A New Kind of Family: Bring Your Questions to God

Today's episode of A New Beginning is brought to you by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Learn more at harvest.org. And while you're there, browse our library of free ebooks designed to help you grow in your faith. Skepticism is not a sign that a person is wrong. It may be a sign that he is thinking. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out we can bring our uncertainties to the Lord.

There's no question he can't handle. It's okay for you to say to the Lord, make yourself real to me. Help me with my doubts.

Help me with my questions. I certainly did that when I was a brand new believer. And you know what? He did, and he'll do the same for you. When we finish praying the sinner's prayer and become a child of God, it would be great if all our questions are immediately answered, all our doubts are suddenly dispelled, and the gaps in our understanding are instantly filled in. But coming to know God and His plan for our lives is part of the privilege and challenge of living the Christian life. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how we should feel free to approach God for help in sharpening our understanding and deepening our faith. We're back in our series in the Gospel of Mark, which we're calling The Gospel for Busy People.

And the title of my message is A New Kind of Family. Jesus now establishes His new family of disciples. So we're going to read a list of the men that He used to change the world. Some are familiar names, others not as familiar.

And they could not be more different from one another. We read about them in Mark chapter three, verse 16. Now He appointed Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter. James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.

To them, He gave the name Boagenes, which means sons of thunder. There was Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed them. So right at the top of the list, a very familiar name, Simon Peter. Apart from Jesus Himself, no other name is mentioned in the New Testament more than Simon Peter. He was a central figure of Jesus' three years of ministry, and also for the first three years of the early church. And Jesus spent more time with Peter than anybody else. Another thing I would point out, no other person speaks as often or is spoken to as often as Simon Peter. I might also add, no other disciple is reproved and corrected as often as Simon Peter. Flawed character, yes, but He was faithful to the end. Oh sure, He denied the Lord. But He was there with Jesus in the last hours of His earthly ministry, along with the Apostle John.

And though He had His lapse and His setback, He also had His mega comeback when Jesus recommissioned Him again. Yeah, He was part of God's family. And then we have Andrew, the brother of Peter.

They couldn't be any more different. If Peter was like your loud uncle at the family reunion, Andrew's like the quiet cousin. While Peter's talking, Andrew's clearing the table and working behind the scenes. In fact, it was actually Andrew who brought his brother Peter to Jesus. In John 1 41, we read, the first thing Andrew did after he realized that Jesus was the Messiah, was he brought his brother Peter and he said to him, we found the Messiah and he brought him to Jesus. And that's what Andrew was always doing, bringing people to Jesus.

And what a great thing to be known for, bringing people to Jesus. So we've got Peter, the loud one. We've got Andrew, the quiet one. And now we have James and John, the fiery ones. If Peter's like your loud uncle and Andrew's your quiet cousin, these are the brothers who were always arguing. You know, they're at the family reunion and they turn everything into a big debate and they get very upset about things.

These are the kind of people that when they post on social media, it's all in caps, right? They're always fired up about something. And that is a good description of James and John. They're described as the sons of thunder for good reason. They had fiery temperaments. On one occasion, the disciples went into a village of Samaria and the people were not responsive.

They were not hospitable. So James and John come to Jesus and they said, Lord, shall we call fire down from heaven on these people like Elijah did? Jesus was like, wait, what?

Call fire down from heaven? And then he had to remind them what his mission was. He says, guys, you don't know what kind of spiritual the son of man did not come to destroy people. He came to save them. So he's saying, guys, I didn't come to toast people. I came to forgive people.

Capisce, I mean, give me a break. But these guys were very full of fire and passion. And so they were upset that people were not responsive to what Jesus had to say. They can also be very insensitive because Jesus talked about his impending crucifixion with them on one occasion. And he says, the son of man is going to be betrayed and he's going to be condemned to death and they will flog him and kill him. And three days later, he'll rise again. I mean, imagine hearing Jesus say that.

That's heavy stuff. You would just sit in stunned silence. You wouldn't know what to say.

Well, not the sons of thunder. They had plenty to say, because then they blurred out, well, we were wondering if you would do whatever we want you to do. Wait, what? Jesus just got done saying that he's going to die. And they say, oh yeah, interesting.

What can you do for us? And that would be like somebody saying to you, well, I just found out I'm very sick and I'm dying and I only have a few weeks to live. And then you respond, yeah, so what are you going to do with that car you just bought?

Could I have it? So the conversation continues on. We want you to do whatever we ask you to do. So Jesus says, okay, I'll bite.

Well, what do you want me to do? We would like to sit on your right and left hand in glory. Well, they should be thankful Jesus did not answer that prayer. Because what happened shortly after this? Jesus went and was crucified. And who was on his right and left hand? Two criminals who were crucified next to him. See, if he would have answered their prayer, they would have been the ones on the crosses on each side of Jesus.

So thank God for unanswered prayers, right? So we've got the loud one, Simon Peter. We've got the quiet one, Andrew. We've got the fired up ones, James and John, the sons of thunder.

Now we have the skeptical one. And that of course is Thomas. When you're at a family reunion, you know, everybody sees things a certain way. And Thomas is like that relative will say, well, I see it completely differently than the rest of you.

That's just his nature. He was a guy who thought for himself. Of course, we remember Thomas because he did miss the resurrected Christ. After Jesus was crucified, he rose again, and he appeared to the disciples in the upper room. And they told Thomas, hey man, you should have been there last night. Guess who showed up?

Yahoo, Thomas says. Jesus. He appeared to us, all right, yeah. Thomas says, I believe that when I can put my hand in the prince of the nails and put my finger into his side. Well, the next time they got together for a meeting, Thomas was there.

And guess who shows up? Jesus. Well, Thomas, seeing the risen Christ, just said, my Lord and my God. And he believed on the spot.

See, we call him Downing Thomas. I don't think he was a doubter. I think he was a skeptic.

And he wanted what everybody else had. He wanted to see and know for himself. And by the way, you don't have to live off somebody else's faith. It's okay for you to say to the Lord, make yourself real to me. Help me with my doubts.

Help me with my questions. I certainly did that when I was a brand new believer. I was filled with skepticism. And I said to Jesus, if you're real, you're gonna have to make yourself known to me, because I have a hard time believing some of these things for myself.

And you know what? He did, and he does. And he'll do the same for you.

Yeah, Thomas, if he didn't understand something, would talk about it out loud. One occasion in John chapter 14, Jesus said, at my father's house or many mansions that were not so, he would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. And where you go, you know, and the way you know. I think all the disciples were probably nodding in unison and agreement. Yeah, that's deep.

That is really true. And it's Thomas who says, excuse me. I don't know if he raises his hand, but I have a question. Yes, Thomas. We don't know where you're going and we don't know the way.

I like that. He was honest. And what does Jesus say? He doesn't rebuke him. He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man comes to the father, but by me. Listen, skepticism is not a sign that a person is wrong.

It may be a sign that he is thinking. You may have children who are pushing back on the way you've raised them in your Christian home. They have their own questions.

Hey mom, how can I know the Bible is the word of God? Hey dad, I'm grappling with this question. You're thinking, oh, what have we done? We failed our kids. No, they're thinking for themselves.

They're like Thomas. So help them work through those things and help them develop their own faith. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We send these daily studies out via radio, satellite, and over the internet.

And we don't always know how these messages are touching lives. Hey, Pastor Greg, I stumbled onto your daily Bible studies one morning while listening to the radio. I became so interested in the way you explained the Bible, but then the station went off the air.

I searched and was able to find your Google podcast and now listen to you every day. The way you explain the Bible stories has finally let me connect with the Lord in a way I've never been able to before. I grew up attending Christian school and church, and I've always believed in God, but I'm thankful to your ministry because it was like someone finally turned the lights on and connected the dots. After all these years, it took someone across the country from me to finally explain things in a way I can understand.

I appreciate you and thank you for turning on the lights. We're so grateful to hear of the changed lives through Harvest Ministries. And if you'd like to download Pastor Greg's podcasts, you can do that through Google, Apple, or Spotify, or go to harvest.org.

That's harvest.org. We've been considering a number of the Lord's disciples today as Pastor Greg presents his message called A New Kind of Family. Now, I wish I had time to go into all the others that are on our list, but there's one last name that I want to end with, and that would be Judas Iscariot. So Peter's like your loud uncle. Andrew's the working behind the scenes guy.

James and John are always fired up about something. Thomas is a skeptical one. Who's Judas? He's not the evil guy you may think. When we see movies about Jesus or religious art depicting the disciples, you can always figure out who Judas is because he looks so treacherous. He's always hiding over in the shadows. If all the other disciples were wearing white robes, he's got a black robe, a black leather robe with the collar turned up, wearing sunglasses, right?

Not really, but you get the idea. Oh, that's Judas. That is not the way Judas appeared.

He appeared as the most virtuous of the lot. Judas is sort of like your self-righteous relative who's always moralizing, judging, and putting others down. And one day you find out he is the biggest hypocrite of them all. Judas is the literal definition of a hypocrite. Now, I don't think we even know what the word hypocrite means.

We throw it around a lot. We say someone who claims to be a Christian and slips up, that's hypocrisy. That's not hypocrisy. That's humanity. Every one of us as followers of Jesus mess up. We make mistakes. We say the wrong thing. We do the wrong thing.

Hopefully we own it and admit it. That's not a hypocrite. A hypocrite literally defined as an actor. It's a performer.

It's a person who is pretending to be something they are not. And that was Judas. He appeared to be the most virtuous guy of all when in reality he was the most wicked.

Here's a perfect example. All the disciples were gathered together for a meal. And we read how Mary began to wipe the feet of Jesus with some very expensive perfume and the fragrance filled the air. So this perfume that she wiped his feet with because she was given an insight into the fact that Christ was going to go suffer and die on the cross. She wanted to do something extravagant.

Something next level. Something to demonstrate to Jesus how much she loved him. So this is probably a family heirloom worth thousands and thousands of dollars. So she's anointing the feet of Jesus with this beautiful fragrant perfume. And Judas says that perfume is worth a small fortune.

It could have been sold and the money given to the poor. The other disciples probably nodded in unison and said, you know that's true Judas. And Mary I don't know if that was a good stewardship to waste that perfume in the feet of Jesus. But then we're given this little detail in the Gospel of John in John 12 six. Judas said that not because he cared for the poor. He said it because he was a thief. And he was in charge of the disciples funds and he took some for his own use.

Wow. So at the moment he appeared to be the most virtuous. He was actually the most wicked. And it's this greed for money that destroyed the life of Judas Iscariot. Let's not forget he sold out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. And how did he betray Christ? With a handshake?

With a pat on the back? Oh no you know the answer. He betrayed him with a kiss. He told the religious rulers the one that I kiss.

He's the one you're looking for. So there in the Garden of Gethsemane here's Jesus and Judas approaches him and kisses him. And in the original language it's implied he kissed him over and over again.

Not just a peck on the cheek. He kissed him like oh I love you so much Jesus. But he was just identifying Christ so he could be arrested. He was the worst kind of hypocrite out there.

But you want to know something amazing? He could have been forgiven. Jesus knew Judas would betray him. Jesus knew Judas would abandon him. But Jesus offered to Judas an opportunity to repent. When the disciples gathered together in the upper room for what would become Last Supper we read that Jesus washed the disciples feet.

Now that doesn't make a lot of sense to us. But back in these days when you would go visit a person's house the servant in the home would wash your feet. So Jesus was taking the role of a servant. He washed their feet. And he came to the feet of Judas Iscariot to wash them. If I was Jesus I would not have washed the feet of Judas. I would have broken the feet of Judas.

But the Lord even washed his feet. And then he identified Judas as the betrayer. And then he said to Judas whatever you do go and do it quickly. And we read that Satan filled the heart of Judas. So he was not some helpless pawn.

No. He made a deliberate decision to betray Jesus. But even there in the Garden of Gethsemane as Judas approached we read Jesus said to him friend why have you come. If Judas had repented of his sin Jesus would have forgiven him even there. But he was never part of God's family.

He could have been but he was a wicked man. Listen we can all be a part of God's family. You say how do you do that. Well you're born into the family of God. Oh you're saying you have to be raised in a Christian home.

No not at all. You need to be born again into the family of God. Jesus said you must be born again. So when you turn from your sin and you ask God to forgive you you become a part of God's family. The Bible says for as many as received him he gave them the power to become sons of God.

So you can be in this incredible family of God no matter what you've done. Maybe you relate to one of the people I've talked about in this message. Maybe you're like Simon Peter and you walk with the Lord for a time but you messed up and you failed and you sinned. And in the case of Peter he denied three times that he knew Jesus but he was forgiven. Or maybe you're like Thomas you believe but you've had your doubts.

So or you're like some of the others who have had setbacks. But Jesus loved every one of these men. He loved every one of these women that followed him and he loves you. And if you're part of his family he wants to maintain fellowship with you. You know when we're sinning against God we don't break off relationship we break off fellowship.

You're still in the family. You're just not communicating. And it's because we've broken communication down by our sin but the Bible says that we'll confess our sin.

He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and communication can be restored. Maybe I'm talking to somebody right now that wants to join God's family. Somebody right now that maybe doesn't have a family to speak of. Now I mentioned that we all have a family. I had a pretty dysfunctional family growing up.

My mother was married and divorced seven times and was a raging alcoholic. I had a very unstable upbringing but when I became a Christian I joined God's family. And suddenly I found brothers and sisters I did not know that I had that were fellow believers in Jesus Christ and God can do the same for you. Last weekend for Harvest at Home someone watched the service and they wrote me this little note and I'm reading it now. She says I just watched your message on Harvest and it brought me tears of joy. I needed to hear what you said. You answered all of my questions and it brought me so much peace because I prayed that prayer and I'm looking forward to heaven when that day comes.

Thank you for sharing that today. Praise Jesus. She says when I prayed that prayer. What prayer? The same prayer that I'm going to lead you in right now. A prayer where you will say to God you're sorry for your sin and you want Christ to come into your life and you want to become a part of God's family. If you don't know right now that your sin is forgiven. If you don't know with certainty right now that you'll go to heaven when you die.

If you're not sure if you're in the family of God you can join our family right here right now wherever you are and I'll lead you in a simple prayer. I've mentioned multiple times that Jesus went to that cross and died for our sin. Three days later he rose again from the dead and now he stands at the door of your life and he knocks and he says if you'll hear his voice and open the door he will come in. So listen if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life. If you want him to forgive you of your sin. If you want to join God's forever family or if you failed and you want to recommit your life to the Lord. I'll lead you in a simple prayer similar to the prayer that this young lady prayed with me last weekend and this can be a transforming moment in your life where Christ comes to live inside of you. If you want Christ to come into your life and you want him to forgive you of your sin pray this prayer after me. In fact you could pray it out loud right now if you like.

Just pray these words Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you're the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now I put my faith in you and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer with those making a change today in their relationship with the Lord and if you've just joined Pastor Greg in prayer and have asked Jesus to be your savior we'd like to offer some help free of charge. We'd like to send you our New Believers Growth Packet. It'll help you get started in your walk with the Lord and help you build a solid foundation for your faith. So contact us and ask for the New Believers Growth Packet.

You can write us at A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside California 92514 or call us at 1-800-821-3300. We are here to take your call anytime 24 7. Again dial 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click on know God. And then it's a privilege to have Pastor Greg's wife Kathy with us today. She's joined by Shannon Bream, anchor of Fox News at Night on the Fox News Channel. And Shannon has just authored a wonderful new book called The Women of the Bible Speak. The subtitle is The Wisdom of 16 Women and Their Lessons for Today.

Kathy? I found the one chapter that you wrote about Esther and Rahab and you talked about being prepared for the Esther or Rahab moments that will come into our lives. And I was wondering if you could give an example, maybe from your own experience of what a moment like an Esther Rahab moment would look like. Yeah, I think about there's so much that God is preparing and planting along the way in all of our stories. And when we are making every effort to be in His will and walk with Him, I think about even things like scripture memory. I think about verses I learned as a kid that come back to me now, just so when those moments come, you don't even think about it. It becomes natural that something pops up in your mind. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer, or about putting on the full armor of God.

So I feel like having those things tucked away, committing them to memory can be encouraging, can be helpful. We know that Christ Himself used scripture when He was confronted by the enemy to shoot down every lie of His. And He's coming at us with lies every day about who we are, what we're worth. And I think for women especially, they need to know we are created in God's image. We are precious in His sight.

We are daughters of the King as believers. And so I think being able to call on that truth when the lies come that tell you, you aren't worthwhile, you are not chosen, you don't get this job or this relationship falls apart, or you don't know how you're going to pay the rent. I mean, there are struggles in every single day.

I mean, for me, it really was the years of living in chronic pain that were sort of Esther and Rahab moments for me. How will I rise to this occasion? Can I get through this? And scripture was a huge comfort to me in those times when I thought I can't make it through one more day.

I can't. And I think we will all face challenges, whether they're sudden losses, illnesses, rejection or betrayal, whatever it is, we're all going to get there. So I think having the roots, having the scripture buried in our hearts so that we can call out lies from the enemy based on that scripture, I mean, to me, those are all things we can do to prepare for our Esther and Rahab moments. We hear so often that phrase for such a time as this, which is from Esther's story. And it's important to remember that when Mordecai, her uncle, came to her to explain or sent a message to her, that the entire Jewish people were under attack and would be annihilated without some kind of intervention for her. He asked her to go to the king, but she knew if she went to the king unbidden, he could have her put to death. And we have to remember in her story, she didn't immediately say, okay, I'll go. She said, have all the Jewish people fast for three days. At the end of that, I will go.

And if it costs me my life, I will go. Because Mordecai had said to her, don't think if you don't rise to this occasion that somebody else won't and that you won't be protected as well. So it's good, I think, to remember in her story, there was some hesitation and fear in there.

But she asked for the help of fasting and for the Jewish people. And she then committed she would go, despite what fear she may have had, and to be brave in the moment. So, you know, there is preparation in rising to those moments. That's Shannon Breen speaking with Kathy Laurie about her new book, The Women of the Bible Speak. There's such deep inspiration in these stories, not only for women, but for men as well. And Shannon does a great job of helping us connect with that timeless encouragement. We'll be glad to send you this new book to thank you for your investment so we can keep Pastor Greg's studies coming your way. Your donation not only helps you benefit from them, but so many others as well. One listener expressed gratitude for them this way. Thank you so much for your passion toward lost souls. There isn't a moment in any of your sermons where you don't offer an opportunity for people to come to know Jesus.

I admire and respect you so much. So we hope you'll send your investment today, and then be sure to ask for this new book, The Women of the Bible Speak, by Shannon Breen. You can write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514 or call 1-800-821-3300. Call anytime 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org. You know, sometimes we can't always make it to church, but here's the good news. Church is coming to you.

It's coming to you on your TV screen or on your tablet or your computer or even your phone. We do it every weekend and it's called Harvest at Home. We have worship, we have a message from the Word of God.

If you want to find out more, just go to harvest.org and join us this weekend for Harvest at Home. Well, next time more from Pastor Greg's series in the Gospel of Mark called The Gospel for Busy People. We'll discuss what Pastor Greg calls the golden key to spiritual growth. That's next time on A New Beginning. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to A New Beginning. This is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. So for more content that can help you know God and equip you to make Him known to others or to learn more about how you can become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org.