The Secret to Spiritual Success | The Key to Your Walk With God

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest of God. God wants us to live a successful Christian life, and He hasn't hidden the secrets to success in some obscure passage in the Bible.

It isn't encoded into the dimensions of the temple in 1 Kings. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out one of the most important ingredients for a healthy walk with the Lord. But it's an ingredient that's often missing in many believers' lives.

Today's insight is from the brand new series called Timeless, Unchanging Truth in a Changing Culture. I think we all want to succeed spiritually. Sadly, we all know someone, maybe more than one, who were walking with the Lord and then crashed and burned in the worst imaginable way. Then we know others who just continue to grow and mature and develop as the years go by. Why do some succeed and others fail?

A short answer, because they choose to. If you are succeeding spiritually, it's because you are applying effort. I'm not suggesting it's self-effort, but there's our part and there's God's part. The Bible says that we should work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that works in us both to will and do of His good pleasure.

There's a whole picture. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. A better way to translate that is develop and discover all that God has done for you.

Carry it to the goal and complete it. Not work for your salvation. Work it out. Work out your own salvation, for it is God that works in you both to will and do of His good pleasure. There are some things only God can do and some things only I can do. Only I can repent. Only I can confess my sin. Only God can forgive me of that sin.

I make a choice. God is giving you all the power you need to live this Christian life. 2 Peter 1.3 says through His divine power, God has given us everything we need to live a godly life.

We've received all of this by coming to know Him. Sort of like you're in your car with a powerful engine. You start the car. The car's not going to move until you put the pedal to the metal, right?

Till you accelerate and release the horsepower of the car. In the same way God's giving you this power but you've got to apply it. So these are things that we need to think about. And here's a word that is not popular in the 21st century. It's the word discipline. Discipline.

No. We want things fast and we want things easy. You know we don't want to sit down and write our report. We want AI to write our report for us. We don't want to wait for anything. We want everything immediately. We live in an instant society.

I think our technology alone has changed so dramatically over the years. When I was a kid I had something called a record player. And I remember it was red and white. And I remember my first record.

It was a 45. Okay a 45 is like a small version of an album. And you would put it on your little record player and my first record was I think I saw her standing there by the Beatles. And I'd listen to my little record player. And then a little time passes and this new technology comes out called 8-track.

8-track. You put them in your car so now you can take your music with you. And then that was followed by something called a cassette. What an amazing thing to go from an 8-track to a cassette because now you can record your music. And then of course after that comes you know the CD. And now we just download our music.

Then there was another development technology. The VHS tape. You put it in a VCR. And you watched it.

It was so incredible. And you would rent them. Kids there used to be a place called Blockbuster. And you would go down and rent a video of the latest movie. And some of you may remember the message from Blockbuster.

Be kind. Rewind. Right. Because you wanted to get it back to the beginning. Well now of course we just download everything.

We don't have to wait for anything at all. Then there is mail. I think it is a lost art to write anymore. I can't even read my own writing anymore. Because I mainly type everything.

Like most of you. But I used to have very legible handwriting and lettering and a lot of it from my old days as a cartoonist where I would hand letter everything. But now I write something.

I don't even know what these notes say. But sort of write a letter. Because you are always going to keep a letter. Or a card.

We don't do that anymore. Now we will just shoot off an email. Not even an email. Maybe a text. And now a text seems to take too long so we will just send you know an emoji. That is just an emoji.

We don't even want to communicate. So we come to the spiritual life. And we want everything fast and easy just like it is in our regular life.

But the Bible talks about slowing down. Taking root. Studying.

Denying. Obeying. And of course discipline. So if you want to grow spiritually here is point number one if you are taking notes. To spiritually succeed you must love and study the Bible. To spiritually succeed you must study and love Scripture. This is essential. You never outgrow this.

You never get beyond this. This is always a working principle in the life of every successful Christian. I have never met a Christian who is failing spiritually who is also studying the Bible diligently. Here is what Joshua 8 says. This book of the law, and when we talk about the book of the law it is another way of saying the Bible or Scripture.

So I will say it that way. The Bible or Scripture should not depart from your mouth. You shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do all that is written in it.

Listen to this. Then you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success. Jesus said if you continue in my word then are you my disciples. And if you find the Bible boring and if you have no interest in Scripture you must ask yourself the question am I really growing as a Christian. In fact the way that a doctor can tell if someone is healthy or not is by checking their appetite. And in the same way a growing Christian will be a hungry Christian. Someone who is hungry for the Word of God.

1 Peter 2 says, like newborn babes crave spiritual milk that you may grow. You know the feeling when you haven't eaten. You become lethargic. You might become irritable.

You might become lightheaded. And you find yourself hangry. Hangry.

Right. Hangry is when you are angry because you are hungry. Sometimes I will get maybe a little snippy and Kathy will just throw a sandwich at me. It fixes. A sandwich pretty much fixes everything doesn't it. But then you have a meal and suddenly your mood will change. Your outlook will change.

Everything will change. What a difference a good meal makes. And the same can be true spiritually.

You might find yourself lethargic and irritable and uptight and you need a good meal. And that good meal needs to be the Word of God. Psalm 119 says, revive me according to your word. So we study God's Word. Jeremiah 15 16 says, when your words came I ate them.

They were my joy and my heart's delight. And you look at the early church. One of their disciplines was they studied the Word of God. One of my favorite stories in the book of Acts is when Paul was preaching. And he was preaching for a long time.

For hours. It was late in the night now and some young man named Eutychus was up by a window and he fell asleep and fell out of the window and died. Someone said, Paul someone just fell out of the window and died. Paul stopped preaching. He walked out.

Went up to little Eutychus. Laid hands on him. Prayed for him. Brought him back from death. And then what did Paul do? He did what any self-respecting preacher would do. He preached another hour.

I love that. But there was that hunger in the early church for the Word of God. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. It's such a blessing to hear from listeners who take time to express their appreciation. Pastor Greg, I stayed up until midnight when Jesus Revolution dropped on Netflix. Since I'm a night owl, I watched it all the way through till almost 2 a.m. I loved it and especially the music.

In fact, I spent more time today listening to the soundtrack, which is really great. Thank you, Pastor Greg. Do you have a story to tell? If so, would you email Pastor Greg and let him know?

Send it to Greg at Harvest dot org. That's Greg at Harvest dot o-r-g. Today Pastor Greg is talking about the importance of reading and studying the Word of God. It's essential for the successful Christian life.

Let's continue. The Bible is so powerful. I remember the first time I realized how powerful the Word of God was. I was a brand-new Christian. I had just accepted the Lord.

I hadn't really found myself fitting in with the Christians on my high school campus yet, and I really didn't want to hang around with my old friends anymore, who I knew would pull me in the wrong direction. So I was sort of in between, and I'm walking across my high school campus, and some guy yells out very loudly, Brother Greg! Brother Greg! I'm thinking, who is this guy? Brother Greg! He comes up, bro! I'm thinking, you're not my brother, unless you're a brother from a different mother.

I don't know. He goes, bro, I saw that you accepted Christ the other day. I said, yeah, I did. He said, bro, do you have a Bible?

I said, no. I want to give you a Bible. He pulls out the ugliest Bible I have ever seen.

It had two popsicle sticks glued together in the shape of a cross. Bro, I want to give you my Bible. He hands this to me. I didn't even want it. Not because I didn't want the Bible. I just didn't want that Bible.

I didn't want popsicle sticks in the shape of a cross. Okay. I just wanted him to go away. Thank you very much. Okay. And he leaves. I said, what am I going to do with this? So I shoved it into the pocket of my coat. And I thought, I'm going to go see my old friends. These are guys I used to get high with every single day. I hadn't seen them since I had become a Christian. So I go over to their house, and I've got this big Bible in my pocket. And I think, I can't walk in with a Bible. They will all know I became a Christian. So I pulled the Bible out.

It hid it in the bushes in the planter in front of my friend's house. I walked in. Laurie, where have you been?

I said, nowhere. What have you been doing? Nothing. My heart is starting to beat. Hey, you want to get high?

No. Laurie, what is wrong with you? Nothing is wrong with me. I said, I sat down. All of a sudden I am sitting there with these guys. And the door bursts open, and there is standing my friend's mother holding my Bible. And she says, who does this belong to? Like it was a horrible thing.

I am thinking, what is wrong with this woman? Kids are doing drugs in her house, and she is alarmed by a Bible. Every eye in that room went to the Bible, and then those eyes went right to me. Somehow they knew there was a connection.

They could tell. I said, it is mine. And someone said, Greg, what is that? It is a Bible.

What? It is a Bible. It is a Bible.

And I grabbed it. And then one of my friends said, oh praise the Lord, Brother Greg. Are we going to be Christians now? I said, no I am going to hit you in the mouth now. See I hadn't read 1 Corinthians 13 yet.

I hadn't read anything yet. And the Lord was speaking to my heart and He said, tell them about me. And I said, no way. But here is the thing. As I discovered immediately the power.

Even the symbolic power of the Word of God. Fast forward many years. We are doing a crusade at Angel Stadium. And we did a design. A poster. So we actually bought banners in malls. And this was on the banner in the mall.

And we were contacted by the mall. People were offended. Why were they offended?

Because I am holding a Bible. Wait. That is just a black book. That could be the latest Harry Potter book. That could be many things in that book. But people were offended by a black book. And they said, we can't have these banners up anymore. It actually became a national news story.

Crazy. People were offended by just holding up a Bible. If you don't believe me next time you get in an airplane take a Bible with you. And pull it out and start reading it.

People were recoiled like you pulled out a live rattlesnake. So there is not only power in the Word of God. There is power in the very book itself when you hold it up. Hebrews 4 says, the Word of God is alive and powerful. Sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword. Cutting through soul and spirit.

Between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. I love this statement of Martin Luther when he said, quote, the Bible is alive. It speaks to me. It has feet. It runs after me. It has hands. It lays hold of me.

I love that. And that is very true of Scripture. And it is here that we find absolute truth. And in a crazy culture that is changing rapidly before our very eyes this is the only thing we can depend on. The truth of the Word of God.

This is what everything we do is really based on. Now I would like to look briefly at just Acts 2 16. And let me just set the stage here. This is the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit has been poured out. There is like this flame of fire above the heads of the disciples.

They are speaking in languages they have never learned. Declaring the wonderful works of God. And as all of this is happening we read that Simon Peter gets up and says in Acts 2 16, what you see was spoken of long ago by the prophet Joel. In the last days God said I will pour my spirit out on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions.

Very important point here. He says this is what was spoken of by the prophet Joel. Whatever we do should have a biblical basis.

If we cannot say this is what is spoken of in Scripture we should not be doing it. You know people love things new. I want the newest iPhone. I want the newest Android phone. I want the newest this. I want the newest that. We always want new. And sometimes we bring that into the spiritual life. I want something new.

Listen. If it is new it is not true. And if it is true it is not new. You don't need something new as much as you need to go back to the old paths the Scripture says. Where the truth is.

And walk in those old paths. Oh I know culture wants to redefine everything now but God has given us the template for all that we need to know. Everything you need to know about God is found in the Bible. Everything you need to know about life is also found in the Bible.

Now let's see what the Bible says about itself. I want you to turn over to Psalm 19. And I am going to read from verses 7 to 11.

Psalm 19. The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. And by the way when we say the law of the Lord we could just as easily say the Bible or Scripture.

So I will say it that way. The Bible is perfect converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise and simple. The statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together. More to be desired of thee than gold yet than much fine gold.

Sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb. Moreover by them is your servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward. So we already pointed out that if you want to grow spiritually you need to study and love the Word of God.

Number two. To succeed spiritually we must trust the authority of Scripture. To succeed spiritually we must trust the authority of the Scripture. As culture changes we don't need to change with it.

The Word of God is trustworthy. Because things come and go. Things come and go that are stylish.

What's stylish five years ago suddenly is dated today. But Scripture in contrast is perfect or literally whole complete and sufficient. You need to know that this is a trustworthy book.

You can base your life on it. You don't need to add to it. You don't need to take away from it. I had a pastor ask me not long ago how can we make the Bible more relevant. I said we don't need to make the Bible relevant. The Bible is relevant.

See. My job is just to let the lion out of the cage. See I come into this pulpit with the confidence this is a powerful message. I am not a powerful preacher but my message is powerful.

And I know that power will come from it. It comes from the Word of God. Second Timothy 3 16 says all Scripture is inspired by God.

Or a better way to translate it. All Scripture is breathed by God. That means that the Bible is God's infallible Word.

The original autographs. The first copies were without errors. There is no mistakes.

No contradictions. You know even in a recent discovery like the Dead Sea Scrolls where an older version of the writings are discovered we realize they are still the same. So the Word of God is perfect. You can trust the authority of Scripture. And so the Bible tells me some things I need to know. It is the Bible that tells me that I am a sinner.

And it tells me that I have broken God's commandments and I fall short of His glory. The Bible tells me that God saw my situation. And while I was yet a sinner Christ died for me. The Bible tells me that Christ not only died for me and paid for my sins but it also tells me He rose again from the dead. And He stands at the door of my life and He knocks.

And if I hear His voice and open the door He will come in. The Bible tells me I can be forgiven of my sin and of the hope of heaven and the afterlife and find the meaning and purpose of my existence in this life. And the Bible tells me to do this now. Such important counsel found on the pages of God's Word. Pastor Greg Laurie with a study called The Secret to Spiritual Success today here on A New Beginning. Pastor Greg if someone hears what you've been saying about having their sins forgiven and having the hope of heaven what would be a next step for them?

Well they just need to hear more. They need to hear what the essential Gospel message is. And I've got a great resource for you. We've set up a webpage that's called KnowGod.org. K-N-O-W-G-O-D dot O-R-G. You go there I have a video presentation of how you accept Christ, lead you in a prayer and then it links to other spiritual resources that will help you grow spiritually. So just go to KnowGod.org. Do it right now. Alright.

Good idea. Well Pastor Greg we're talking about the movie Fame. So many people want to be famous. Especially young people. You know social media influencers. They want to be social media influencers. They want fame. And yet so many famous people would love to have a day of anonymity. That's true.

You know they'd love to have a day they just you know go walk around the mall or go to the beach or go grocery shopping. But once you're famous you can't take a day off and you just can't quit. I mean Taylor Swift if she wants to just say yeah I'm done I'm not going to be famous anymore. No she's famous for life.

Yeah she is. Well the most famous man I ever met and I've met some famous people. Met a few presidents. I've met some movie stars, rock stars. But you know the most famous man I ever met was Billy Graham.

He's a historical figure on the Time Magazine's most influential people list for more times than any other person who ever lived. And it's funny because when I would be out and about with Billy because I was helping him toward the end of his ministry with his sermons. I was helping him with illustrations. I spent a lot of time with him.

We had a lot of meals together. Billy somehow thought that wearing a ball cap would disguise him. But you know Billy's face, the profile of Billy Graham looked like something that would be on Mount Rushmore. He had very distinctive features. Easy to spot. He was tall.

Really stood out. And so he always had the ball cap and it never worked. And one day he lost his ball cap. And he said Craig would you get me another ball cap.

I said sure Billy. I went down to the local mall. I felt like I was on a mission for God. Like I'm going to buy a ball cap for Billy Graham. And I went into this store that had more ball caps than any store I've ever been to before.

I was completely overwhelmed. I didn't even take the time to get his hat size. But I did my best job I could and I came back very excited and gave him the cap. He thanked me. And I saw a picture in the paper the next day and he's in a car wearing the ball cap.

Being recognized I might add. And then he lost it the next day. That's why he always had to keep replacing him. But you know the thing with Billy and fame is he just wore it so well. He knew it came from God. He knew he knew he should give glory to God. And he was a humble man.

And he was accessible. So you know fame can be a good thing if you use it for God's glory and use it to build a bridge to bring people to Christ. And it can be a very destructive thing. I've likened it to fire. You know you can have a meal cooked on fire. You can have a campfire. You can do great things with fire.

And fire can destroy homes and forests and much more. So it's sort of the same with fame. It can be a good thing if you use right. It can be a bad thing if used wrongly. So we just need to understand it's not good or bad in and of itself.

It is what it is. But if you look to fame in and of itself to fill the void in your life you'll be unhappy. The same can be said of money. You know money is not evil. Sometimes you hear people say you know the Bible says money is the root of all evil.

Actually the Bible does not say that does it? The Bible says Paul speaking the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil which while some have coveted after they've erred from the faith and pierced their souls through. So the idea is the love of money. Not money. Money is neutral. So you can take your money and use it for God's glory.

You know here's a little suggestion. Invest some in our ministry because then you lay up for yourself treasure in heaven. So we're offering a book right now called Fame where I talk about this and more and we'll send it to you for your gift of any size and whatever you send financially will be used to reach more people with the gospel and the teaching of the word of God so you can use your money for good or you can use it for bad.

It's really up to you. The same is true of fame. Yeah, yeah that's right. Well we'd like to send a copy of this new book your way to thank you for partnering with us. To thank you for laying up treasure in heaven. Your investment helps us bring the gospel to many more people through radio, film, books, and so many other avenues.

It's such an important time for that. You can make your donation and request the book by calling 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number. 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to harvest.org. And don't forget the new movie also called Fame. Pastor Greg speaks with Daryl Strawberry and Alice Cooper and others.

People who know how destructive the lure of fame can be. It's a feature length film and we hope you'll watch along with your whole family. It's especially relevant for young people. You can watch the movie right now at our new Harvest media platform at harvest.org. And it's also on other streaming platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Samsung, Amazon Fire, and Google Play. It's free to watch. Well next time more insight on the vital role the Word of God plays in the life of the successful follower of Christ. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie.