The World Changer at the End of the World, Part 2 | Winding Up In Some Kind of Ditch

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Learn more and sign up at harvest.org. that is controlling me. I don't want to be controlled by the Spirit. I want to be controlled by the Holy Spirit.

That's a precious thing. Imagine sitting in the driver's seat of your parked car, and you start disassembling your steering wheel. You loosen the nut that holds your steering wheel in place. Now the steering wheel is barely connected to your front wheels. Are you willing to hit the open highway without that control?

Only if you like ditches. Today on A New Beginning, from the series Heroes of the Bible, Pastor Greg Laurie points out some people choose to do that with their very lives and wind up in some kind of ditch. Raise up your hand, okay. How many of you believe he could even come back tonight? Raise your hand. How many of you feel like if he were to come back tonight, you would be ready to meet him? Raise your hand up.

Okay, good, good. I believe that too. You know, there was a Gallup poll taken that revealed that a surprising 66% of the American public believes Jesus Christ is coming back to the earth in the future. That's a very high percentage. Because somewhere around 50% of Americans, maybe the number is slightly lower now, maybe high 40s, but somewhere around 50% of Americans claim to be Christians. So a higher percentage of Americans believe Jesus Christ is coming back than even the percentage of Americans that claim to be Christians.

And now with all that's going on in the news, oh my, it just seems like it's almost obvious. I wonder how it will be reported after Christ comes back. What the headlines would be. Probably the headline of the Wall Street Journal the day after Christ came back would be Dow Jones plummets as world ends. They would come at it maybe from a more financial perspective. Victoria's Secret catalog would say our final sale.

Something like that. Sports Illustrated, their headline would be game over. They would look at it from more of a sports perspective. USA Today, they're always known for their simplicity. Headline would simply be we're dead. Wired magazine, more of a high tech magazine would say the last new thing, Rolling Stone would have on the cover of their magazine the Grateful Dead reunion tour. Something like that. I don't know. Ladies Home Journal lose 10 pounds by judgment day with our new Armageddon diet. The diet element.

The food network would simply be our cooked goose recipe. So no matter what there's a day that's appointed. We don't know when because Jesus said no man knows. The day of the hour when he will return.

When Christ will return. And my understanding of Bible prophecy which is 100% perfect. I'm kind of joking. But I do kind of think it's right. Of course we all think that. But in my view of Bible prophecy I think the next event on the prophetic calendar as I've said many times will be the rapture of the church.

And we don't hear enough about this topic these days. It's so important but it seems to have fallen somewhat out of favor in the church as a teaching. What is the rapture? It's from the Greek word harpazo. And it's a word that describes people being caught up to meet the Lord in the air. The best known verse is 1 Thessalonians 4 and 17. The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel. And the dead in Christ will rise first and we which are alive and remaining will be caught up. Greek word harpazo.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. But some will push back and say you know actually that's a teaching that's only been around since the 1800s. No actually it's a teaching that goes back 2,000 years ago because I just quoted the apostle Paul who gives us that very teaching. And some will say well you can't find the word rapture in the Bible. Well you can't find the word Bible in the Bible either.

Nor can you find the word trinity in the Bible. But if you happen to have a Latin translation you actually do have the word rapture. Because the word harpazo is translated to rapturous in the Latin Bible. So call it the rapturous. Call it the harpazo.

Call it the great escape. It doesn't matter. It's going to happen. In my view it could happen at any moment. After that the antichrist emerges. In fact I do not believe that the antichrist this coming world leader can show up in the world scene until the church is caught up to meet the Lord. The Bible says he who now restrains will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way.

Then that wicked one will be revealed whom the Lord will destroy with the brightness of his coming. The restraining force in the world today. The restraining force in America today. The reason all hell is not completely broken loose so you would think it had is because believers are the restraining force on the planet.

Sort of keeping things at bay. The Holy Spirit working through the church. Once the church is caught up to meet the Lord in the air then the antichrist is revealed. Then the so called tribulation period begins that lasts for seven years. That ends with the battles of Armageddon and the second coming of Christ. And then of course the millennial reign of the Lord. The Bible talks a lot about this.

Well what are we supposed to do in light of this teaching? Well we want to live lives that honor the Lord. We want to pay attention to these signs of the times. And I want to focus on a man who lived in the last days if you will. Now they were his last days.

They are different than ours. We are waiting for the judgment that will come upon the planet by fire. He was waiting for the judgment that would come upon the planet by water. And his name was Noah. He was living in the days before the great flood. And Jesus actually brought him up as a picture of what things will be like before Christ returns. And in Matthew 24 it said the arrival of the Son of Man will take place in days like Noah's. Before that great flood everyone was carrying on as usual.

Having a good time. Right until the day that Noah boarded the ark they knew nothing until the flood swept everything away. And then Jesus says the Son of Man's arrival will be like that. Two men will be working in the field. One will be taken the other left. Two women will be grinding at a mill. One will be taken and the other left.

So be alert and be awake because you have no idea when your master will show up. Alright so here is the story. Noah's ark.

Beautiful. They make it to the new land and now they are giving thanks to the Lord. And if this were a movie and if we wrote it this is where the story would end. You can see the closing scene. Noah is looking up to heaven. Tears coming down his face.

The flowers are growing and the animals are hopping around. And there is a rainbow and the credits are on the screen. But that is not how the story ends. Because this is a Bible story. And Bible stories are true. They are not fairy tales. And when something happens that is not convenient it is there anyway.

Because if it happens it happens. And all scripture is given by inspiration of God. And the Lord doesn't cover up the flaws of the great men and women that He used. So what happened next is kind of sad in many ways in the life of Noah.

But it did happen. Genesis chapter 9 verse 20. After the flood Noah began to cultivate the ground and he planted a vineyard. One day he drank some wine that he had made and became drunk and lay naked inside of his tent. Ham the father of Canaan saw his father was naked, went outside and told his brothers. Then Shem and Japheth took a robe and held it over their shoulders and backed into the tent to cover their father.

And as they did this they looked the other way so they would not see him naked. A few things pop out from this story. First of all it teaches us anyone can fall into sin. You know it may surprise you to know that sometimes those who have known the Lord longer can be more vulnerable to slipping than the person who is young in the faith. Does that make sense to you? Sometimes those who have known the Lord longer can be more vulnerable to slipping than the person who is young in the faith.

You say but why? Because when you're young in the faith you know you're weak and vulnerable. So you're careful and you hopefully surround yourself with godly people. But when you've known the Lord for a while you're thinking well I'm pretty good. I don't think I need to have those safeguards on my life anymore. I'll just pretty much not be accountable to anyone and do what I want when I want.

The next thing you know you're falling. Extensive Bible knowledge and years of spiritual experience make you think you're somehow above it all. You think you've reached some kind of a plateau spiritually but you'll never reach that plateau.

And the Bible warns that him that thinks he sins take heed lest he fall. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. You know when you've walked in the very land where Jesus himself walked you'll gain a whole new appreciation for the truth of scripture. Hey everybody Greg Laurie here inviting you to the Harvest Ministries Israel tour.

April 9 to 19 2024. This will be an unforgettable journey through biblical sites and a unique opportunity to grow in your own faith. Listen spots are limited. Be sure to sign up as soon as possible at Israel.harvest.org.

Again it's Israel.harvest.org. Hope to see you there. Glad you're along today as Pastor Greg presents a message called The World Changer at the End of the World Part 2. Let's continue.

Number two. We can't ignore this. I'm going to make somebody mad right now.

So get ready. In the sin of Noah we see the destructive power of alcohol. Right? I mean look at verse 21. He became drunk and lay naked. Now look. We have to understand the original language here.

Scholars tell us the Hebrew word here for uncovered or lay naked indicates a deliberate act and not a mere unconscious effect of drunkenness. This is certainly not a good thing to do. He was not a good example. Let's just think for a moment of how many lives have been ruined by alcohol. I've never seen one good thing come from drinking.

But I've seen a lot of bad things come from it. Now you all know I was raised in an alcoholic home. And so I dealt with this up close and personal for the first 17 years of my life on a scale you wouldn't believe. My mother was a raging alcoholic. Pretty much drinking herself into a stupor every night and passing out on the floor. Sometimes not coming home at all.

Other times getting behind the wheel of the car and driving horribly. In fact I wasn't with her on this occasion. But she was going up Jamboree Boulevard and went over the center divider and had a head on collision in a 1965 Mustang.

This is pre-safety bags and such. And it almost killed her. But I just saw the effects of alcohol.

And I still see it to this day. I see people that start to drink a little and one thing leads to another and it becomes a problem. And we dismiss it. We say well you know they have a disease.

Is that what it is? Alcoholism is a disease. It's a disease? If alcoholism is a disease it's the only disease that's bottled and sold. If alcoholism is a disease it's the only one that's contracted by the will of man. If it's a disease it's the only disease that provokes crime.

Now here's my point. I understand that some people are more susceptible to the effects of alcohol than others. I understand that some people can maybe have a drink and it's not a big deal and it doesn't destroy their life and their marriage doesn't unravel. But I know other people literally they have a sip of alcohol and it can lead to their ruin because they have seen it happen in real time.

Because they have the propensity. So we say well that's their problem. It's not my problem.

Ah now we have another issue. And the other issue is what if your so-called liberty to drink causes another person who doesn't have that liberty to stumble? What if you have your drinks with your meal and you think it's cool and then your friend who was an alcoholic who just came to Christ and was gloriously delivered. Sees you having a drink and they have a drink and they fall off the wagon and destroy their life. Well that doesn't happen. Actually it happens a lot. And I could tell you a lot of stories where I've seen it happen.

So we need to really think about this because it can bring so much havoc in a life. I've come to this brilliant conclusion. Follow me on this. If you don't drink you'll never get drunk. You won't. I don't want to be under the influence of an intoxicant. Be it drinking. Be it weed. Be it any other drug of any kind that is now beginning to get control of my life.

It can even be a medication that was prescribed to me that I am beginning to abuse. You see I don't want those substances controlling me. I don't want to be controlled by the spirits. I want to be controlled by the Holy Spirit.

That's a precious thing. To have a clear mind. And the Bible says don't be drunk with wine where it is excess but be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. So Noah was the last days believer and we are too. And I mentioned that statement where Jesus said two men will be working in the field. One will be taken and the other left.

Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and the other left. Stay awake. Be alert. You don't know when your master will show up.

Question. What if Jesus came back for us tonight? What if this was the night?

Would you be ready to meet him? Now I know the second coming will not happen tonight. Well how do you know that? Because there is a difference between the rapture and the second coming. See the rapture, the harpazo, I was talking about that earlier. Is when Jesus comes for his church like a thief in the night.

Remember that expression? The second coming is when he comes at the end of the tribulation period with his church and the Bible says every eye will see him. So I know the second coming, the return of Christ to the earth bodily where he establishes his kingdom could not happen tonight. But the rapture, the harpazo, where believers are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. That can happen at any moment.

That is why you want to be ready. And that is what Jesus is referring to when he says one will be taken and the other left. You see. So what would happen to you? If the Lord were to come back would you be taken or would you be left?

Here is your choice. Get right or get left. Maybe you are someone who has had a lapse in your faith. Maybe you have stumbled and you have fallen. But listen if you have fallen you can get up but maybe you need a helping hand.

Can I offer that to you right now? Just say here come on get back up on your feet. And make a recommitment to Jesus Christ.

Don't stay in that state. You can start over again. You can get back in the race of life again. But there might be someone listening that has never asked Jesus Christ to come into their life. And as I talk about the Lord's return it kind of scares you. And maybe it should because you are not sure if you are ready to meet the Lord. Well you can be ready.

Here is what you need to understand. Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sin. He went there voluntarily and paid the price for every sin you have ever committed. And then he rose again from the dead and now he stands at the door of our life and he knocks and says in full hear his voice and open the door he will come in. He is just a prayer away. All you need to do is say Lord come into my life and forgive me of my sins. If you are not sure if Jesus Christ is living in your life respond to this invitation as we pray. Father speak to any person here.

Any person listening or watching wherever they might be who does not yet know you. Help them to come to you. Help them believe in you.

Help them be forgiven by you. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer. And if you would like to follow through and make a change in your relationship with the Lord Pastor Greg will help you do that before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. So stay with us. Well Pastor Greg there are a lot of people who don't know the Lord and they feel their life has been so troubled that maybe the Lord wouldn't want to know them.

But God's grace is bigger than our sin. And that's a message that comes through loud and clear in a new DVD we're making available. Yeah it really does and the title of that DVD is Johnny Cash The Redemption of an American Icon. Now as you may recall I wrote a book by the same title which you might want to order.

It's a great book. And then we made it into a first rate documentary film. Incredible production value done by the same team that brought you Jesus Revolution. Beautifully done cinematic interviews with people that knew Johnny like Marty Stewart. Others that were influenced by Johnny like Tim McGraw, Winona Judd, Sheryl Crow. And also you hear from members of Johnny's own family including his sister Joanna Cash Yates and his son John Carter Cash and others.

I was able to bring a perspective on Johnny's life as well. And so we want to send you this incredible DVD that tells a story of redemption. And it brings hope.

And maybe it's your story or maybe it's someone you know. It's their story and they need to see this film. And now for the first time it's available for you to have for good, for keeps, to share with others. You could even give the DVD away if you like to someone and download the film to your phone or your computer or your tablet because we also provide you with a streaming code. And one other thing I would mention is there's bonus content on this DVD you will not find anywhere else. Now you can find this film on the Apple platform, on the Amazon platform. But they don't have this bonus content. And this bonus content includes a message that I gave on how to come to Jesus Christ sort of wrapped around the story of Johnny Cash.

So let us send you Johnny Cash, the redemption of an American icon on DVD complete with streaming code and bonus content for your gift of any size. Now let me say this. We bring these resources to you to be a blessing but also to give you an opportunity to invest in the work of the kingdom of God. Here at Harvest Ministries we want to teach God's word. But we also want to call people to Christ. And if you've been a listener for long you will know that we often give an invitation for people to come to the Lord. And did you know that thousands of people come to Jesus every year listening to this radio broadcast? So when you invest in what we're doing financially you play a part in that.

You share in the fruit of that. So be generous when you send your gift to get your copy of Johnny Cash, the redemption of an American icon. And in advance let me say thank you.

Yeah and it's easy to do. Just give us a call and we'll be glad to send it your way to thank you for your investment in keeping these daily studies coming your way. Just dial 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime 24-7. Again that's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514.

Or just go online to harvest.org. Get your copy of Johnny Cash, the redemption of an American icon. Well Pastor Greg a couple of moments ago you talked of the importance of coming to the Lord to have our sins forgiven. If somebody listening right now wants to do that, could you help them? Yeah I can do that Dave.

I'd be happy to. In the book of Isaiah we read these words, Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous men their thoughts. Let them return to the Lord and He will have mercy on them.

And to our God for He will freely pardon. Listen that's God's word to you. And let me address this to the person who has never asked Jesus Christ to come into their life.

Why don't you do it now? That verse says seek the Lord while He may be found. God has touched your heart today perhaps. And you've thought I need this relationship with the Lord. One of these days I'm going to make that commitment to Christ. No don't wait for one of these days. This is the day.

This is your moment. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He's near. Listen God is near to you and He is ready to come into your life. And there's another part of this verse when it says let us return to the Lord. I want to also extend an invitation to you that have fallen away from your faith. You've fallen away from the Lord and you need to make a recommitment. So if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life. If you want your sin forgiven. If you want to go to heaven when you die.

Or if you've fallen away from the Lord and you want to return to Him. Pray this prayer with me. Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner. But I also know that you are a Savior.

And I need your help. I need your forgiveness. Come into my life and forgive me of all of my sins.

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Be my Savior. Be my Lord.

Be my God and be my friend. Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Hey I want you to know on the authority of scripture if you just prayed that prayer and meant it. Christ has heard you and He has forgiven you. So God bless you. Yeah and we want to help you begin to grow in your new faith. We want to send you some resource materials we call our New Believers Growth Packet.

It'll answer some of the questions you might have and get you started off right. So get in touch for your New Believers Growth Packet. We'll send it free of charge if you prayed with Pastor Greg for the first time today. Just call us at 1-800-821-3300. We're here to take your call around the clock seven days a week. That's 1-800-821-3300.

Or write A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside California 92514. Or go to Harvest.org and click the words Know God. Hey I don't know if you know about this but we have a weekend service called Harvest at Home.

Exclusively for people that are tuning in literally from around the world. Listen to this. We even have Harvest groups where you can get into a small group with folks from all around this planet of ours and study the Word of God. So join us this weekend Saturday and Sunday for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well next time Pastor Greg launches a fascinating look into the life of Moses. It's a series called Water, Fire, Stone. 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.