The Bible & Revival: The Value of God’s Word

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. I need to commit scripture to memory. You can do this.

We can all do this. Some people say they can't memorize. Just can't do it. No way. No how.

Pastor Greg Laurie begs to differ. Do you remember lines from films? Do you remember the scores of Super Bowl games going back forever? Don't tell me you cannot remember the Word of God. You just take time to get it into your mind and get it into your heart. And that will never be time that is wasted. 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 only angels are singing.

This is the day, the day when life begins. All the worthless things that get into our minds when we weren't paying attention. We can remember the words of TV themes. The words in the jingles of various fast food restaurants. The words to songs on the radio.

Songs we don't even like. If we hear something often enough, it sticks. If we can't remember Bible verses, maybe we haven't read them often enough. Today on A New Beginning Pastor Greg Laurie helps us write the truth of Scripture on our hearts from his message called The Bible and Revival. This is the day, the day when life begins. So we are calling what we are doing here tonight Jesus Revolution.

Because it is sort of a look back at some of the great things that the Lord did in days gone by. The last great spiritual awakening in America. How many of you were around during the Jesus movement?

Raise your hand. A number of you. How many of you were not around?

Okay that is most of you. So well you are around now and we are having Jesus Revolution right here tonight. So why don't you grab your Bible and turn to Acts chapter 2 and Psalm 19. And we have talked about things that we did back in the days of the Jesus movement. We talked about how contemporary Christian worship was born before our eyes. And also how we love to talk about the soon coming of the Lord.

We talked about that recently. But one of the big things that was happening back in those days is almost everything we went to was a Bible study. Every service that we would have we would open up the Word of God. And then there were home Bible studies and Bible studies on high school campuses and Bible studies on college campuses.

We couldn't get enough of the Word of God. Okay so let's go over to Acts chapter 2. This is when the Holy Spirit is poured out on the day of Pentecost.

And people speak in unknown languages. They speak in tongues. And then what happens after that? Acts chapter 2 verse 16. Peter stands up and says, What you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel. In the last days God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams. Very important statement. Here is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Supernatural phenomena is taking place. And Peter stands up and says, this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel. And this makes a very important point. Everything that we do as Christians should be informed by the Word of God. There should be a biblical basis for what we do. So when we talk about making a decision or should we do this or should we do that, we go to the Scripture. What does the Bible say? Does the Scripture address this?

At least in principle if not specifically. And so Peter was standing up and saying, this is the biblical basis. Sometimes in what some might call revival meetings or things where there is a lot of excitement, a lot of passion. Sometimes things happen that frankly are not biblical. And people will say, this is a new work of the Holy Spirit. It is new. Listen to this. If it is new, it is not true.

And if it is true, it is not new. We don't need a new thing. We want to do a biblical thing. And when God pours His Spirit out we want to have a biblical basis for what we are saying and doing.

And that certainly is what happened there. But then what happened after the Holy Spirit was poured out? Verse 42. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and the breaking of bread and in prayer. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. They dug into the Word of God.

Listen. If you want to be a Spirit-filled, revived Christian, you need to be digging into God's Word each and every day. Because if you don't, you are going to fail spiritually.

I need to read it. And I need to commit Scripture to memory. You can do this.

We can all do this. Oh no, I can't remember anything. Give me a break. You remember lines from films. You remember lyrics from the lamest songs of all time. You remember the scores of Super Bowl games going back forever.

You remember all that trivia. Don't tell me you cannot remember the Word of God. You just take time to get it into your mind and get it into your heart.

And that will never be time that is wasted. Alright, well let's go over to our second passage. Psalm 19 verse 7. And this is just the Word of God telling us why the Word of God is important. And by the way, these were originally songs.

They were set to melody. And this one even has a certain cadence to it that sounds a lot like a song. Psalm 19 verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandments of the Lord are pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned.

And in keeping of them there is great reward. That sounds like a song. I mean it's beautiful. It's beautiful poetry. But it is actually also the inspired Word of God.

So here's just a few take away thoughts. Number one, the Word of God is perfect. When we say the law of the Lord we could replace it with the Word of the Lord or the Bible even. Because it's just referring to God's written Word.

The Word of God is perfect because this phrase means that it is flawless, it's whole, it's complete, and it's sufficient. Listen, everything you need to know about God is found in the Bible. You don't need to go anywhere else.

It's one stop shopping right here. This is God's message to each and every one of us. 2 Timothy 3 says, all Scripture is breathed by God. Number two, the Word of the Lord revives us. The Word of the Lord revives us. Look at verse 7 of Psalm 19. The law of the Lord or the Word of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. This word convert can be translated revive, restore, and transform. When you read God's Word you will be revived, restored, and transformed. Psalm 119 has a psalmist saying revive me according to your Word. So God's Word will revive you. You want to be a revived Christian. You want to be a Spirit-filled Christian.

Then study the Word of God because it will revive you. Number three, the Word of God gives incredible wisdom. The Word of God gives incredible wisdom. Look at verse 7. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

This is an interesting phrase in the Hebrew because this word simple speaks of an open door. Sort of like your mind is an open door. And this speaks of a person that just lets anything come in. Anything go out. They are totally naive. They are open to everything. They are open to anything.

They are closed to nothing. The Bible says it can make you wise so you don't be that person. So we have a person that learns to think logically. But that logic is built on Scripture.

You know it is a funny thing. Sometimes people want to dismiss Christians as unthinking fools. When in reality I didn't really learn to think until I became a Christian.

To be honest with you I didn't even learn how to study until I became a Christian. Not just the Bible but other books to really think things through and get a biblical world view. Because if you don't have a biblical world view, nothing on this planet makes sense. If you think man is basically good you must be having a lot of troubles right now. But if you believe what the Bible says that man is not basically good. Man is essentially sinful separated from God. And that is why he does the things that he does.

Suddenly a lot of things start making a lot more sense. So we need to not be that simple minded person that just marches in lock step with whatever is the trend. Or the thing that we are supposed to believe and start thinking for ourself. God says in the book of Isaiah, come and let us reason together says the Lord. Christianity is a reasonable faith. It is a logical faith. And so that is what this will do for you.

The Word of God will give you that kind of mind. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody Greg Laurie here personally inviting you to join us for what we call Harvest at Home. It is a Bible study. It is a worship service. It is church in your home. Maybe you are 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.

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. We are learning what the Bible does for us on a practical level each day as believers. Pastor Greg is presenting his message The Bible and Revival. Sometimes the question is asked well what do you do when you don't agree with the Bible?

Someone asked me that question a while ago. What do you do when you don't agree with the Bible? I said well change your opinion because you are wrong. I mean what do you want me to say?

Oh well let's just edit that out. You know I was just in the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC which is an amazing place. It is a fantastic place that just shows you how reliable God's Word is.

And I recommend everyone go and visit it. But one of the things they had there was a copy of Jefferson's Bible. Thomas Jefferson. One of the presidents of the United States. One of the ratifiers of the U.S. Constitution.

A very important figure. But Jefferson had a Bible and Jefferson was a man who believed the Bible had good moral messages in it. So he actually went through a Bible and cut out the parts about miracles and the supernatural and kept what he thought were the moral lessons of the Bible in it.

So it is called Jefferson's Bible. Well that is not how it works. I don't know if I really like this part.

I think I will just cut it out. Now all Scripture the Bible says is inspired by God. So we don't want to do that. If you don't agree with the Bible change your opinion because the Bible is right.

Number four. The Bible or the Word of God is right. Verse 8. The statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart. So it is going to help you to know how God wants you to live. It is going to show you the promises that God has for you.

That is why you want to read through books of the Bible and ask yourself the question. Is there a promise here for me to claim? Is there a victory here for me to gain? Is there a blessing here for me to enjoy?

And my last point. Keeping the Word of God makes you happy. Keeping the Word of God makes you happy. Psalm 19 says the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart.

That word rejoicing means just making you happy. You want to be a happy person. Read the Bible.

You want to be an even happier person. Do what the Bible tells you to do. And I would add to that don't do the things the Bible tells you not to do. Luke 11 says happy are the people that hear the Word of God and keep it.

Oh I know this goes against the logic of Psalm. They think oh no the Bible keeps you from happiness. It is a restrictive life. It is a miserable life. It is a tortured life. Nothing can be further from the truth.

It is the exact opposite. Life without the Word of God. Life without Jesus Christ is the miserable life.

I know. I have been on both sides of the fence. Life without Christ is a restrictive life because you are bound with the power of sin.

Life without Christ is a torturous life because you are tormented by your guilt for the sins you have committed. No. You want to be a happy man. You want to be a happy woman. You do what the Bible tells you to do.

One last thing. The Bible tells me how to get to heaven. The Bible tells me how to find the meaning of life.

The Bible tells me what I should even be thinking about and living for each and every day because most importantly the Bible tells me about Jesus. That is the message of the Bible in a nutshell. It is Jesus. He is in the Old Testament concealed. He is in the New Testament revealed. But from Genesis to Revelation it is all about Jesus. The Old Testament is pointing to Jesus.

The New Testament is showing all those things that Jesus fulfilled. It is all about this simple message. God loves humanity. Humanity sinned against God. God longs for relationship with us. So He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross in our place and pay for all of our sin and rise again from the dead. And if we will put our faith in Jesus we can have eternal life and we can have a life on earth that is worth living. So I ask in closing do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ?

Because He is alive. We are talking about the Jesus revolution. Jesus is still revolutionizing lives right now. And He can revolutionize your life. He can change your life.

Starting with removing that barrier that separates you from God that is called sin. And Jesus is here with us in this place right now. Standing at the door of our life and He is knocking and He is saying, If you will hear my voice and open the door I will come in. And I am not just talking to the people in this room. I am talking to everybody watching.

Everybody listening. Wherever you are you can have a relationship with God right now. You can be forgiven of all of your sin. And Christ can come and live inside of you. And I ask you if this were your last night on earth would you go to heaven when you die?

If Jesus Christ were to come back again would you be ready to meet Him? I recently told the story of a young lady named Crystal who heard the gospel on our radio broadcast A New Beginning and asked Christ to come into our life. But the problem was Crystal worked at Planned Parenthood and she assisted in doing abortions on young ladies. And she said one day I was in that room and I was reassembling the body parts of a baby that had been aborted. And I thought of something that Craig said in his message which was if Jesus were to come back again would you be ashamed to be doing the thing that you are doing? And it dawned on her yes I would be and I believe I would be left behind. So Crystal turned from her sin and put her faith in Jesus Christ.

Well listen that can happen for any person no matter what you are doing. No matter what sin you have committed. No matter how bad it is God will forgive you. But Jesus is coming again and He could come back tonight.

And I hope that you would not be one of the ones who would be left behind. You say well what do I do? Well you need to admit your sin. You need to ask Christ to come into your life and He will do that for you right here right now. In a moment we are going to pray and I am going to extend an opportunity for anyone here that has joined us who may not yet know Jesus Christ. An opportunity for you to ask Him into your life.

Ask Him to forgive you of your sin. So you can find this relationship with God we have been talking about. And so you can know with certainty that you will go to heaven when you die. When I was just a young kid I heard this message. I didn't understand a lot of it. But I understood a little. I understood that God loved me. I understood that Jesus wanted to forgive me. I understood that my life could change.

And so I took that little step of faith and I prayed that little prayer. Little did I know what would happen in the months and the years and the decades following. But I am telling you it can happen for you right here right now. Your whole life can change. Your story can change. Your future can change. And your past can be put behind you. But you must come to Jesus and believe in Him.

If you need to do that do it right now. Let's all pray. Father I pray for every person here. Every person listening. Every person watching wherever they are. If they don't know Jesus yet.

If they don't have a relationship with you. I pray this will be the moment it happens. I pray that your Holy Spirit will convict and convince them of their need for Christ. And bring them to yourself now we pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer. And if you'd like to make a change today in your relationship with the Lord before today's edition of A New Beginning wraps up in a moment Pastor Greg will help you do that. So please stay with us. And keep in mind if you missed any part of today's study you can hear it again instantly online at harvest.org The title to look for is The Bible and Revival.

Or order a CD by calling 1-800-821-3300 We're here to take your call around the clock. And again the number 1-800-821-3300 Pastor Greg many of us I think have been on sort of a news diet. You know watching the news can just cause so much stress and disappointment. The world is a mess. It sure seems like God may be up to something. You think?

Yes. I sure pray and hope so because I'll tell you what our nation needs a healing. I cannot remember a time when we've been more divided. The only parallel would be late 60's with all the riots and racial division and issues of that time. I would say it's as bad today. I would say it's maybe even a little bit worse today. Because you know what Dave back in the late 60's we didn't have social media. We didn't have Twitter.

We didn't have all these platforms where fuel could be thrown onto pre-existing flames. And I think everybody just needs to step back. And I'm talking now primarily to Christians. And we need to live and behave as followers of Jesus Christ.

Because really we should seek to be bridge builders not bridge burners. We need to be peacemakers not trouble makers. And I think we need to really pray that God would heal our land. Now I know I've quoted this verse many times but man it is so clear.

And really gives us the prescription for the healing of a nation. And it of course is 2nd Chronicles 7 14 where the Lord says, If my people, notice he points his finger at his people. When a nation is in trouble, God doesn't point his finger at the government. He points his finger at his people. He says, If my people, which are called by my name. Will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and churn from their wicked ways. Then God promises I'll hear from heaven forgive their sin and heal their land. We need a healing.

And it's happened before and it can happen again. The last great spiritual awakening in American history was known as the Jesus Movement. Or the Jesus Revolution. Some historians believe not only was it the last great revival. Some even believe it was the greatest of all the revivals.

Here's what I do know. I came to Christ in 1970. I walked into the epicenter of the Jesus Movement.

And I saw amazing things. And my life was impacted. And a whole generation was impacted.

The nation was impacted. And I wrote a book about it. And the title of that book is Jesus Revolution. And I might also add that I co-wrote it with a lady named Ellen Vaughn. Ellen Vaughn was also the co-author of my autobiography called Lost Boy. A very gifted writer in her own right. And she helped me put this book together.

She did extensive research so you can understand the backdrop of the Jesus Revolution. And I think as you read this book, you're going to say, wow, this reminds me of right now. And so here's what we're saying.

Lord, do it again. As the scripture says, will you not revive us again that your people may praise you. So we need another spiritual awakening.

I don't think we can organize it. But I think we can agonize for it in prayer. And I don't think we can make it happen, but I think we can prepare the ground for the work of the Spirit. And I think reading this book will inspire you. Because you know it's been said, the fame of revival spreads the flame of revival. So learn about the fame of revival. Learn about what God did in the last great spiritual awakening in America.

And let's pray that it'll happen again. I want to send you this book, Jesus Revolution, at no cost. All I ask of you is that you would send a gift to help us continue to preach the gospel and teach the Word of God. So for your gift of any size, I'll rush you a copy of my book, Jesus Revolution.

Yeah, that's right. It's an inspiring look at what happened during the 60s and 70s and how it can happen again. In fact, the subtitle of the book is How God Transformed an Unlikely Generation and How He Can Do It Again Today.

And along with the book, we'll even include the brand new study guide that helps you dive even deeper into the insights Pastor Greg presents. So to thank you for your generous donation right now, we hope you'll ask for Jesus Revolution. You can write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 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. And then, Pastor Greg, just before we go, would you mind praying with the person listening who wants to make a change today in their relationship with the Lord? I'd be happy to, Dave. You know, as you've been listening to this today, maybe you've heard another voice. By that I mean, yeah, you heard me say a few things, but you heard God's voice speak to you. Deep in the recesses of your heart, and it suddenly dawned on you, this is what I need. Or to state it more accurately, this is who I need. I need Jesus, and I want Jesus.

But maybe you don't know how to make that connection. Let me help you. Pray this after me right now if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sin. And I need your forgiveness right now. Would you come into my heart and my life as Savior, as God, as friend?

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. I know that was a relatively short prayer. Maybe you felt something as you prayed it. Maybe you felt nothing.

That doesn't really matter. Because God's word says, these things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. It doesn't say, so you may think you have it, or you may hope you have it if God's in a good mood.

No, that you can know it. And I want you to know, if you prayed that prayer and meant it, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come into your life. So congratulations. You're now a Christian. Now continue to follow the Lord. And to help you as you follow the Lord, we'd like to send you some resource materials we call our New Believers Growth Packet.

It'll answer many of the questions you might have and get you started off right in your new relationship with the Lord. So get in touch and ask for it. We'll send it free of charge. Again, it's the New Believers Growth Packet. Write a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514, or call 1-800-821-3300. We're here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to take your call.

Again, dial 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org and click Know God. What part does our knowledge of the rapture play in ushering in the next great move of revival and spiritual awakening? Pastor Greg explains next time here on A New Beginning. Hope you'll join us. 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.