Harvest Ministries and Pastor Greg Laurie recommend a new book by Max Lucado called "Unbreakable Courage." He explains, "Unbreakable carries the implication of steadfastness. That when the waves crash against a rock, it is the waves that come apart, and not the rock." That's right. Max Lucado discusses these insights and a whole lot more in his brand new book, "Unbreakable Courage." Yours for a gift of any amount at. Harvest. dot org.
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Okay, First Corinthians 12, starting at verse four. Paul writes and says, "This there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities diversities of activities, but it is same. It's the same God who works all in all.
The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.
Now, you might want to underline. You might want to underline some of these statements." To one is given the word of wisdom. I would underline that the word of wisdom, that's a gift of the Spirit. To another, the word of knowledge. I would underline that as well through the same Spirit.
To another, faith. I would also underline that by the same Spirit. To another, gifts of healing. Underline that too by the same Spirit. And to another, the working of miracles.
You might underline that as well. To another prophecy and the discerning of spirits, underlying both of those different kinds of tongues, the interpretation of tongues, and to one and but one in the same spirit works all of these things, distributing to each one individually as he does.
Okay, so everyone has these gifts in their life. Here's point number one: the Holy Spirit gives us. Gifts to serve others. Paul starts with the word of wisdom. He says in verse seven, "To one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit." Now, this is different than the wisdom we pray for as Christians.
The Bible says, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God." Who will give it generously? And we all pray that prayer. We should, and as we study Scripture and we grow in knowledge. And then, as we live life, and hopefully we grow in wisdom. Though I've met some pretty foolish old people who don't seem to learn much from life, but we grow in our wisdom.
This is different than that kind of wisdom. The word of wisdom is a supernatural insight into a difficulty or situation you might find yourself in. It's supernatural. It's just like. You don't even know what to say.
Someone asks you a question. Wow, that's a good question. And your mind goes blank, and you shoot a quick prayer up to heaven, Lord, give me wisdom. And all of a sudden, boom, this thought comes. It's so good you want to take notes on yourself, but it's not you.
It's a supernatural word of wisdom. The Bible says, "A word fitly spoken is like an apple of gold in a frame of silver." The right word at the right time. This was the gift that Stephen was using. In Acts chapter eight, verse ten, it said, "None of the Sanhedrin could stand against the wisdom and the spirit by which Stephen spoke." It's a beautiful thing, really, and I've had it happen in my life. I think many of you have had it happen in yours as well, where you're sharing something that it's almost like you're not even completely thinking about it before you say it.
It's just kind of flowing through you. There have been times where I've prepared messages. And I have notes that I will look up periodically, and a thought will come to me that I had not even considered earlier, and I just share it, and I believe it's a word of wisdom for perhaps a person in need. And I know this because people will come up to me after a sermon and say, "Who told you that about me?" Who told you? Who told me?
What about what?
Well, you were describing a particular situation, and that's obviously my wife. Did my wife talk to you? No, no. But I think the Lord will give the word of wisdom in different situations in life. The word of wisdom, beautiful gift.
In the Book of Acts, also we read of the leaders of the church dealing with a question. And we read in Acts fifteen twenty eight, they prayed about it, and they said it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and us. They came up with an answer, the word of wisdom. But then there is a word of knowledge. It's different, actually.
Every believer should grow in spiritual knowledge. Second Peter three eighteen says, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ," and that primarily happens through the study and memorization of Scripture. But the supernatural gift of the word of knowledge is different. It's a revealing of facts that you would not have known on your own. Maybe it's about someone or about a certain situation.
In the Old Testament, we have God revealing to the prophet Elisha what the plans of the enemy were. In fact, you go to the king of Israel and say, "The Syrians are going to do this next." And then, as the moves of the Syrians were predicted perfectly, the Syrian king was trying to figure out, "Like, what's going on? Do I have a rat here?" Do I have somebody that's revealing this information? And it was said to him, "It's as though everything you say in your bedroom is being heard over there in Israel." God was giving the word of knowledge in that situation. There's a story of Nathaniel who was called by Jesus.
He was sitting under a tree, and Jesus came to him and said, "Hey, when you were sitting under the tree, I saw you." When God instructed Ananias to go to the newly converted Saul of Tarsus and minister to him, the Lord said, "Go to Saul of Tarsus. He's on this street called Straight, and you'll find him praying." Those are very specific details. That's like Holy Spirit GPS, right? You've arrived at your destination. God tells him what street Saul is at.
Tells them Saul's posture. He'll be the guy praying, and sure enough, that's exactly how Ananias found him.
So that's the word of knowledge. Then there's the gift of faith. Verse nine: to another faith by the same Spirit; to another healings by the same Spirit.
Now, every Christian obviously should have faith in their life. How do we get faith? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
So, as you grow in your knowledge of Scripture, your faith grows along with it. What is faith? According to Hebrews eleven one, faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We also know that our faith grows through use. The more you use it, the stronger it grows.
Similar to muscle. When you go to the gym, you know you build your muscle, break your muscle down in order to build it up. But notice that it says the gift of faith, and it's mentioned right before the gifts of healings and miracles.
So, this is not normal faith. This is supernatural faith. The gift of faith. I don't know that you can really exercise that gift at will. It just comes to you.
It's given to you by God for a particular set of circumstances. And I know you've had this happen to you, where suddenly you have the faith to believe God for something you would not normally have. Maybe it's praying for someone to be healed. Maybe it's praying for divine intervention in a particular situation. A classic example of the word of faith that's found in the book of Acts, when Peter was going into the temple to pray, and there was a guy who was a fixture there.
He was always begging for money, and Peter saw him many times. I don't even know if he acknowledged him, but one day he's walking in, and the guy asks for money. And suddenly, Peter, filled with the gift of faith, said, "Silver and gold, I don't have. But what I have, I'm going to give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." Here's where the gift of faith kicked in.
He took him by the hand and pulled him up. There's only two ways that could have gone. Either that guy's going to walk, or he's going to crash to the ground, and you're going to look really bad. But he had that gift of faith. It just like this isn't even my faith.
This is supernatural faith flowing through me. And of course, the rest of that story is that man went on walking and leaping and praising God. The gift of faith, which precedes the gifts of healing. Want you to notice something: gifts, plural. Healings, plural.
Listen to this: nobody has the gift of healing. Even the apostle Paul did not have the gift of healing. But Greg, you are wrong. Many people were healed by the touch of Paul, true, and by Peter and other apostles. But it's not a gift that one can exercise at will.
If I had the gift of healing, you would never see me again. I would spend all of my time in hospitals. Walking up and down corridors and healing people—that's what you would do. But no one has that gift now. When we read in the Book of Acts of healings and miracles, keep one thing in mind: the Book of Acts is a record of church history spanning thirty years.
Okay, so when you read Acts, it sounds like it was a miracle every day. Oh boy! A healing sight restored. All this dude just got raised from the dead. All this just happened.
That just happened. Yeah, it all happened over a thirty-year period.
Okay, but you say, but Greg, are you saying people aren't healed? No, I'm not saying that at all. Saying the very opposite. I'm saying when no one has the gift of healing. Notice it's gifts of healings.
I think God gives these gifts of healing. Or put it another way, these healing moments, as He sovereignly chooses, we should pray. We should ask for Him to do it. But no one has the ability to do it at will. I mean, my goodness, the Apostle Paul had something called a thorn in the flesh.
We don't know what it was exactly. It was some kind of physical calamity ailment. That he said, you know, because of the abundance of revelations given to me. I mean, for Pete's sake, this guy was caught up into the presence of God in heaven. He died and was raised from the dead.
God used him to write epistles. Hey, because of all these amazing revelations God gave to me, he says. To keep me from being proud, there was given a thorn of my flesh, a messenger of Satan sent to torment me. To keep me from becoming proud, three different times I asked the Lord to take it away. This is all Second Corinthians twelve.
And every time He said, "My grace is all you need." My power works best in weakness.
So Paul says, "So now I am going to boast about my weaknesses." You see, sometimes God can use sickness.
Sometimes God can use illness.
Sometimes God can use a disability. In fact, a disability can can become a tremendous ability. I think of two people: Johnny Erickson Tata. Who had a severe spinal cord injury due to a diving accident in her youth? She spent all of her life in a wheelchair.
But Johnny Erickson Tata has inspired millions of people around the world with her disability. And friend of mine, Nick Vojacek, was born without limbs. He has no arms and he has no legs, and he has glorified God with his life in such a beautiful way. And They'll take him onto campuses, and you know, and here's kids, you know, dealing with all of their issues of youth, and here's a man, literally without any limbs, radiating the joy of Jesus Christ, and he's saying to them, "You can go on another day." So God can take a disability and turn it into a supernatural ability, but then there are also times. That's worth applauding for.
But then there are times that a person will be walking away from God. They have no time for God. They're too busy for God. And sickness comes into the life. And guess what?
Now they have time for God, and they want prayer. And that's okay. I don't even criticize a person for that. I'm just glad they're acknowledging their need for the Lord. And that God can use the illness, the sickness, to bring them to Himself, as the psalmist said before: "I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I have kept Your word." Okay, so back to my earlier question: Do miracles and healings still happen today?
All caps. Yes, they do happen today.
Okay, then why isn't everyone healed? Good question. I don't have the answer to that. Why are some still sick?
Okay, you might be surprised by this answer.
Some may be still sick because they have simply failed to ask. Please understand, I'm not saying anyone who is sick or has disability or problems is that way because they failed to ask. Because indeed, most of them probably have asked excessively and continue to do so. But it is possible. That there could be someone who has not been healed because they simply haven't asked yet, right?
So you ask him, ask and it shall be given. Jesus says, seeking you shall find, knocking the door will be open. James reminds us in James four two, you have not because you ask not. There is an element of faith that can be involved in a person's healing. We think of that woman.
Who had an incurable condition? She had spent all of her money on doctors to no avail. And one day Jesus was walking by, and she reasoned, "If I can touch the edge of his robe, I will be healed." Funny thing, no one told her that. She just said, "I believe this will happen." So here comes Jesus walking through the crowd. Everyone's pushing, pulling, grabbing, and this woman manages to slip her hand through and touch the edge of his robe.
And the healing power is released by God. And Jesus stops and says, "Who touched me?" For I perceive that power has gone out of me, and the word that he uses there for power is the Greek word dunamis, same word used in Acts one eight. You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Translated dynamite, dynamic.
So Jesus is saying, explosive power just went out of me. Who touched me? The disciples are like, who didn't touch you? Everyone touched you. No, who touched me?
And the crowd parts, and there's that lady. Hi. He didn't want to correct her. He wanted to commend her, like you go, girl, right? Way to go!
Your faith is so great. He wanted to commend her faith.
So there is that element of us using our faith. But then there are times when you can muster all the faith you have. And that healing is not going to come. That's not necessarily because of your lack of faith. I love the prayer that one man who said, "Lord, I believe.
Help my unbelief." And there's this teaching called word faith theology that says, you know, the reason you're not healed is because you've not claimed it and you're lacking faith, and so you need to pray in faith.
Well, I don't think that's necessarily true. Because you know you may be lacking in faith back to the guy's prayer, Lord, help my unbelief. But it may be that God is just not choosing to do it at this moment for whatever that reason is. And then there are instances of people who were touched by God who had no faith at all. How much faith did Lazarus have when Jesus raised him from the dead?
Zero. You don't have a lot of faith when you're dead.
So that was the faith of Jesus. In other instances, like the centurion servant, it was the faith of the centurion for his servant.
So, criticized you and said, "We don't have enough faith." I'd say, "Well, let's use your faith, Mister Faith." See, it isn't always that.
So, the basic thing is, you ask for it. But here's what the Bible says specifically: James five fourteen is any among you sick. Let them call for the elders of the church and pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.
So I bring this up because people that say they have a healing ministry and they have a miracle ministry, I reject it out of hand. Nobody has a miracle ministry. Even the apostles did not have a miracle ministry, and I put that in quotes. Greg, you are wrong. Miracles were done to them, yes, but they never announced them ahead of time, did they?
It didn't say miracle meeting nine o'clock today. See you there. Picture of John, Peter. No, it just happened when it happened. They had a gospel preaching ministry, and they preached the gospel.
And the Lord would confirm with signs and wonders. Listen to this: Believers should not follow signs and wonders, but signs and wonders should follow believers.
Okay, so people become obsessed with these things. We're going to a miracle service. Where is it? It's over at this church. Starts at seven, ends at nine.
Now look, I don't know if there's going to be a miracle service. I can't say you're going to see a miracle today, but I can tell you one thing: you'll hear a Bible study, and we'll have worship, and we will glorify God. And if God sovereignly chooses to do a miracle or a healing in a person's life, that's entirely up to Him, and we welcome it and hope He does. But the point is, it's up to the Lord, right?
So and then it goes on to say in James five fifteen and the prayer offered in faith will make the person well.
So you pray and you trust God for it. Then we have miracles. I've pretty much already touched on this, similar to healings. We read in Hebrews two four God bore witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Spirit. According to His will, again, it's according to His will.
A miracle is a supernatural intervention of God in the natural world. It's a supernatural work in the natural world.
Sometimes a healing, we're really praying for the quickening of something that might happen already, because God's created these amazing human bodies that heal on their own, but. We say, Lord, heal this person. We're maybe saying, Lord, make the healing go faster. That's fine.
Sometimes we're saying, Lord, we're going. We need a miracle here because this will not happen normally. There's no surgical procedure. There's no course of treatment through medicine or anything else that's going to resolve this problem.
So now we're praying for a supernatural intervention in this situation. And we do see miracles in the Bible, of course. One of my favorite stories is in the Book of Acts. Paul the Apostle is preaching; he's going along. Preachers do that sometimes, and the room was packed out three stories.
And so, some young man named Eutychus was sitting by the open window as Paul was preaching, and he fell asleep during the sermon. How's that even possible to fall asleep when the apostle Paul is preaching?
Well, Eutychus did it, probably because it was late, and he falls to his death three stories below.
Someone stops Paul. Paul, stop! Stop! This kid fell out of the top story. Paul, stop.
Okay, let's go. Walks out there. There's Eutychus laying on the ground. Paul prays for him, raises him from the dead. And then he does what any self-respecting preacher would do.
He finishes her sermon, and the Bible says it went until midnight. I like that. That's the miracle for me, that the people stayed for a sermon that went till midnight. But the Paul, the Apostle Paul, had a lot to say.
So that clearly is a miracle. Simon Peter was directed by the Lord to raise Dorcas, a woman from the dead. And we read after that, many believed on the Lord. Here is the point: the focus was never on miracles; it was on Christ and on the Word of God. And God would confirm with miracles.
We should never seek miracles. We should seek God and put our attention on Him.
Now we come to the gift of tongues. Oh my! Is this not a controversial subject? On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out, and there were flames of fire above their heads. It's hard for me to even understand what this exactly means, but it was a supernatural.
Phenomena taking place. People were gathered in Jerusalem for the Day of Pentecost, and they spoke languages from around the world. And as the apostles were being filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke in unknown languages and tongues, and people other dialects heard God glorified in their language. Interestingly. If a tongue is interpreted, it's always praise to God.
It's never a message to people. Tongues are given to glorify God.
So when one receives this gift, they bring glory to God through it. It's a beautiful prayer language. The Apostle Paul said, "I thank my God I speak in tongues more than you all." So clearly, Paul was southern. I think my God, I speak in tongues more than all y'all, right?
Now, does every believer can every believer receive the gift of tongues? Perhaps they can, but I don't think all do. The Bible says we should earnestly seek spiritual gifts, and so we leave that in the hands of God. But it's a gift, the gift of tongues. To bring honor and glory to God.
Now, coming back to an earlier question, why does God give the gifts of the Spirit?
Now we go over to Ephesians four fifteen, where it says, "Speaking of the gifts, the gifts are given that we may grow up and become more like Christ. Grow up. The gifts of the Spirit are given so we will grow up spiritually." When I was in school, I used to goof off a lot. I used to disrupt class. I was disrespectful to my teachers, and on more than one occasion, a teacher would say in front of the entire class, "Greg Laurie, will you grow up?" Right?
And I think God would say the same thing to us. It's time for you to grow up spiritually. Paul said that. We were gentle among you as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. You know, when someone comes to Christ, they're like a baby Christian, and I love baby Christians.
By the way, I love their zeal, I love their excitement, I love their passion. I love the fact that they're discovering things for the first time, and as they discover them for the first time, you rediscover them again. This is why I like to go to Disneyland with kids, not adults. I am not a Disney adult, and I'm alarmed by some of them. Quite frankly, they're dressing up in little outfits.
Really.
Okay, fine. You enjoy Disneyland; that's fine. But I like to go with kids, and I'll tell you why. Because I see it through the eyes of a child, right? The last time I went to Disneyland, I took my grandchildren, and I discovered that I'm basically nauseated by every ride there now.
Every ride. I mean, I used to think the Matterhorn was great. I went on Space Mountain again. I hadn't been on for a long time. I was on the inaugural ride actually years ago, and I rode it again.
And I couldn't wait to get off. And I felt sick to my stomach for about an hour after I rode it.
Okay, but still, I like being there with them. And so, in a way, when you're around a new believer, it's just energizing to you. This is why I said earlier. Younger people need older people. Older people need younger people, and I also pointed out young believers need older believers in their life to stabilize them.
Older believers need younger believers in their life to energize them. To energize them, like oh yes, I've kind of forgotten some of these things, or I've taken these things for granted.
So we want to help people grow up in their faith because.
Well, like little children, they can be fickle. You know, children—they can go from crying to laughing back to crying in a nanosecond. It can be due to a lot of things. It can be due to the fact you know they can't talk yet, so they just cry.
So maybe they're hungry. Maybe they need their diaper changed. This is true of some adults as well, but that's another subject. No, but I'm not saying myself. I'm not me, but.
I do get a little upset when I'm hungry, though I have to. I get hangry. Am I the only one? My wife would just throw a sandwich at me. It usually works.
But the idea here is you need to ground them, you know, because they have high highs and low lows. Remember, when you were a young Christian, you were there was almost a euphoric state you were living in, maybe for a period of time, maybe not, but. Possibly you did have that, and then one day you woke up and you didn't feel that euphoria. You didn't feel that excitement. In fact, you were in fact you were feeling a little down.
And the devil whispered in your ear, "You lost your salvation." And you just say, "You know what? Go to hell." I rebuke you. You can say, "Go to hell," to the devil. It's okay. You can get behind me, Satan.
But you know, because here's why, I know my salvation is secure not because how I feel in the moment, but because of the fact of what the Word of God says. Because First John one nine says, "We write these things to you that believe in the name of the Son of God. Excuse me, if we confess our sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." So I know I've confessed my sin to God; He's forgiven me. And I know I am right with God. We have to teach new believers to build their foundation on the Bible, not on their emotions.
And maybe not just new Christians.
Sometimes older Christians are still acting like big babies.
Some of you who are older will remember a cartoon character from years ago called Baby Huey. Remember Baby Huey? There's Baby Huey. Baby Huey was an older duck that never grew up. See, he still wore a diaper.
That's how some Christians are. They're like a baby Huey. Hebrews five twelve says, "You've been Christians a long time." And you want to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things, like a beginner must learn. You're like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food.
So it's time to grow up. All of us need to do it. God has given you spiritual gifts. Your job is to figure out what they are and start using them. First Corinthians twelve twenty one says, "Eagerly, eagerly desire the greater gifts." Okay, what are the greater gifts of the Spirit?
Think of it this way: It depends what you're dealing with. What is the greater gift? If you're talking about a lost person. Maybe the greater gift at that moment is the gift of evangelist. A few pastors and I went out riding our motorcycles the other day, and we went to a coffee place and were ordering our coffee.
And Steve Wilburn was there. You know Steve Wilburn. He's an evangelist, if I've ever seen one, and he did his normal Steve Wilburn deal to the young barista. Let me ask you a question," he says. Has anyone ever told you there's a God in heaven who loves you?
She's polite. She says, "I think so." And then, okay, so that that's good. But Steve's not done. Steve says, "What I'm really asking you is, have you personally asked Jesus Christ to come into your life yet?" I thought, "Ooh, boy, he's going for it." And I looked at this young girl, and I could see God was touching her heart.
So we got our coffee. We're sitting at the table. We watch.
Next thing I know, Steve's leading the girl to Christ right there.
Okay, beautiful. You have a lost person. We need an evangelist over here. Not that you couldn't do it. Because God's called all of us to evangelize and to share the gospel, but no question about it, some people are extraordinarily gifted in evangelism.
It's a gift from God. But let's say you're in a hospital room and you're a Christian and you need help. Do you need an evangelist?
Well, wouldn't hurt. But I think would would really be good to see if you had someone with the gift of mercy. I told you, my wife Kathy has this. She'll just go sit with a person, talk to them. You know, it's a beautiful gift—the gift of mercy.
Let's say someone's struggling with the Bible passage; they can't figure out. Hey, we could use a pastor over here, a pastor teacher. But let's just say we're doing some kind of outreach event, and we got the pastors, we got the teachers, we got the evangelists. We need someone who can organize things. Because most of these people I know that are evangelists and pastor teachers, they're little schizo.
You know, we need some organized people, people that know how to crunch numbers, know people that know how to stay on budget, people that know how to do strategy. Oh, that's a gift—the gift of help, some brilliant gift. But what about? Wow, we we want to do all these things, but we don't have the money to do it. How about the gift of giving?
That's a spiritual gift. We need someone to help fund this ministry. What about if someone's feeling down and discouraged? We could use someone now with the gift of exhortation. Remember.
Motivating, stimulating, encouraging others—it's a beautiful gift. It's a spiritual gift. I'm telling you, the gift of exhortation is as much of a spiritual gift as the gift of teaching is, or any other gift. They're all important gifts.
So, greater gifts depends on what you're dealing with. Maybe God's telling you to take a bold step of faith and leave your comfort zone. Maybe the Lord is saying to you, "Why don't you start a small group, or why don't you volunteer and help at church?" You'll never know what your spiritual gift is until you take some steps of faith.
Okay, so I said I want to help you discover your spiritual gift. Here's three things to consider. Write these down. Number one: try, T R Y, try. One way to find out is I've said before what you're not good at.
Excuse me. One way to find out what you're good at is first find out what you're not good at.
Sometimes it's as simple as process of elimination. And you know what that means? It means volunteer for everything. You go back there and say, "Where do you have a need? We have a need in the parking lot." I'm not quite feeling called to the parking lot.
Are you feeling called to serve others? Are you feeling called to help people come to Christ?
Well, they probably need to park their car first to come in and hear the gospel. Or we need help in Sunday school. Oh, I don't know if I'm called to those people. I feel like I'm called overseas to reach some tribe of people. Great, I know a tribe, very small little tribe.
And they they might just put you in a pot of boiling oil and try to eat you, you know. It's about serving. I told you when I first came to Christ and I went to Pastor Chuck and I volunteered my services. I went into his office and made an appointment. Pastor Chuck, he knew me already.
I'd drawn that little Living Water booklet. I want to serve God. That's great, Greg. That's great. Yes.
So whatever I can do around the church. Maybe I don't know if you want me to speak or something. No, no speaking. They gave me a broom and got free janitorial service out of me for maybe six months, and that's just fine because I was learning to serve. I was learning to do what was in front of me and do it faithfully.
Because if you're faithful in the little things, you'll be faithful with bigger things. And if you're not faithful in the little things, then maybe you're not the person we're looking for.
So just volunteer. Try. I love Peter, who saw Jesus walking on the water. Everybody else was awestruck. Whoa, Jesus walking on the water!
It's Peter. You gotta love this guy who says, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come." I think Jesus had to smile, thinking, "Oh, Peter, you're classic." Okay, Peter, come, Peter. Puts his first foot down. First foot puts his leg down on the water. They only have two feet, but first of two, he he puts a pressure on.
He takes a step. He takes another step. Yes, it's true. He began to sink. Yes, it's true.
Jesus had to save him. But he's the only one who, even if only for a few moments, walked on the water. He took a risk. He tried. Listen, I would rather try and fail.
Then never try at all. It's okay to fail. It's okay. I've failed many times. I've tried many things that didn't work out.
They didn't work the way I'd hope they would have worked. But I learn from my mistakes.
Okay, don't do it that way next time. But also, it was being willing to take a risk to bet the farm to see what the Lord would do. It's been said, the doorway to success has often entered to the hallway of failure. And another thing that's been said is that if at first you don't succeed, relax—you're just like the rest of us. You thought I was going to say try and try again, right?
No. If at first you don't succeed, relax. You're just like the rest of us. We've all had our failures, but try. See what the Lord will do.
I think the problem is, is that we get older, we don't want to take risks anymore. You know, when you're young, someone says, "Let's go," you're in the car before they finish the sentence. You say, "Let's go," to an older person, they'll say, "Where are we going?" When will we be home? Will I need a sweater? I mean, you know, it's different.
It's just different. Older people are different. You know, when you're young, let's just jump off this gnarly cliff. When you're old, it's like what? You know, you're using the handrail down the steps.
You know, Pirates Cove where we do the baptisms. We should have seen. From it, you know, I've been doing this for my whole life in ministry. I was baptized there. I baptized many people there.
You know, I think over the years, I used to hop from rock to rock, boom, boom, boom, down the stairs, back up the stairs.
Now it's like, whoa, a lot of uneven surfaces here. With sand, and you slip. Whoa! And so, now we supply people to help. Have you noticed that?
We'll have various folks offering their arm. I am like, I don't need your help. I've been doing this for fifty years, and and I slip, and I go, Let me have your hand, please. And just because you are older doesn't mean you shouldn't take risks and shouldn't. See what the Lord will do.
Some of the greatest risks in the Bible were taken by older people. Abraham was seventy-five when God told him to leave everything and go to a land he had never seen. Hebrews eleven eight says he went out not knowing where he was going. No itinerary, no GPS, no restroom stops listed. He just went.
He took those steps of faith. I love old Caleb, who at the age of eighty said, "Give me this mountain." Or Moses, he was eighty when the Lord spoke to him at the burning bush.
However, some of the greatest risks are also taken by young people. Jeremiah was just a boy when the Lord called him. Oh, I'm too young. Lord says, "Don't say you're too young." When you were in your mother's womb, I called you and ordained you to be a prophet. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were teenagers when the Lord called them.
Young Mary, just a teen. When she was given the privilege to bear the Son of God, and how about that little boy with the loaves and fishes that offered them to Jesus? You're not too old to serve God and use your gifts. You're not too young to serve God and use your gifts. You just make yourself available and take bold steps of faith, and watch what God will do.
Right? You know, Jesus is not going to always give you a detailed blueprint. I mentioned earlier the story of Philip, the only guy identified specifically as an evangelist in the Bible. God said to him, "Go to the desert." That's all he said. He didn't say anything about the man from Ethiopia searching for God, reading from the scroll of Isaiah, and so forth.
He just said, "Go to the desert," and Philip went.
So take those steps of faith.
So review step number one. Try number two. Enjoy, enjoy. When you find your gift, it's like finding the sweet spot. I don't know if you play tennis or racquetball or pickleball.
Pickleball is very popular right now. I like to play racquetball. I usually play once a week. And now I am playing pickleball, and I I bet I I like pickleball. It's a lot of fun, and we have a bunch of people in our church playing.
I meet people of every.
Sometimes I am playing someone who's eighty and someone who's sixteen. You know, and and it's just great fun. But there is a sweet spot on a racket, and it's funny because have you ever noticed? You swing with a racket and you miss the ball, and what do you do? You look at the racket.
What's wrong with this racket? Maybe there's a hole in it. Maybe you just missed it. How about that?
So, but when you find the sweet spot in a racket, it's like minimal effort, maximum force. And when you find the sweet spot in your life, and by that I mean you discover your spiritual gift and you start using it, you found your sweet spot. My favorite thing to do. Is to preach. I love to preach.
I love to teach. I love to prepare too. Actually, I love that as much as delivering the message. But, but you know, it's just it's a joy for me. But there's other things I need to do with my responsibilities.
I don't love those things. But I need to do those things as well. Find your sweet spot. Enjoy. The Bible says you will go out with joy and you'll be led forth with peace.
The mountains and the hills will break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field will clap your hand, man. When you find the sweet spot, it's amazing.
So try enjoy, and finally confirm. Confirm. Other people will help you know what your gift is. They'll tell you, even if you don't ask them. They'll say, "You know what?
You're really gifted at this." Well, I didn't know you had musical talent. Or I didn't know you could speak. Or I didn't know you were so organized. Or I didn't know you were such an encourager. Or I didn't know this.
Or I didn't know that.
Well, they didn't know because you weren't using your gift yet. But now you begin to use it, and now people are being blessed.
So you have gifts. Start developing it. You don't know what it is. Start putting it into play. Everyone has them.
And again, the Bible says, "Don't neglect the gift that is in you." Be faithful in the little things, and God will give you greater opportunities. You're never too small for God to use; just too big. If you just say, "Lord, here I am," send me. You watch what the Lord will do, and that's really the history of harvest. Watching God work—it's amazing.
I mean, it's just—I don't think I'm exaggerating at all when I say. Literally, over one million people have come to Christ through this ministry over the last fifty years. That's absolutely true. I think the number is, frankly, far higher than that—far higher. But.
We didn't keep a lot of data in the very earliest years, but all those invitations and all those church services and all of those crusade meetings all around the country and the world, and all of those outreaches we did on television and radio, and all those amazing stories that we have heard and continue to hear—it's been the Spirit of God working through the Word of God in the hearts of the people of God. The church, nothing quite like it. Oh, I know it's not perfect; far from it. But God established it, and we're all called to be a part of it. Maybe you've joined us today, and most of you have.
Preachers say that kind of stuff. Maybe you've joined us today, so you're here. And maybe this is your first time, and you've never heard a lot of these things. You feel like you walked in on a family meeting. You ever done that?
Go over to your friend's house. They're all at the dining room table. Oh, hello. We're having a family meeting.
Okay, I'll see you later. No, come join us. I don't want to. I don't want to. Just go.
Leave. I'm leaving now. You joined a family meeting. We're talking amongst ourselves about things that are important. But we want you to join the family, God's family.
There's a place at the table for you. Jesus died on the cross for your sin, and He'll come into your life and forgive you and transform your life. The film clip started with a very lost Greg, wandering out in the street. Not knowing where he was going in life, and how God got hold of me, and God can get hold of you and change the course of your life, and then transform you and put His gifts inside of you, and you'll discover the person you were always meant to be because of Jesus Christ. And if you've not asked Him into your life, do it right now.
As we close in prayer, let's pray, Father. Thank you for your word to us.
Now help us to not just be hearers of the word, but doers of the word. Help us to try to take a risk, to bet the farm, to leave our comfort zone. If we're old, if we're young, help us to develop and use our gifts, and then find that sweet spot, Lord, and be used by you because that's how we glorify you. But I pray for any here that have joined us who don't know Jesus yet. Let this be the moment they believe.
And as we're praying, maybe you would say, "I've never asked Christ to come into my life, but I want my sin forgiven. I want to know that when I die, I will go to heaven." If you want Christ to come into your life and forgive you of your sin, you might just pray this prayer with me right now. Just pray, Lord Jesus. I know I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior, who died on the cross and rose again from the dead. I give my life to you now.
In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Hey everybody! Thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it.
Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God.
