The Power of One, Part 2 | The Effect of Our Choices

Hey, everybody. You're listening to A New Beginning, which is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. If this program has impacted you, I'd love to hear from you. So just send an email to me at greg.harvest.org. Again, it's greg.harvest.org.

You can learn more about becoming a Harvest Partner by going to harvest.org. We all make so many choices every day. For instance, am I going to start my day with the Word of God or with social media? Am I going to start my day with prayer or am I going to start it with worry? Am I going to make time in my schedule to meet with other believers? Listen to this.

You make your choices and your choices make you. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Again, you hear all the angels are singing.

This is the day, the day where life begins. People who attend class reunions are often surprised. Sometimes the more popular people, way back when, have lost that prominence. And the prominent people today were the wallflowers years ago.

And that's not really random or accidental. It has to do with the choices they made. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie shows us how the choices we make and how we serve God will affect the here and now and will likely affect the hereafter as well. We'll learn to choose well. This is the day, the day where life begins. This is the day, the day where life begins.

This is the day, the day where life begins. But here's my question for you. Are you a thermostat or are you a thermometer? Let me explain. A thermostat sets the temperature.

A thermometer tells you what the temperature is. Are you the kind of person that influences others or are you the kind of person that is always influenced by others? Are you a world changer or is the world changing you? Well, this is our last message on the life of Moses who was described as the man of God. He was also described as the meekest man on the face of the earth.

And there's no question about it. Moses was a thermostat. He influenced others. In fact, when you stop and think about it, one man lived such a godly life of integrity that he basically kept two and a half million people from turning to full blown idolatry because the moment Moses left the scene, literally all hell broke loose.

And here was the problem. The people bowed before a golden calf. We all know that story right?

But listen to this. The golden calf was their second idol. Moses was their first. You see the problem was is the people had made an idol out of Moses. It wasn't the fault of Moses. He was a godly example.

He was doing exactly what he should be doing. But they in a way put him in the place of God. We read in Exodus chapter 14 verse 31, Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt and the people feared the Lord and believed God and his servant Moses. And in fact, when Moses left for a time to receive the Ten Commandments and he left Aaron in charge, the people says, what has happened to this Moses who brought us out of Egypt? And it was God that brought them out of Egypt. But they had put Moses in the place of God.

And you know this happens today. Maybe in a home you will have a woman that is godly and more motivated spiritually and a guy that just kind of goes along for the ride. His relationship with God so to speak is more or less dependent on his wife's relationship with God. It may have been the wife that said, oh let's watch Harvest at Home. And the husband was like, oh okay whatever.

Right? And so now let's just say for the sake of an illustration that that wife loses interest in spiritual things. Well the husband will lose interest as well. See that's not a good thing. You need your own relationship with God. Kids listen to me. You need your own relationship with the Lord that is not dependent upon your parents or upon any other person.

Here's another illustration. God will use certain people. Maybe there's a preacher that people will flock to hear. But then one day it is revealed that that preacher like every other human being has feet of clay. He has frailties.

And maybe he says or does something you don't like. And so you say that's it. I'm leaving my faith. I'm walking away from the church.

Hello? Don't build your faith in God on the foundation of a man or a woman. The Lord needs to be number one in your life. That's the first commandment. Have no other gods before him. And commandment number two was have no graven images. But to the credit of Moses he was such a godly influence. It shows the power of one.

Now sort of to pick up from where we were last time. That was the power of one part one. This is the power of one part two. Remember we learned this about Moses. Look at Hebrews chapter 11 verse 24.

It was by faith that Moses when he grew up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to share the oppression of God's people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. So point number one is you may remember Moses made important decisions at the beginning of his life. Again the end of your life is determined by the beginning of your life. The evening of your life is determined by the morning of your life.

So you're making decisions now that will affect you in years to come. And Moses made a principled decision. Verse 24 of Hebrews 11 says it was by faith that Moses when he grew up refused.

You see he had come to a fork in the road. He had been placed by God in the house of the Pharaoh. He was the prince of Egypt. He could have let this thing play out and maybe ultimately ascended to the throne and become the Pharaoh himself. But Moses made a choice to not do that. He chose to not be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

He chose to not have that title. So he walked away from a life of luxury to choose a life of obedience to God. He made a decision early in his life to choose God over affluence. Bringing me to point number two. You make your choices and your choices make you.

Let me say it again. You make your choices and your choices make you. Look at verse 25 of Hebrews 11. Moses chose to suffer the oppression of God's people. This word that is used here for choose means to take for oneself a position.

He took a position. And we all make so many choices every day. Take Taco Bell for instance. I don't know if you like Taco Bell. I have to say I am a huge fan.

I love it. But now they have all these things on the menu and I am asking what is this exactly? And meanwhile the line behind me is getting longer.

I am like what are these things? Because there are so many choices. I just say I will have a bean burrito and two tacos. I just default back to what I always choose. But the point is all these decisions we have to make. And then if you have Sirius XM all these channels you can choose from. And then you turn on the TV and there are hundreds and hundreds of channels.

Have you ever just flipped through channels and literally found there wasn't one thing worth watching? Now those are not important choices for the most part. But there are very important choices in life. The most important choice you will ever make is what you do with Jesus Christ. If you will say yes to Him and follow Him or if you will reject Him. And if you have not yet said yes to Jesus I will give you an opportunity to do that at the end of my message.

I think right after that decision is a decision about who you will marry. Listen to me single people. Take your time and look for a godly man or a godly woman. Look for someone that is even more godly than you are.

It is very important. You know honestly marriage is hard enough with a godly person. When you combine a believer and a non-believer so much trouble can follow as a result. But then I make choices every day. For instance am I going to start my day with the Word of God or with social media? Am I going to start my day with prayer or am I going to start it with worry?

Am I going to make time in my schedule to meet with other believers? And on it goes. Moses chose to not do one thing and instead he chose to do another. So let's say that you are gaining weight. So what you need to do is stop doing one thing and start doing another.

Stop eating the Crunchwrap Supreme whatever that is and instead work out more. So in the same way we could apply this to the Christian life. Psalm 1 says, Blessed or happy is the man or the woman that does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful. But then it goes on to say, But his delight is in the word of the Lord and in it does he meditate day and night.

Now check it out. The word blessed and happy are interchangeable. So basically the Bible is saying if you want to be happy there are some things you should not do. And in their place there are certain things you should do. Don't walk in ungodly counsel.

Don't do that. But instead walk in godly counsel. Meditate or think about or contemplate on the word of God. Now when we say meditate I don't want you to think of Eastern mysticism. In Eastern mysticism one meditates to empty their mind. In biblical meditation one fills their mind. To meditate means to ponder. To contemplate what the word of God has to say.

So Moses made a choice. I am not going to do that. Live in the pleasures of sin. But instead I am going to do this.

I am going to identify with God's people. Listen to this. God's worst is better than the world's best.

Ok. What is the world's best? I already said a few short lived pleasures. What is God's worst? Well persecution. Rejection. Being mocked. Things of that nature. So the best that the world has to offer isn't as good as the worst God has to offer.

Now let's talk about God's best. What is that? Well that's peace. Purpose. Meaning in this life. A relationship and friendship with God himself.

And the guaranteed assurance of heaven beyond the grave. What is the world's worst? Misery. Guilt. Emptiness. And a future of judgment in hell.

Then don't go that way. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Well Pastor Greg is offering important insights today on how we can make wise choices following the example of the prophet Moses. And our thanks to our Harvest Partners who helped to make today's study available.

To find out about becoming a Harvest Partner, go to Harvest.org. Point number three. Because of his right choices, Moses was a man of personal integrity. Because of his right choices, Moses was a man of personal integrity.

Let me ask you. Do you have integrity? What is integrity? It's really the same as character. One person described integrity as what we are in the dark.

Who you are when no one is watching. There was an article in Forbes magazine that said quote, Success will come and go but integrity is forever. The article goes on to say, Integrity means doing the right thing at all times under all circumstances whether or not anyone is watching. Building integrity takes years but it only takes a second to lose. End quote. Interesting.

They are not approaching that from a biblical perspective. They are approaching it from a business perspective. A billionaire Warren Buffet made this statement about hiring the right people. And I quote, In looking for people to hire, I look for three qualities. Integrity, intelligence, and energy.

But if they don't have the first one, the other two will kill you. So energy is important. Intelligence is important. But at the top of the list for Warren Buffet, he thinks you should have integrity. I think he's on to something there. Moses certainly had integrity.

Point number four. We need to look forward not backward. Again we need to look forward not backward. The word in verse 26 describing Moses means he thought before hand. It means he looked away from everything else and fixed his attention on what was ahead. Moses had the big picture. He saw beyond the temporal comfort of the palace of Egypt. He saw beyond the bondage of Pharaoh. He saw beyond to what God could do.

And so that's what he had his eyes on. Doesn't that remind us of what Paul says in Hebrews chapter 12 when he says, Lay aside the sin and the weight that so easily besets you and look unto Jesus the author and finisher of your faith. And so Moses did that very thing.

That brings me to point number five. Moses finished his race well. Now go over to Deuteronomy chapter 34 with me if you would. Deuteronomy chapter 34.

We read these words in verse one. Then Moses went up to Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab and climbed Pisgah Peak which is a cross from Jericho. And the Lord showed him the whole land from Gilead as far as Dan to the land of Naphtali to the land of Ephraim and Manasseh. And the land of Judah extending to the Mediterranean Sea, the Negev, the Jordan Valley, with Jericho, the city of Palms as far as Zoar. Then the Lord said to Moses, This is the land that I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, I will give it to your descendants. I have now allowed you to see it with your own eyes but you will not enter the land.

Wow. So Moses is 120 years old at this point. I am pretty impressed that he could climb this mountain. It is a 4500 foot high peak. I mean that is steep. And this old dude makes it up to the very top. And we don't read that Moses used his walker with the little tennis balls at the bottom to keep him from slipping to get up the mountain. There was no escalator. There was no elevator. He climbed up on it.

No life alert around his neck. You know that is impressive. And as we all get older we realize that we have limitations. There are telltale signs you are getting old. You know you are getting old when that gray haired little old lady you help across the street is your wife.

You know you are getting old when you dim the lights for economic reasons not for romantic ones. You know you are getting old when your back goes out more than you do. You know you are getting old when your children are starting to look middle aged. You know you are getting old when you are told to slow down by a doctor instead of a cop. You know you are getting old when you sink your teeth into a juicy steak and they stay there.

You know you are getting old when you bend down to pick up something and you wonder what else you can do while you are down there. You know when you are getting older sometimes people begin to disconnect. They retire.

They retire not only from their work but sometimes from their spiritual life. But not Moses. He was strong to the very end. And look at how Moses understood he was going to die. He understood this was the end. But he was not afraid. He was not depressed.

He realized that life has a beginning, middle, and end. And as a Christian you don't have to be afraid to die. No one wants to die.

But there is no escaping it. The statistics on death are pretty impressive. One out of every one person will die. But having said that the Apostle Paul reminded us to live is Christ and to die is gain. Why is dying gain for the Christian?

Answer. We go to heaven into the very presence of God. Moses understood that. So the Lord shows him all the promised land. And he says this is the land that I promised Abraham and his descendants.

And they are going to go into it but not you. Oh man we might say that is kind of cruel on the part of God. It is like taking a little kid into a store and saying don't touch anything. You can look but you can't touch. It is almost as though the Lord was saying go and look at him Moses but you can't go in.

But that is true. But not to depress Moses. Remember why could Moses not go into the land? Remember he was told to speak to the rock and water would come out and instead he took a stick and actually a staff that God had used on so many occasions to do miracles through. That was a stick he held up in part of the Red Sea.

That was a stick or the rod he threw to the ground and it turned into a snake and so forth. So the Lord told him to speak to the rock and he waxed the rock. Bam. Bam. Two times. The Lord said ok you are not going into the land. But as I reminded you in my last message he did make it in ultimately when he was transfigured with Elijah on each side of Jesus.

But the point is simply this. God was saying look buddy I kept my promise. All of that misery. All of that hardship.

All of the difficulties you went through. It is worth it. Look Moses. Here is the land. I keep my promises. I am going to do what I said I will do. So one day Moses died and every one of us will ultimately die unless the Lord comes back in our lifetime which is entirely possible. But one way or another you and I are going to stand before God and we are going to be held accountable for our lives. And here is what the question will be in that final day. Not how good of a life did we live or how many good works did we do.

It is going to come down to this. What did we do with Jesus Christ? It won't be a sin question as much as it will be a son question.

S-O-N. What did you do with Jesus? Why do I say that? Because the only way that I can know that I will go to heaven is if I come to God through Jesus. Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life and no man comes of the Father but by me. You say but why? I thought all roads led to God.

Well maybe in a broad sense that is true. Let me explain. All roads will get you to God. No matter what road you choose you will stand before God. But only one road leads to heaven. And it is through Jesus because he died on the cross for your sin and he rose again from the dead. So if I want to know that I will go to heaven when I die I need to ask Jesus Christ to forgive me of my sin and I need to begin to follow him as my Savior and Lord. So I am going to ask you that in closing.

Have you done that yet? Do you have faith in Christ? Do you have the assurance right now that if you were to die today you would go to heaven?

If not would you like to have it? Jesus who died on the cross and rose again from the dead is with you right now wherever you are. And he says, Behold I stand at the door and I knock and if you will hear my voice and open the door I will come in.

Listen I am talking to you about a relationship right now. This is not a religious thing. This is a relationship with God himself. Would you like Jesus to come into your life? Would you like to know that you will go to heaven when you die?

Would you like to be ready for the Lord's return? If so in a moment I am going to pray a prayer. And I am going to ask you to pray this prayer with me. You can pray it out loud if you like.

It doesn't really matter. The main thing is you say this to the Lord. So if you want Christ to come into your life pray this prayer with me right now.

Just pray these words. Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner but I know that you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now Jesus come into my life. I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord, as my God and my friend. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie, closing in a word of prayer. A prayer with those who are making a decision for the Lord today. And if you've just prayed that prayer with Pastor Greg we'd like to follow up with you and help you as you begin to live the Christian life. We'd like to send you Pastor Greg's New Believers Bible free of charge.

It will answer the questions you might have and get you started off on the right foot. Just ask for it when you call us anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or when you write A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside, California 92514.

Or go online to Harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg we're so excited about your new movie called Fame. So many want to be rich and famous but so many rich and famous people have ruined their lives. Is fame sort of a drug?

People get a little taste of it and they want more and then they can get hooked on the attention and it drags them to unhealthy places. Yes, a good example is Chris Farley. Chris Farley was a very successful comedian on Saturday Night Live. Actually Chris's idol was John Belushi. And Belushi died of a drug overdose and tragically the same thing happened to Chris Farley. Belushi and Farley both died from a lethal overdose of heroin and cocaine. Neither one of them found the happiness they wanted and they both died at the age of 33.

And we've heard this story over and over and over again. Take the 27 Club. These are well known rock stars who all ironically died at the age of 27. Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, one of the founding members. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, fast forward.

Kurt Cobain, fast forward again. Amy Winehouse, all dying of drugs or alcohol related causes at the age of 27. People who were extraordinarily talented but yet their lives ended way too soon. They knew fame wasn't the answer.

But yet today, a whole new generation thinks fame is gonna fill that hole in their heart. A lot of them now can go out there and become famous instantly on social media platforms and even get monetized for doing it and they're famous for what? I don't know. What do they even really do?

But yet they've managed to be known by people and that's the goal for many of them but is that what it's cracked up to be? The answer is no. Let me save you the trouble.

No. The answer is in Christ. Really it's not fame that you want. It's meaning and it's knowing that your life matters.

It's not success as much as it's significance and that's found in a relationship with God. In this movie where I interview Alice Cooper and I interview Daryl Strawberry and I talk a little bit about some of these people I've touched on and about the emptiness of their lives, I show that what we're really looking for is Christ. Let me describe the opening scene for you.

It's kind of fun. We shot it at a major movie studio in Hollywood. The camera's kind of following me and all this stuff is happening around me and then I tell everyone this is actually a sound stage and that's how I introduce the movie because I'm trying to show that look, this appears one way but it's a facade.

It's not real and this is what fame is and this is what life without Christ is. Now you can't see the scene but here's the way it sounds. You get a picture of it. I'm walking down the street opening the film.

Check this out. I'm Greg Laurie and I'm in New York City but I hate traffic and there's always traffic here. People come to New York from all around the world looking for a lot of things. Some are looking for success. Maybe others are looking for significance or maybe if they come here, they'll become rich and famous. Speaking of that, USA Today did a poll among its young readers, Generation Z Millennials and asked them the question what do you want more than anything else in life? Their answer, they wanted to become rich and famous. I want you to join me on a journey as we look at the lives of some really famous people and what that fame led to. Is it really all that we think it is or is it a facade? Speaking of facades, I'm actually not in New York City at all.

I'm on the back lot of Paramount Studios. These are not people walking down the street. This is my family. This is, well, fake. It looks good on the outside but on the inside or behind the facades, there's really nothing and that's what it's like when you chase after fame and fortune and success and all those things that we're told will make us happy. Well, that's a scene from the new movie called Fame and Pastor Greg, we also have a book that goes along with the film that actually takes all of these matters and discusses them in more detail. Yes, it's called Fame, same title, written with Marshall Terrell, who I've done a number of books with. It's a fantastic book.

It's a pretty quick read. It would be a great book for you to read but I think it would be a fantastic resource to give to someone, especially a non-believer. The premise of the book is fame is not the answer. I illustrate that with lots of current and contemporary stories from culture today.

Then I go back to scripture and show what the Bible says about these things and then give the answer in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. So we'll be delighted to send you this brand new book called Fame for your gift of any size to help us continue on here at A New Beginning and then remind you to go see our brand new film, Fame. Dave, tell them where they can see that. Yeah, the movie called Fame premieres the weekend of October 20th through 22nd at our new Harvest Media platform at harvest.org and also other streaming platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Samsung, Amazon Fire, and Google Play.

It's free to watch. So mark your calendar for October 20th through 22nd. And don't forget that important companion book also called Fame. We'll be glad to send a copy of the book your way to thank you for partnering with us so we can continue to bring the gospel through this radio program, through books and film, and through so many other forms of outreach. So get in touch with your donation today by calling 1-800-821-3300. Call anytime 24-7, 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well, next time, Pastor Greg launches a series we desperately need. It's called Timeless, Unchanging Truths in a Changing Culture. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Lauren. This is the day, the day when life begins. The preceding podcast was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Learn how to become a Harvest Partner, sign up for daily devotions, and find resources to help you grow in your faith at harvest.org.