Better Together | Sunday Message

Hey there. Thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie encouraging you. If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org. We know it does not return to you void.

It accomplishes the purposes you have for it. I pray that as the seed of the word of God goes out to people literally all around our planet, that people would find hope, they would find purpose, they would find perspective, and most of all that they would find Jesus if they don't know him. We commit this time of Bible study to you now. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Okay, so a genie appears to a woman and he says, I will grant you as many wishes as you want. Well, she was very excited. She said, well, genie, let me say that my wish is that my husband's eyes should only be on me during all waking hours.

The genie said, okay, I can do that. What else do you want? She said, I don't want him to be concerned with anyone except me. What else?

She says, I don't want him to sleep without me by his side. Okay, wow, the list is growing. Anything else? Yes. She says, when he wakes up in the morning, I want him to see my face first. The genie said, all right.

Anything else you want to add? Yes, he should not go anywhere without me. All right, are you done? Now one other thing, if I get a single scratch on me, genie, I want him to go crazy with grief. Genie said, all right, is that it?

She said, yes. And poof, the genie made her into a smartphone. Ah, smartphones. Man, have they ever changed our life. You know, instead of making us smarter, I think smartphones have made us more stupid.

Would you agree? There was an article in Inc. Magazine that had this headline, we lost, the gadgets won. They pointed out that the average smartphone user unlocks their phones 150 times a day. 85% of smartphone users check their phones while speaking to family and friends.

Have you ever had someone do that? You're telling them something important, you're pouring your heart out to them and they're just scrolling or checking their texts or whenever their phone chirps or vibrates, they have to look at it. It's sort of interrupting life in general. And I think in many ways, smartphones are making us relationally dumb. Take some of the social media platforms like Facebook, which of course also owns Instagram. On an average month, 2.8 billion people are using Facebook. And there's a news story out right now, you might have heard it, that Facebook did some internal research among the people that use their platform and asked them some questions. And these answers came back, but they never published it, but I believe someone leaked it.

And here's what they found out. 32% of girls who use Instagram say it made them feel worse about their bodies if they were already having insecurities. Also this research revealed that teenagers blame Instagram for increases in their anxiety and depression. 13% of British users and 6% of American users trace their suicidal feelings to Instagram.

Those are fascinating and alarming statistics. I think we've never been more disconnected and connected at the same time. I think you could say pretty accurately, Americans have never felt more alone. A Gallup poll taken 30 years ago described American culture with these words, Americans are the loneliest people in the world.

Now that was 30 years ago. What would it be today with social media and throw COVID on top of it with the lockdowns and other things that we're facing today? There's an organization called Cigna. It's a global health service, and they recently interviewed 20,000 people and came up with these conclusions. Number one, half of Americans report sometimes are always feeling alone. Number two, only half of Americans have meaningful in-person social interactions on a daily basis. And thirdly, Generation Z is the loneliest generation of all generations and is in the worst health of any generation.

So what is the solution to all of this? I think number one, it reveals that we need God and we need each other. You see, you were not meant to do life alone, as it has been said, no man is an island. Well, we need interaction. We were built for community.

God wired us that way. In fact, the first thing that God said is not good in the Bible is the aloneness of man. He said, not good is the aloneness of man. We need each other. Proverbs 27, verse 17 says, as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Ecclesiastes 4.9 reminds us, two are better than one, and if either of them falls down, the other can help them up.

And Harvard's Women's Health Watch recently reported this, and I quote, dozens of studies have shown that people who have satisfying relationships with family, friends, and their community are happier and they have fewer health problems and they live longer. So again, we're built for a relationship with God and with other people, and this is where the church comes in. The church is not a building, it's people. It's God's people gathering together, and the church is like an oasis of hope in a desert of hopelessness. The church is a place where you will find interaction, encouragement, and it's a place where you will find yourself mentally and spiritually and even physically healthier than you have ever been before. Time Magazine actually ran an interesting article titled The Benefits of Faith in the Church, and here are some of their observations. They said, number one, heart surgery patients who draw comfort from their faith have significantly higher survival rate than those who do not. Secondly, the blood pressure of people who attend church is lower than those who don't.

Thirdly, people who have faith and attend church on a regular basis experience less depression than people who don't attend church, and finally, suicide is four times higher among non-churchgoers than churchgoers. So going to church is not only good for you spiritually, apparently it's good for you physically and even mentally. However, Jesus himself started the church, of the church, which means, by the way, called out ones. Of the church, Jesus says, this is my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

I bring this up because here in the book of Acts, we're looking now at the birth of the early church. This is the original template for the church. This is the church that Jesus started. This is the church that turned their world upside down, and I've titled this message Better Together, because together this church prayed, together this church worshiped, together this church studied the word of God, and together this church shared the gospel, and again, together this church, it changed the world. Listen, every believer should be a part of the church.

Why? Well, it's a place to be spiritually fed. It's in the church that we hear the word of God taught to us. Secondly, it's a place to develop a consistent theology and to be accountable to other mature Christians. The church is a place to find your spiritual gifts and cultivate them and use them and so much more. Now, it's not just being in a building. It's being with God's people.

That's really what the church is. Now, I know that we're living in the days of COVID, and I know that we all felt like it was over, and then we have a new wave, the Delta variant, and there'll probably be other variants that will come along, and I know there are some people, because they have preexisting medical conditions, that makes it difficult for them to go out and gather with people in public spaces like a congregation of believers, and I understand that, and tragically, I even know some people who have died from COVID, as many of you do probably as well. So we're very aware of this, and this is one of the reasons why Harvest at Home is here for you. This is just for the people who are watching, and I know some of you use this as a supplemental ministry.

You have a church that you go to, but you watch Harvest at Home as well. I know others of you can't get out because of COVID or because you're sick or there's some other reason, and so this is your main source of spiritual input or teaching or one of your main sources, I should say. I know that many of you have become a part of our extended congregation, and we're happy for that, and we're glad to be here, and we want you to be blessed by what we do.

But I want to add something. That doesn't mean you should not be interacting. Now let me point a couple of things out. If you're watching this at harvest.org, there's a little place for you to chat, and people come on right now. If you look at it, you'll see people are here from all over the country, even the world, talking to each other, bringing prayer needs up, so this is a place for you to engage. Also, if you watch Harvest at Home on our YouTube page, there's ongoing communication between people.

But now I want to tell you about something else you may not be aware of. We have Harvest groups. Now we have these at our church, and our primary congregation is in Riverside. We have a church in Orange County, and we have a church on the beautiful island of Maui.

So if you're ever visiting any of those places, come and join us. But we have small groups. We call them Harvest groups, meeting among those churches. But we also have online groups, and we're developing more. On your screen right now, there's information on how you can join a Harvest online group.

Please do that, because you need interaction, and you need community. You need people to talk with and pray with and help you as you deal with the challenges of life. So here now is the early church, and we want to see how they lived their lives and how they impacted their world. So let's look at Acts 2.42. I'm going to read down to verse 47. And by the way, I'm reading from the New King James Version. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, the breaking of bread and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done to the apostles. Now all who believed were together.

You might underline that. They were together. They had all things in common. They sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all, as anyone had need. Continuing daily.

You might underline that phrase. Continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Now remember, in our last message, we pointed out that Peter preached the gospel on the day of Pentecost. He was filled with the Holy Spirit.

After he was done preaching, 3,000 people believed in the Lord. So here now is the introduction to the church that's going to be on this planet following up on these people and being the representative of Christ on this planet. There are some very important takeaway truths about this first century church that should be true of any church today, and for that matter, they should be true of us as individuals.

If you're taking notes, here's point number one. They were a learning church. They were a learning church. Listen, if you want to be a strong Christian, and if you want to be in a strong church, it has to be a church that focuses on the Word of God. To those of us who are called to preach and teach the Word of God, 2 Timothy 4 reminds us, preach the Word of God. Be persistent whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching, for a time is coming, Paul warns, when people will no longer listen to right teaching.

They'll follow their own desires and look for teachers who will tell them whatever they want to hear. The Bible says one of the signs of the last days is people will have an itch for novelty. Oh, boy, is that true right now.

It seems like people get on these websites that have conspiracy-type theories, and sometimes they're sort of wrapped in Bible prophecies, so it makes them seem like they're something we should be aware of as Christians, and people will pass this information around, and it seems like they have a greater interest in all of these theories than they do in the Word of God. Look, my job is to teach you the Word of God. I'm not a political pundit. I am not an entertainer.

I am not a motivational speaker. I'm called to be a preacher of the Word of God, and I'm thankful He's called me to do this. And that's what a church should focus on. Focus on the Word of God.

What do they concentrate on? We read it was the Apostles' Doctrine. Here at Harvest, we offer theology without apology. Our mission statement is as follows. Knowing Him and making Him known.

It's right there on the screen. Knowing Him and making Him known. We come to know God through the study of Scripture, through prayer, through devotion, walking with Him, and then we make Him known through evangelism. So this was a church that was learning the Word of God. You know, I think we need strong preaching in the church today, but I think we also need strong listening.

Look at verse 42. They continued steadfastly in the Apostles' Doctrine Fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer. It's this phrase, continued steadfastly speaks of a passion. See, they had a passion. Let me ask you, what are you passionate about? Everybody is passionate about something. Some people are passionate about sports, not me. I could care less about sports.

I know I probably have to turn my man card in, but I'm just telling you, I never cared that much about sports, but boy, some people, that is what really fires them up. Other people are passionate about movies. Have you seen this movie?

Oh, this is the greatest movie. Other people are passionate about music, their favorite band, their favorite artist. Other people are passionate about food. Other people, it's politics.

Oh, get on the subject of politics, and they light up. Okay, listen, here's my question. Are you passionate about Jesus? Because your passion for Jesus should be greater than your passion for anyone or anything else. And when this verse says that they continued steadfastly, it means they had a passion. So there's anointed preaching, and there's anointed listening. On more than one occasion, Jesus said, he that has ears to hear, let him hear.

So I think when we watch Harvest at Home or we attend church, we should come with an open Bible and an open heart to hear what God's Word has to say. I always encourage Christians to take notes. Some people do it by hand in a little notebook. Isn't that a novel idea, writing something down?

Other people put it into their cell phone notes. I don't care how you do it, but you don't retain as much information as you think you do, and it's a good thing to write it down and crave the Word of God. So this was a learning church. If you want to be a growing Christian, you need to be a learning Christian.

You don't know as much as you think you probably know. There's always more to learn, always more to grow. The apostle Paul, after years of walking with the Lord, said, hey, man, we didn't say, hey, man.

He just said, hey, it's not as though I've already attained or I'm perfect, but I'm pressing on for more. And I think that the growing Christian knows there's always so much to learn and relearn because sometimes we forget things we know, but they are not fresh in our memory. So it's good to be reminded of these things again and again. So they were a learning church. Number two, they were a loving church. They were a loving church. Verse 42 of Acts 2 says, they continued in fellowship. See, the more we get to know God and His Word, the more we will want to share it with others.

Listen to this, God really likes it when we talk about Him to other people. He likes it when we have what the Bible calls fellowship together. This is a unique word that is used here for fellowship. It's the word koinonia.

It's not the easiest word to translate. It can translate fellowship, communion, but it's a word that speaks of a special kind of communication that happens among followers of Jesus Christ. I'm amazed how I can travel around the world and meet someone I've never met before, but they're a fellow Christian, and immediately there's a connection. Immediately there is so much we have in common because we have fellowship one with another. And when we talk about the Lord, He pays careful attention. There's a fascinating passage in Malachi 3.16. It says, those that feared the Lord talked with each other, listen, and the Lord listened and heard.

This phrase here in Malachi for listened and heard can be translated prick the ear, to bend down so as not to miss a single word. For instance, when my grandchildren come up to me and say, Papa, I might be talking to a bunch of people. Papa, I'm gonna stop the conversation I'm having with you. Yes, I'm directing my attention to them. In the same way, when we talk about Jesus with each other, the Lord's sort of eavesdropping on our conversation.

Oh, what is it you're saying about me? Oh, I love to hear that. That's fellowship.

That's why we need each other. Fellowship is praying together. And that early church prayed. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, the breaking of bread, and prayers, Acts 2 tells us. They prayed constantly.

They prayed about everything, and we'll explore that more as we go through the book of Acts together. They served together. At times, they suffered together. They were blessed together.

They aged together. These are the fibers of fellowship. Listen to this. When you're walking with God, you'll be walking with God's people. And when you're not walking with God, you probably won't have much to do with God's people. Really, your reaction to being around Christians says a lot about you spiritually. I found that when you're in tight fellowship with the Lord, you love together with other Christians. Listen, the stronger your vertical fellowship, the stronger your horizontal fellowship will be.

So vertical fellowship, your relationship with God, that affects your horizontal fellowship also makes a cross, doesn't it? Now some people say, well, I don't know about the church. I don't really like the church. I don't want to be a part of the church. There are so many hypocrites in the church.

Hey, there's always room for one more. Now come on, let's be honest. These are excuses that we often use. Some people will say, when I go to church, I feel like people are judging me. Let me say something some of you may not like. Maybe you need to be judged a little. The Bible says, judge not, lest you be judged. Everyone knows that verse. Very few people understand that verse. When Jesus said, judge not, lest you be judged, he was not saying we should not make evaluations or judgments, if you will. The better translation would be, condemn not, lest you be condemned. If you went to a church and you were condemned or rejected, I apologize.

That is not a good representation of Jesus Christ. But having said that, if you went to a church and you were living outside of the will of God or you were engaged in some sinful activity and some Christian had the courage and the love to confront you, that's a good thing, not a bad thing. Because the Bible says, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. You see, when you love someone, you'll tell them the truth.

Because the Bible also says, open rebuke is better than secret love. A true friend will tell you the truth. You know, if you're wearing the worst outfit of all time and you ask your friend for their opinion and they tell you the truth, don't wear that or hey man, you got a stain in the middle of your shirt, that's a true friend.

That's a good thing, you see. And a true Christian friend will say, you shouldn't be living that way. You shouldn't be doing that thing you're doing.

You shouldn't be saying those things you're saying because I love you. See, we could use a little judgment of that kind and the Bible says judgment begins at the house of God. See, the church is a place to be accountable. Maybe that's why we don't wanna be in a church.

We don't want someone to hold us accountable, but it's good to be held accountable. This is one reason why people church hop. Oh, I don't go to that church anymore. You know, I don't like what people said to me. Now I go to this church, but I'm leaving this church in a week and I'm going to another church.

Always changing, never getting stabilized. I heard about a guy, he was stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean. For months, he was there and finally, people were made aware of him being on that island and they came to rescue him. And they thought that this man had built, actually, three buildings. And so they said, wow, these are very impressive buildings.

Tell us about them. He says, well, the first building, that's my home. That's where I live. Oh, what's this building right behind you? Oh, that's my church. Well, there's another building behind that. What is the third building? Oh, that's a church I used to go to.

See, that's how some people are. They won't get stabilized in one place with one group of believers, but it's so important to do that. Another thing I would point out about the first century church that changed the world is they looked out for each other. They looked out for each other.

Look at verse 44. The believers met together in one place and they shared everything. You see, they pooled their resources. Now, understand, they were under persecution. Some people had lost their livelihood because of their faith, so other believers helped out. This was never forced on anybody.

It was voluntary. It was not something they continued to do, but they did it at this particular time, but certainly there's a takeaway principle here of caring for each other. You know, if I know a fellow Christian who's in need, maybe they need food, maybe they need clothing, maybe they need employment, or they need encouragement, or they need something else. If I have the ability to help them, should I not help them? See, it's very easy to critique all the time. I think some people think that they have the gift of criticism.

There's no such gift. What you need is a willingness to pitch in and help, and these believers took care of one another. They cared for each other and ministered to each other, and this is a mark of spiritual maturity, where we grow and realize that church is not just a place to come and receive. It's a place to come and serve. Sometimes people say, I don't get fed at that church.

I'm going to this church. Well, it's very important that you're fed. You're fed the word of God, but can I be honest with you? There has to come a moment where you kind of grow up and you learn to feed yourself. I mean, the pastor's job is, yes, to preach the gospel and teach the word of God, and it's a little bit like when my sons were young. I would cut up their food in small bites, and sometimes if they weren't eating it, I would make airplane noises, and I would bribe them.

If you'd take three more monster bites, I'll give you ice cream or something like that. So I understand that's my job when a child is small, but as the child matures, should they not be able to cut up their own food? Should they not be able to cook their own food?

Should they not be able to feed themselves? That's not saying there will not always be a place for those who are called to teach and exposit the word, but it is to say we need to feed ourself, and we need to realize church is not just about me having my needs met. It's a place where I can go and meet other people's needs because I've discovered my spiritual gifts, and now I'm using them to help others grow spiritually.

Listen, you've been blessed to be a blessing. Jesus put it this way. Wherever of you that desires to be first shall be slave of all, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life is a ransom for many. So this church ministered to one another. They served one another, and it also tells us they met house to house.

Look at verse 46. They met house to house, breaking bread. They didn't have mega buildings like we have today. We have a very large building in Riverside. We have a good-sized building in Orange County. So actually on the island of Maui, we just meet like in a little shed that's on a golf course where they used to keep golf carts, and that's where we have our morning services.

It's actually very cool. But the church is the church when God's people gather. When we gather together at Angel Stadium on October 3rd, that is a church service, if you will.

It doesn't matter that we're in a stadium. We don't need a spire. We don't need a steeple. We don't need a cross to say it's a church.

We're God's people. And when two or more gather together in his name, he's there in the midst of them. So the church is when God's people gather. So this church met in the temple, but they also met house to house. So you might say this was the first century equivalent of small groups. At Harvest, we've been really focusing on getting our folks into small groups, which we're doing in person, as I mentioned, and we're doing online for all of you who watch as well. But why is a small group important?

A small group is a way to make a big church a small church. It's a way to get to know other people. It's a way to go more in depth into the word of God. We've even developed a curriculum for this series we're in in the book of Acts.

We have summaries of what each chapter is teaching. We have questions that can be asked, and it's a great way to dig in deeper to what we're studying together. But you know, another good thing about a small group is it's a place to give and receive support.

We have found that people who are in small groups need less counseling. They have less problems because they have a place to deal with these things already. They have a network. They have a family.

They have friends there for them. So this first century church, they were a learning church. They were a loving church.

Here's point number three. They were a worshiping church, a worshiping church. Look at verse 47.

Praising God and having favor with all the people, the Lord added to the church daily those that were being saved. Now in the beginning of Harvest at Home, we have a time of worship. We put the lyrics on the screen. I hope you sing along. It really is meaningful when we do that together.

I hope when you're watching it that you find a quiet place and try to reduce distractions and engage as much as possible with your family and your friends. But when we gather together in person, something wonderful, something supernatural happens when God's people worship together. The Bible says that God inhabits the praises of his people. And listen, when we're worshiping God, we're doing what God created us to do. You're wired to worship. Everyone worships something or someone.

You bow at some altar. The real question is who do you worship? Democrats worship. Republicans worship. Independents worship. Christians worship, even atheists worship. But what do they worship? Well, the Christian worships the Lord.

And we understand one of the greatest ways to do that is lifting our voice in song. The Christian church is a singing church. And you find the worship of God expressed in song from Genesis to Revelation. In fact, when we get to heaven, according to Revelation 15, we're going to be worshiping the Lord. We read in Revelation 15, they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. And they cried out, great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty.

And let's be honest. There are times we don't feel like worshiping. Hebrews 13, 16, excuse me, 15 says, by him let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. Sometimes our praise will be a sacrifice. Sometimes we praise God even when we don't feel like it. Do you think Job felt like praising God when he lost his family, and he lost his livelihood, and he lost his health? But yet we read that Job worshiped God and said, naked came I into this world.

Naked go I out, blessed be the name of the Lord. That's called a sacrifice of praise. The Bible says give thanks to the Lord, for he is good and his mercy endures forever. It does not say give thanks to the Lord when you feel good.

But listen to this. Did you know your worship is a witness? Look at verse 47 of Acts 2 again. Praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily those that were being saved. Listen, there's a direct connection between worship of God and our witness to the world. Consider this, if all of your Bible study and fellowship and worship does not make you want to share your faith, something is wrong.

Evangelism is the natural overflow of the Spirit-filled life because when we worship God as Christians, it's a witness to a lost world. For example, Paul and Silas were whipped for preaching the gospel. They were thrown into a Roman dungeon. And yet we read in the book of Acts, at midnight Paul and Silas began to sing praises to God and then we read and the other prisoners were listening. A great earthquake came, the walls collapsed.

Paul and Silas were released and they could have run, but the jailer who had imprisoned had to take his life because to lose your prisoners would have been a death penalty. Paul said, don't hurt yourself, we're still here. And that Roman jailer said, what must I do to be saved?

See, you're being watched by a lost world. You're being watched by people that don't know the Lord and they want to see what you do when adversity comes your way, when hardship comes your way, maybe when you're laid off that job, maybe when you get sick, maybe when you face some other kind of challenge, how do you react to it? And if you give glory to God and don't lose your faith through it, that's a powerful witness to those people. Here's a question for you to think about. If a non-believer were to watch your everyday life would they want to know more about Jesus or less?

Let me ask that again. If a non-believer were to watch your everyday life would they want to know more or less about Jesus Christ? Here's another advantage of worship, especially with God's people. When I worship God I put my problems in their proper perspective because sometimes my problems can seem so big and so overwhelming.

Maybe I have big problems with a small God but when I realize how big my God is then I see how small my problems are in comparison. Jesus taught us in what we call the Lord's Prayer to pray as follows. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And then he tells us to pray. Give us this day our daily bread. See, before I get to my petition, before I get to my need, I'm instructed by Jesus to say my Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done. In other words, God, you're so powerful.

You're so awesome. You're so much bigger than any problem I'm facing, any need that I have. So it's a good way to sort of set the stage before you start to pray. C. H. Spurgeon, the great British preacher made this statement and I quote, the sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which the child of God rests his head at night giving perfect peace, end quote.

Let me explain that. The sovereignty of God is the biblical teaching that God is in control. God is sovereign. And so when I lay my head down on the pillow at night, I lay it on the sovereignty of God.

Lord, you're in control. Whatever I'm facing, you're bigger than my problem. That gives me peace. But you see, when I isolate myself from other Christians and I'm alone, my problems can be magnified and that's why David said, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together so when I worship, I see God in his glory. Thus I see my problems in a different way. Asaph, in the book of Psalms, was grappling with the age old question, why do the wicked prosper? And then it dawned on him. He got perspective while he was worshiping with God's people and he writes in Psalm 73, 16, when I tried to understand all of this, it was oppressive to me, listen, until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their final destiny, speaking of wicked people. Surely you place them on a slippery slope and you cast them down to ruin. Basically, he's saying, I don't get why bad people get away with bad things.

I don't understand why good people go through hardship. What does this all mean? But as I worship God, as I saw God in his glory and his sovereignty, he says, I got the proper perspective. So they were a learning church. They were a loving church. They were a worshiping church. And one final point, they were an evangelistic church. An evangelistic church, which means they shared their faith.

Look at verse 47. The Lord added people daily to the church who were being saved. Listen, the early church's evangelism was not sporadic or an occasional activity.

Just as their worship was daily, so was their witness. And the result was a constant flow of new believers in the church. You show me a church that does not have a constant flow of new believers and I'll show you a church that is stagnating. Sometimes churches grow through church transfer growth. In other words, people leave one church to join this church and they leave that church to join another church.

It's just people moving around. That's not the kind of church growth I wanna see. The greatest church growth is people coming to Christ. I actually love it when I meet a brand new believer that doesn't know anything.

They're like a blank slate. And I can just say, well let me explain what the Bible says about that. And when you see them hear these things for the first time, it's a joy to you. Here's why new believers are important in a church. New believers energize older believers and older believers stabilize younger believers. You see, we need each other.

The younger believer needs someone who's older and mature in their faith, who can mentor them, disciple them, and the older believer needs someone full of zeal and faith to remind them of how awesome it is to have this relationship with Jesus Christ. So we all have a part to play. We all have a role to fill. I was in a small group last night. My son Jonathan has a small group that he leads and it was such an interesting collection of guys. One guy runs a jujitsu studio and he uses his platform to tell people about Jesus. Another guy is a realtor and he uses his platform to talk about his faith. And another one of the guys is a barber. And I told him a joke. I'd heard of a barber who was going to church and the pastor said you should talk about your faith more. And so this barber decided to do that and he had a guy sit down in his chair and he put the little apron around his neck and he got out that straight razor and held it up to the guy's neck and then he said to him, are you ready to meet God?

And the guy got up and ran out, apron and all, so maybe don't do that. But the idea is you use the opportunities that are in front of you. Listen, as I've said before, the hardest parts of evangelism are takeoff and landing.

By the way, the most dangerous times of a plane flight are takeoff and landing too. So the hardest part about evangelism is getting started and the next hardest part of evangelism is finishing what you started by asking the person if they want to accept Christ. So you start with a question. And by the way, we give you a great tool in the SoCal Harvest. It's a nice little catalytic moment. You can see, have you heard about this thing called the SoCal Harvest at Angels Stadium?

And they'll say no or yes. Or I saw a Harvest Crusade sticker. Speaking of the bumper sticker, here's what our Harvest Crusade sticker looks like this year, but heard a story from a few years ago of a man who had a neighbor. And the man noticed that his neighbor had a Harvest Crusade sticker on his car. So the man knocked on his neighbor's door and said, what is that sticker about? What is this thing? And his friend told him that it was a Harvest Crusade and this man said, I wanna go.

And that man ended up going and getting saved and all of his family came to the Lord. So a little reminder's a good thing. But anyway, we have those opportunities to start the conversation. So here's one. Hey, have you heard about what's happening on October 3rd at Angels Stadium? It's called the SoCal Harvest. What's that? Oh, it's an event that has amazing music and then there's this bald guy who's kinda lame, but he gets up and he gives a message about how to know God.

I would love you to go to that with me in person or I would love you to watch that with me in my home, we'll have a meal before or I would love you to go to the slink and watch it and then I wanna talk to you about it. Great way to start the conversation. But you know, another way to start a conversation is just talking about your faith, coming back to the Christian barber. We were asking him how he shares his faith. Well, you know when you're in a barber shop or in a beauty salon, people just talk away, don't they? And so when they're cutting your hair, he'll just talk a little bit about his faith. He'll say, well, you know, the other day I was facing this problem and I prayed about it.

That's called chummy. That's called putting the bait in the water. Some people don't respond to that. Some people change the subject.

Some people will say, well, what do you mean God answered your prayer? Boom, that's your open door. So you're trying to find creative ways to get a conversation started. That's take off, if you will. And then there's landing. Landing is when you say, have you ever asked Christ to come into your life?

And would you like to do that right now? The other day I have a friend who invited me to go to coffee with someone that he knows and my friend is a strong Christian and he says, I have this buddy that I think is really ready to accept Christ. Will you come and lead him to Christ? I said, well, only the Lord can bring him to faith, but I'll come. So we met there for coffee and my friend just did a perfect job of sharing his testimony, talking about how Christ had changed his life.

I couldn't have written it better myself. And then the man was asking questions. I just listened a lot and I asked a few questions and listened some more. And then I realized that my friend, sort of like when we're playing volleyball, he got the ball up there for me to spike.

All I had to do was just close the deal. So I turned to this man and I said, let me tell you what the gospel is. I explained the gospel.

The gospel tells us that we're sinners separated from God and you've sinned and I've sinned and we've all sinned, but God loved us so much he sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sin and to rise again from the dead three days later. Now Jesus is ready to come into your life. And then my friend said, say that thing you always say before you pray with people. I said, what thing? You know the thing you always say? And I realized, I guess there is a thing I always say. I said, oh, okay. If you want to fill that void in your life, if you want your sin forgiven, if you want to know that when you die, you will go to heaven, if you want to find the meaning and purpose of life, then pray this prayer with me. So I said it. Then I said to this man, do you want to pray and ask Jesus to come into your life?

He said, I do. I said, pray this prayer after me. And we prayed right there, right in front of this coffee place.

We didn't get on our knees. I wasn't standing behind a pulpit like this, just sitting there with him having coffee. He prayed the prayer. He started to choke up toward the end of the prayer. And I told him, let me tell you, after we were done praying, I said, let me tell you what God just did for you. I said, God just forgave you of all of your sins.

Your sins are forgiven and your sins are forgotten because God has said as far as the east is from the west is as far as he has put your sin from you. And he said, wow, that's a big thing. It sure is, isn't it? So let me close this message in the same way. There's someone watching me right now that is lonely. You're feeling isolated. Maybe you've turned to drugs.

Maybe you've turned to alcohol. You just feel like nobody cares about you. I wanna tell you that God loves you and God cares deeply about you.

And he wants a relationship with you. And I wanna tell you that there is a family waiting for you. It's not a perfect family, but it's God's forever family. It's called the church. And we're saving a seat for you to join us and be a part of the family of God.

So let me say what I already said one more time. If you want your sin forgiven, if you wanna fill that hole in your heart, if you want your guilt taken away, if you wanna know that when you die, you will go to heaven, well, you pray this prayer after me, just like that man prayed in that coffee place. You can pray it after me right here, right now. If you want Jesus to come into your life, I want you to pray these words. Lord Jesus, come into my life.

I know that I am a sinner, but I know that you are the savior who died on a cross and rose again from the dead. I choose to follow you, Lord, from this moment forward. Thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God.