You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.
Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. Heaven, a place of feasting and fellowship, a place of activities and worship. Dare I say it, heaven is a place of fun, a celebration. When we have something enjoyable to look forward to tomorrow, it makes the stresses of today a little easier to take. Have you noticed that?
It's all about perspective. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us adopt a biblical perspective on the challenges of today. It's a message called Why Do Christians Have to Suffer? We look ahead to our everlasting reward and let that give us encouragement for the temporary pain and opposition we face today. This is the day, the day when life begins. Heaven, I love to talk about heaven. I love to think deeply about heaven.
Why? It's my future destination as a Christian and it's yours as well. What will we see when we arrive in heaven? What will we do when we finally get to heaven? The reason I bring this topic up is here before us in the book of Acts is a story of a man who went to heaven and returned.
He's the apostle Paul. He was given a glimpse of glory. Have you ever been to a theater, and I don't know about you, but I've been going to theaters like I used to, but when you're in a theater, they show trailers for new films, right? There was one film I was very excited about seeing after I saw the trailer. The trailer was amazing and then I went and saw the film and guess what? The trailer was better than the film.
Has that ever happened to you? Well, Paul has sort of given a trailer, if you will, but even more, he actually died, went to heaven, and returned back to earth. He had a glimpse of things to come and then ultimately saw the realized version of it. We've had little glimpses of glory in our lives. You know those special moments, you're with family or friends or you watch the greatest sunset or the greatest sunrise or you see a rainbow. Man, if you ever get tired of rainbows, something's wrong with you, and I found that I can't photograph a rainbow.
I'll pull my phone out and the phone never gives a representation of what I saw with my own eyes. So last Sunday, I was visiting our church on Maui, Harvest Kumalani, and I was having dinner one night with Jim Feltzner, who's the campus pastor, and he told me there's more whales here right now, not in the church, but in the water. There's more whales in the waters of Maui than any other time. It's a great time to go whale watching. I said, I wish I could go. He says, there's a guy in the church who has a boat. Maybe he'll take you out.
And sure enough, that guy did take us out. His name is Steve, and we're thankful for that. But you know, all these beautiful things, these are God's creation, and they remind us that something greater is coming. Heaven is not a watered-down version of the greatest moments on earth. The greatest moments on earth are a glimpse of greater things to come.
Heaven will be your greatest dreams realized and even more. So we're gonna talk about that a little bit later, but we come to the second section of the book of Acts now. Here are the apostles. In this case, it's Paul and Barnabas. Remember Barnabas?
He was the guy who encouraged people. So here they arrive at Lystra. Acts 14, verse 8. While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet.
He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. He was sitting and listening as Paul preached. Looking straight at him, Paul realized he had faith to be healed, and he called to him in a loud voice, stand up.
The man jumped to his feet and started walking. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, these men are gods in human form. They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Zeus, and Paul was Hermes.
So we'll stop there. So now that people go on to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, Paul stops them, you guys. We're here to tell you that there's a god in heaven to worship. We are not gods. We're turning you to the true god.
Now here's the amazing thing. They face opposition. From who? From their religious opponents. Verse 19. Some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and drug him out of town thinking he was dead, but the believers gathered around him and he caught up and went back into the town.
They're like, wow, people can be fickle, can't they? One moment they're worshiping you, the next moment they're stoning you because these outside folks whip them up into a frenzy, reminding us that when we're doing the work of the Lord, we're going to face opposition. The devil will often hit you in one of two ways. Number one, he'll hit you through outward attack. This was an outward attack.
They stoned Paul and drug him out of the city. Why do people attack us for our faith? Why do people oppose us for what we believe? Why do people want to cancel us and our message and our voice and our culture today?
Answer. Because we're bright lights in a dark place. We're like salt in an open wound as followers of Jesus. And Jesus sums it up this way. Jesus says in John 15, if the world hates you, no, it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you're not of the world, but I choose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Remember the word I said to you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they persecuted me, they'll persecute you. As I've said before, just make sure you're being persecuted for the right reason. Sometimes Christians are persecuted not because of their faith, but because they're weird, they're obnoxious, they're unnecessarily offensive, right?
Don't be that person. The Bible says blessed are you when you're persecuted for righteousness sake, not for idiocy sake or something like that, right? Second way the devil will hit us is through pride. So first he'll try to stop you, that's what happened to the apostles, but what happened then? Oh, the people said you're like a god, so the devil would say, God would never use you. You're worthless. Why would God ever work through you?
And then you say forget you. The Bible says God has chosen the foolish things of the world that confound the wise, and you step out and God uses you. The devil comes back and says, let me rephrase that, you are awesome.
You are all that and a bag of chips. No one is better than you, no one is more godly than you, no one knows the Bible the way you know the Bible, no one speaks like you, you're the one. Oh, thank you very much, devil.
No, no, he's hitting you again. Now it's through pride, through pride. That can be a form of attack as well.
Popularity can sometimes be more dangerous than persecution. Okay, so now they take Paul outside of the city. They stone him and they leave him for dead, Acts 14, 19. They stone Paul, drug him out of town thinking he was dead, but the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. Many commentators believe that this is the moment that Paul was killed and raised from the dead.
Why do we believe that? Well, there has to be a moment where Paul died because Paul talks about it and we're gonna read the verse in a moment in 2 Corinthians 12. Was this the moment? I personally think it was.
Many commentators think it was as well. He died and was raised from the dead. I wonder how that played out. So here's Paul, he's stoned, and by the way, it was horrible to be stoned. Painful.
It could last for a while. Awful way to die. And so Paul dies and he's in heaven and he's standing before God and the Lord says, welcome to heaven, Paul. Well done, good and faithful servant. I have some good news and bad news. Where is this in the Bible? It's not in the Bible.
I'm just saying this could have happened. Okay, Lord, what's the good news? The good news is, Paul, you're coming back again. Really?
Again? Where am I going? That brings me to the bad news. There's some believers down there praying over your dead body that you would be resurrected. Paul says to the Lord, don't listen to them.
They're sinners. No, no, Paul, I actually want to bring you back again. I have some things for you to do still.
In fact, quite a few things. No, Lord, I don't want to go back. Listen to this. No one who is in heaven right now, if given the choice, would want to return to earth again. Don't feel sorry for your loved ones that are in heaven. Feel sorry for you because you're still here. Right?
You're having some great experience, I don't know, a birthday or you got a cool gift. Oh, I wish my loved one was here. They're like in the presence of God Almighty with angels singing.
I think they're pretty good, okay? I know you wish there, and I'm not making fun of that because I've felt that many times. You wish they were here with you because you missed them, but just know they're really good. And you'll see that one day for yourself.
We all will. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We're thrilled when we hear from listeners that join us from every background, every profession, every age. Pastor Greg, I'm a 17 year old dairy farmer in southern Wisconsin.
Although I've been a Christian for most of my life, I've not always lived like one. Thanks to you, I realize that God can help me and also forgive my sins. I appreciate you and try to listen to your podcast as I work in the morning. I love your story of how you overcame so much in your own past. It gives me hope that I can live for Christ more than for myself.
Thank you. We're so grateful to hear of the changed lives through Harvest Ministries. And if you have a story to tell, write Pastor Greg an email. Send it to Greg at harvest dot org.
Do it today while you're thinking about it. Again, that's Greg at harvest dot org. Well, today, Pastor Greg is in Acts Chapter 14 with a message called Why Do Christians Have to Suffer? So Paul is raised again from the dead, possibly right here.
And now we read about what he saw. Go over to 2 Corinthians 12. Paul says, It's doubtless not profitable for me to boast.
In other words, I'm not going to brag about this. I'll come to visions and revelations in the Lord. I knew a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body, I don't know, whether out of the body, again, I don't know.
God knows. Such a man was caught into the third heaven. And I know such a man, whether it was in the body or out of the body, I don't know. God knows what he was called and caught up to paradise. He heard things so astounding they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell. I love the way Paul approaches this. Yeah, I knew this guy.
In the body, out of the body, I don't even know. He's talking about himself. He's trying not to boast. Be pretty hard to not boast that you've been to heaven, right? Yeah, I've been to heaven. Notice he didn't write a book about it.
What's with that? No movie was made. And by the way, I have to be honest with you, I'm very skeptical of people who write books about all that they saw in heaven. I'm not saying they didn't.
But I'm certainly not saying I know they did. The only authoritative book on the afterlife is the Bible. That's the book you can trust. No other. Paul didn't write a book.
Paul didn't even write a chapter. He says the things I heard, I can't even really describe them to you. The third heaven. Where's that? Well, I think the first heaven is probably just what we see when we walk outside. The sky, the clouds, the atmosphere surrounding our earth. The second heaven, outer space, the planets, the galaxies, the stars. The third heaven, that's the dwelling place of God and the future destination of believers. Is the third heaven way, way, way, way out there?
I don't think it's necessarily far out there. I think it's simply another dimension. And it may be closer than you realize. We talked about this when we spoke of angels. Angels and demons are coexisting with us right now. Just as there's a physical world, there's a spiritual world. Just as there is a natural world, there's a supernatural world. So is heaven just right next to us?
I don't know where it is. Paul was caught into the third heaven. He uses the word paradise.
It was paradise. That's a word that is used three times in the Bible to indicate the future life. Jesus used this word when he spoke to that criminal on the cross crucified next to him. Jesus' first statement from the cross was, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And right on the spot, that hardened criminal believed in Jesus. And he turned to the Lord and said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said, truly, truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in what? Paradise. That's the word. Boy, talk about being at the right place at the right time.
That guy, huh? Deathbed conversion for sure. He believed and joined Jesus in paradise. It's also used in the book of Revelation chapter 2 to describe our future dwelling place. But it can be translated the royal garden of a king. It's hard for us to wrap our minds around. I don't think there's anything I could point to and say it's like this.
But when we're talking about the royal garden of a king, think of a palatial massive estate with a beautifully manicured garden. Paul says it was like that. Incredible. And then he says in verse 4, I heard things so astounding they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.
Know this. Heaven is a place of sight and sound. The King James Bible uses the word heaven 582 times in 550 different places. Heaven is a real place. You've got to think of it that way because that's what it is. Heaven is as real as any city you would go to.
D.L. Moody, the great evangelist, once said, quote, heaven is as much a place as Chicago. It's a destination. It's a locality, end quote. Jesus said, I go to prepare a what for you? A place. It's a place. Remember, heaven is a prepared place for prepared people.
So whatever you're going through right now is preparation for something else. You know, we love to quote Romans 828 and so we should. How many of you have memorized Romans 828? Oh, six of you.
Very good. You know, the rest of you should do so because that is a great go-to verse. I think more of you know it. We know that all things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to his purpose. But then verse 29 really helps us understand the whole concept. For whom God did foreknow, he also did predestined to be conformed into the image of his own dear son.
Let's put it together. We know that all things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to his purpose. And whom God foreknew, he predestined them to be conformed into the image of his own dear son. Allow me to paraphrase it. Whatever you go through in life is preparing you to be more like Jesus. Right?
So that's the big picture. We tend to interpret Romans 828 through a narrow lens. Well, this means that good will come out of the bad and sometimes that happens. In fact, a lot of times, despite the bad, God will do something good.
Right? But then there are times that we're honest when a bad thing happens to us and we can't see anything good coming out of it. And we say, so where's Romans 828 now? Romans 828 is saying, read verse 29. Whom he foreknew, he called to be conformed into the image of Jesus. God is changing you and preparing you.
Why? Because through many tribulations we will enter the kingdom of God. Heaven. A place of feasting and fellowship. A place of activities and worship. Dare I say it? Heaven is a place of fun.
A celebration. And that puts your present suffering in context. So Paul continues on. So I knew this guy, whether in the body, out of the body, I don't know. Basically I'm talking about myself.
I'm just trying to be humble about it. He was caught up into the third heaven. What he, really me, what I saw, I can't even put it into words.
Okay. And now he makes this statement. Therefore I have cheerfully made up my mind to be proud of my weaknesses because they mean a deeper experience of the power of Christ. I can even enjoy weaknesses, suffering, persecutions, and difficulties for Christ's sake. For my weakness makes me strong in Him. Get it?
Oh. So all suffering is not bad. Oh so adversity can actually be used by God. So this thing I'm going through right now that makes no sense is actually making me more like Jesus and getting me ready for the afterlife. And God can actually use it.
It can even be a tool for me to help other people. Now I'm starting to understand and I can even rejoice in it. Let me end with this. One day we'll enter the afterlife. We decide in this life where we will spend the afterlife. And I want to ask you in closing, do you have absolute certainty that you will go to heaven when you die? As I said earlier, heaven is a prepared place for prepared people.
Listen to this. You don't go to heaven to find Christ. You go to Christ to find heaven. Go to Christ to find heaven.
It is through Jesus and only Jesus that we will get to heaven. Oh I know. That's kind of controversial now.
Too bad. Bible hasn't changed. He is the way to the Father. There is no other way. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes of the Father but by me.
Are you ready? You know when I fly, you have to go through a lot of things now. Oh it's just horrible flying.
They make it so miserable. And then airline food, that is an oxymoron. Airline food, it's not food. But anyway, you buy your ticket, you reserve your seat, you board your plane, you reach your destination, you deplane, but you can't just walk down to the airport, skip security, do whatever you want, board whatever plane you want, take whatever seat you want.
That's not going to happen. And in the same way you can't just say, well I am going to go to heaven. I am a good person. You are a good person on the basis of what and compared to who.
You are not good enough I can tell you. That is why Christ died on the cross for you 2000 years ago and shed his blood. You have to admit you are a sinner.
You have to admit you are a sinner and turn from that sin and put your faith in Jesus and then you can know you will go to heaven. So as we close right now, I want to extend an invitation for you to get ready. For you to ask Jesus to come into your life and if you have not done this yet, do it right here, right now. Let's all pray. Father I thank you for your word to us. I thank you for your promise of forgiveness. It will come to Jesus. So we ask now that you will speak to the hearts of any here who do not yet know you. Help them to come to you and believe in you right now.
In Jesus name I pray, Amen. Pastor Greg, I know it is somewhat impolite to overhear conversations, at least to admit that you have overheard a conversation. But I overheard a conversation that you were in just earlier today and you were talking to somebody about how you just in the last few days have been working on the script for a new Christmas special for the Ben Born Again cartoon series.
Did I overhear that correctly? That's right, but before I answer that, cue the Christmas music. I know it's kind of early to talk about Christmas because it's probably warm out where you live, but we are working on the Ben Born Again and Yellow Dog Christmas special. And it's going to be a lot of fun. They're going to have a lot of adventures. They're going to leave the beach and they're going to go to the mountains where the snow is and have all kinds of crazy things happen to them. But as always, it's going to build to a Bible story.
And in this case, obviously, it's going to be the story of the birth of Jesus. I'm also introducing some new characters into the cartoon series. Hopkins the cat.
Yes, you heard it right. There's going to be a cat and he's going to be the nemesis of Yellow Dog. And I'm introducing a female character, a potential girlfriend for Ben down the road and another character named Willie. So you won't want to miss the Ben Born Again and Yellow Dog Christmas special.
It's in production right now, having a lot of fun working on it. But where can they find the current episodes of Ben Born Again? I'm glad you asked, Dave. They need to tell me to ask you that at some point.
That's right. We have an amazing app. I mean, this is a really good app. It's called the Harvest Plus app. So if you go to your app store, you can download it for your iPhone, for your Android phone, for your tablet and for your television set.
So you can take harvest with you wherever you go. That includes our podcast, our radio program, our television program, daily devotions. All of my sermons are there, as well as our movies that we've made, our documentary films like Johnny Cash, The Redemption of an American Icon, Steve McQueen, The Salvation of an American Icon, A Rush of Hope, Fame and a lot more. So you want to download this app, and that's a great place to watch these Ben Born Again cartoons. We have a little section on our app, and that's where you find all these cartoons, and you can watch them and start enjoying them. And you can watch them over and over again.
Yeah, that's right. And as you said, we're reaching unexpected people in unexpected places with an unexpected message. And we're so thankful for the investments of listeners that make this important work possible. This ministry and everything we do is completely listener supported. And we'd like to thank you tangibly with a new resource that has grown out of our new animated series. It's our new Ben Born Again New Believers Growth Book. It's perfect for elementary age kids and older. It'll help them build a strong foundation for their faith.
They'll learn why the Bible is important, why being involved in church matters, how to pray, how to know the will of God, how to resist temptation, and a whole lot more. Get in touch with your investment, and be sure to ask for the Ben Born Again New Believers Growth Book. You can call us at 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300.
Or go online to harvest.org. And then if you'd like to make a change in your relationship with God today, Pastor Greg has some additional thoughts to share. Maybe as you've been listening to this message, you've thought, I wish I could come into this relationship with God.
I just don't know how. Let me tell you how you can come into a relationship with God right here, right now. First of all, you need to recognize you need God. You need to admit you're a sinner. I know some people choke on that word, but the Bible says, All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But then you need to recognize that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross for your sin. The Bible says, While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And then you need to believe in Jesus. Jesus put it this way, For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You might ask, How does one believe in Jesus?
To believe means to put your faith and trust in Christ, in Christ alone, and to receive Him into your life as your own friend, Savior and Lord. The Bible says, For as many as received Him, He gave them the power to become sons of God. Would you like to receive Christ? And by that I mean, would you like to ask Jesus to enter into your life and be your Savior, your friend, your Lord? If so, you can just pray this prayer after me. It's a simple prayer.
You can pray it out loud if you would like, or you can pray it in the quietness of your heart. But if you want Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin, if you want to go to heaven when you die, or maybe you want to make a recommitment to the Lord, just pray this prayer after me now. 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 turn now from my sin, and I ask you to come into my life and forgive me of all of my sin.
Thank you for loving me. Thank you for hearing this prayer. And thank you for answering this prayer. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Hey, if you just prayed that prayer, I want to congratulate you and say welcome to the family of God.
Yeah, that's right. And we have some follow-up materials ready to help you as you begin this new relationship with the Lord. An important part of this packet of materials is Pastor Greg's New Believers Bible.
It'll answer many of the questions you might have and help you build a solid foundation for your faith. So if you prayed along with Pastor Greg today, let us send you this New Believers Bible free of charge. You can call us at 1-800-821-3300. We're here around the clock.
That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click the words Know God. Hey everybody, I want to encourage you to join us for something we call Harvest at Home. It happens every Sunday at harvest.org and on our brand new app, Harvest Plus, which is available on your mobile TV devices. Download it now and you can watch Harvest at Home with Christians from around the world as we worship together and study God's Word. So again, join us for Harvest at Home at harvest.org or on Harvest Plus. Well, next time Pastor Greg has some candid words about the need for harmony in our relationships as we move into Acts chapter 15. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie.
