What the Lord’s Return Means to You | Shaping the Way We Go About Our Lives

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Learn more at harvest.org. And while you're there, browse our library of free e-books designed to help you grow in your faith. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep your eyes on heaven.

Keep your eyes on eternity. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.

Oh, can you hear when the angels are singing? This is the day, the day when life begins. Almost everyone faces challenges on the job, problems, pressures, personalities. But if you know that tomorrow you're leaving on vacation, today's problems are a little easier to handle, aren't they?

Just hang on a little longer and then sweet relief. Well, when we think of the trials of life, we need to remember Jesus is coming soon. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how that reminder can shape the way we go about our lives. Good insight from our study in James.

This is the day, the day when life begins. You know, it's really important for us as Christians to understand Bible prophecy. Bible prophecy is basically what the Bible says about the end times.

Why? Because we need to understand these things and what they mean to us today, and it should impact us in the way that we live. When we study Bible prophecy, it's not there to tantalize or entertain us. It should motivate us to personal godliness and bold evangelism. 1 John 3, 2 says, Beloved, now we're the children of God. It's not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. But then it goes on to say this, and everyone that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. So if I understand Bible prophecy as I ought to, it will have a spiritually purifying effect on me. Okay, so here we have James now telling us how we should be impacted by end times events, how we should live as we wait for the return of the Lord. James 5, verse 7. Dear brothers and sisters, writes James, be patient as you wait for the Lord's return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring.

They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to reap. You too must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. Don't crumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged.

For look, the judge is standing at the door. Look at the examples of patience and suffering, dear brothers and sisters. Look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We give honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him in the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.

Stop there. How should we live as we await the Lord's return? Point number one, be patient. Verse seven, dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord's return. By the way, the word used here for patience is not speaking of a passive resignation, but rather an expectancy as one waits on the Lord. Paul in Romans 13, verse 11 says, Understanding the present time, the hour has come to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

The night is nearly over. The day is almost here. Point number two, as much as possible, stand in unity with fellow Christians. As much as it's possible, as we await the Lord's return, stand in unity with fellow Christians. Look at verse nine. Don't crumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged.

Look, the judge is standing at the door. Listen, never tear others down to lift yourself up. Never make yourself look better at the expense of someone else. Oh, well, they don't do this, but I do it. You know, don't do that. The Bible actually says you should not engage in that.

Why? Point number three, be aware of the afterlife, meaning you're going to be judged, verse nine. For look, the judge is standing at the door. And Paul writing about it in 2 Corinthians 5 says, We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. So this is not, are you going to get to heaven?

You're in heaven. But this is about rewards. You see, rewards are going to be given in heaven.

You know, the Bible says, Your father who sees you in secret will one day reward you openly. And the Bible talks about different crowns that are given. There's a crown of life. There's a crown of rejoicing and other crowns listed in scripture that God will give out.

So you're receiving an award for what you did on earth. So live the way you ought to be living and make your life count. Point number four, be courageous. Be courageous, verse two. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. The hope of Christ's coming should give us courage. Another translation puts it this way. Put iron into your soul.

I like that. Even another translation says be resolute. Be resolute. And by the way, that's the same word used to describe Jesus going to the cross. We're in Luke 9, 51. We read as the time approached for him to be taken to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. What kept Jesus going on that day is he carried the cross for us. After his back had been ripped open with a Roman cat of nine tails, most likely. You know, the people were crying, Crucify him. Let his blood be upon us and upon our children.

His disciples largely were in hiding. He's carrying that cross, but yet he pressed on resolutely. What kept him going? The answer is found in Hebrews 12, when it says for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and now is set down on the right hand of God. The joy. So something motivated Jesus. It was the joy set before him. What was the joy? It was the knowledge that you and me and all of us would believe one day. He was dying for our sins and that made it worth it for Christ. He had his eyes on the prize.

He was headed toward the goal. And that's what we need to keep our eyes on as we go through the adversities and hardships and challenges of life. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep your eyes on heaven.

Keep your eyes on eternity. Think about the first martyr of the church, a young, courageous man named Stephen. He was called before the Sanhedrin, which was sort of like the Supreme Court of the day. And they were going to rule on what he said.

And if he was a clever young man, he might have just said a few words and gone home for dinner. But he saw it as a great opportunity to preach the gospel. And the Bible says, as he stood before them, his face was like that of an angel. His face was radiating.

You wonder, what does that look like? I remember years ago, Kathy and I were with Billy and Ruth Graham and Dennis Eggigenian. And Ruth was not long for this world. She was very ill. She preceded Billy to heaven by a few years.

She was in a wheelchair. And they were sitting there and Billy asked Dennis to play a song. So Dennis pulled out his guitar and started playing what we call the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. And I watched them as he was playing this song and they were kind of gazing into each other's eyes. They were having this special moment. It was so sweet, really. And Ruth was like glowing. And I thought it was so amazing because she was very ill, but it's almost like she was radiating light or something.

I was looking, wow. And then after the song was done, Billy turned to Ruth and said, that was the song they played on our first date. Because Billy took her to see Handel's Messiah. And I thought that was so beautiful. But when I think of someone's face shining like an angel, I remember Ruth, you know. And that's Stephen.

His face is shining like an angel. And then we read in Acts 7, 55, Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God's right hand. And he said, hey, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God's right hand. Oh, that just ticked them off. They started screaming. They put their hands over their ears. And as they stoned him, and you have to understand how horrible it is to die from stoning.

Because it's not immediate. It's a long, painful, horrific process. As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he fell to his knees.

Lord, don't charge him with this sin. And with that, he fell asleep. He died a violent death, but he fell asleep. That phrase, falling asleep, is often used in the Bible to describe death. It's another way of saying someone died. But that is only used of the death of the Christian. The phrase, they fell asleep, is never used of the death of a non-believer.

Only of the believer. So think about this. You know, falling asleep is not the worst thing that can happen, is it? You kind of look forward to it, especially as you get a little older. You know, when you're young, I don't want to sleep, take a nap, no, nap, he naps.

When you're older, it's like, go take a nap, yes, nap. So that's a beautiful picture of what happens to the believer, who keeps his eyes on the Lord, giving us the courage. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here, and I want to personally invite you to the Harvest Ministries Israel tour, April 9 to 19, 2024. Listen, this is your chance to walk in the steps of Jesus, literally, in what we call the Holy Land. Learn more at Israel.harvest.org.

Shalom. Well, you've joined us for Pastor Greg's series in the book of James called, Walk This Way. Today, we're learning what the Lord's return means to us. Number five, be trusting.

Be trusting. And think of the example of Job, verse 11. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him in the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy. Job's story begins in heaven as God is bragging on his faithful servant.

It is believed by many that Job is the oldest book of the Bible, meaning it was the first book of the Bible written even before Genesis. So here's the Lord, and the angels are appearing before him, and Satan is among them because Satan is a fallen angel, also known as Lucifer. And God starts bragging on his servant, Job. Have you considered my servant Job, says the Lord, a perfect and upright man, one that fears God and shuns evil. The devil says, oh, loose paraphrase, give me a break.

Give me a little time with Job. You know, remove that wall you put around him, and we'll see what he's really made of. I'm telling you right now, he'll curse you to your face. And the Lord said, all right, go ahead. So here's Job back on planet earth. He's living a godly life.

He's doing everything he should do. So much so, God's bragging on him. By the way, I read that verse, Lord, if you for a fleeting moment are feeling proud of me, and Satan's around, don't say anything. Here's Job, the righteous man, living the godly life, and all of a sudden, one tragedy after another comes on him in rapid succession, starting with the loss of his employment, the loss of his property, his livestock, and then worst of all, his own children died. So did Job curse God as Satan said he would? No. The Bible says Job came to the Lord and said, naked came me into this world.

Naked will I leave. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Wow, that backfired.

So Satan said, I'm not done. And boils came on Job. He was covered in boils. Have you ever had a boil?

You ever lance a boil? He's covered in boils, so much so, he's scraping them with little bits of broken pottery, and his wife comes to him, and to add insult to injury, he says, why don't you just curse God and die? Job said, you didn't say that when you were driving the Mercedes.

He didn't say that, but I mean, seriously? Thank you, Mrs. Job, for those encouraging words. See, the problem with Job is he had never read the book of Job. If he read it, he would know there's all these heavenly happenings affecting him on earth. And in the same way, we don't know what's going on in heaven when things happen in life that don't make sense, but Job passed the test with flying colors. Well, in the end, God gave him everything back.

He had double everything he had before, except his children. He was not given the children that died back, but he hoped and believed he would see them again. Job had an amazing insight into the future when he writes in Job 19, as for me, I know my Redeemer lives, and he will stand on the earth at last, and after my body is decayed in my body, I will see God.

Wow, Job knew Messiah was coming. I know my Redeemer lives, and he'll stand on the earth, and I know in my flesh I will see God. Let me go back to 1 Thessalonians 4. The Bible teaches something that we call a bodily resurrection.

What does that mean? That means when your body is buried, it's gonna come out of the grave again one day. Going back to 1 Thessalonians 4, it says, the Lord, there'll be a shout from heaven, the voice of the archangel, the dead in Christ will rise first, those are our loved ones that are in the grave, and will be caught up together with them in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. So, when you have a loved one who has died, let me take a quick poll. How many of you have a loved one in heaven?

Raise your hand. Okay, they're in heaven right now, but they don't have their new glorified body yet, and they're gonna receive their glorified body when? At the rapture of the church. They'll be caught up to meet the Lord, the new body is given to them, then we're reunited in heaven, and that is why Paul goes on to say, therefore comfort one another with these words.

Back to Job, I know in my flesh I'll see God. You're gonna see your loved ones again, and you'll recognize them, because the new body's connected to the old body. I think sometimes we think in heaven we'll be a different person with no memories, not at all. You'll remember things from earth, and you'll recognize one another, because I've been asked the question, will we recognize one another in heaven? My response is, do you think you'll be more stupid in heaven than you are on earth? You won't be, you'll know more, not less. Yes, you'll recognize one another, but you're gonna see the glorified version of Greg, with lots of hair, or maybe no hair. What if the glorified state is the absence of hair? Ever thought about that?

These are the thoughts of a bald man. Anyway, whatever it is, it'll be awesome, it'll be great, I'm not really concerned about it. So what are we to do as we await the coming of the Lord? Number one, be patient, verse seven. Number two, as much as possible, stand in unity with fellow Christians, verse nine. Don't crumble, don't complain, tear others down. Number three, be aware of the afterlife, keep your eyes on heaven, verse nine. Number four, be courageous, verse two.

Number five, be trusting, remember the example of Joe. Now let me close with a serious note about eternity. We've talked about how to live, now let's talk about how not to live. Go back to James five, verse one. Look here, you rich people, weep and groan with anguish because of the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. Your gold and silver are corroded and the very wealth you are counting on will eat away your faith like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded in the last days.

Isn't that interesting, in the last days. Now this is not a blanket condemnation of people who have wealth because there's actually many people in scripture who were wealthy, including Job that we already talked about, David, Joseph of Arimathea, Solomon, Lydia, all people of means. The difference is they used it for God's glory.

Who is this addressed to? This is speaking to non-believers, even in the church, who were exploiting other people and they were trusting in this wealth and God is saying through James, hey, you're gonna be in for a shock because you're gonna leave everything behind. James is talking about people who hoard wealth and exploit others, that's a huge mistake. I did a message recently called Things Jesus Never Said and I could have added this one. The Bible says money is the root of all evil. How many times have you heard that? Did you know the Bible does not say that?

No it does, no it doesn't. Here's what the Bible says. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil while some have coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. That's the love of it. It's possible to not have any money and be in love with money.

Did you know that? Oh well that rich person, they're in love with money. Are they or are you?

For envying them. If you're constantly thinking about how you can be rich and all the latest get rich quick schemes and you're playing the lottery or you're going to Vegas, you're looking for that big payoff, it's all about getting there and being a rich person, you could be as in love with money as anyone, maybe even more than others. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil while some have coveted after they've erred from the faith. So money's neutral, it's not good, it's not bad. It all depends on how you use it. If you use it for God's glory, recognizing everything you have comes from him and you invest in his kingdom and you're generous, that's fantastic, you're using your money well. But if you're obsessed with it and all you care about is acquiring more of it and that's all you live for, when you get to that final day, none of that money's going with you.

As I've said before, you've never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer. So that's what James is saying here and it's interesting that he says in these last days. So one last thing. Before we close, I'm gonna lead a prayer, a prayer that any person could pray with me wherever you are to ask Christ to come into your life and forgive you of your sin. If you need Jesus in your life, if you're not sure if you'll go to heaven when you die, if you're not confident that you're ready for the Lord's return, I want you to pray this prayer with me right now. In fact, why don't we all just pray this prayer to encourage those that will be praying it for the first time.

Let's all bow our heads. Just repeat this prayer. Lord Jesus. I know that I'm a sinner. But I know that you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I repent of my sin and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord, as my God and friend. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie praying an important prayer with those who've made a decision for the Lord today. And if you prayed that prayer and meant it sincerely, we want to welcome you into the family of God. And we want to help you begin walking with the Lord each day. Let us send you our New Believers' Growth Packet. It'll help lay a good foundation for your spiritual growth and development.

It's free of charge. Just ask for the New Believers' Growth Packet when you call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514.

Or just go online to harvest.org and click the words Know God. Well, it's a real privilege to have some special guests in the studio today. Joining Pastor Greg and me are Kathy Laurie and Shannon Bream, anchor of Fox News Sunday and the chief legal correspondent for Fox News. And she's written a brand new book called The Love Stories of the Bible Speak. And Kathy, I know you're really excited about this.

Oh, my goodness. Shannon, thank you for writing this book. It is amazing the number and the selection of couples and situations that you're representing in this book. So important for us to read deeply in the Scriptures. And there are passages sometimes that we come across that we really don't understand. And one of the ones that I think is so fascinating and made into a movie recently, right, is the story of Hosea and Gomer. There's a story behind the story, right? But can you talk a little bit about that story in particular?

Yeah, and this one I think is so hard to understand sometimes, so painful. So Hosea was a prophet and, you know, often they weren't popular with their people. They had tough things to say from God. Israel was in a place where they were away.

They were drifting at this time, as they often did, as we often do, and they weren't in a great place. And so God asked him to go take a woman of a promiscuous ill reputation and marry her and that he was going to give a picture of Israel and God's relationship through this difficult relationship. So Hosea, you know, we don't see any hesitation in Scripture. He does what God asks. He marries this woman. They have children, and the names of these children are heartbreaking, like, not my people, you are not loved, these kinds of things. And what God is doing in working through this passage, he talks both about them but also about Israel, that she's been unfaithful to me. She has credited her lovers that she's chased with the blessings I've actually given her. And so this all plays out through Hosea and Gomer as she drifts away from him and is unfaithful again. And God says, go get her and redeem her.

And he does. He buys her out of whatever debt or slavery that she was in. And God doesn't just say, go get her. He says, love her. And he doesn't say, wait until she's cleaned up her act.

You go get her now. So we don't know, you know, what she was up to at the time he went and got her. But God used it to show that he would redeem Israel and that he would love them again.

They would be his children again. But man, Hosea's willingness to go through this really unpleasant marriage, I'm sure. But to show that there's redemption when we continue to love and reach out to those who have not always been faithful and good to us. You're listening to Shannon Breen, who's written a brand new book called The Love Stories of the Bible Speak, subtitled Biblical Lessons on Romance, Friendship, and Faith. And we're making this book available to you this month for your gift of any size. Yeah, Shannon highlights more than a dozen relationships in Scripture, including Adam and Eve, David and Abigail, Ruth and Boaz, Mary and Joseph, and many others. We learn so much about the different aspects of love spoken of in Scripture. We'd like to send this new book your way to thank you for partnering with us so these daily studies can keep coming your way.

We're completely listener supported. So ask for The Love Stories of the Bible Speak as you donate today. You can call us at 1-800-821-3300. Call anytime 1-800-821-3300.

Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org. Hey everybody, what are you doing this weekend? I'd like to hang out with you at Harvest at Home. When is Harvest at Home? It is a time of worship and Bible study exclusively designed for people that are viewing in from all over the place so you can be a part of our extended congregation at Harvest at Home. Join us this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well next time, some very practical insight on prayer and how that privilege can be a lifeline when we're facing trials and troubles. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. Helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest Partner at harvest.org.