The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Hey, I want to hear from you. Would you consider emailing me? You can reach me at Greg at Harvest dot org. Again, that's Greg at Harvest dot org.
And you can also make me one of your friends on Facebook and drop me a comment. We know we've all been given the Great Commission, but some are apprehensive. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie urges us to share the hope we have in Christ, but with a twist. Instead of me saying you need to evangelize, let me say to you, you need to make a recommendation. Now, we do this all the time. You'll tell people, oh, watch this on Netflix. Oh, go check this movie out.
We recommend all day long. Take that idea and apply it to sharing the gospel. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Again you hear when the angels are singing.
This is the day, the day when life begins. Pastor Greg Laurie has the opportunity to share the gospel with countless people each year. He does so through Harvest at Home, through his evangelistic outreaches, and right here on A New Beginning. Last year alone, more than 150,000 people made decisions for Christ. So he must have the secret formula for successful evangelism, right? Well, he'd be the first to say there is no secret formula.
But there are some practical pointers, and he explains them today. This is the day, the day when life begins. Let's go back in time a little bit. I was a young man, 17 years old, a brand new Christian. And I heard my pastor say I should go out and share my faith. Well, I had a thimbleful of biblical knowledge, but I knew that I should tell others about what Christ had done for me.
So I went out on the beach of Newport armed with a copy of the four spiritual laws, credited by Campus Crusade. I was looking for someone to talk to, and I found a middle-aged lady that looked like she might not give me too hard of a time. And I walked up to her, and I had hair back then, so try to use your imagination.
I had sort of blonde surfer hair. So my voice was shaking because I was nervous. And I said, hi there, could I talk to you a little bit about God?
And she looks up at me and says, sure. So I sit down, and I was so new to all of this, I hadn't even memorized the contents of this booklet. So I just started reading it to her.
The four spiritual laws, copyright 1968, Campus Crusade for Christ, law one, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. I'm just reading through it. And as I'm reading through it, I couldn't wait to be done because I knew this was a failure. I knew I shouldn't have done it.
I knew it wasn't going to work. And I just was kind of rushing through it. I looked up at her periodically. She was just looking at me. And I got toward the end of the little booklet, and a question was asked. Is there any good reason why you should not accept Jesus Christ right now?
I looked up at her. Oh, that's a question. Is there any good reason why you should not accept Jesus Christ right now? She said no. I looked back and said, wait, no. No means yes.
In other words, are you saying you want to accept Jesus Christ right now? She said yes. I said, oh, great. Well, hey, let's pray. And she closed her eyes. And I'm frantically searching this booklet for what do you do now?
I plan for failure, not success. I found a little prayer. I let her in that prayer. She prayed it after me. She opened her eyes and she said, something just happened to me.
And you know what? Something happened to me too. I realized that God could use someone who knew very little to share the gospel. Well, I really started to enjoy talking to others about Jesus one on one. I was never a public speaker kind of a person.
I was more of a behind the scenes guy. And I always had this secret fear that one day God was going to make me preach. I thought it was going to be a really random place like the supermarket when I'm checking out and the Lord will speak to my heart and say, preach the gospel and I will make a fool out of myself. And I never aspired to be a preacher.
Trust me when I tell you that. Well, as it turns out, He did call me to preach. Not far from that beach where I led that first lady to the Lord I went down for a baptism being held by Calvary Chapel down in the days of the Jesus movement.
You know those big giant baptisms that would be attended by thousands of people and as it turns out I got the schedule wrong and I missed it. And so I found a group of Christians sitting there in the sand singing some songs. Remember I'm not a pastor.
I'm just a believer going to church. And I sat down with these other believers and there was no real leader. And when the song was done I had read something in the Bible I thought maybe I should share it. I said, hey I want to share something with you. And I shared my little thought from Scripture. And as I was talking a couple of girls joined us and one of the girls said, pastor can you baptize us? I said, oh no I'm not a pastor. No but could you baptize us? And then I just thought, well why not? I mean I'm a believer. They're a believer.
They miss the baptism. So I said, sure come on. Now I'm walking down the beach with about 30 people behind me and I'm thinking, how did this happen?
This is way above my pay grade. Which was zero actually. And so I took these girls down to the beach there at what is called Pirate's Cove Beach. And I baptized them. And I was so thankful to the Lord.
He had opened this great door up for me. And as I was done baptizing them I walked up on the beach there and I saw some people had gathered up on the rocks. And clear as a bell the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and He said, preach the gospel.
And guess what? I wasn't afraid. And I proclaimed the gospel to these people. And as I was doing it it's almost like I stepped outside of myself and I'm looking at myself saying, Greg are you crazy? You're not Billy Graham.
What are you doing? Well I just kept going. And before I knew it I was saying to these people up on the rocks, and if you would like to ask Jesus to come into your life come down here now and I'll baptize you. And people came. And I baptized a couple more people.
What a day that was. Well I bring all of this up because when we talk about sharing our faith or preaching a lot of us get very uptight. There is one thing that believers and nonbelievers have in common. They are both uptight about evangelism. Nonbelievers are uptight about being evangelized.
And believers are uptight about evangelizing them. Ok. So we are in a new series. We are calling it Faith 101. And the title of this message is A Crash Course on Evangelism and Discipleship. Let's remember a point from our message last time.
It was simply this. If you want to be a successful Christian you must read, study, and love the Word of God. Because failure or success in the Christian life depends on how much of the Word of God you get into your life on a regular basis and how obedient you are to it.
Now point number two. To be a growing Christian you must go into all the world and preach the gospel. We call it the Great Commission. There is two variations of it. One is in the gospel of Mark. The other is in the gospel of Matthew. Mark's gospel simply states it this way. Mark 16, 15 Jesus says, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone. Matthew's version states it this way in Matthew 28.
And that is our text for this message by the way. We read in Matthew 28 verse 16, Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. And when they saw Him they worshiped Him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.
And lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. That is the Great Commission. To go into all the world and preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations. Preach the gospel and make disciples. Where is Jesus calling us?
Into the world. Who is supposed to do this? All of us. What are we supposed to do? We are supposed to preach the gospel. So here is point number one. We are commanded by Jesus to share our faith.
Let me say that again. We are commanded by Jesus to share our faith. Now we call this the Great Commission.
But honestly for some it has become the great omission. The commission of the church is not to wait for the world to show up. The commission of the church is to go to the world. Jesus did not say the whole world should go to church. But He did say the church should go to the whole world.
Point number two. These words are directed to every follower of Jesus Christ. Listen to me Christian. I am talking to you right now. I am talking to men and women. I am talking to boys and girls. I am talking to students and businessmen and homemakers and construction workers and surfers and guitarists and skateboarders and nerds that hang around playing with computers all the time. I am talking to everyone.
Put down your junk food nerd and listen to me. God wants you to preach the gospel. Put down that thing that distracts you and take up this word that God has given you and proclaim it to other people. And actually in Matthew's version when he says where to go the implication is everyone is supposed to do it. Not just the so called professionals, the pastors, the evangelists, the missionaries. Everybody is supposed to do it. We are all called to go to all people everywhere.
Let me say that again. We are all called to go to all people everywhere. So here is my question for you. Are you doing your part to fulfill the great commission? Understand that these words of our Lord were given before his ascension.
What does that mean? Christ died on the cross. He rose again from the dead.
He had a period of ministry following his resurrection and then he ascended. He went into heaven. These are in effect his final words. Last words matter. When someone gives you their final words on their deathbed so to speak you should listen. These are the final words of our Lord to all of us.
So it is a big deal to him and they should be a big deal to us. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hearing about listeners who found Jesus through Pastor Greg's teaching is so encouraging. Hi Pastor Greg. Early last year I found the Lord and accepted him there at Harvest Christian Fellowship.
Before that if someone had told me that I would be a believer in Christ I wouldn't have believed them. God is so good. My best to you and your family. If you've had your life changed through Pastor Greg's teaching would you let him know? Just drop him an email at Greg at harvest dot org. Again that's Greg at harvest dot org. Well Pastor Greg is highlighting some important points today about evangelism as he continues his series on the basics of walking with God called Faith 101. Let's continue. Point number three.
This one might surprise you. To not share the gospel can be a sin. You might say Greg you've gone too far. Well understand that sin has many definitions. There is a sin of commission and sin of omission. A sin of commission is when you break a commandment.
When you cross a line. When you do a wrong thing. A sin of omission is when you don't do a right thing. The Bible says to him that knows to do good and does not do it. To him it is sin. So how could failing to share my faith possibly ever be a sin?
Let me illustrate. Let's say that you were in a house that caught fire. And you rushed out to save your own life but you knew there were other people in there.
Innocent people who could not get out. And you didn't lift a finger to help them. You didn't even call the fire department. You just walked off and acted as though it didn't happen. Is that wrong?
Yes it is. That's even a criminal act. Or let's say you're a doctor and you run tests on a person. And found out they have a certain problem. And you know a course of antibiotics could correct it.
Or a simple surgery would make it right. But you're uncomfortable telling people bad news. It's kind of awkward for you.
So you don't tell them anything. And you say you're good to go. Go on your two month vacation. Enjoy yourself.
You're an irresponsible doctor. Ok so those are illustrations that say how much worse is it for me to know the way to heaven. The way for a person to be forgiven of their sin.
And find the meaning and purpose of their life and not tell them. You see that's how not sharing the gospel could potentially be a sin. Let's remove the word preach. And let's remove the word evangelism for a moment. And let's put a different word on the table. Instead of me saying you need to evangelize. Let me say to you.
You need to make a recommendation. Now we do this all the time. Like maybe you're in a town you've never been to before and you see a restaurant. And you wonder is this a good restaurant? So you go to Yelp. And you read what a bunch of strangers have to say about that restaurant. And what you should even order.
They might even post photos. Oh well let's go in here. There's a lot of great recommendations. So obviously the recommendation of a person carries weight. I am opinionated about everything. I mean I'll have an opinion about what you should order in this restaurant. If you're in this place where you should go. For instance like if you're out late at night and you want to get something.
It's maybe around 9 or 10 o'clock. Hey if you live in California you need to go to In-N-Out Burger. Okay I'm sorry for the rest of you that don't have In-N-Out Burger. But it's the best takeout burger on earth.
And I have found this. With In-N-Out Burger is I only like it late at night. It's sort of like a guilty pleasure. I went there for lunch the other day and I didn't enjoy it nearly as much. Same burger. But there's something about oh it's 10 o'clock and I shouldn't be eating. But let's go to In-N-Out Burger and let's get it animal style.
I don't want to explain what that means. But that's the way to order it. Animal style. There are no animals involved. Except the patty for the cow.
But they do a different thing. It's kind of spicy. And then I'll get chopped peppers. So that's what I'll order. Or I might go to Taco Bell. And I say oh make sure you order this at Taco Bell. Or if you're going to Disneyland and you ask me Greg where's a good place to eat at Disneyland? Two word answer.
You ready for it? Corn dog. That's right. Corn dog. Forget all the restaurants there and all the money you'll spend. Disneyland is one of the best. Corn dogs anywhere.
You can get one on Main Street and over at California Adventure. But this is not a commercial for food. But the point is we perk up when we hear things like that. Oh I'm going to go try that. Wait.
I just gave you recommendations. Now take that idea and apply it to sharing the gospel. How about if I say to somebody like this. Here is the best thing that you can do for life and eternity. Believe in Jesus Christ. Wait. We're willing to talk about hamburgers. But we're not willing to talk about Jesus.
You get what I'm saying? You'll tell people. Oh watch this on Netflix. Oh go check this movie out.
We recommend all day long. You won't recommend for Jesus. So go into all the world and make a recommendation. Call it what you like.
You need to tell other people. Now notice that in Mark's version of the Great Commission the words of our Lord are go into all the world and preach the gospel. He did not say go into all the world and be a good example.
I'm not suggesting we should be a bad example. Because the fact is by being a good example it earns me the right to share my faith and nothing works more against us than being a bad example. But to the point he did not say go into all the world and be a nice person.
He said go into all the world and preach the gospel. Why is this important? Point number four. That's three.
Let's add one more. Point number four. The primary way people come to Jesus is through hearing the gospel. The primary way people come to Jesus is through hearing the gospel.
1 Corinthians 1 21 says, Since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God, listen, through the foolishness of the message preached to save those that believe. Understand the word preaching doesn't mean you have to project. We think of preaching in a negative way. If someone is saying something to someone else they don't like they will say, Hey man don't preach at me. Like that's a bad thing.
Actually the Bible says it's a good thing. But you don't necessarily have to do it loudly. You can do it quietly. You can whisper the gospel. You can share the gospel conversationally. You can tweet the gospel. You can do it so many ways. The idea here is just communicate it.
Just do it. Romans 10 14 says, How can they call on Him to save them unless they have believed in Him? How can they believe in Him if they have never heard about them?
And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? Go into all of your world and preach the gospel. Go into your family. Go into your workplace. Go into your neighborhood.
Go into all of your world. I think of it this way. I call it frangelism. You might be saying, Greg you mispronounced it. It's evangelism. Now I am calling it frangelism. F-R-A-N. These are the people we are to preach to. Fran. You are telling me only share the gospel with people named Fran.
No. It's an acronym. F for friends. R for relatives. A for associates.
And N for neighbors. Who do I preach the gospel to? My friends. My relatives. My associates. My neighbors.
In other words everyone. Even take the gospel to your enemies. Jonah was called to bring the gospel to a city called Nineveh.
Filled with the enemies of the nation of Israel. And he did not go at first as you know. He was reluctant.
But when he did go a great spiritual awakening broke out. Do you have a neighbor that really irritates you? Go to them with the gospel and tell them how much Jesus loves them. President Abraham Lincoln once said quote, The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend. End quote.
I love that. So go to your enemies. Go to your frenemies. Go to your friends. Go to your neighbors. Go to your parents. Go to your children.
Go to your weird cousins that you only see occasionally at family reunions. Go to everyone you can and share the gospel. Great encouragement today from Pastor Greg Laurie about the importance of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Today's study here on A New Beginning is titled, A Crash Course on Evangelism and Discipleship. Now if you weren't able to hear the whole presentation you can listen again online free of charge at harvest.org. Remember that title, A Crash Course on Evangelism and Discipleship.
Or ask for a permanent copy on CD by calling 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Pastor Greg. Hey everybody. I'm here in studio with my friend Darryl Strawberry. Now most of you have heard of Darryl. And he's obviously a great athlete, a well-known celebrity. But what I love about Darryl is he takes the platform that God has given him to share the gospel. And I've seen Darryl in action.
So Darryl, thank you for just being who you are. And thank you for writing this brand new book, Turn Your Season Around. You know, one of the things you talk about in this book is you talk about how we have seasons in life.
The Bible says to everything there is a season. In Ecclesiastes you say there are seasons of sufferings, heartache, and despair that can serve as God's batting cage for teaching you how to persevere, endure, and wait for his healing and deliverance. So you know a little bit about batting cages.
Tell us how that works. And maybe there's someone listening right now who is in a season of suffering, or a season of difficulty, or some other challenge. So tell us about what it's like to be in God's batting cage. Well, it's a really good place when you finally get to God's batting cage. There are different seasons of life that we all go through.
Either you're in a storm or storm on the way, or you're coming out of a storm. And it's part of life. And it's part of like just baseball, when you play baseball you go through a season and you have a high at the beginning, the first month, then you have a tail off in the middle, and then you pick it up at the end of the year and you finish up strong.
It depends on how you're going to finish. And the reason for turning your season around was a lot of media used to write about me having the first half of the season, the first 82 games. I probably just had a third par season so far, but they forgot that I had a second half of the season. And that's just the way it is with God in your life. It's having a second half of your season where you can have the first tough six months, and then you have another six months to go, and God can turn things around within those next six months if you don't give up, if you don't quit. And it's just like baseball. And the reason why I use this book so much like baseball, turn your season around nine in these nine chapters, is because you're going to have some struggles.
You're going to have some valleys and you're going to have some difficult roads to get through. And those that end up excelling at the highest level, they persevere. They don't quit. They continue to go and they continue to pursue.
And that's what it is the same with God. You have to continue to pursue after God, even though it's been a hard time. Even like this pandemic has been a hard time. People ask me, well, what did you do? Well, I just saturated myself again with God and got closer to God in the middle of the pandemic to keep me to keep me healthy. You got to stay hungry for God.
And I think that's the that's the real key for a lot of people. They say, well, what else did you do? I say I surrender myself every day.
And what do I do? I get up and I worship God and I thank God. It's just like playing baseball. What did I do every day? I had to participate in doing something new every day when I was in a struggle. I had to go down to the batting cage. I didn't hit on the ball field and I would just have soft toss to me and I would hit the ball the other way. Constantly over and over and over and my hitting coach would make me do that just that one place until I actually get a hit. And once I got a hit, boom, I would take off.
I'd be back in another groove. And it's the same way with your walk with God. That's so true. You know, the apostle Paul seemed to be a bit of a sports fan, too, Darrell, because he used sports analogies all the time. Talked about running a race, wrestling in the spiritual battle that we're in.
And he said, you know, that when we're running a race, you need to put your eyes on Jesus and cast off the excess weight and persevere through it. So, folks, if you're going through a storm right now, then you need to get a copy of Darrell Strawberry's new book, Turn Your Season Around How God Transforms Your Life. And we'd be happy to send this to you for your gift of any size to help us continue to teach the Word of God and proclaim the gospel. So, again, get your copy of Turn Your Season Around from Darrell Strawberry.
Yeah, we have a copy ready for you. It's brand new, and we'll send it to thank you for your investment in the work of evangelism. You know, through Harvest Ministries in the last year, more than 150,000 people made professions of faith in Christ. And if you invested in that work, well, that's fruit credited to your account.
You helped make that possible. And with your investment right now, we want to say thanks with Darrell's new book, Turn Your Season Around. So write us at a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300.
That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org. Hey, everybody. Greg Laurie here, personally inviting you to join us for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a Bible study. It's a worship service. It's church in your home. Maybe you're not able to get out to your church right now. If so, join us for Harvest at Home.
People are listening in from around the world. And listen to this. We have seen thousands of people make a commitment to follow Christ. So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at harvest.org. Well, next time, more insights on reaching out with the hope we have in Christ. Pastor Greg continues his series on the basics called Faith 101. That's next time on A New Beginning. 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.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-12-28 12:49:23 / 2023-12-28 13:00:57 / 12