We're glad you're joining us for A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast supported by Harvest Partners. Get more encouraging audio content when you subscribe to Pastor Greg's Daily Devos.
Learn more and sign up at harvest.org. And it's become a worse addiction. I've tried to fix this. It's gotten worse. Okay, Jesus is saying, take my hand now. Let me pull you up.
In 1998, the Etch A Sketch was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. With it, of course, you can draw picture after picture, as complicated as you want. If you mess up, turn it upside down, give it a shake, and start over. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie says no matter how your life is messed up, God offers you the chance to turn your life right side up and start over.
Shaking is optional. A case in point today from the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Luke. Here in Luke 22, Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples. He's headed to the cross. He's told them he's headed to the cross. He's gonna break bread with them and tell them to do this in remembrance of him.
But before that, he has a fascinating conversation with Simon Peter. In Luke 22, verse 31, Jesus says, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. And when you have repented and turned to me again, you'll strengthen your brothers.
Peter said, Lord, I'm ready to go to prison with you and even to die with you. Jesus said, let me tell you something, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even knew me. Look at Luke 22, verse 39. Coming out, he went to the Mount of Olives as he was accustomed, and his disciples followed him to the place, and he said to them, pray that you enter not into temptation. Now this place being referred to by Luke is the Garden of Gethsemane. As he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, he knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. When he rose from prayer, he came to his disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow.
And he said, why did you sleep? Rise and pray lest you enter into temptation. So they're there in the Garden of Gethsemane.
They're sleeping when they should have been praying. Here comes the temple guard, and along with them Roman soldiers, they've got swords and spears and shields and torches, and they're coming to arrest Jesus. But before that happens, as the guards come in to grab Jesus, one guy named Malchus, probably his first, and Simon Peter, in an attempt to defend Jesus, pulls out his sword and slices off the ear of Malchus. Jesus is like, ah, he fades.
You know, he has to pick the ear up. He puts it back on the guy, and he heals him. So the last earthly miracle of Jesus was covering the blunder of a disciple. So coming back to our story, now we shift over to John 18. I'm reading from the New Living Translation, starting in verse 15. Simon Peter followed Jesus, as did another of the disciples.
That would be the apostle John, the writer of this gospel. The other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, and he was allowed to enter the high priest's courtyard with Jesus. Peter had to stay outside the gate, and the disciple who knew the high priest spoke to the woman watching at the gate, and she let Peter in. The woman asked Peter, you're not one of that man's disciples, are you? No, he said, I am not, because it was cold.
The household servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire. They stood around it, warming themselves, and Peter stood with them, warming himself. And now a woman asks him, this is his first denial, you're not one of that man's disciples, are you? He said, no, I am not. Whoa, he just did it. Now you would have thought that Peter would have said, hold on, I just, I did the thing I said I would never do.
I gotta get out of here. No one was holding him here. He could have escaped if he wanted to, but he did not do it. That leads me to his next step down, verse 25. As he was standing by the fire, warming himself, they asked him again, you're not one of his disciples, are you? He denied it, saying, no, I'm not. Ah, but one of the household slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, didn't I see you in the olive grove with Jesus? Mm-hmm.
Your sin will find you out. Oh, yeah, right, yeah, you were there. And that brings us to the third denial, and here's something you may have missed. Between the second and third denial, there was a one hour interval.
That's a long time. That's plenty of time to get out of there, but he stayed there. He's compromised now.
He's not thinking rationally. And finally, someone says to him, yes, you were with Jesus, and I know you're one of his disciples because your accent betrays you. And then we read that Peter began to curse and swear, and he took an oath, saying, I never knew the man. Now, when we read curse and swear, it does not mean that Peter used profanity or swore like a sailor, though he was one.
It means he took an oath. He took an oath and swore to God he didn't know Jesus. Now, this is the worst kind of taking the Lord's name in vain. And the Bible says, God gave him the commandments, a specific commandment, thou shall not take my name in vain.
And we've heard people do it. Now, there's the obvious applications when people curse using the name of God. But even when someone uses the name Jesus to punctuate a sentence, you've heard that. Someone will say, Jesus Christ, what's going on here? When I see someone do that, I'll say, careful, he might answer you sometime.
I don't even think people realize what they're doing. But we could even take the Lord's name in vain in church, because the phrase to take it in vain means to use it in an insincere and frivolous way. So I might be singing a song with the name Jesus in it, and while I'm singing the song, I'm judging the person in the pew in front of me.
How could she wear that to church? Or I'm thinking about lunch, hamburger, in-and-out burger, animal stuff. Wait, you're singing Jesus, Jesus, and you're thinking burger, burger, right? You're doing it in an insincere, frivolous way. But Peter did even more than that.
Here's what he effectively did. Because people will take a note that they'll say, I swear to God, I put my hand on a stack of Bibles. Like a stack will be more important.
Not just one, a stack. A stack of Bibles, they swear. Here's what Peter effectively said, I swear to God, I never knew Jesus. And guess what happened? At the moment he said that Jesus was let out of the courtyard of Caiaphas, and he made eye contact with Peter.
So here's how it works. I swear to God, says Peter, I never knew Jesus. Oh, hi Jesus.
Literally. Right there, oh, Jesus. And the Bible says Jesus looked at him. I wonder what kind of expression that was. You know, we all have looks we get, right? Parents, we've got these looks down. Kids are acting up, you see. Johnny, look at me. All that means is stop.
Stop it now. Or someone says something ridiculous, we roll our eyes, oh, that's a look. Or we look at someone with anger because they cut us off on the freeway.
We have our looks. What kind of look did Jesus give to Peter? Was it a I told you so look? Did he roll his eyes like loser?
Why did I choose you? I don't think it was, no I can't. Say with certainty because the Bible doesn't tell us. But here's an interesting thing, the Bible says Jesus looked at Peter. Or a better translation, Jesus looked through Peter. Have you ever had anyone look through you? I'll restate the question, do you have a mother? You're out late, you come in. Where have you been?
Nowhere, mom. Look at me. Look at me.
Whatever. He looked at him. Looked right through him. I think it was a look of love.
And I'll tell you why I think it was a look of love because Jesus predicted this right? He said you're going to deny me but don't forget the rest of it. When you have returned you'll strengthen your brothers. Peter you're going to mess up, trust me it's going to happen.
Roosters are involved. But when you have returned you'll strengthen your brothers. Peter you're coming back. I don't think Peter heard the you're coming back part.
Because the Bible says he went out and wept bitterly. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. 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 just a word of thanks to those who support this daily study especially our Harvest partners.
Your generosity allowed us to present this message today. Pastor Greg is examining the denial of Simon Peter today. Contrast Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter. Judas going back to the Garden of Gethsemane was given one last chance to repent. When they came to arrest Jesus, Jesus said to Judas, friend why have you come? Jesus was giving Judas that one last chance.
Well of course Judas went on. He betrayed the Lord and he hung himself. So two men came short. Two men sinned against the Lord. One went out and took his own life. One went out and wept bitterly. One left and never returned.
One came back again and was restored. And that was Peter. Because three days later Jesus rises again. Oh yeah.
Remember? He not only said he would be crucified. He said he would rise again from the dead. And here is the message that went out from the angels. Go tell the disciples and Peter he is risen. Not go tell the disciples and Peter, James, and John. Or go tell the disciples and Matthew. Or go tell the disciples and Mary.
No. Go tell the disciples and Peter. Why was Peter singled out? Because he needed an encouraging word.
Maybe there is someone here today that needs an encouraging word as well. You have fallen away and you don't know how to get back. You are like the lady in that commercial. I have fallen and I can't get up. Now I am not making fun of that lady. But I don't think she actually fell. I think she is an actor.
And saying her lines not that convincingly in my opinion. But I have fallen and I can't get up. Ok.
Sorry. But if you have ever fallen you know what it is like. I was playing racquetball a while ago and I went for some shot. And I lost my footing. Went in the air and landed on my back. It was so loud a guy upstairs on a treadmill stopped and said, Are you ok? I am like laying there.
Yeah I think so. I didn't plan on falling. Maybe you didn't plan on falling but you fell. And you are wondering can I get up again? Well the answer is not in your own strength. You need a helping hand. If you are flat on your back someone says, Let me help you get back up again. Grab my hand. And you pull them up.
Right? So maybe you are saying, Yeah I have fallen and I have tried to make this better and it has gotten worse. I have tried to overcome this addiction and it has become a worse addiction. I have tried to fix this.
It has gotten worse. Jesus is saying, Take my hand now. Let me pull you up. You have to reach out to me.
You have to call out to me. You have to ask me for forgiveness and I will extend this forgiveness to you. Listen I don't know what trajectory your life is on right now but I know this. God can change your story.
He can change it today. Yeah well my dad did this and my mom did that and my grandparent in this pattern of sin. Shut up.
I don't care. If any man be in Christ he is a new creation. All things have passed away.
Everything becomes fresh and new. I am sorry I said shut up. But I think sometimes we use a pattern of sin or bad behavior and a family to excuse our actions. And there has to come a point where we just say, I am responsible for my own actions. And I make my choices and then my choices make me. And I have Christ living inside of me and He will give me the power to live the life He has called me to live.
You know yesterday at the baptism I will take a few moments with every person and I will ask them, When did you come to Christ? And they will tell me their story. I heard amazing stories.
I wish I could have filmed them right there. But one guy just covered in tattoos and he said, I was a heroin addict. And he showed me a hole in his arm that was still there. He had used so much heroin over the years.
He had a permanent hole in his arm. But he was just radiating the love of Jesus because God had changed his story. I talked to couples. We were on the verge of divorce. Our marriage was falling apart and we came to the Lord. And now we are here today getting baptized and our kids are with us.
And I am looking at that. A whole family changed. Because you know here is what can happen. You know the parents will get divorced and the kids are caught between the two parents. They remarry and they divorce again. And now the kids follow that same pattern. And then they have kids and they follow the same pattern. And these sins go on for multiple generations. But then you look what happens. Christ intervenes. Changes this. And instead of ungodliness going to multiple generations, godliness goes to multiple generations.
It happens. That is why we are so committed to calling people to Christ. But I didn't just baptize people who had lived crazy lives. I baptized some little kids too.
And you know I always want to make sure a child understands. And so someone came up to me, would you baptize my son? So I talked to him and I baptized him. And then they said, would you baptize his little brother? I said, how old is he? They said, he is four. I said, you know that is kind of young. And you know it is not a bad thing to wait until later to baptize a little one so they understand what they are doing. You know because it says repent and be baptized. What does a four year old repent of?
You know I have had a lot of time outs lately. Anyway, whatever it is. So I said, well let me talk to him. And this cute little kid, his name was Graham. So I sat down on the beach with him. I said, so Graham, do you want to be baptized today? He said, yes. I said, hmm, now tell me who Jesus is. He says, Jesus is God and God is Jesus. And I said, that is pretty good. And then Graham says, and then there is the Holy Spirit. I was like, oh wow. So we talked a little bit more and I thought, the way I see it is this little child wants to get closer to God knowing as much as he knows in his little four year old mind.
Who am I to say no to him? So I took him out and I baptized him. And it was such a great moment. And it reminded me of a young lady that came to me. I was at our church in Maui last Sunday. And a young lady came and said, I came to Christ at one of your crusades when I was four years old. I said, you came to Christ at four? She says, yeah.
I said, don't get mad at me. How old are you now? She looked like she was 21. She says, I am 30 and I have been walking with the Lord all these years. So someone can come to Christ at four, right?
But my point is simply this. Young or old, whatever life you have lived, we all need Jesus. And we need to come to him. And if we reach out to him, he will take hold of us and he will forgive us of our sins.
So I am going to close with this thought. Is there someone listening to me right now that does not have the certainty that they will go to heaven when they die? Is there someone listening to me right now that is not sure that their sin is forgiven? You can come to Jesus and be forgiven of your sin because he died on the cross for you. This can be the day where everything changes. But there might be somebody else here or wherever you are that has fallen and you can't get up.
And it is no joke. Well the Lord can lift you up but you must admit your sin and he will forgive you and restore you. So we are going to close now in prayer. And I am going to extend this invitation for you to get right with God. Let's pray. Father, I pray for every person here, every person listening or watching wherever they are.
Help them to see their need for you and help them to come to you now. We would ask in your name. Amen. As part of today's presentation, you can get a replay at Harvest.org. We are able to make these online versions available thanks to our Harvest partners and others who help to make this outreach possible.
Again, just go to Harvest.org and look for the title, How to Never Stumble or Fall. Well Pastor Greg, we are excited to make available your new book. It is called Revelation, a Book of Promises. Now many Bible students know Revelation promises a blessing to those who read, hear, and keep the words of this book. That's right. So it seems even the Bible acknowledges that Revelation is no ordinary Bible study.
That's right. It stands out from every other book of the Bible. Of course it is the final book at the end of your Bible. And the word Revelation means unveiling because it's not God's desire to conceal but to reveal. And Bible prophecy is not given to scare us but to prepare us. And there is a special blessing attached to this book in particular.
And it's in the first chapter of Revelation. And that promise is blessed is the person that reads, hears, and keeps the words of this book. So David, it's interesting because that phrase read means to read out loud. So there's a blessing on you if you will simply read this book. But then it says you must hear it. You know Jesus would often say, He that has ears to hear, let him hear.
Our amount of vernacular would be listen up, pay attention. So I have to read it, I have to hear it, and then finally I need to keep it. Meaning I need to take these truths in this book and apply them in their own life. When we study Bible prophecy, it's not just to know more about the future, but it's for us to know how we should live in the present. And we have a book, a commentary if you will, on the book of Revelation.
Here's what I've had a lot of people say to me. For the first time I understood how this book applied to me. I think this is a very understandable book, a very relevant book, especially for the times in which we are living simply titled Revelation, subtitled A Book of Promises. So order your copy of this book, Revelation, A Book of Promises.
Yeah, that's right. And we'll rush a copy back to you to thank you for your investment in these daily teaching opportunities. It's only through listener support that we can continue to come your way. So get in touch today for Pastor Greg's new book, Revelation, A Book of Promises. And by the way, we're including a custom bookmark along with the book. It shows the timeline of God's end times events graphically.
It helps you see the order of events very clearly. It comes automatically with the book. So send your donation today to A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime 24 hours a day at 1-800-821-3300.
Or go online to Harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg, you mentioned our need to come to Christ for forgiveness of sin in today's broadcast. Yes. Maybe there's someone who would like to do that right now, that would like to take that step. Maybe you could help them with that. I'd be delighted to. Listen, if you would like to accept Jesus Christ into your life right now, and by that I mean if you would like your sin forgiven, and have the assurance that you will go to heaven when you die, would you pray this prayer with me? Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I thank you for dying on the cross for my sin and rising again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin, Lord, and I turn from it now, and I put my faith in you to be my Savior, my Lord, my God, and my friend.
Thank you for loving me and calling me and accepting me. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Listen, if you just prayed that prayer in a minute, I want you to know on the authority of God's word that Jesus Christ has just come to take residence in your heart. The Bible says these things we write to you to believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. Listen, we want to send you some resources that will help you grow spiritually.
So here's Dave with some details. And let me say God bless you and welcome to the family of God. Yeah, and those resources Pastor Greg mentioned are all included in something we call our New Believers Growth Packet.
It'll help you get started living your life for the Lord. So can we send it to you? Just ask for the New Believers Growth Packet. Our mailing address is A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300.
That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click on Know God. Well, next time Pastor Greg returns to his eye-opening series in the book of Revelation, we'll consider a special group of people in Scripture who preach the gospel right in the midst of the Great Tribulation.
That's next time. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. A New Beginning is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. If this show has impacted your life, share your story, leave a review on your favorite podcast app, and help others find hope.
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