Happy Feet | The Joy of Sharing the Gospel

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. When you engage someone in a conversation about Jesus Christ and you share what God has done for you, you just blossom. You come to life. So if you want to spring in your step, then share the gospel. So many people think if they share the gospel with someone, they'll regret it.

Or they might have a question I can't answer, or they may shut me down, or they may not like me anymore. Well, if you talk to those who have shared the gospel, they'll tell you it's exhilarating. We'll find out why today on A New Beginning as Pastor Greg Laurie brings a message called Happy Feet.

You'll reference a verse in our text, and we'll find out happy is a good word for how we'll feel. I'd like to begin with a story I've told before about a preacher who was moonlighting as a lifeguard. He needed to make a little bit of extra money, and so he would go down there and work with a lifeguard.

And the problem was 10 to 15 people were drowning in his area every time he was working. So they were obviously alarmed. And they went down to check out what was going on, and they saw when someone was drowning, the preacher lifeguard would sit in his stand and look at them and say, God bless you. I see that hand. God bless you. I see that hand. God bless you.

I see that hand. God bless you. God bless you. Get it? Right.

Okay. Speaking of needing a lifeguard, a number of years ago I was with my son Jonathan, and him and I were in the ocean. I was teaching him how to catch waves, and so I'd sort of hold him up, and the wave would come. I'd push him into the wave, and he's just a little guy. I mean, he may have been three years old. And so all of a sudden, I'm only a few feet from shore.

Like, I don't know. It seemed like 10 feet from shore. I got caught in this weird little riptide. The riptide is when the water is sort of pulling you, and my feet were pulled off the ground. I couldn't get my feet on the ground, and I'm in this little mini riptide, and I'm holding him above the water. It was a very awkward situation because I was so close to shore. Meanwhile, the lifeguard sees me, and she comes down from her lifeguard stand with her flotation device running toward me. I'm like, I do not want to be saved this close to the shore. This is humiliating, and she's now in the water swimming toward me, and I don't want to be saved this close to shore.

Finally, I got my foot in here. I said, thank you. I'm good.

Thank you so much. And she waved and then went back in again. But, you know, those little riptides can get hold of you. But when we're in trouble, and if there is a lifeguard nearby, it's good to have someone to call out to. You know, the Bible uses the word saved a lot. This is a word that has maybe fallen out of fashion a bit.

We don't see it as much as we used to. But it actually isn't not the perfect word to describe what it means to be a Christian. To be saved. It's a dramatic word. It's a word you'll read in a newspaper article about a firefighter who went into a burning building and saved a person. Or it's used of a lifeguard who swam out and rescued a person who was only ten feet from shore because they're a moron. They were saved.

But it's a perfect word. And the Bible tells us that God has saved us. And you used to see on churches big signs that would say, Jesus saves. And I love that because that's so true. Jesus saves.

And that's exactly what He does. There may have been a time when more folks would walk up to nonbelievers and actually ask them the question, are you saved? But I don't know if we would use that expression as much today as we used to.

But I think we ought to because it's very accurate. According to the Bible, you are either saved or you are lost. You are either born again or you are spiritually dead. According to Scripture, you are either headed to heaven or you're headed to hell. Now I know.

That's not politically correct to say in this day and age. But it is biblically correct and nothing has changed in the Bible the last time I checked. And so we want to all make sure that we are saved. And we want to do everything we can to help our neighbors and our family and our friends and people we know to be saved as well. So here in Romans 10 Paul tells us how people are saved. And he also tells us we should care enough so other people can be saved as well.

So if you are taking notes here is point number one. If you want to see people saved it starts with prayer. If you want to see people saved it starts with prayer. So when we are thinking of sharing our faith we usually think about how should I start the conversation?

How should I kind of engage them? And you know really the first thing you should do before you talk to someone about Jesus is pray for them. Pray for them. And what kind of a prayer do you pray? You pray that the Lord would open their spiritual eyes. And you pray that God would soften their heart.

And you pray that they would be receptive to the message that you are about to bring. We don't simply pray before we work. Prayer is the work. Then God works.

Let me say that again. We don't simply pray before we work. Prayer is the work. Then God works.

It has been said that battle is won on the knees. So pray for people. Now how many of you know people that are not Christians that you would like to see come to faith?

Now how many of you have prayed for those people by name? That is good. Do that. Do that.

Do that a lot. Pray before you start any conversations. And that is exactly what Paul is saying here in Romans 10. He says, dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. That was his prayer.

And he was saying, Lord this is what I want more than anything else. And this is what Jesus told us to do. Over in Matthew 9 26 we read, when he saw the crowds he had compassion on them. Because they were confused and they were helpless and they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he said to his disciples, the harvest is great but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest and ask him to send more workers into the harvest.

I love this. Especially when it says that he looked at the multitudes and he saw them as confused and helpless. Far too often we see nonbelievers as the enemy. Why? Well because they do wicked things. Wicked people do wicked things.

News flash. You used to be one of them. I used to be one of them. We said things that were mean. We hassled people that had faith perhaps. And so now we are on the receiving end of it and we say to those wicked people, may God judge them.

No. Jesus saw them as confused and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Nonbelievers are not the enemy. Nonbelievers are under the control of the real enemy who is Satan. And the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 4 for the god of this world, that is the devil, has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe.

But sometimes we think of them as the enemy and actually we don't even want them to be saved. That reminds me of old Jonah. You know Jonah was called by God to go preach to the Ninevites.

They lived in Nineveh, which was the capital of Assyria. These were the endowed enemies of the Jewish people. It would be like Iran perhaps today who wants to destroy the Jewish people and has threatened on multiple occasions to want to wipe them off the face of the planet. So here is Jonah called by God to go to Nineveh. Normally Hebrew prophets only preach to Hebrew people. You don't have any instances to speak of apart from Jonah.

A couple maybe. Where a Hebrew prophet was called to go to a distant land and tell the people to repent. But that is exactly what God told Jonah to do. And Jonah didn't want to go. You say why? Because he was afraid that he would fail.

No. He was afraid he would succeed. And he didn't want these people to believe. It was his hope that God would eradicate the Ninevites and the nation of Assyria from the face of the earth.

And that is one less enemy Israel has to deal with. He did not want to go because he knew the nature of God. And in fact when he went and preached to them and they did repent of their sin. Jonah was kind of mad at the Lord. And he said to them at Jonah 4 and 2. He complained to God and said, Before I left home didn't I say this is what you would do. This is why I ran away to Tarshish. Because I knew you are a gracious and compassionate God.

You are slow to get angry and you are filled with unfailing love. Lord I knew you would do this. I knew you would forgive those people.

That is why I didn't want to go. Oh man let's not have that heart toward other people. Let's be thankful God forgives. By the way this speaks to the false dichotomy of the Old Testament versus the New Testament God. Some people like to say the God of the Old Testament is filled with anger and wrath.

And the God of the New Testament is loving and caring. Au contraire. Which is French for snails with garlic.

No that says cargo. Au contraire. To the contrary. The God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament. And the God of both the Old and the New Testament is full of love and compassion and mercy and wants to forgive people. He takes no delight in judging people. But Jonah didn't want to go and he did go and of course the Lord forgave those people. You say well you know I know someone that really deserves God's judgment. Oh really.

And I don't. Jesus did not say hate your enemies and hope judgment comes upon them. Rather he said in Matthew 5 44 you have heard that it has been said love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you.

So we should love these people and we should pray for these people. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. It's a joy to hear when these studies have truly impacted lives. Listen to these comments from one of our listeners. Hi Pastor Greg I wanted to tell you that after reading your Tell Someone book my husband and I started a new ministry called the Good News Barbecue. We live in Ohio and have been doing a free Good News Barbecue and telling people about Jesus.

And it's because of you. We've been making a difference in people's lives and seeing God working and changing hearts. I just want to say thank you so much.

You put fire in my heart and we have been on fire for Jesus because of you. Thank you. If you've had your life changed because of the Ministry of Harvest would you let Pastor Greg know? Just drop him an email. Greg at Harvest dot org. Again that's Greg at Harvest dot org. Well Pastor Greg is presenting a message from the book of Romans today called Happy Feet. Let's continue.

Number two. When you want to see people saved you will face obstacles. Just know that. If you want to see someone saved and you start praying for them and you start engaging them. Man you're going to face opposition from the enemy and they will probably oppose you as well. Go to Romans chapter 10 verse 2. Paul says, I know what enthusiasm they have for God. Now he's talking about his fellow Jews but it's a misdirected zeal. They don't understand God's way of making people right with themselves. Refusing to accept God's way they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.

For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given and as a result all who believe in him are made right with God. Let me make a controversial statement. Cats are good. No that's not the statement. I love soy lattes. No that's not it either.

Kale's awesome. No that's not it. Here's his statement. Religion will ultimately probably send more people to hell than all the other sins combined. You're going wait what? Aren't you religious? I hope not.

I sure don't want to be. Isn't Christianity a religion? Yes in one sense it is.

But in another sense it's far more than that. It is a relationship with God. So when I say religion keeping a person from God. I mean when you go to someone and say are you saved?

Do you believe in Jesus and they say I was raised in the church or I was baptized or I received communion or I gave my confession to the priest or fill in blank here. So they immediately pivot to good works or they pivot to religious activity. But if that is keeping you from God you are missing the point. This was the thing with the Jewish people. They had the law given to them but the law was never meant to save them. The law was only given to show them they needed a savior. There is only one man who has ever walked this earth who has kept all of the law without any failure at all. And it was Jesus Christ.

Only one. And the reason for that is nobody else can do it. Because we don't have the ability to live by those standards so the law says you need help. The law pointed to the answer. Everything in the Old Testament. The animal sacrifices and the feasts and the high priests were all symbols and shadows of the fulfillment that would come through Jesus Christ himself. The law is described as a shadow of things to come. It would be like if you traveled and were gone from your family for a month. And finally you came home and you are getting off the plane and there stands your family with open arms and the sun is behind them. It is a beautiful scene. And you run toward them and instead of hugging them you drop down on the ground and start hugging the shadow.

And say, did you lose your mind while you were gone? Why are you hugging the shadow? We are right here. When you hang on to the law that is what it is. You are hugging the shadow. That is pointing to something. It is Jesus. And so Paul is saying the problem is they don't understand God's way of getting right with Him. So God wants to save them.

How does that happen? Point number three. There is only one way to be saved. There is only one way to be saved. Verse 8. Romans 10. And that message is the very message about faith that we preach.

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. Have you ever done that? Have you ever openly declared that Jesus is Lord? Let's do it right now on the count of three. One. Two.

Three. Jesus is Lord. Is that hard to say?

I hope not. It should be the easiest thing to say. And it is something we all need to say. You can't just feel it.

You need to act on it. Notice that it says if you will believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. Sometimes we give intellectual assent to something but it doesn't take hold in our heart. So the reason Paul says this is this needs to be an inner conviction. Yes you mentally agree to it but you embrace it as a conviction. It is something that is real to you and thus you verbally proclaim it.

It is very important to verbally say what we are thinking in our heart. Let's be honest. Guys have trouble with this. Girls not as much. Girls are far more open to express their affection and love toward one another.

They will even say it. Love you. I love you. Love you. Love you. Guys they will do that.

Sort of. Love you man. You even lower your voice a little. You don't want to give them the wrong idea.

Love you man. Then you punch them in the arm or something right. Bro. So it is not as easy for a man. But know this about men. We have the same emotion and the depth of love that everyone else has. We just express it differently.

So we have to work a little harder at that sometimes. And to say to our wife I love you. And wives you are not off the hook. You need to say that to your husband too. I love you. I respect you. I appreciate you so much. And we need to say it to the Lord. Lord I love you. I appreciate what you do for me. I honor you.

I glorify you. Well the Lord can see my heart yes. But He tells us to offer Him the sacrifice of praise with the words of our lips. So we need to say Jesus is Lord. We need to say it in the church. We need to honor the Lord in our worship. And we need to say it to others as well.

Bringing me to point number four. We must tell people that they need to be saved. We must tell people that they need to be saved.

Go to Romans 10 verse 14. How can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? How can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him?

And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent this is why this Scripture says how beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news. Beautiful feet. You know we don't generally think of feet as beautiful do we? I mean you might notice some oh they have beautiful hair.

Not me of course. But unless it's singular. He has a beautiful singular hair in the middle of his head sort of sticking up like a little kewpie doll. That's a beautiful hair.

Or I will have people come up to me. Oh I love your hair. Your hair is amazing. What do you do to your hair? Kathy doesn't do a lot with her hair. Sometimes when she doesn't do anything to it she gets more compliments because it is very wavy.

How did you get all that wave in your hair? It just happens. It is a great thing for her. Not so much for me.

It doesn't affect me at all. Or you might say oh beautiful eyes. Don't they have the greatest eyes you have ever seen. But we don't generally say man you have amazing feet. But yet the Bible says you can have beautiful feet. We know there are models of course right. And there are even hand models. And there are feet models where if you do an ad and you are showing a person's foot there are people that apparently have very attractive feet that you will use for that ad. I was really shocked when not long ago I was contacted by a magazine to be on the cover as a hand model.

They wanted to use my hand. I was excited until I got down there and saw the title of the magazine was Old and Decomposing. So that was a little depressing. This is talking about beautiful feet. But maybe another translation will help us understand it. To have beautiful feet is speaking of something that is in full bloom. So think now about a blossoming flower.

That is the picture that is here. When you share the gospel you are like a blossoming flower. A fragrant flower.

I mean what is more beautiful than flowers. And you see them and it is just such a wonderful thing to behold. And when you engage someone in a conversation about Jesus Christ and you share what God has done for you you just blossom.

You come to life. Actually the word beautiful can be translated lively. How lively are the feet of those that preach the gospel of peace. So if you want lively feet.

If you want yes happy feet. If you want to spring in your step then share the gospel. Pastor Greg Laurie with good insight on the benefit we will enjoy when we share the gospel with someone else.

And there is more to come in this message here on A New Beginning. Including a comment Pastor Greg will share with us in just a moment. You know Pastor Greg our radio program has heard on hundreds and hundreds of stations across the country. And I have had the privilege of getting to know a number of the station managers of those radio stations. And I have gotten to know a gentleman named Rick McClary quite well.

Rick just retired just recently but he was the general manager of a couple of stations in Minnesota that carried our radio program. And he sent me an email after watching Jesus Revolution and I wanted to share it with you. He said please pass on to Pastor Greg how much I appreciated the movie Jesus Revolution. You might remember when the book came out I was also intercepted during the Jesus movement. I wound up helping to run a Jesus people home in Fargo, North Dakota. I was baptized in a lake with a dozen other ex-hippies. It was an incredible experience.

Anyway during the baptism scene in the movie I cried. It brought back so many memories of that time. Eleven years later the Lord led me into broadcasting and then I retired 40 plus years later in 2021. Please thank Greg for his obedience in following the Lord these many years later.

Wow. Well thank you very much for that and God bless you. And the Jesus movement went all across the country.

It wasn't just in Southern California. But so many people say their favorite scene is when my character Greg, a very young Greg played by Joel Courtney, powerful performance, finally accepts Christ and is baptized. Now I know this is radio and I can't show you how powerful it is visually. But I think as you just listen you'll be able to see it in your mind's eye.

So let me set the scene. Greg and Kathy are at Pirates Cove which is a little beach in Newport. Kathy has just been baptized. Greg has heard the gospel at this point but he hasn't made his commitment to Christ. So he a bit reluctantly walks out into the water and there he is greeted by Lonnie Frisbee played by Jonathan Rumi best known for playing the role of Jesus and the chosen. And they have some words together and a prayer takes place.

Listen to this. Greg, right? Yeah. I've been praying for this moment since I first met you. Have you decided? Um, I don't know. You want to decide right now? Yeah.

Yeah, I do. Then pray with me. Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner.

Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. But you are the savior of the world. You are the savior of the world. I ask you to come into my life. I ask you to come into my life. I repent for my sins. I repent for all my sins. And I accept you as my Lord and Savior, my God and friend. And I accept you as my Lord and Savior, my God and my friend. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Amen. Greg, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. I want you to see that scene, and here's how it's going to happen. I want to send you a DVD of the Jesus Revolution movie. You'll see that scene and many others that will move you in a significant way. I've seen this film with many audiences around the country, and individuals sitting in my front room and elsewhere, and so many times people tear up. It's a flashback for some. They remember their baptism. But we've had other people say, I want to be baptized. I heard one story of when this film was shown in a theater. Some people wanted to come to Christ and be baptized, and they literally baptized him in the fountain outside of the theater. So these stories are crazy that we're hearing.

They're amazing. And so I want to send you a special edition of the Jesus Revolution on DVD. It has bonus content, including a custom message that we shot on the beach as the sun was setting in Newport Beach, where I present the gospel, and it even has a prayer that a person could pray to accept Christ. And there's some other special features on this DVD we'll send you for your gift of any size. Now I'm going to ask you to be more generous than normal, because we do have to pay more for this resource, and so we're trusting that you will send a generous gift to us so we can continue to preach the gospel and teach the Word of God right here on A New Beginning.

Yeah, and we do appreciate your partnership with us that makes these daily studies possible. So get in touch today for your DVD of Jesus Revolution, and we'll also include a free streaming code. Call us any time at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to Harvest.org. Well, next time, more from our series Relentless Grace from the book of Romans. But as we close for today, Pastor Greg shares the significance of telling others about the love of Jesus Christ. Let me say something that maybe you've not heard, maybe you have heard it. I honestly believe that a key to personal revival is to share your faith. Let me say that again. A key to a personal revival is to share your faith.

And let me tell you why. The gospel by design is not to be hoarded. It's to be shared. And as you share this life-giving message with others, it's also a life-giving message to you. Because sometimes what happens is as you are declaring what God has done for you and what God can do for the person you're speaking with, you're reminded of all the things that have happened in your own life. It's like you're rediscovering these great truths, and it comes to life for you. ...