How to Be a World Changer: Let Our Light Shine

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. If you use your faith, it grows. Use it or lose it. Can you imagine chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips? Can you imagine fried chicken pulled the chicken? Some ingredients are prerequisites. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out our job is to influence the world around us. We'll see today God calls us to change the world. But there's a must-have ingredient involved. Without this ingredient, we're just spinning our spiritual wheels.

Let's learn how to follow the Bible's blueprint. Question. What do you see when you look in the mirror? If you're like me, you don't always like what you see, especially if it's a magnifying mirror. It's been said, mirrors don't lie. Lucky for you, they don't laugh either. End quote.

Right? Well, I want to talk to you about how God looks at you. How the Lord sees you.

When I look at myself, I see weakness. God sees potential. I see what I am. God sees what I can be.

I see the past. God sees the future. Maybe I see a lump of clay. God sees a beautiful sculpture. I see a blank canvas. God sees a Van Gogh. I see a lump of coal. God sees a sparkling diamond.

I see a vacillating, unsure Simon. God sees an apostle Peter. You see or I see a persecuting Saul of Tarsus, and God sees a mighty man of God named Paul. So maybe we think of ourselves as zeroes, but the truth is God can make us into heroes.

Hebrews chapter 11 is basically the Heroes Hall of Faith. It's a collection of a very interesting group of men and women that went out and changed their world. They were ordinary people just like you and me, but they did extraordinary things. They faced adverse circumstances like we do, but they rose above their circumstances and changed their world. It was said of the first century church, they turned their world upside down. By the way, that was not meant as a compliment. I think in many cases for some Christians the world is turning us upside down instead of us turning our world upside down.

So I want you to discover how you can be a world changer. The operative word in Hebrews 11 is that these were men and women of faith. It's not because they were great people that they're included in the Heroes Hall of Faith. It's because they had faith in a great God.

I mean think about some of the people that made the cut. Gideon was a frightened farmer when the angel of the Lord called him to be a mighty warrior to deliver Israel. Moses. He was a fugitive from justice when the Lord called him at the burning bush. And we think of so many others who were called and were such flawed individuals. Think about Abraham. We think of him as the father of faith, but yet we know that he lied about his wife twice.

Quite a lack of faith in his part I might add. His son Isaac did the same thing. Sarah. She makes it into the Heroes Hall of Faith, yet she left at the promise of God.

Then she denied it. I already alluded to Moses. He lost his temper. He killed a man. David makes it into the Heroes Hall of Faith, but he committed adultery. And then he tried to cover it up and effectively committed murder. Samson also made it in to Hebrews 11 and he was very immoral.

Listen. These winners didn't always collect metals. Sometimes they collected scars.

But not one mention is made of their failures in Hebrews 11. I find that interesting. So here's what we learned from that. Is God was seeing them for what they would become.

Not just what they were. Maybe you've messed up in life. Maybe you feel like your story is over.

That's not true. God can change your story. God can change the narrative.

The trajectory that your life is taking. And if we learn nothing else from Hebrews 11 we see that God can use flawed people. So let's read Hebrews 11 verse 1 and get a definition of the operative word in all of their lives, which is faith. Hebrews 11 one says, We are going to discover now ten principles about how you can be a world changer.

So if you are taking notes here is point number one. World changers have an active not a passive faith. I will say that again for emphasis. World changers have an active not a passive faith. Listen.

The more you use your faith the stronger it grows. I have to admit it's been a while since I've been to a gym. But back when I was going to the gym I remember this one guy. He had a sculpted physique. You know just bulging biceps and abs and everything was going right with this guy. But for some reason I don't know why he had the skinniest little legs you've ever seen. It was like this massive upper body and like chicken legs. I don't know why he thought legs don't matter. I won't work out my legs. And that is how it can be with some of us.

We work out in some areas but we don't work out in others. So here is the thing you need to understand. Faith is like a muscle.

The more you use it the stronger it becomes. But some of us treat our faith like a fragile egg. Oh it's an egg. Don't drop it. It's like when I go to the market. If I have three bags of groceries and they are filled with canned things and you know vegetables and bread. If I drop one of those bags I am telling you Murphy's Law guarantees it. I will always drop the bag that has the eggs in it.

Right? So eggs are fragile. We think faith is fragile.

But it is not fragile. Faith is given to us to use. To stretch. To flex.

To develop. And the more you use your faith the more faith you will have. If you neglect your faith it will atrophy. If you use your faith it will grow stronger. Listen to this.

Use it or lose it. Jude 1.20 says this. Notice the emphasis there is on faith doing things. Faith is praying. Faith is staying. Faith is keeping.

Faith is active. A big trend right now is four wheel drive vehicles. I read recently that half of all vehicles that are sold have four wheel drive capacity.

That is nice. If you live in Montana or Colorado a lot of these people don't do any four wheeling. But then they will jack their vehicle up and put huge wheels and tires on it you know.

And when they pull up behind you at the light you are looking at their chassis and your rear view mirror. And maybe you will talk to one of them as they are putting gas in it and say wow that is an amazing vehicle. Do you do a lot of off roading?

They will say are you kidding? You know how much I spend on this thing? Oh wow you don't off road at all?

No I am on my way to the car wash to just keep it really clean. See here is the sad thing. You have a vehicle that is designed for four wheel drive capacity and you are not using it. And the same is true of us. God has given us this faith to use but we don't use it. We neglect it.

We have it in our little display case. Our faith is all show and no go. But world changers have an active not a passive faith.

Point number two. World changers do things with their faith. They do things with their faith. Here in Hebrews 11 we read these words. Abel offered a sacrifice. Noah prepared an ark. Abraham obeyed. Abraham offered up Isaac. You see they did things with their faith.

Listen to this. A faith that has no works is a faith that does not work. James says faith without works is dead.

Bringing me to point number three. The faith we need as a world changer grows stronger through testing. I don't know about you but most of us don't like to be tested do we? It has been said Christians are a lot like tea bags. You don't know what they are made of until you put them in hot water. Maybe you are in the hot water if you will of temptation right now.

Or the hot water of some kind of testing. And you are saying this is trying my faith. I don't know if I can get through this. In fact I am starting to lose my faith.

Listen to this. The faith that cannot be tested is the faith that cannot be trusted. If you have real faith in God your faith will grow stronger through adversity and difficulty.

Not weaker. We are told in James 1 when all kinds of trials and temptations crowd in on you brothers. Don't treat them as intruders but friends realize they have come to test your faith and produce in you a quality of endurance. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. I want you to know tonight one thing. God loves you.

In a new book on the life of Billy Graham Pastor Greg Laurie brings us a deeper appreciation for the man and his message. No matter what you have done. No matter how you have lived. No matter what the color of your skin. No matter what your racial background.

No matter what language you speak. God loves you. And he wants to come into your life.

He wants to give you a new beginning. Billy built bridges to people and he always shared the gospel and he always emulated Christ. And I think we can learn from his example. So I write about that and a lot more in this new book I have written called Billy Graham the Man I Knew. It's an evangelist's book at the life of history's greatest evangelist. Get your copy of the new biography Billy Graham the Man I Knew.

Go to Harvest.org. Well today Pastor Greg is pointing out how faith is the key to living a life that draws others to Christ. Let's continue. Alright where do we get faith?

Point number four. We get it by reading and understanding the word of God. Romans 10 17 says, Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So right now you are building your faith. That is if you are listening to me. Pay attention.

Are you listening? If you are and you are thinking about what Scripture says it can strengthen and build your faith. The more I read the Bible the stronger my faith can become. So we want to be looking into the word of God. And then point number five.

Listen this is a big one. Faith can make the difference between something happening and not happening. Let me repeat that for emphasis. Faith can make the difference between something happening and not happening. We see so many instances in this Scripture. There was one woman that was praying for her daughter. And Jesus answered her prayer. And then He said to her, Woman great is your faith.

It will be done as you desire. See she put her faith into action. She was persistent with her faith.

And Jesus granted her request and commended her for her faith. But yet we also read Jesus could do no mighty works in the home town He lived in of Nazareth because of their unbelief. Jesus would go to some cities and miracles would happen. Demons would come out of people.

The blind would receive their sight and the deaf would hear again and lepers would be cured. But He goes to Nazareth and they are like, Jesus we remember Him when He was knee high to a grasshopper. Or should we say a locust. Yes we remember Him working at the carpenter shop with Joseph. And we knew that kid.

Well so what? That kid was God incarnate who was the Messiah but they didn't appreciate that about Him. And so they doubted Him immediately. Well no miracles were done there. We can stop the work of God in our life by unbelief. Unbelief is the thief.

And you see in scripture how God worked through people exercising their faith to produce amazing things. God could have parted the Red Sea by His own power. He didn't need Moses to hold up his stick. That's all it was.

A staff. He didn't need Moses and a stick. The Lord could have done it. But He said, Moses hold up your staff and see the work of the Lord. God could have also done many things like bring fire down from heaven on the altar when Elijah was facing off with the prophets of Baal. He didn't need Elijah to call for that fire. But the Lord wants us to exercise our faith. The Lord wants us to be a part of this process.

So you need to call out to Him. The Bible tells the story of a man named Bartimaeus. He was blind. And Jesus was coming through his town. And someone said to Bartimaeus, Jesus is coming. So Bartimaeus he says, Jesus son of David have mercy on me.

They shh. Don't bother Jesus. So what does he do? He gets louder. Jesus son of David have mercy on me. Jesus turns like whoa.

Who is this guy? You know you have read that verse in the Bible that says a squeaky wheel gets oil. That's not a verse in the Bible. But it's the same.

It has some validity. Bartimaeus was a squeaky wheel. Jesus turned to him.

Ok. What do you need? I want to be healed of blindness. And Jesus healed him. You see faith being used again. And that is the definitive principle of Hebrews 11. Those people use their faith. Hebrews 11 says without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.

Listen. What God did in the lives of people years ago he can still do in the lives of people today. God wants to do something fresh in our generation.

Let me personalize that. God wants to work in your life. He wants to work in your home.

He wants to work in your sphere of influence. I heard about a mom who was reading exciting Bible stories to her little daughter. And one night the little girl said, Mommy it seems like God was a lot more exciting back then.

Well you know maybe it is because we don't apply faith. These men and women took risks and God blessed them. Let's read a little more about them. Hebrews 11 33 to 35 it says, By faith these people overthrew kingdoms. They ruled with justice. They received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions and quenched the flames of fire. They escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.

Women received their loved ones back from death. That brings me to principle number six. World changers are indestructible until God is done with them. World changers are indestructible until God is done with them. So stop worrying about when you are going to die. That is in the hands of God. The Bible says it is appointed unto a man who wants to die and then comes to judgment.

It is going to happen at the appointed hour. So if you are freaking out about it and stressing about it all the time you are wasting a lot of energy. You will live as long as God wants you to live.

Not a day longer. But then again your life will not be cut short if God wants it to go on longer. You are indestructible until God is done with you. Illustration right here in Hebrews 11 verse 33. They shut the mouths of lions. Now one biblical character comes to mind when we think of lions.

Can you guess who it is? It is Daniel. We all know the story of Daniel and the lion's den. You remember Daniel was a prophet of the Lord and he was serving King Darius who ruled Babylon. And Darius really leaned on Daniel for his counsel. He was a man of integrity.

A godly man. And these other guys who were advising the king didn't like Daniel. It is like this guy is getting all the king's attention.

We have got to get rid of him. And they knew the only way they could get Daniel out of power was to find something connected to his faith because Daniel had this amazing habit. Every day he prayed. So they got the king to unwittingly sign a decree that no one could pray to any god except the king for 40 days. And the decree was signed and it was a law.

No more praying in Babylon. Daniel heard about that and thought interesting. And he went home and opened up his windows like he always did and prayed. He was arrested. And he was thrown into a den of lions because he violated the king's order.

But I will tell you what. The Bible tells us the king had a sleepless night despite the comforts of his palace. Meanwhile Daniel slept like a baby in a den of hungry lions. He probably said, Hey Simba come up here. I am going to use your stomach as a pillow.

And Leo I am going to prop my feet up on you. And he went to sleep. He slept like a baby. And it just reminds us of this simple fact. Better to be in a lion's den with God than anywhere else without Him. He was better off in a lion's den than the king was in a palace. And Daniel said to the king, My God has sent His angel to deliver me.

So my point is simply this. God wasn't done with Daniel yet. And God is not done with you yet.

So you trust Him. Pastor Greg Laurie presenting 10 Characteristics of World Changers today here on The New Beginning. We've completed the first six on the list and we'll have the rest as this message continues. Now if you missed any part of what Pastor Greg brought us today all is not lost, you can hear what you missed by going online to harvest.org. Look for the message called How to Be a World Changer. And then it's such a joy to announce Pastor Greg's new book called Billy Graham, The Man I Knew. It's an evangelist's look at the life of the greatest evangelist of all time. And Pastor Greg, he wrote in the book, The two most important moments in a person's life are when they're born and when they realize what they are born for. Yes. Over and over we see evidence of what Billy was born for. In the book, do you help us sort of discover what we are born for?

Right. Yes, of course, because you know God has a plan for each of our lives. Now Billy wanted to be a professional baseball player. That's what he aspired to. But after he accepted Christ at the revival meetings of evangelist Mordecai Ham, a calling came on Billy's life and he was resistant to it at first. He didn't aspire to be a preacher.

He was a fun-loving, normal young man who, as I said, wanted to go play baseball. But God put a call on his life. And God puts a call on everybody's life. We're not all called to be preachers. Certainly we're not all called to impact the world like Billy Graham did. But we are all called to preach the gospel.

And we are all called to impact our world. So in this book that I've written on the life of Billy called Billy Graham, the man that I knew, I show how the Lord directed him, how the Lord called him. And I describe in detail the amazing changes that happened in his life. And he wanted to go one way and the Lord led him another way. And how God was in control of his life from beginning to end.

And how the Lord will do that for you as well. I'm hoping that this book will introduce Billy to a whole new generation, especially of young people that don't really know Billy. They weren't raised seeing Billy on television all the time.

They never went in person to a Billy Graham crusade. So I'm doing my best to bring this story in an understandable, relatable way to you. I show his humor. I show his humanness. I show some of his vulnerabilities.

And you'll only love and appreciate him more after you've read it. Because he was the same guy in private that he was in public. There were not two Billy Grahams. He was the real deal. And that's why I decided to write a book about Billy Graham. Because people need to know about this man who was called by God to be the greatest evangelist in history. His life is worth studying. He's such a great example for all of us. And Pastor Greg and his co-author Marshall Terrell have done exhaustive research into Billy's life.

In fact, research that took them all the way back to the Civil War. So don't miss this opportunity to read this evangelist's look at the life of history's greatest evangelist. And we'll send you a copy, hot off the press, to thank you for your investment in making these daily studies possible. It's only through listener support that we can feature Pastor Greg's teachings each day. So send your gift today to A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300.

We can take your call anytime, again at 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to Harvest.org and look for Billy Graham, the man I knew. 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.

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 insight on those ten characteristics of world changers. Good inspiration and instruction, next time on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. 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.