The Power of One Part 2: Real Impact for the Kingdom

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. Some people make a real impact for the kingdom. Pastor Greg Laurie says we all can. It comes down to how we spend our time. We all make so many choices every day. For instance, am I going to start my day with the Word of God or with social media? Am I going to start my day with prayer or am I going to start it with worry?

Am I going to make time in my schedule to meet with other believers? Listen to this. You make your choices and your choices make you. People who attend class reunions are often surprised. Sometimes the more popular people, way back when, have lost that prominence. And the prominent people today were the wallflowers years ago. And that's not really random or accidental. It has to do with the choices they made. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie shows us how the choices we make and how we serve God will affect the here and now and will likely affect the hereafter as well.

We'll learn to choose well. I don't know how it is in your house, but my wife and I are always disagreeing over the temperature of the room. She always thinks it's too cold.

I always think it's too warm. So I'll go and set it to 70 and she'll set it to 73 and back and forth it goes. Now if that's not enough, I have what is called a Nest thermostat that you program and apparently it follows your patterns and will reflect what you would want. But the problem is my thermostat has gone rogue.

It's sort of like the computer named Hal in 2001 A Space Odyssey where it will just set its own temperatures. It's like in the middle of the day. It's suddenly 64 degrees. Why? I didn't ask it to be 64. Then in the middle of the night it will set it to 74 after I've already set it to 70 degrees. So what is wrong with this thing? And I'll try to fix it and I'll hear a voice coming out of it saying, I can't do that Dave. Never mind.

That's from 2001. But here's my question for you. Are you a thermostat or are you a thermometer? Let me explain. A thermostat sets the temperature.

A thermometer tells you what the temperature is. Are you the kind of person that influences others or are you the kind of person that is always influenced by others? Are you a world changer or is the world changing you? Well this is our last message on the life of Moses who was described as the man of God. He was also described as the meekest man on the face of the earth.

And there's no question about it. Moses was a thermostat. He influenced others. In fact when you stop and think about it one man lived such a godly life of integrity that he basically kept two and a half million people from turning to full blown idolatry. Because the moment Moses left the scene literally all hell broke loose.

And here was the problem. The people bowed before a golden calf. We all know that story right?

But listen to this. The golden calf was their second idol. Moses was their first. You see the problem was is the people had made an idol out of Moses. It wasn't the fault of Moses. He was a godly example.

He was doing exactly what he should be doing. But they in a way put him in the place of God. We read in Exodus chapter 14 verse 31 Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt and the people feared the Lord and believed God and his servant Moses. And in fact when Moses left for a time to receive the ten commandments and he left Aaron in charge the people says what has happened to this Moses who brought us out of Egypt.

Hold on. It was God that brought them out of Egypt. But they had put Moses in the place of God.

And you know this happens today. Maybe in a home you will have a woman that is godly and more motivated spiritually and a guy that just kind of goes along for the ride. His relationship with God so to speak is more or less dependent on his wife's relationship with God. It may have been the wife that said oh let's watch Harvest at Home. And the husband was like oh ok whatever right. And so now let's just say for the sake of an illustration that that wife loses interest in spiritual things.

Well the husband will lose interest as well. See that is not a good thing. You need your own relationship with God. Kids listen to me. You need your own relationship with the Lord that is not dependent upon your parents or upon any other person.

Here is another illustration. God will use certain people. Maybe there is a preacher that people will flock to hear. But then one day it is revealed that that preacher like every other human being has feet of clay. He has frailties.

And maybe he says or does something you don't like. And so you say that is it. I am leaving my faith. I am walking away from the church.

Hello. Don't build your faith in God on the foundation of a man or a woman. The Lord needs to be number one in your life. That is the first commandment. Have no other gods before him.

And commandment number two is have no graven images. But to the credit of Moses he was such a godly influence. It shows the power of one.

Now sort of to pick up from where we were last time. That was the power of one part one. This is the power of one part two. Remember we learned this about Moses. Look at Hebrews chapter 11 verse 24.

It was by faith that Moses when he grew up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to share the oppression of God's people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. So point number one as you may remember Moses made important decisions at the beginning of his life. Again the end of your life is determined by the beginning of your life. The evening of your life is determined by the morning of your life.

So you are making decisions now that will affect you in years to come. And Moses made a principled decision. Verse 24 of Hebrews 11 says it was by faith that Moses when he grew up refused.

You see he had come to a fork in the road. He had been placed by God in the house of the Pharaoh. He was the prince of Egypt. He could have let this thing play out and maybe ultimately ascended to the throne and become the Pharaoh himself. But Moses made a choice to not do that. He chose to not be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

He chose to not have that title. So he walked away from a life of luxury to choose a life of obedience to God. He made a decision early in his life to choose God over affluence. Bringing me to point number two. You make your choices and your choices make you.

Let me say it again. You make your choices and your choices make you. Look at verse 25 of Hebrews 11. Moses chose to suffer the oppression of God's people. This word that is used here for choose means to take for oneself a position.

He took a position. And we all make so many choices every day. Take Taco Bell for instance. I don't know if you like Taco Bell. I have to say I am a huge fan.

I love it. But now they have all these things on the menu that I have never heard of before. You pull up and there are new things like the cheesy gordita crunch.

I am thinking what is a cheesy gordita crunch? And I am contemplating that. And I am asking what is this exactly?

And meanwhile the line behind me is getting longer. And they have a spicy potato soft taco. And the crunch wrap supreme.

I am like what are these things? Because there are so many choices. I just say I will have a bean burrito and two tacos. I just default back to what I always choose. But the point is all these decisions we have to make. And then if you have Sirius XM all these channels you can choose from. And then you turn on the TV and there are hundreds and hundreds of channels.

Have you ever just flipped through channels and literally found there wasn't one thing worth watching? Now those are not important choices for the most part. But there are very important choices in life. The most important choice you will ever make is what you do with Jesus Christ. If you will say yes to him and follow him or if you will reject him. And if you have not yet said yes to Jesus I will give you an opportunity to do that at the end of my message.

I think right after that decision is a decision about who you will marry. Listen to me single people. Take your time and look for a godly man or a godly woman. Look for someone that is even more godly than you are.

It is very important. You know honestly marriage is hard enough with a godly person. When you combine a believer and a non-believer so much trouble can follow as a result. But then I make choices every day. For instance am I going to start my day with the word of God or with social media? Am I going to start my day with prayer or am I going to start it with worry? Am I going to make time in my schedule to meet with other believers and on it goes.

Moses chose to not do one thing and instead he chose to do another. So let's say that you are gaining weight. So what you need to do is stop doing one thing and start doing another.

Stop eating the Crunchwrap Supreme whatever that is and instead work out more. So in the same way we could apply this to the Christian life. Psalm 1 says, Now check it out.

The word blessed and happy are interchangeable. So basically the Bible is saying if you want to be happy there are some things you should not do. And in their place there are certain things you should do. Don't walk in ungodly counsel.

Don't do that. But instead walk in godly counsel. Meditate or think about or contemplate on the word of God. Now when we say meditate I don't want you to think of Eastern mysticism. In Eastern mysticism one meditates to empty their mind. In biblical meditation one fills their mind. To meditate means to ponder. To contemplate what the word of God has to say.

So Moses made a choice. I am not going to do that. Live in the pleasures of sin. But instead I am going to do this.

I am going to identify with God's people. Listen to this. God's worst is better than the world's best.

Ok. What is the world's best? I already said a few short lived pleasures. What is God's worst? Well persecution. Rejection. Being mocked. Things of that nature. So the best that the world has to offer isn't as good as the worst God has to offer.

Now let's talk about God's best. What is that? Well that is peace. Purpose. Meaning in this life. A relationship and friendship with God himself.

And the guaranteed assurance of heaven beyond the grave. What is the world's worst? Misery. Guilt. Emptiness. And a future of judgment in hell.

Then don't go that way. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. So many listeners have commented on the help they receive from these daily messages. God's word ministers to them.

And it often gets them through some dark hours. I'm very sorry for the loss of your son Pastor Greg. Well I can relate to loss and grief.

I love the Lord but I struggle with the type of survivor's guilt. My older sister and I are only 11 months apart. We are very close. I spoke with her just hours before her cardiac arrest and she was excitedly waiting for her son's 21st birthday. Her youngest son found her on his bed and he screamed for help. Emergency responders were able to get a pulse and she was rushed to the hospital where drastic measures took place. Because my sister signed a do not resuscitate order.

She was very clear about not wanting to be kept alive with feeding tubes and things. We had to let her go. It's been five years and as I tell you this you can hear me weeping inside.

I feel like it just happened. Like you've said you never really get over it you just get through it. I know the Lord will get me through this obstacle that robs me of fully experiencing peace with God's decision to bring her home. I also know more trials are just around the corner. So I need to learn how to completely trust in the Lord and take myself out of the equation so Satan can't place those kind of strongholds on me. I pray for you that you will continue to preach the importance of having complete faith and peace with God's decision whether you like his decisions or not. May God continue to bless you and your family Pastor Greg. Thank you so much for all that you do. We're so moved when we hear from listeners like this knowing that this broadcast is helping. Would you like to share your story with Pastor Greg? Call 1-866-871-1144.

Once again, 866-871-1144. Well Pastor Greg is offering important insights today on how we can make wise choices following the example of the prophet Moses. And our thanks to our Harvest Partners who helped to make today's study available.

To find out about becoming a Harvest Partner go to Harvest.org. Point number three. Because of his right choices Moses was a man of personal integrity. Because of his right choices Moses was a man of personal integrity.

Let me ask you. Do you have integrity? What is integrity? It's really the same as character. One person described integrity as what we are in the dark.

Who you are when no one is watching. There was an article in Forbes magazine that said quote, Success will come and go but integrity is forever. The article goes on to say, Integrity means doing the right thing at all times under all circumstances whether or not anyone is watching. Building integrity takes years but it only takes a second to lose. End quote. Interesting.

They are not approaching that from a biblical perspective. They are approaching it from a business perspective. A billionaire Warren Buffet made this statement about hiring the right people. And I quote, In looking for people to hire I look for three qualities. Integrity, intelligence, and energy.

But if they don't have the first one the other two will kill you. So energy is important. Intelligence is important. But at the top of the list for Warren Buffet he thinks you should have integrity. I think he is on to something there. Moses certainly had integrity.

Point number four. We need to look forward not backward. Again we need to look forward not backward. The word in verse 26 describing Moses means he thought beforehand. It means he looked away from everything else and fixed his attention on what was ahead. Moses had the big picture. He saw beyond the temporal comfort of the palace of Egypt. He saw beyond the bondage of Pharaoh. He saw beyond to what God could do.

And so that is what he had his eyes on. Doesn't that remind us of what Paul says in Hebrews chapter 12 when he says, Lay aside the sin and the weight that so easily beset you and look unto Jesus the author and finisher of your faith. And so Moses did that very thing.

That brings me to point number five. Moses finished his race well. Now go over to Deuteronomy chapter 34 with me if you would. Deuteronomy chapter 34.

We read these words in verse one. Then Moses went up to Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab and climbed Pisgah Peak which is a cross from Jericho. And the Lord showed him the whole land from Gilead as far as Dan to the land of Naphtali to the land of Ephraim and Manasseh. And the land of Judah extending to the Mediterranean Sea, the Negev, the Jordan Valley, with Jericho, the city of Palms as far as Zoar. Then the Lord said to Moses, This is the land that I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, I will give it to your descendants. I have now allowed you to see it with your own eyes but you will not enter a land.

Wow. So Moses is 120 years old at this point. I am pretty impressed that he could climb this mountain. It is a 4500 foot high peak. I mean that is steep. And this old dude makes it up to the very top. And we don't read that Moses used his walker with the little tennis balls at the bottom to keep him from slipping to get up the mountain. There was no escalator. There was no elevator. He climbed up on it.

No life alert around his neck. You know that is impressive. And as we all get older we realize that we have limitations. There are telltale signs you are getting old. You know you are getting old when that gray haired little old lady you help across the street is your wife.

You know you are getting old when you dim the lights for economic reasons not for romantic ones. You know you are getting old when your back goes out more than you do. You know you are getting old when your children are starting to look middle aged. You know you are getting old when you are told to slow down by a doctor instead of a cop. You know you are getting old when you sink your teeth into a juicy steak and they stay there.

You know you are getting old when you bend down to pick up something and you wonder what else you can do while you are down there. You know when you are getting older sometimes people begin to disconnect. They retire.

They retire not only from their work but sometimes from their spiritual life. But not Moses. He was strong to the very end. And look at how Moses understood he was going to die. He understood this was the end. But he was not afraid. He was not depressed.

He realized that life has a beginning, middle, and end. And as a Christian you don't have to be afraid to die. No one wants to die.

But there is no escaping it. The statistics on death are pretty impressive. One out of every one person will die. But having said that the Apostle Paul reminded us to live is Christ and to die is gain. Why is dying gain for the Christian?

Answer. We go to heaven into the very presence of God. Moses understood that. So the Lord shows him all the promised land.

And he says, this is the land that I promised Abraham and his descendants. And they are going to go into it but not you. Oh man we might say that is kind of cruel on the part of God. It is like taking a little kid into a store and saying, don't touch anything. You can look but you can't touch. It is almost as though the Lord was saying, go and look at him Moses. But you can't go in.

But that is true. And not to depress Moses. And remember why could Moses not go into the land? Remember he was told to speak to the rock and water would come out. And instead he took a stick and actually a staff that God had used on so many occasions to do miracles through. That was the stick he held up in part of the Red Sea.

That was the stick or the rod he threw to the ground and it turned into a snake and so forth. So the Lord told him to speak to the rock and he whacked the rock. Bam. Bam. Two times. And he said, ok you are not going into the land. But as I reminded you in my last message he did make it in ultimately when he was transfigured with Elijah on each side of Jesus.

But the point is simply this. God was saying, look buddy I kept my promise. All of that misery. All of that hardship. All of the difficulties you went through.

It is worth it. Look Moses. Here is the land. I keep my promises. I am going to do what I said I will do. So one day Moses died. And every one of us will ultimately die unless the Lord comes back in our lifetime which is entirely possible. But one way or another you and I are going to stand before God and we are going to be held accountable for our lives. And here is what the question will be in that final day. Not how good of a life did we live or how many good works did we do.

It is going to come down to this. What did we do with Jesus Christ? It won't be a sin question as much as it will be a son question.

S-O-N. What did you do with Jesus? Why do I say that? Because the only way that I can know that I will go to heaven is if I come to God through Jesus. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man comes of the Father but by me. You say, but why? I thought all roads led to God.

Well maybe in a broad sense that is true. Let me explain. All roads will get you to God. No matter what road you choose you will stand before God. But only one road leads to heaven. And it is through Jesus because he died on the cross for your sin and he rose again from the dead. So if I want to know that I will go to heaven when I die I need to ask Jesus Christ to forgive me of my sin and I need to begin to follow him as my Savior and Lord. So I am going to ask you that in closing.

Have you done that yet? Do you have faith in Christ? Do you have the assurance right now that if you were to die today you would go to heaven? If not would you like to have it? Jesus who died on the cross and rose again from the dead is with you right now wherever you are.

Wherever you are watching this. And he says behold I stand at the door and I knock and if you will hear my voice and open the door I will come in. Listen I am talking to you about a relationship right now. This is not a religious thing. This is a relationship with God himself. Would you like Jesus to come into your life? Would you like to know that you will go to heaven when you die?

Would you like to be ready for the Lord's return? If so in a moment I am going to pray a prayer. And I am going to ask you to pray this prayer with me. You can pray it out loud if you like.

It doesn't really matter. The main thing is you say this to the Lord. So if you want Christ to come into your life pray this prayer with me right now.

Just pray these words. Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner but I know that you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now Jesus come into my life. I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord. As my God and my friend. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. We would like to send you our new believers growth packet free of charge. It will answer the questions you might have and get you started on the right foot. Just ask for it as you write a new beginning. Box 4000 Riverside California 92514. Or call us anytime 24 hours a day at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to Harvest.org. You know Pastor Greg there was a lot of talk about voting this year. Our listeners may not realize it but they vote to keep this study coming their way. They vote by partnering with us.

Their support is what helps these programs keep coming their way and we just want to say the polls are open. That's right they are open and that is a way that we know that we're impacting you. When you write us, when you contact us, when you communicate with us and say I'm listening. I'm being impacted by what you're offering and also when you support us financially. Because that enables us to reach even more people. I know so many of you listen every single day or every other day and it's a part of your life. And you share these broadcasts or our podcasts with other people and we're thankful for that.

And we want to continue to be able to come into your home, into your vehicle. Wherever it is you're listening to us and we want to come into other people's lives as well. Because people need to hear the Word of God.

Don't you think? So I'm going to ask you as we come to the end of 2020 to prayerfully consider making a financial contribution to Harvest Ministries. When you do this you share in the spiritual fruit of what we're doing. The Apostle Paul wrote to the believers and he said it's not that I want a gift but I want fruit to abound to your account. So when you give toward this ministry that's what's going to happen for you too. And we have seen thousands of people come to Christ. Well over 100,000 people have made a profession of faith to follow Christ through our online ministry, through our outreach, through our film, a rush of hope, and of course through our radio and television and so forth.

And we're praying that next year will even be greater. So listen, with that gift that you send our way, whatever it can be, I want to say thanks by sending you a copy of a brand new resource that we have never offered before. It is the DVD version of A Rush of Hope. You saw it online and many of you said oh I want my own copy. Now you can have one and you can watch it as many times as you want to watch it and you can show it to as many people as you want to show it to and you can do it wherever you want to do it.

And you'll have your own copy along with some special resources. We've developed a booklet that's called Answering Life's Most Important Questions that you could give out to a non-believer that you know. Also a piece that we wrote that will show you how to host a watch party. In other words, how to have the maximum impact if you bring people over to your home to have a viewing of this cinematic crusade that we call A Rush of Hope. So we'll send you a copy of this DVD for your gift of any size and I want to just say in advance, thank you for believing in what we do and let's pray that next year is our greatest year ever.

Amen. And in that regard, your gift couldn't come at a more strategic time. So we hope you'll contact us today for your copy of A Rush of Hope along with all the extras. Not only are we offering this on a DVD but there's also a special digital download code we will provide for you. What that means is you'll have the DVD to show to whoever you want to show it to but you can download it to your phone, you can download it to your tablet device or to your computer and then watch it or show it whenever you want. Carry it around with you even and you can have an evangelistic crusade in your pocket.

Yeah, that's right. So contact us today with your generous year-end donation at a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300, 1-800-821-3300. And we can take your call 24-7 or just go online to harvest.org. Well, next time Pastor Greg launches a short series of messages to help us prepare spiritually for the Christmas holiday ahead. We'll find out what happens when Jesus makes His home in our hearts. Join us next time here on The New Beginning.