resources like this available. Well, next time, more insight from Pastor Greg's series called World Changers. Good encouragement on being a good, godly example for our families. That's 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.