A Second Chance for a World Changer: God Is on the Search

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by Harvest Partners. Helping people everywhere know God. If you would like to know how you can become a Harvest Partner, just go to Harvest.org.

That's Harvest.org. Will you raise your hand and say, I do, or will you hold your hand down? Because God will use you if you will let Him use you. Can you imagine if Billy Graham had decided to stay at his family's dairy farm instead of listening to the call of God? Or if Noah had decided he wasn't really in the mood to build a boat?

What's keeping you from making yourself available? Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie brings good inspiration from his series called World Changers. We're examining the lives of those in the Bible who brought God's influence to the culture in which they live.

Learning how we can do the same. I don't know about you, but I was not raised in the church, which means I never really knew about a God who loved me and cared about me and had a plan for my life. I'd heard it here and there, but it never seemed to penetrate my youthful mind until one day in 1970, I heard the gospel articulated in a way that I understood, and I believed in Jesus Christ. Okay, so just to think that God in heaven cared about me and loved me and had a plan for my life was mind-blowing, but then I heard that God wanted to use me. Not only that, I heard that God had commanded me to go into all my world and preach the gospel. So as about, I don't know, maybe a two-month-old Christian, I went out looking for someone to share my faith with. And I've told you this story before, and you know it already probably, but in case you don't, I found a middle-aged lady sitting on a beach. I walked up to her cold.

I hadn't even memorized the contents of the booklet. I read to her, but much to my shock and delight, when I was done, she said yes, she wanted to believe in Jesus, and we prayed there. You know, she had asked me one even remotely difficult question.

I would have collapsed like a house of cards, but she didn't. She was responsive, and I was excited. And then I said to the Lord, hey, this is great, Lord. I want to be used by you even more. You know what I found out?

God takes prayers like that seriously. So I found myself out and about sharing my faith more and more, engaging people with the gospel, and I love that. But like most people, I had a fear of public speaking. You know, I think you've heard it said that whenever studies are done, the number one fear of most people is public speaking, sometimes even before death, which I've always found insane.

But we're all nervous about the idea of speaking to a group of people. I remember when I was a non-believer hanging out at the beach in Corona Del Mar there called Big Corona, that there was some guy who would come down on Saturdays dressed head to toe in black, complete with a black hat. He was some kind of preacher. Of course, he had a black Bible.

He would stand out on the blazing sun and tell everyone to repent of their sins and turn to Jesus. And I remember as a young kid, I had here then a really cool surfer wave, the whole deal. I'm standing there on my board shorts and t-shirt, looking at this guy, and I'm thinking, man, if there's one thing I never want to be, it's that guy.

Okay, now fast forward many years. I'm a brand new Christian. I've been sharing my faith, and I've told you the story of when I first spoke publicly. It was actually at that same beach, not far from where I saw that crazy preacher dressed in black. And I was standing before a bunch of people that were up on the cliffs there at Little Corona Beach after I had shared the gospel with some girls, and they had accepted the Lord, and I baptized them, and the Lord spoke to me and said, preach.

What could have been the most terrifying moment of my life was one of the most exciting and exhilarating. And I realized that God wanted to use me. But here's the thing. God wants to use all of us.

And here's my challenge for you. It's time to leave our comfort zones and say, God, I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll say whatever you want me to say.

I'll go wherever you want me to go for you. I think it's time for us to take it to the next level in our Christian life. As I mentioned in my last message, one of the marks of spiritual growth is you see you need to grow a lot more spiritually.

In other words, if you think you've reached some plateau and you're where you need to be and you don't need to grow anymore, you are not growing at all. But if you recognize there's so much more to learn, so much more growth that needs to take place in your life, that's a good sign. And another good sign of a growing Christian is a dissatisfaction with where you are at at the moment. By that I simply mean that you want things to change in your life and you want to be used by God.

So we're back in this World Changers series. We're talking about men and women that change their world. And all of us need to be praying about how God can use us to change our world. Because every Christian is called to serve God.

It's not just for preachers or missionaries or evangelists or others. Every Christian is called to serve God. I love this passage, Romans 12, starting in verse 4, it says, Just as our bodies have many parts, each one is a special function.

So it is with Christ's body. We're all parts of this one body, and each of us has a different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.

Because, it concludes, each of us has been given the ability by God to do certain things well. Here's a mark of spiritual maturity. When you come to church and say, Lord, use me.

Here's a mark of spiritual immaturity. I say, I want everybody here at church to serve me. A mark of spiritual maturity is consistency in church attendance.

A mark of spiritual immaturity is a lack of consistency in church attendance. It's when I'm saying, Lord, I don't want to just be ministered to. I want to minister. And I'm telling you, God is looking for people to use right now in that capacity. In Ezekiel 22, God says, I look for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone, interesting phrase, I searched for someone, God says, to stand in the gap on the wall so I wouldn't destroy the land, but I found none.

Think about that. God is searching. Right now, God is searching this room for someone to use.

A man, a woman, a boy, or a girl. He's looking for someone to sort of raise their hand and say, here I am, send me. When I'm with my grandkids, I'll always have them raise their hands. Who wants to go out for ice cream? I do, Papa.

Their hands will all go up, okay, then we'll go. God's saying, who wants to be used by me? Will you raise your hand and say, I do, Papa. I do, Father.

Or will you hold your hand down? Because God will use you if you will let him use you. Now, you might say, well, Greg, you know, you have your super cool pulpit here that you stand behind that lights up, and I don't have a pulpit like that. Well, listen, actually, you do have a pulpit.

It doesn't have to be a box like this. A pulpit is a platform. A pulpit is opportunity. A pulpit is your sphere of influence. No matter where you are, if you flip burgers, man, you have a pulpit. If you wash dishes, you have a pulpit. If you're a business executive, you have a pulpit.

If you're in some other field, you have a pulpit, a musician, whatever it is. I received a letter from a school teacher the other day, in a public school, mind you, and I love what he wrote, and here's what he said in the letter. Dear Pastor Greg, I'm a high school teacher in a pretty tough area. As a public school teacher, I have to find creative ways of witnessing the students and sharing the love of Jesus with them because Jesus is a very foreign concept to many of the students here. So I decided to give the students some extra credit assignment over the weekend. They had to watch the Harvest Crusade or go to the Crusade in person, and I love this guy.

I mean, can you imagine? A public school teacher telling the kids for extra credit, go to a Harvest Crusade. So he said they had to do a one-page write-up on it and what they saw and experienced. Well, he says, I'm very happy to report that a few of the students gave their lives to Jesus, and several were just asking me questions, which is an awesome opportunity, he writes, to plant more seeds. The Crusade got many of the students thinking about things they had never heard about in their homes. My prayer is that those who saw the Crusade and haven't made the decision will make the final decision.

No matter what, I'll keep in contact with those kids and continue to be a witness to them. And God bless this guy, and God bless every one of you that sees opportunities around you. You know, sometimes people say, I want to go serve the Lord. I feel called on the ministry. Okay, opportunities are everywhere. Jesus said, lift up your eyes.

The fields are white unto harvest, but the laborers are few. Now, I know some of you are thinking, oh, please, Greg, you know, I'm not like you. I'm not outgoing. I don't have the gift of gab, and besides, I've made too many mistakes.

Now, I want to tell you what you're saying. Those are excuses. That's all they are. And what is an excuse? One definition I like is, an excuse is a lie dressed up for dinner.

That's all it is. An excuse is a fancy lie. You know, when someone asks you to do something you don't want to do, you make an excuse, and people often will offer up excuses why they can't be used by God. But if we learn anything from this series in Hebrews 11, that I'm calling the Heroes Hall of Faith World Changers, we learn that these were super flawed people. They were far from perfect.

In fact, they failed often. The folks that we read about here in Hebrews 11 are not there because they were great people. They are there because they had faith in a great God. I mean, consider some of the world changers we've looked at here in Hebrews 11 and other places of the Bible as well. Remember Abraham?

We learned all about him, the father of faith. Well, we know that he lied twice about Sarah being his wife because, well, the man of faith lacked faith. His son Isaac did the same thing. Sarah, his wife, left at God's promise and then denied that she laughed. Jacob lied and also connived.

Noah got drunk. Samson was a very immoral man. Gideon was afraid.

Rahab was a prostitute. Jeremiah and Timothy were too young. David had an affair and was a murderer. Elijah at one point was suicidal. Jonah ran from God. Job went bankrupt. The Baptist ate bugs and Peter denied Christ.

The disciples fell asleep while praying. The Samaritan woman was divorced more than once. Timothy had an ulcer and Lazarus was dead. So what's your excuse? Now think about it. These people messed up. But God gave to them second chances and that's why I've called this message A Second Chance for a World Changer. You see, maybe you need a second chance. Maybe you've had a lapse of faith.

You're like that lady in the commercial. I've fallen and I can't get up, right? Well you can get up and you can have a second chance and God can use you. Maybe you feel like your story is over because of a mistake you've made or a sin you've committed. But listen, get up and run again.

Your story is not over. That's what Hebrews 11 is all about. In just a moment, Pastor Greg introduces us to the spiritual forefather we'll be studying today. The Bible called him a man of God.

More on that in just a moment. So many listeners have commented on the encouragement they receive from these daily messages. God's Word ministers to them and it often gets them through some of their darkest hours. I frequently listen to Pastor Greg on Christian radio in my area. He was extremely helpful when my husband of 43 years suddenly and unexpectedly went to be with the Lord in January of this year. He was retired and I had just retired in May and we had plans for our retirement years.

However, God's plans were quite the opposite. Needless to say, I felt like my life was ripped out from under me. While listening to Pastor Greg one day, he spoke of the promise of hope after the loss of a loved one. Of course, he was speaking about the loss of his son. I am still in the grieving process, but his message helped me find hope and some peace.

I continue to move forward through this trial. God is so good. Every time I cry out for comfort and strength, he puts the right message or person in my path. So thank you for all you do. Have these daily studies ministered to you and your family? If so, would you let us know? You can tell your story by calling 1-866-871-1144.

That's 866-871-1144. Well, Pastor Greg is bringing us some good news today. From his series, World Changers, we're seeing God give second chances. It's evident in the lives of those he used to change the world.

Now, what is the key to these folks that changed the world? One word, faith. The key is faith. Hebrews 11 starts off with these words, really a definition of faith. Faith is a substance of things hoped for.

It's the evidence of things not seen. Remember I reminded you that faith needs to be used. Faith is like a muscle if you neglect it, it will atrophy. It has to be in constant use.

It comes down to this, use it or lose it. So now we're gonna look at a man who really put faith into action. Our next World Changer on the list is a name you know well. I'm talking about Moses. God put his hand on Moses when he was a little baby. I love his story.

It's almost like a fairy tale, but it's 100% true. Now we all know how God providentially protected the little baby Moses in his little waterproof basket floating down the Nile River. Ultimately he could have become the next Pharaoh of Egypt, but when he could have zigged, he zagged. And of course we know that Moses had his problems, and Moses made his mistakes, and we'll look at a few of those in a moment, but let's just get the big picture of who this guy was.

Let me just sum it up this way. Moses was a man of God. I didn't say he was a perfect man because no one is.

No woman is either, though they often think so. No, Moses is described in the Bible as the man of God. What a great description. That's Deuteronomy 33 one. Man, if nothing else was said about you, and someone could just say, you know what? That is a man of God, or that is a woman of God.

I can't think of a higher compliment. A flawed man, yes. A man of God also, yes. Let's dig into our scripture now. Go to Hebrews 11. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents because they thought he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king's command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. He esteemed the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked forward to the reward.

We'll stop there. Now, just sort of a little backdrop historically. Things were really hard for the Jewish people at this time. You remember the way the Jews got into Egypt goes back to Joseph. Remember, his brother sold him into slavery, and he spent time in prison there, and because he could interpret the Pharaoh's dream, he became the second most powerful man in the kingdom in charge of the food supply. Well, to Pharaoh, Joseph was a hero. So the Pharaoh said to Joseph, hey, come and live here and bring your family with you. And so all of Joseph's brothers and his extended family moved to Egypt, now time passes, and his family's grown larger, and now we have a lot of Jewish people living in Egypt. But that Pharaoh who favored Joseph has now died and passed from the scene.

And another Pharaoh is in his place, and the Bible says this Pharaoh of Egypt did not know Joseph. He did not care about the Jewish people. In fact, he despised the Jewish people.

He felt there were too many of them. In fact, this Pharaoh was so wicked, he wanted to eradicate the Jewish people, so he gave a command to the midwives who were involved in delivering the babies. If it's a Jewish baby boy, kill it.

I don't want any more boys born into this culture. Pharaoh was sort of a precursor to Adolf Hitler with his own version of a final solution. Okay, enter a Hebrew couple, Amran and Jokabat.

Now, Amran was the father, Jokabat was the mother, and she gave birth to a baby boy. And there was something special about Moses from the start. The Bible actually tells us he was beautiful. Now, when the Bible says someone was beautiful or well-built or tall or whatever distinction it brings out, it's saying it for a reason. Now, I know that we all think our babies are beautiful, but you know, they actually aren't. We don't usually say it, but you know, you see a baby every now and then, you go, whoa, you know, they'll grow out of it. But then you see babies that are beautiful at birth and then just become more beautiful or more handsome. And that was Moses. We have a couple in our church, Mike and Crystal, they just had their first baby.

Mike is involved in our children's ministry at Harvest Orange County. And I was looking at their baby last night. I mean, this baby is so gorgeous. They have beautiful eyes and perfect little face and just giggling and laughing and smiling until I came along and then the baby started crying.

But that's okay, I'm not that sensitive. No, but seriously, that is one beautiful baby. And I thought of Moses, what he must have looked like as a little baby. In fact, over in Acts 7, Stephen adds a little commentary and he says he was exceedingly fair. And it's interesting because the phrase that Stephen uses doesn't just mean that Moses was an attractive baby physically, but the word that he uses implies that there was a special mission for him or a purpose from God. Do you know that God chose you before you chose him? It was the great preacher Spurgeon who once said, it's a good thing God chose me before I chose him because if he would have waited, he would have changed his mind. You know what, the truth is, he chose you before you were born. He chose you when you were still in your mother's womb.

Hey, he chose you even before that. You say, well, what if I was born out of wedlock? Well, you were still chosen by God. You know, I found out later in my life that I was conceived out of wedlock and the guy I had thought was my father for years actually was not.

And that's sort of a discombobulating thing to hear, I have to say. But then I was reminded, no, God chose me and God always knew that I would come and he had a plan for my life just as he has a plan for your life. I love what the psalmist writes in Psalm 139. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts toward me, Lord.

They're innumerable. Now that should later rest any idea as to when life begins, right? Life begins at conception.

Every little baby has a right to live and God has a plan for their life. I love how David said, your thoughts toward me are innumerable. That could freak you out a little if you think God's thoughts are negative. But in fact, they're the opposite because God says in Jeremiah 29, 11, I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord. They're thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope. So yeah, the Pharaoh wanted to kill all the Jewish baby boys but God had a plan, especially for little Moses and maybe you were not expected to live. You know, sometimes little ones face childhood diseases or through life you have a close brush with death and somehow you survive that.

You wonder why, because God is preserving you. And he has a work for you to do. Pastor Greg Laurie, with insights on how God wants to use us, sometimes even sparing lives to do so. And there's more to come from this message called The Second Chance for a World Changer here on A New Beginning. And Pastor Greg has an important way to close today's study, so stay tuned. And as you listen today, if you had any interruptions, you can go back and hear what you missed by going to harvest.org or listen conveniently through our Harvest mobile app. Again, the title of the study is The Second Chance for a World Changer. And you can also get a permanent copy of the study on CD by calling 1-800-821-3300. We're here to take your call 24-7.

Again, dial 1-800-821-3300. And then we want to make available a new book by Jeff and Shanti Feldhahn called Thriving in Love and Money. Jeff and Shanti, it isn't your typical book about money. It's not a budget plan or a saving strategy or general money management.

Pastor Greg? Instead of that, what you've discovered together about money, giving, budgeting, et cetera, is fill in blank here. Well, the big picture is that we found, and this blows my mind and it blows a lot of pastors' minds, the greatest obstacle to all of the budgeting, to the financial freedom, everything that a pastor wants his people to be in his church, to be generous, to be tithing, to be saving more than they spend and getting out of debt, the greatest obstacle to all of that isn't that you don't know how to budget, although you may not, right?

You may need help. The greatest obstacle is the inability of a husband and wife to sit down at the kitchen table and talk about money. So this is a communication issue.

This is a communication issue. And so that's the answer to your question, is it really is about the ability to understand all that, it's not about the money stuff. Well, what is it about? That was what the research project was, and that essentially came down into what are those things, and we identified those five categories that really, really make a difference. It's this breakthrough, crazy, really surprisingly simple thing that blows open the doors to this incredible opportunity for money to be an opportunity not for conflict, but for connection, which is huge for a lot of people right now, especially right now, we need that. So I'm speaking with Shanti and Jeff Feldhahn, and they've written a book called Thriving in Love and Money, subtitle five game-changing insights about your relationship, your money, and yourself. And as you can see, we are talking about money, but in some ways we aren't.

We're talking about communication, talking about relationship, we're talking about understanding one another, listening to one another, and much more. But it's all interwoven in topics of finances and other areas as well, and so we want to send you your own copy for your gift of any size to our ministry here at A New Beginning, because as you know, we love to teach the word of God. This is just an illustration of that, where we're helping you to see how scripture applies to all areas of your life, including your finances, and we also proclaim the gospel and give people an opportunity to believe in Jesus. So for whatever you send, we'll invest it in this ministry, and we'll get you your own copy of this book by Shanti and Jeff Feldhahn, Thriving in Love and Money. Yeah, that's right, and we have a copy reserved for you. Just get in touch and ask for it. We're sending it for just a short time longer to say thank you for your donation that helps us continue to bring Pastor Greg's teaching your way each day. We need your help to make that a reality. So thanks for contacting us today, and be sure to ask for this new book, Thriving in Love and Money. You can write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514, or call 1-800-821-3300. We're here to take your call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Just dial 1-800-821-3300, or go online to harvest.org. Well, next time, more insight from the example of Moses as Pastor Greg continues his series called World Changers, here on A New Beginning. But before we go, Pastor Greg has an important word to close today's program.

Hey, everybody. A few thoughts about this election that's coming up. As you all know, on November 3rd, we're going to elect the President of the United States. Your vote matters. Listen, every Christian should register and vote. I cannot emphasize that enough. It's our responsibility.

It is our duty, but it is also our privilege. And we really have no right to criticize what's going on in our nation if we don't even take the time to vote for a candidate. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, but I'll give you some ideas. When I cast my vote, I can tell you there's some things that factor into it.

I can talk about a lot of things, but let me just pick two out in particular. The candidate that will receive my vote will be one that is pro-life. I would never vote for a candidate that would support the aborting of unborn children. Number two, I'm going to vote for a candidate that stands with and supports the nation Israel. God promises a blessing to the people that bless God's people. So those are a couple of things to think about as you go to the voting booth. You vote your conscience, but vote biblically and do vote. 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