Precious in His Sight | Taking a Stand

We're glad you're joining us for A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast supported by Harvest Partners. Get more encouraging audio content when you subscribe to Pastor Greg's Daily Devos.

Learn more and sign up at harvest.org. I'm so proud of all of you coming out on this snowy day in our nation's capital to speak for those who have no voice. And this is personal to me because I was not planned. Thankfully, my mother carried me to term. Coming up today on A New Beginning, a special program where Pastor Greg Laurie takes a stand for the unborn.

Abortion is never the right choice because you're taking the life of an unborn child made in the image of God. 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 all the angels are singing? This is the day, the day where life begins. For every 1000 live births in the U.S., there are 195 abortions, nearly 20 percent. Think about that. Since 1973, more than 63 million unborn children never got the chance to live their lives.

That's more than the current population of 26 U.S. states combined. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie addresses the heartbreaking reality and the need to take a stand. Pastor Greg, you recently took a trip to Washington, D.C., along with your wife. If you would, take a minute or two and describe that occasion for us. Yes, we went to the March for Life event in Washington, D.C. There were probably 100,000 people gathered outside as it was snowing.

And the snow was actually coming sideways. But it was such a beautiful event. Not only did my wife and I go, but we took our daughter-in-law, Brittany, and three of our granddaughters, Riley, Lucy, and Allie, because we wanted them to March for Life. So the March for Life is an event that is there to say we care about the unborn. And I wanted to bring words of encouragement to the folks that were there on that cold, wintry day. But I also wanted to bring the gospel to them, because many of these folks that march are believers, but some are out there marching for the unborn.

They're marching for life, but maybe they don't know about eternal life. So here now are the remarks I gave, the things I said, on the Washington Mall for the March for Life event of 2024. Hello, everybody. It's great to be here with you. This is my wife, Kathy. This year we're celebrating 50 years of marriage, so we're very thankful.

I'm so proud of all of you coming out on this very cold, snowy day in our nation's capital to speak for those who have no voice. And this is personal to me, because my mother was a beautiful woman. Otherwise, why would I be so handsome? And that was not a joke, by the way. That offended me when you laughed. No, I'm kidding.

It was a joke. So my mother was married and divorced seven times, and she had a fling with some guy in Long Beach, and I was conceived. I was not planned. Thankfully, my mother carried me to term, and I was born, but it set me on a search very early in life. And I was wondering, what is the meaning of my life? You know, why do I have this big hole inside?

I never had a father growing up. And one day on my high school campus, I came across a group of people that we called the Jesus Freaks. That was not meant as a compliment. But they interested me. Why would these people have a smile on their face? Why would they have a spring in their step? Why would they have this joy in their life?

I had experimented with drugs and drinking and other things, and I thought, they seem to have something. And a young man got up and spoke, and he gave the message of the gospel. And what is the gospel? The gospel means good news. It's a simple message that we're all separated from God by our sin. But God loved us so much that 2,000 years ago, he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sin, and then he rose again from the dead. And if we will turn from our sin and invite Christ into our life, we can know with certainty that we have eternal life.

Right? And I know that many of you here are people of faith. I've seen your signs coming in. I've seen you praying. But I wanted to just pray with you for a moment, just in case there's someone within earshot, someone here that is not certain that if this were their last day on earth that they would go to heaven. Because we don't just care about being born.

That's very important to us. But we want you, as Jesus said, to be born again and have eternal life. And if you're not sure if your sin is forgiven, if you're not sure if Christ is living in your heart, if you're not sure that you'll go to heaven when you die, I'd like to lead you in a prayer. A prayer very similar to the prayer I prayed 51 years ago.

And that's when my life changed. And I'm going to ask you, if you want Christ to come into your life, to pray this prayer out loud after me. In fact, to support those that are praying it for the first time, why don't we all pray this prayer together?

It's a prayer of asking Jesus to come into our lives and be our Savior and Lord. Let's pray. Pray this after me. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. But I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Jesus, come into my life.

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus' name I pray. Let me pray for you now. Lord, thank you for every man and woman, every boy and girl here today. Many came from a great distance to our nation's capital to speak up for the unborn. We pray for our nation. We pray for young women who find themselves pregnant, that they would carry these babies to term and raise them up or put them up for adoption. We pray that we as believers, the church, would be there to support these mothers. We pray that you would raise up godly people in our government, in the Congress, in the Senate, in the White House, as well as local government officials who would stand for the unborn. You tell us in your word when the righteous rule, the people rejoice. Lord, we pray for a great spiritual awakening to sweep the United States of America.

We need another revival. And now as we prepare to march for the unborn, bless us. And we remember the prayer that Jesus gave us 2,000 years ago and we pray it together now. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

God bless you. Well that was Pastor Greg from the Washington Mall March for Life just a few weeks ago. And Pastor Greg, I know that's going to be an event that you and your family won't soon forget.

That's true. You know, the greatest moment, we had a couple of prayers together. I led them in what I call a sinner's prayer. Now look, there's nothing magical about praying those words. You have to believe what you're saying.

But I can say this. This prayer is based on biblical principles where I tell people to pray, God forgive me, I know that I'm a sinner, thank you for sending Christ to die on the cross for my sin, I turn from my sin, and so forth. And the Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So thousands of people prayed that prayer out loud. And I believe that I'm going to run into people in the days ahead who are going to say, I was one of those people and that was the day I asked Christ to come into my life.

So it was my privilege and my joy to share this message of hope and speak up for those that have no voice, the unborn. You know, I told you it was an unusual sight to see you standing at a pulpit, standing at a podium, and snow coming down on top of you. That's an unusual sight. But it's also an unusual sight for you to be speaking to 100,000 people at a time. And it's also unusual for you to be speaking to a mixture of faiths, a mixture of people that may not have faith.

How do you choose your words carefully in an environment like that? That's a good question. You know, I want to affirm them for what they're doing. There's folks out there, many of these folks are Catholic, and I have to say kudos to the Catholic community for continuing to be a voice for the unborn. And I was just thrilled to join with them in something that we share in common.

But regardless of if you're a Catholic or, for that matter, even a Protestant, that doesn't mean that you necessarily have a relationship with God. There has to be a moment when every person asks God to forgive them of their sins and invites Christ to come into their life. So I was thrilled to join forces, if you will, with people who are passionate about the unborn, with people who are motivated by their faith, but at the same time make sure if they didn't have a faith in Jesus that that might happen on that very day. That's why I brought a little gospel presentation and prayed that prayer with them. All right, well, in just a moment, I want to take you to a message you delivered some time back where you read a social media post that directly relates to what we're talking about.

We'll be right back. in preaching God's Word for many more years to come. Thank you. If you've had your life changed because of Harvest Ministries, would you let Pastor Greg know? Just drop him an email, Greg at Harvest.org. Again, that's Greg at Harvest.org.

It's a special edition of A New Beginning today. We've been talking about Pastor Greg's visit to Washington, D.C. for the March for Life event. But we want to take a listen to a social media post Pastor Greg recently read to his home congregation that fits in with what we're talking about today.

Listen to this. I got a tweet that I was copied on from a young lady whose name was Crystal Holder. Greg, it was your voice speaking God's Word that I listened to every morning on the radio as I drove to my job where I was the manager of Planned Parenthood in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Your delivering God's Word is what gave me the courage to walk away.

See? So I had to know the rest of this story. So we contacted Crystal. And so she said to us, When I started listening to A New Beginning I came to know Jesus and truly understand the magnitude of God's love. I've learned more from your program than all my years in church. I listened to Greg every day that I was at Planned Parenthood. I worked there for almost a year and a certain sermon he gave scared me. And it hit me like it never hit before.

Listen to this. One day while I was counting the pieces of a dismembered baby I thought about Greg's sermon. If Jesus came back right then and there would he leave me behind? So Crystal repented. She left that job. Now she's working to save the lives of unborn babies. See what God can do? Maybe there's someone listening to me right now who's had an abortion. Or has helped in some way.

Like Crystal was really. Or maybe you're a guy that encouraged a woman to have an abortion. That's it for me.

No. There's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. You ask God to forgive you of that or any other sin and he'll do it.

No condemnation. If you're in Christ Jesus that's the key. The Bible says if any man be in Christ he has a new creation. Old things are passed away.

Everything becomes new. Listen. God sees you for who you are in Christ. Not what you were in sin. God does not see you in your sin. He sees you in his Son. S-O-N. Yeah you've messed up. I've messed up. He doesn't see us that way.

He says, oh no that's my child now. That's the one that has been forgiven by me. This is the one I'm not condemning any longer. God can change everything in your story if you'll let him. An important moment from one of Pastor Greg's recent messages.

And to expand on what he just said, let us take you now to one of our recent Harvest Crusades. Where Pastor Greg talked about sin and regret and forgiveness with such good insight. I want to tell you a story about a girl that messed up big time. She got caught having sex with some guy and everything just blew up. And that's happening to so many men and women today with sex hookup apps like Tinder and Pure.

All you've got to do is swipe right and get yourself into all kinds of trouble. And then a girl finds herself pregnant. And the first thing she might even consider or someone else might encourage her to do is go get an abortion. Abortion is never the right choice because you are taking the life of an unborn child made in the image of God. I read a quote recently from Steve Jobs.

Of course the founder of Apple. He was put up for adoption because his mother got pregnant and didn't want to raise him. So she put him up for adoption and a family took him in and raised him. And Jobs said quote, I wanted to meet my biological mother to thank her because I am glad I didn't end up as an abortion. Yeah that's true.

You know it's important to know. You say well no Greg you are wrong about this. Actually life begins at birth.

No it doesn't. Life begins at conception. In fact the Bible tells us in Psalm 139 I am like an open book. You watch me grow from conception to birth. All the stages of my life were spread up before you. The days of my life are all prepared. But this is the story of a woman who made the wrong choice.

And she ended up being caught by a bunch of religious people and brought and thrown at the feet of Jesus. You know I don't know girls some of you may think that some guy is going to come and meet your deepest needs. You are putting all your hope in a relationship with a man. Some of you guys think a girl is going to meet your deepest needs. Look there is a place for relationships. I am so thankful to be married to a wonderful woman like Kathy all these years. But there is a hole deep inside of you that a man can't fill and a woman can't fill. Only God can fill it.

And it is a relationship with him through Jesus Christ. How many of you have heard of Marilyn Monroe? You know she died a long time ago. But she has become an American icon. She was called in her day the blonde bombshell.

Marilyn was conceived out of wedlock. She spent the rest of her life searching for a father. She was involved with the succession of men. And in the end all those men let her down.

And she ultimately died of a drug overdose in 1962. The author of this book concludes quote, She put all her hopes in the men she was with. It is what she was looking for. She was looking for a father. She was looking for a savior. And he says she was a lady born into turmoil. And she spent the rest of her life looking to be saved.

End quote. Well she never was tragically. That we know of. But the story before us in the Bible is the story of a woman who made bad moral choices. But she was saved by Jesus Christ. And you can be saved by him tonight. And forgiven by him regardless of what sins you have committed if you are a man or a woman. It is right here in John chapter 8. Let me read to you from the Bible. If you have brought a Bible you can read along. I am in verse 3. Teacher they said to Jesus this woman was caught in the very act of adultery and the law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say? They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him.

I love this part. Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer and he stood up and said alright stone her. Let the first one among you who has never sinned throw the first stone.

Then he stooped down again. And he wrote in the dust. And when the accusers heard this they slipped away one by one beginning with the oldest until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Woman where are your accusers?

You know it is really interesting. He said woman. You can miss this very easily in the original language.

The Greek. This is a term of respect. It would be like saying ma'am or lady.

Now this girl had been called a lot of things and I guarantee she was never called this before. Woman lady ma'am with respect. By the way it is the same term that Jesus used of his mother when he hung on the cross when he said woman behold your son.

A term of great respect. Woman lady ma'am where are your accusers? She says well Lord there are none. She says neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.

Forgiven and free. But wait Craig she got caught in the act of adultery. How could he forgive her? She hadn't even turned from her sin. Well actually he knew that in just a short time he was going to go on the cross and die for every sin this woman had ever committed. But here is what happened. When she watched Jesus forgive her when the religious leaders condemned her she believed right there on the spot.

Again he says ma'am lady where are your accusers? She says I have none Lord. That is when she believed. How long does it take to become a Christian? Does it take years? Does it take months? Does it take days?

Does it take hours? Listen it can happen in an instant. You can come in here as a non-believer and you can leave here as a believer. You can come in here on your way to hell and leave here on your way to heaven if you'll believe in Jesus Christ tonight. Pastor Greg Laurie from a recent Harvest Crusade talking about how we can come to the Lord to have our sins forgiven and our eternal life secured. You know thousands responded to that invitation that night at the Harvest Crusade and you can do the very same thing. Pastor Greg they can do that right now can't they?

They can and it's so simple and I think because it's so simple people think oh it can't be that easy. Well look Jesus did all the heavy lifting. He carried the cross for you. He died on that cross that he carried.

This isn't about what you do it's about what he's done. But here's what the Bible says. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So let's just say that you're caught in a riptide out in the ocean. And you need help and there's a lifeguard at the stand and they see you. You've got to call out to them and let them know you need saving.

And the same is true when it comes to eternal life. Jesus is ready to save you. Will you call out to him?

You say well okay how do I do that? You do it through prayer. And prayer is just talking to God. So listen I'd like to lead you in a simple prayer. And if you pray this prayer after me I believe God will hear it and answer it. And Christ will come to live inside of you. Thousands of people have prayed a prayer like this over the years that we've been doing this radio broadcast.

And have seen their life change. There's no power or magic in a prayer. It's all about your commitment to Christ. But this is a way to call on the name of the Lord in this prayer. So if you want Jesus to come into your life and forgive you of your sin. If you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die.

If you want to fill that big hole in your heart. Just pray this prayer after me. You could pray it out loud if you like.

Pray it in the quietness of your heart. But pray these words if you would. Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner. But I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin. I am sorry for my sin and I turn from it now.

And I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Be my Savior and my Lord. Be my God and my friend. Thanks for hearing this prayer. And answering this prayer. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Listen if you just prayed that prayer. I want you to know that God has heard you. And has answered it. The Bible says these things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God. That you may know that you have eternal life.

That you may know. It's yours now. God has given it to you.

Because it's the gift of eternal life. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Congratulations and welcome to the family of God.

Yeah. Amen. And we want to help you get started in this new relationship with the Lord.

Would you let us send you something? It's free of charge. It's Pastor Greg's New Believers Bible. Millions have read this edition of God's Word. New Believers love the study helps written just for them.

And they appreciate that it's an easy to understand translation. We'll send it to you today. Just ask for the New Believers Bible. When you call 1-800-821-3300. You can call anytime 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to Harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg we're so excited about the new project. The Adventures of Ben Born Again and Yellow Dog. Yes. It's an animated feature series based on the track you designed. Many many years ago.

The Living Water Track. Yeah. Let me ask you. Where do you get the ideas for each of these episodes?

I get them from everywhere. For instance we have some gags in one of these cartoons about dogs and strollers. But we turn it into cats and strollers. So Yellow Dog has an irrational fear of cats and strollers. And so you've heard me say these things in my sermons. Who knows maybe a Prius will end up in one of these cartoons.

And I'll find a way to mock Kale too. Because that comes up every now and then. But here's a little conversation between Ben Born Again and Yellow Dog. Where Yellow Dog is talking to Ben about all the things that frighten him.

Give a listen. Tell me buddy, what kind of things frighten a dog like you? Thunder and lightning.

Losing my favorite phone. Vacuum cleaners. Fireworks. Rusty door hinges. Other dogs.

Disco music. And maybe the lid being closed on my favorite drinking fountain. Do you mean the toilet? Ugh, gross.

I'm also afraid of people who push cats in strollers. Another one of these cartoons, in fact it's the title of the cartoon is. Never kiss a jellyfish goodbye where Yellow Dog is out in the ocean. And he's playing with the jellyfish and he kisses it goodbye.

And his face is all puffy cartoon style. This actually happened to my grandson Christopher. His mother Brittany was calling him in from the water. And he came in and his face was all red. She said, honey, what happened to your face? He said, well, mom, we were playing with a jellyfish and we decided to kiss it goodbye.

No kidding. And so when he said that I thought, okay, that is definitely going to find its way into a sermon. And now it's become a cartoon. So I was able to take that and use it. And I told Christopher, you're going to get a writing co-credit on this one because it's your story.

It actually happened. So I draw from all kinds of things that I find amusing. And I have also stories from my childhood that I've adapted to Ben Bournegan and Yellow Dog. Like some of the listeners to me remember the story I've told about when I went to a pet store to pick up a snake with my mother that she was letting me by. And we put it in the little cage in the trunk of the car. And by the time we got home, the snake was out of the cage and she never wanted to drive the car again. And she had to drive it a couple of weeks later and she was at a stoplight and she felt a cold coil drop on her ankle. And she jumped out of the car screaming. And it turns out it was a loose hose, but she didn't want to drive the car after that and actually gave it to me.

So I said, if you want to get a car from your parents, lose a snake in the trunk. So that story finds its way into this cartoon as well. But instead of it happening to me, it happens to Ben Bournegan's mother. Because Ben Bournegan in a way is my alter ego.

He's sort of a version of me from my childhood. And so everything, anything that happens is potential humor for these cartoon adventures. Yeah, well that's why they're so enjoyable. And friends, you'll love them. Your kids and grandkids will love them. And not only will they enjoy them, they'll learn some important biblical principles without even realizing it. So we hope you'll check them out.

The first episode is available to view for free through our Harvest Plus app and also at harvest.org. And then consider partnering with us so we can continue to bring the gospel in innovative new ways. It's a great time for you to invest in getting the gospel out to people who need it. And Pastor Greg wants to thank you for your donation. He'd like to send you a copy of the art piece that started it all. We'll send you a redesigned version of the Living Water Tract in comic book form.

It's a classic. And we won't be mentioning this much longer, so get in touch today. You can call us at 1-800-821-3300. 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well, next time, Pastor Greg launches a brand new series called Faith 101, a crash course on the Christian life. He says when we find ourselves falling back into sin, we've lost sight of the basics.

Some corrective help is coming. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins. 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.