Hey, everybody. You're listening to A New Beginning, which is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. If this program has impacted you, I'd love to hear from you. So just send an email to me at gregg.harvest.org. Again, it's gregg.harvest.org.
You can learn more about becoming a Harvest Partner by going to harvest.org. 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 all the angels are singing.
This is the day, the day where life begins. The Christian life isn't constant rainbows and butterflies. It's not bliss, bling, and bemusement. And we shouldn't promise that kind of life in our presentation of the Gospel.
We need to be honest. Sometimes trials come our way, but the Lord is with us in the midst of them and will help bring us through them. We'll learn more today on A New Beginning as Pastor Greg continues our study of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.
It's timeless insight that stretches right into the 21st century. This is the day, the day where life begins. I go down to the beach today so I load up my beach chair. I've got my sunscreen. I've got my sunglasses. I've got my ear headphones or ear pods or whatever. I've got some music to listen to. I've got tons of books to read.
I'm always dragging books wherever I go. Maybe have a little lunch. I've got my towel. So I go down to the beach and I set everything up. There's the towel. Here's the books.
Here's everything. Alright, this is great. I just love the sound of the ocean and there's no one around me. But then, you know, I get hot. So I have to go in the water.
But the water is so cold in California, right? So I go in partially and maybe I get all the way in. And then while I'm in the water, I look. A seagull is now flying off with my lunch. And if that's not bad enough, he's wearing my sunglasses to add insult to injury and maybe he leaves one little final parting gift on my towel just so I know he was there. And then so I return to my towel now and I sit down and why is it that if there's an entire beach with all these places to go, someone pulls their towel up right next to me. Even touching my towel. That should be illegal. Don't touch my towel.
Their towel is touching a little bit. And I always have the person that's having the conversation on the phone very loudly on speaker. So I'm hearing what the other person is saying and what they're saying or another person with a loud obnoxious music.
Okay, well enough complaining. That's some of the things I like and dislike. Mostly dislike about the beach. Here's what I do like about the beach. I like to go with my grandkids and build sandcastles with them. Now I'm not a great sandcastle builder. Fill a bucket with sand, turn it upside down, boom, that's it. I might go to the next level, put a few shells on it, maybe dig a little moat around it, right? But there's other people who build elaborate sandcastles.
To me this seems like the biggest waste of time ever. You say why? Because that tide is going to rise and it's going to wash it away or some little three year old kid, most likely a boy, the moment you're not looking is going to come and destroy your sandcastle.
So it's not a good idea to build something on sand. So I want to talk about two kinds of people as we wrap this up. I'm going to even give them names. Rocky and Sandy, right? Rocky, he builds his house on a firm foundation of stone.
Sandy, however, she's built on this shifting seashore. And so we'll find out who's who when the storms come. And when you get down to it, every one of us builds our life on something. We all have a set of values that we live by.
Even people that say they have no values actually have values of some kind. We have a philosophy, something we think is true, that is the foundation of our life. So here's the question, will your foundation sustain you when the storms of life come? Because the storms of life will come your way in one way, shape or form.
And sometimes one storm will follow another even. So here's how you'll really know what your life is built on. If you build it on sand, you'll crumble.
If you build it on rock, you will be strong. Alright, let's read these final words of Jesus. Matthew 7, verse 24.
Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise. He is like a person who builds a house on solid rock. And though the rain comes in torrents, notice it doesn't say if, it says though.
In other words, it will happen. And the flood waters rise and the winds beat against that house. It won't collapse because it's built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish. He's like a person who builds a house on the sand. When the rains and the floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash. When Jesus had finished these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching.
For he taught with real authority, quite unlike their teachers of religious law. We'll stop there. So now we have this final contrast of two guys building houses. And you know what? They probably looked exactly the same. They had the same floor plan. They had the same landscaping. They had the same car in the driveway. They had the same dog even.
The same kind of dog, right? But here's the big difference. One represents a believer. The one who hears the word of God and does it. The other represents effectively a non-believer. But we'll call him a pseudo-believer. Who hears the word of God and does not do it. What I mean by a pseudo-believer is he appears to be a believer, but actually he is not. So this is not a non-believer that never goes to church.
This is a person that could be sitting next to you in a seat. And they have a Bible that looks just like your Bible. And they know the words of the same songs you know. And when you pray, they pray.
And everything looks good. But then one day you find out that person is, well, they've been living a double life. And they haven't been a believer at all. But they looked like one and you thought they were one. And the difference is hearing the word and doing it and hearing the word and not doing it. So which one are you?
Here's how you'll know the difference. Verse 25. Though the rain comes in torrents and the flood waters rise.
Look. Storms will come in every life. And when I say storm I'm using it as a metaphor for trouble.
Right? Trouble is going to come into every life. Sometimes it's a health issue. Sometimes it's a marital problem. Sometimes it's a kid problem. Sometimes it's a legal problem. Sometimes it's a threat against your very life. So many things can qualify as a storm or a trial.
Whatever you want to call it. But storms come into every life. And you know now we have hurricanes. We named them.
Right? I actually came across a list of all the hurricanes of days gone by. And all the ones that are coming. They have an alphabetical list. And here's what the next hurricane is going to be named. So I was looking over the list.
And some I recognize. Of course we all remember Hurricane Andrew. That was a big one. Devastating one. Hurricane Katrina.
I was over on the islands of Hawaii when Hurricane Iniki hit. That was a big one as well. But then they had some storm names that I thought seriously. These are storm names.
There was one. Hurricane Larry. There's just something not frightening about Hurricane Larry is coming. Larry? Really?
Then there's another one. Hurricane Fabian. Fabian. I thought why not Hurricane Fabio.
Long blonde hair. Come on. And then here's one of my favorites. Hurricane Kirk. That just is not threatening. Here comes Hurricane Kirk.
Oh wow. Right? So whatever you name it if that hurricane is coming your way. If that storm is coming your way it's real. And it's not any fun. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4, our present troubles are quite small and they won't last very long. Yet they produce in us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever. Not a great glory.
A great glory. So don't look at the troubles you can see right now. Rather look forward to what you have not yet seen. For the troubles you see will soon be over but the joys to come will last forever. Listen. These storms sometimes are tidal waves of temptation.
And other times it's a slow eroding effect of more subtle methods. It can be persecution, tragedy, a major disappointment. But it is going to come.
But here's the good news. If you've built your life on Jesus Christ you'll be able to get through the storm. And not only will you get through the storm, you'll be stronger because of the storm. But if you've not built your life on Jesus Christ you will not weather those storms at all. So that's why we want to build our life on a good foundation. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.
Hey everybody Greg Laurie here. You know my uncle Fred Jordan had one of the first Christian TV programs out there. It was called Church in the Home.
I remember watching it as a little boy when I was living with my grandparents. Well we have Church in the Home for you every weekend. It's called Harvest at Home and you can find it at Harvest.org. We have worship and a message from God's word. So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg continues his encouraging presentation about surviving our life's storms called the Foundation of Life.
Let's listen. I was interviewed the other day and this person interviewing me asked me if I ever had a moment in my life where you know I had doubts or I was questioning and I said yes as a matter of fact I did. I don't know if I'd qualify it as a doubt. But it was very hard and it was of course when our son died. And the question I asked was why. And not so much why did it happen to me though I have to admit I asked that but I really ask more why did it happen to him.
You know he was 33 years old. He had fallen away from the Lord for a time recommitted his life to Christ was married had a beautiful daughter and another one on the way. And he was actually serving the Lord with his ability as a graphic artist working at our church and was on his way to church and was in a auto collision and he died. And you know when something like that happens you ask the why question and I think sometimes we feel like wow I you know I must have no faith in God because I'm asking why. Some preachers won't tell you this I'll tell you this there's nothing wrong with asking God why.
It's okay. Hey don't expect an answer but ask away. Right. Because if God were to answer you. If God were to say okay I'm going to tell you why now. You ready for it.
Write it down. We probably wouldn't like it. We'd probably disagree with it or some other thing. So you can ask God why. Even Jesus said my God my God why have you forsaken me. So I asked why for a while and there was no satisfactory answer. So I fell back to another issue.
Two other W's. What and who. Let's start with who. All right. I don't know why.
I don't know how the answer to why. Who. As in who do I turn to. Well I don't turn to a bottle and I'm not going to turn to drugs and I'm not going to turn to something else so I'm going to turn to Jesus Christ.
He's the one who sustains me. That's the who. And the what. The what as in what am I supposed to do. You know I would have never written this script for myself but God has allowed it in my life and I don't understand why.
And he does say he causes all things to work together for good to those who love him and of the called according to his purpose. Therefore Lord what do you want me to do. And I determined that I could not waste my pain. I was in pain and I thought maybe I can help other people. So I became a member of a club I never wanted to join. A club of people who have lost children. And I realized that God had given me a platform to speak both to them and for them.
To them and for them. So you know when you have lost a child you can speak authoritatively to somebody else who has lost a child. They will listen to you because they know you have gone through it. Just like if you are a cancer survivor you can speak more authoritatively to someone who just found out they have cancer than someone who has never had it before.
Right. And that is true of many things in life. When you have gone through it people will listen to you because you have been there. So you can have that platform and you can bring words of perspective and encouragement. But then I speak for these people and remind folks that hey if you meet somebody who has lost a loved one.
Especially a child. Don't ever ask them are they over it yet. That is never an appropriate question ever. I actually had someone ask me that like two weeks after our son died.
I ran into him on the street and he goes oh yeah I am really sad about your son. Are you over that yet? I will be over it after I kill you. Maybe. No I didn't think that. But you know what an insensitive thing to say.
Seriously. And I have had every weird thing said to me so I know what it is like to be on the receiving end. By well-meaning Christians that don't know what the heck they are talking about. And I think we feel as Christians we always have to have an answer for everything.
We have to have a scripture for everything. And sometimes the best thing you can do is literally say nothing. Sometimes the best thing to say to someone who is suffering would be something along the lines of I have no idea what it is like to go through what you are going through right now. But I want you to know I am praying for you.
And I am here for you. You know could I do something for you? Could I pick you up a bite to eat? Could I run an errand for you?
Or just do some other practical thing? I am just here for you. I don't have sermons for you. But I have friendship for you. There is a time for those words of encouragement.
Don't get me wrong. But sometimes we just don't know what we are saying to these people. And so we have to be sensitive to that. But look storms are going to come. But here is the good news about a storm. A storm is a beginning, a middle, and an end. Some of you are just pulling into a storm. A hardship.
Oh man. What is this thing? Is this going to be a long one? I don't want to do this. Some of you are in the middle. Oh this has been going on forever. When is it going to stop? And some of you are just pulling out. So glad that is in my rearview mirror.
Oh no. What is that on the horizon? Sometimes storms come in stages. Sometimes storms come and they take a hard turn. Over in Hawaii a big storm was coming their way not long ago. A hurricane.
I forgot the name of it. And so they were all getting ready because they were saying there is going to be a bad storm. And what is the deal with these weather people? They just three drops of rain hit the ground.
National emergency. They are just breathlessly reporting we are here now waiting for the storm to come. Anyway so they thought this huge storm was going to devastate Hawaii and it was coming and it was building. And it came right their direction and just kind of turned and gave them a little bit of a storm and they were fine. And then the funny thing is a little bit later another storm came they didn't even expect and that probably did more damage than the first storm.
So that is just like life isn't it? Here it comes. Here it comes and then it doesn't come.
Now here comes another I didn't expect. Right. Weren't we supposed to have had a big storm yesterday?
What happened to that? You want to know how to get it to rain? It is very simple. Wash your car.
It always works for me. I don't know about you. Storms are going to come. They have a beginning. They have a middle.
They have an end. God will get you through your storms if you are built on Jesus Christ because it comes down to this. When you are going through these storms you are going to learn a little bit because character is not made in crisis. It is revealed.
Let me repeat that. Character is not made in crisis. It is revealed. The storm reveals who you are and what kind of faith you have. Sometimes people go through a hardship or a tragedy in their childhood and they will say well that shook my faith. That is why I turned against God because this hard thing happened to me when I was young so I lost my faith.
Well good. Lose that faith because it comes down to this. A faith that can't be shaken is a faith that has been shaken. And maybe one of the reasons you lost your faith is you never had faith in God. So put your faith in God because hardship will come in life but the good news is God will be there to sustain you. Now you know there might be someone here at church tonight that is here because something has happened to you.
Bad. Maybe you faced the consequences of some dumb decision you made. Maybe some other thing has taken place. Maybe a doctor gave you bad news. Maybe it is something else. You got fired at your job. Or you know something happened and you know you broke up with your girlfriend or your husband walked out. I don't know whatever it is but something happened and you thought I need to get to church.
And you feel a little embarrassed like you know I don't feel this is right. You know you have come to the right place. I am glad you are here. This is the best place to come at all times but especially if you are suffering. Because the church is a place to get healed. It is a hospital for sinners.
And it is a place for the saints to get patched up too. Some say well that is weakness. Christianity is a crutch. Oh Christianity is more than a crutch.
It is a wheelchair. It is everything. Emergency room. Everything you need it is there in a relationship with God. And there should be no shame in anyone ever admitting they need God's help. And so if you have had a difficulty that has got you to church God bless you for coming here. Because Jesus has what you need.
And so we want to close with this. It really comes down to knowing God. Not knowing about God.
Knowing God. Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them. He is like a wise man who builds his house on a rock. That is Rocky. Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does not do them. He is like a foolish man who builds his house on this end. That is Andy. Who are you?
Rocky or Sandy? What are you built on? And do you have the guaranteed hope that if you died you would go to heaven? That is only the hope of the follower of Jesus Christ.
And Jesus who gave these teachings went and died on a cross for our sin. And then he rose again from the dead and he stands at the door of each of our lives and he knocks. And says if we will hear his voice and open the door he will come in. So I want to close with a prayer and an invitation. An invitation for you to believe in Jesus. An invitation for you to be forgiven of all of your sin. An invitation for you to know God. Not know about God. Know God. A relationship. A friendship.
And much more. So if you need this relationship with God. If you want to know you will go to heaven when you die. If you want to be ready for the Lord's return respond to this invitation as we close now in prayer. Let's all bow our heads. Father thank you for your word to us. Thank you for the promise of Scripture. Now I pray for any person here who does not yet know you. Help them to see their need for you. And help them to come to you now. In Jesus name I pray.
Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an invitation to get your heart right with the Lord. And if you'd like to do that today Pastor Greg will help you in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. But if you missed any portion of today's study, a message called The Foundation of Life, you can hear the whole program again online at harvest.org.
Or download an MP3. And again that's at harvest.org. Well it's such a privilege to have a good friend here in the studio with us today. He's retired cold case detective J. Warner Wallace. Jim Wallace. And he's just finished his latest book called Person of Interest. Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible. He investigates the person of Christ using his training and skill as a detective. It's a unique look at the faith. And you know Jim your book is so full of facts.
Cold hard facts. But when people come to the Lord they come by faith. So how does a factual case support a faith decision?
Well that's what we do. In jury trials we're constantly saying hey we're going to give you enough good evidence to make the proper inference about what happened. Even though you are still going to have unanswered questions. If you're the kind of person who can't make a decision on a jury with unanswered questions we're not going to impanel you.
We're going to leave you off the jury. Because we know we're not going to be able to answer every question. We'll be able to answer enough though to leave you with a smaller step of trust for your inference. What we do in Christianity is the same way. Jesus did the same thing. He said you know if you don't believe what I told you at least believe on the evidence of these miracles. He says this in the Gospel of John. He provides evidence at every turn. He heals then he heralds.
Why is it in that order? Why do I need to do this first to demonstrate the authority I have with the words I'm about to say I've already laid the foundation for them evidentially. When John the Baptist is starting to struggle right he sends his disciples to Jesus. Jesus could easily tell those disciples of John the Baptist go back and tell John he should know better. He's my cousin for crying out loud. He left in the womb when our parents met. You know he baptized me. He saw the descending of the really John should know better. No what he does is he reminds the disciples of John the Baptist of the miracles he has worked in front of them. Go back and tell John.
Go back and remind John. That's evidence. That's called indirect evidence right the evidence of miracles. Jesus constantly does this even though we know that that evidence and I know this too.
I don't expect to argue somebody into the kingdom. What I want to do is help people to kind of remove the barriers they've constructed for themselves so that when they hear the gospel it's available to them. And so I think the kind of work we do is just to kind of till the soil.
We're preparing the ground for and I know that for me personally you could have done this all day long it would have been useless. But at some point God first acted to change the nature of my heart so I would pay attention to the case at all. I didn't do that. I was prayed into that position by people who loved me enough to pray for me and God's Spirit moved in me and it was all God top down. But at the same time when we take time to make a case we're kind of like basically preaching the gospel. I needed to hear the case that way. I needed to hear that evidential case before I would listen to the gospel. And so that's how I became a Christian. I became a Christian by examining the gospels as if they were eyewitness accounts to see if they were reliable. And that helped me to tear down the walls that I had constructed so that when I read what the New Testament said about Jim Wallace, about my need for a Savior, I was able to actually respond. Wow, those are just some of the insights that you'll find reading this brand new book from J. Warner Wallace, a former cold case detective. And the title of the book is Person of Interest, subtitled Why Jesus Still Matters in a World That Rejects the Bible.
Yeah, this is the kind of insight that helps strengthen our own faith and it offers such practical help in sharing our faith with others on their level. And we'd like to send you Person of Interest to thank you for your investment so A New Beginning can continue coming your way each day. So send your donation today to A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org. Pastor Greg, you mentioned how someone can become a Christian with just a simple prayer.
That's right. Maybe somebody would like to do that right now. Could you help them with that?
Sure, I'd love to. A simple prayer is right. In fact, I would like to just pray a prayer and I would ask you to pray it after me right now. Pray these words. Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, but I also know that you are the savior because you died on the cross for my sin and you rose again from the dead. Jesus, come into my life and forgive me of every sin I've ever committed.
I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer, Lord, and I pray all of this in Jesus' name.
Amen. If you just prayed that prayer and meant it, I want you to know on the authority of Scripture, God Almighty has heard your prayer and He will answer this prayer. You are now a newly minted child of God, so congratulations.
You've made the right decision, and welcome to the family of God. I want to send you a special gift because of that prayer you've just prayed. It's called the New Believer's Growth Packet, and in it is a copy of the New Testament in a very understandable translation called the New Living Translation. It also is filled with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you've made to follow Christ, and there's some other outstanding materials in this little packet I'll send you as well. So order your copy today and let me be the first to say to you congratulations and welcome to the family of God. And to get that New Believer's Growth Packet, just get in touch and we'll be glad to send it right out. You can write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300.
That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click the words, Know God. Well, next time, Pastor Greg brings some of his most powerful insights on personal evangelism. So many don't share their faith because they don't feel they know enough to do a good job. Well, all that changes for us starting next time here on The New Beginning. Be sure to tune in. This is the day, the day when life begins
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-09-15 20:19:17 / 2023-09-15 20:30:41 / 11