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There's nothing worse than a hypocritical Christian. We want to be the salt of the earth. How can we bring about change in our culture if the change isn't evident in our own lives? Pastor Greg Laurie says we need to go the way as we show the way. The world is looking for authenticity.
They're looking for you to be real. We must be before we can effectively speak. We need to practice what we preach and we are to be salt. We all have a bit of an actor in silence, not the Broadway type or a movie star, but the kind who can muster up some enthusiasm when we need to. We might force a courtesy chuckle when someone tells a corny joke, but when it comes to our Christian witness, it's got to be the real deal. It's not about putting on a show, but about living a life of genuine faith.
Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie shows us how to purify our character and let our light shine to those around us. Did you know that the biggest celebrities in America today are not movie stars? They're not rock stars.
They're not TV stars. They're media stars, specifically social media stars. They're called influencers. Now, some social media people have a lot of followers, over 900 million. I looked it up to see who had the most followers. The number one person out there is Cristiano Ronaldo with 901 million followers. I didn't even know who he was. He's what they would call a footballer.
We might call him a soccer player. And then there's Selena Gomez. She has 430 million followers.
I've heard of her. Kyle Jenner, 399 million followers. Dwayne Johnson, The Rock, he has 395 million followers. Ariana Grande has 380 million followers.
Funny thing, I got an Ariana Grande at Starbucks this morning and it was very good. And then Kim Kardashian has 364 million. Oh, is that all? You know, but that's a lot of followers. And because of this, a lot of young people today are thinking, now why would I want to go work over there when I could be an influencer and monetize my platform and make a living doing this? One study found that fortune and fame were the first and second goals of millennials. So what are your goals in life? Number one, fortune and fame. Number two, fortune and fame, okay? One in four millennials would quit their jobs to become famous. One in six preferred fame to having children. One in 12 admitted they would disown their family to be famous.
We're taking it a little too far here. But why do we have this desire to be famous? Why would we want a lot of followers? I think it's because deep down inside we want our lives to matter. We want significance. We want to be noticed.
I don't think those are bad things, by the way. But let's just say for the sake of a point, you had 900 million followers on your Instagram page. What would you say to them? Well, I would post a photo of myself. Okay, what else? And my new outfit. Yeah, what else?
I have some cool cat videos. Okay, really? Listen to this. You are an influencer. You have a platform and you have a following. Now, it could be on social media, but in your world you have a sphere of influence where you influence other people.
So it really comes down to this. Are you a good or are you a bad influence? Here's what Jesus said 2,000 years ago that is very relevant to this topic of influencing others. Matthew 5 starting in verse 13, he says, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world.
A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people put a lamp under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine to others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
We'll stop there. Salt and light. Why did Jesus use these two word pictures? Answer, because the world is a dark and corrupt place and it needs salt and it needs light. You know, despite all of our advances in every field from science and medicine and education and technology, we just go from bad to worse. Modern man has just found more ways to corrupt and destroy himself. We go from war to greater war, from crime to greater crime, from immorality to greater immorality, from perversion to greater perversion. We're just playing out the truth of the scripture that says the heart is deceitfully wicked above all things who can know it.
You know, if you believe that man is basically good, you're gonna be very disappointed in life. But once you accept the biblical premise that man is not basically good, man, and when I speak of man, I'm speaking of all humanity, we are sinners separated from God and we have made things worse. Okay, so you say, you're right, Greg, the whole world's going to hell in a handbasket, so let's isolate ourselves. Let's start a Christian city and we'll live in Christian houses and eat in Christian restaurants and drive Christian cars and have Christian dogs and Christian cats. Maybe not Christian cats, but actually, I would not agree with that idea because the fact of the matter is our job is not to remove ourselves completely from culture but to influence it, bringing me to point number two, some think that they can evade the culture through isolation. You know, you try to remove yourselves and your children from our culture, but your culture will find you. And so I think we need to do everything we can to prepare ourselves and our children to live in the real world as followers of Jesus Christ. Sometimes Christian parents die on the wrong hills, and by that I mean they major on minors and miss the big picture. I heard our son Jonathan say recently when he was speaking that he had a lot of friends that went to Christian school and many of them have fallen away from the Lord, and he said, but I also know that many of them were really restricted. Their parents wouldn't let them listen to secular music, wouldn't let them watch movies, they couldn't watch cartoons unless it was VeggieTales, and so it's very restrictive. And he says, oh, my dad would drive me to school and would listen to The Beatles and The Doors and he would watch The Simpsons with me. I'm thinking, wait a second, is this good?
Was I actually a horrible parent? Now, I'm not advocating you watch The Simpsons. There are things on it that I wouldn't agree with, but here's my point. I like The Beatles, and I didn't like a lot of the music that we're supposed to be listening to, but I wanted to prepare him for the real world, and I would take these opportunities as teaching moments. So if we're watching a cartoon or a movie or whatever it is and there's something there that's contrary to what we believe as Christians, I'll talk about that to him. You know, Moses said, the way to teach our children is when you get up in the morning, when you walk in the way, and when you go to sleep at night. So more than just a set time of having devotions with your kids, you use what happens in life as examples to teach them how to live and walk and think and behave as a follower of Jesus Christ.
And so our idea is to infiltrate culture. I read an interview with a very well-known pop star. She said she was raised in a legalistic Christian home. Her parents banned all secular music, and they couldn't even use phrases like deviled eggs and dirt devil.
That's a vacuum cleaner, by the way. And she was restricted. She couldn't listen to any music, and so she rebelled.
And she said, I had no childhood. So that's not preparing your kids for the real world. I like what Jonathan said. He said, teach your kids the heart of God, not legalism, right? And so we want to be the salt of the earth. Our goal as Christians is not to isolate, but to infiltrate and impact culture without being compromised by it. Let me say that again. Our goal as Christians is not to isolate, but to infiltrate and impact culture without being compromised by it.
It's a tricky balance. Jesus put it this way in John 17. In his prayer to the Father, he said, I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one, and I am sending them into the world.
Wow. Jesus is saying, I'm sending you in to the world. So we're effectively living behind enemy lines. As an old hymn says, this world is not my home.
I'm just a passing through. It's important to remember that. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Emails, phone calls, and social media messages from listeners are so encouraging to us, and they let us know the effectiveness of these studies. Pastor Greg, I love listening to your daily messages. I appreciate how you speak biblical truth with grace. Your stories keep me intrigued and your messages are relatable.
And I love that they're broadcast every day because I always have new content to listen to. Thank you. If you have a story to share, why not call us and give us all the details?
Here's the number, 1-866-871-1144, 866-871-1144. Well, Pastor Greg continues his message now from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, a study called Make a Difference. So here's point number three. As Christians, we need to invade, not evade the culture.
Invade, not evade. So we try to engage people, and they don't seem to be listening to us. And you might wonder why. You might say, hey, you know, I try to talk to people about Jesus, and they just terminate the conversation. Okay, what did you say to them? Well, I saw this nonbeliever, and I said, hey, uncircumcised Philistine.
Okay. There's part of the problem. That's a good way to burn a bridge.
Have you been washed in the blood, sanctified, justified, redeemed, and have you become a part of the body of Christ? And they turned around and walked away. They don't even know what you're talking about. You just told them to be washed in blood and get in some body.
What? We cannot assume that our listeners today understand what we're talking about. America in particular has never been more biblically illiterate than it is right now. Now, I've been preaching 50 years, and people were more literate biblically when I started than they are today.
And so I don't think we can assume that our listener understands even our terminology. We need to break things down, explain them, and try to find common ground with them and build a bridge to them. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9 22, I try to find common ground with everyone so I can bring them to Christ. I do all of this to spread the good news. Another translation of that same statement of Paul goes as follows, I am voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people, religious, non-religious, meticulous moralists, loose living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized, whoever.
It's a good translation. Jesus modeled this. He spoke to the woman at the well.
She could be described as the loose living immoralist. And then he spoke with Nicodemus, a religious man who we could call a meticulous moralist. Paul and Morris Hill spoke to a secular audience there in Athens, Greece, while Peter on the Day of Pentecost spoke to a largely religious audience, but they were adapting to their situation. So here at Harvest, our objective is to reach as many people as we can through our church, through our films, through our one minute messages. We want to reach unexpected people in unexpected places with an unexpected message. You know, it's an amazing thing, these little one minute messages that we've started showing, and you see them on Fox News, you see them on CNN, and they've reached over 500,000 people and 41,000 people have responded and made a profession of faith and asked for a Bible.
Can you believe that? 41,000. Let's reach through all of our media efforts combined. We reached well over a billion people, and that is not an exaggerated number.
And so that's amazing. And that's what we're trying to do. Reach people with the message of the gospel.
That's point number four. We need to bring them the message of the gospel. Now, when you bring the gospel message, know this, it's powerful. That's why Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.
And the word that he used for power is a word that means explosive, okay? Not everyone's going to respond favorably to this message. In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul says, wherever we go, the Lord uses us to tell others about him. And it's like good news, like a sweet perfume, our lives are like a fragrance. But the fragrance is perceived differently from those who are being saved to those who are perishing. So to some, it's a fragrance, to others, not so much. You know, some people wear too much cologne or perfume. Am I right? How do you know who they are?
They're usually sitting by themselves because they come to church, all the seats around them are empty. If they give you a hug, you smell like whatever scent they were wearing two hours later. You smell like Chanel number five.
And sadly, it was a guy. Okay, so. But it's like garlic. You know, garlic is great when you're cooking.
But it's not so great on your breath afterwards, is it? So when we live as Christians, for some, it's a sweet fragrance, they love it. For others, they actually find what we say and do offensive. And so that's what Paul is saying, bringing me to point number five. Before I can effectively tell them, I must first live it. There's nothing worse than a hypocritical Christian. The world is looking for authenticity.
They're looking for you to be real. We must be before we can effectively speak. We need to practice what we preach and we are to be salt.
Let's go back to that statement of Jesus again, verse 13. You're the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. Now, it's hard for us to understand what this means, but back in that day, salt was a valuable commodity. So valuable, in fact, that a Roman soldier would be paid in salt.
Hence the expression, he's not worth the salt. So they valued salt in a great way and salt has impact. And today, we season our food with it.
If you have a sore throat, you might gargle with some warm salt water. It has an antiseptic quality to it. But what does salt do? Well, in that culture, it preserved. It preserved. Okay, so they didn't have refrigeration like we do today.
They would rub salt into the meat to preserve it. And in the same way, we as Christians preserve. In other words, we stop the spread of evil by our mere presence.
Why? Because we speak out against what is wrong. We speak up for what is true.
You might say that we're sort of a preserving influence in the world today. You just wait until the rapture of the church happens and look at how the world will go. Well, I hope you're not around to see it because that would mean you miss the rapture. Now, some of you have never heard this word before, but the Bible speaks of an event that is coming when the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and remaining shall be caught up. Caught up, it's the Greek word harpazo. That's translated to the word rapture. So we're caught up in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. Jesus said two will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Two are grinding at a mill, one is taken and the other left.
Two are laying in a bed, one is taken and the other left. So here's how it goes. Here we are in the world being salt, stopping the spread of evil, keeping the lid on things in a way. And suddenly the Lord calls millions of people who put their faith in Christ to heaven. That is going to allow the spread of evil to happen quickly.
And the anti-Christ emerges on the scene and the great tribulation period begins and you see how that could all break out quickly with the removal of the church. Well salt not only stops evil from spreading but it stimulates thirst doesn't it? When something's salty you want water. You go to the movie and you order popcorn and by the way why are there no longer milk duds in movie theaters?
Have you noticed this? Every theater I've been to no milk duds. What's with the milk duds being gone? I've had to smuggle in my own. You ever smuggle stuff into the theater? Big bottled water in your back pocket, milk duds, three course meal and a little wagon you know.
It's because they charge so much for everything right? You order a bag of popcorn they have the tiny little micro bag and then the next bag is huge and then there's one that's the size of a trash can but you get free refills. I don't want free refills. But then you're eating your popcorn that's maybe a little too salty and you go back and ask can I get some water? We can't put it in cups we're not allowed but there's that drinking fountain over there come on give me a break. But we'll sell you water 30 gallons for a hundred dollars. But when you're a salty Christian in the best use of that word you will stimulate in others a thirst for God.
One of the greatest compliments people can pay to a Christian is when they ask why are you the way that you are? But here's the problem it's when we're not salty enough. Jesus says in Matthew 5 13 if the salt loses its saltiness what good is it? It's not good for anything. Not good for anything.
Those are pretty heavy duty words. You know people go and they order coffee. I would like a lavender latte, a decaf, soy milk with extra syrup. Why don't you just go to 31 Flavors okay? You're not even ordering coffee anymore.
What is that? You know you're decaf and there's decaf disciples, uncarbonated Christians, unsalty believers and then you have no impact at all. Pastor Greg Laurie with important insight on what it takes for us to make a real impact on the culture around us.
Today's message title here on A New Beginning, Make a Difference. Pastor Greg will have an additional comment from the study before we close today. Pastor Greg let's pause for a moment and speak to someone listening who may feel like they're on the outside looking in. They like to listen and be inspired but they've never taken that step of coming to the Lord and having their sins forgiven.
What would you say to that person? I would say that God is just a prayer away. You know it doesn't take years to become a Christian. It doesn't take months. Frankly it doesn't even take hours.
It can happen so quickly. It just starts with you saying to God, I know I'm a sinner. I know that you love me. I know that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sin and pay for those sins and then to rise again from the dead and I want him to come into my life. So here's my question to you.
Have you done that yet? Because Jesus who did die on that cross and rose again from the dead three days later is alive and standing at the door of your life right now and he's knocking and he's saying if you'll hear my voice and open the door I will come in. Why don't you just stop whatever it is you're doing and pray this prayer with me. Say Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner but I know that you are the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin and I turn from it now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. I ask all of this in Jesus name.
Amen. Listen if you just prayed that prayer the Bible promises that God has heard your prayer and has answered that prayer. The Bible says that we will confess our sin. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So God bless you.
You've made the right decision. The decision to follow Jesus Christ. Yeah that's right and as you begin to live this new life we want to send you something to help you get started off right. It's Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. It's an easy to understand translation plus hundreds and hundreds of study helps especially for those who are new to the faith.
It'll answer the questions you may have. So get in touch for the New Believer's Bible. We'll send it to you free of any charge. Just call us at 1-800-821-3300.
That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Well Pastor Greg I really enjoy reading authors who have a way with words and we have a special guest today who has a way with words and he has a way with words from the Word. Maybe you could go ahead and introduce him. I know he's a friend of yours. That's right Dave you're talking about my friend Max Lucado and boy does he have a way with words and we're going to talk about his newest book that I think may be perhaps his most important book he's ever written and the title of it is What Happens Next?
But in case you don't know Max Lucado and you've been living under a rock somewhere Max has written 50 books and they've sold somewhere around 150 million copies around the world and he has a way of taking that which is complex and making it understandable. Let me just read a quote from his new book titled What Happens Next? We're all headed somewhere. Each day brings us closer to a final breath, a final heartbeat, a final sigh.
No one is getting younger. Death comes to the young, the old, the rich, the poor, the decent, the decadent, the king and the commoner. Shouldn't our destination be an obsession? Great statement that's sort of summing up why you wrote this book and it's a book on the return of Jesus Christ. Is this the first time you've addressed this topic in a book? I'm sure you've dealt with it before but is this the first time you've written a whole book about this?
It's the first time, by the way. Thank you, Greg. Thank you. I could spend the whole program telling everybody how much I admire you and love you and Kathy. Could we just change our plans and would you do that? I'll do that. I'll do that. I could. I could. No, thank you.
You're a hero. Please continue. Yeah, so the book itself is not the very first book I've written about the return of Christ but it is the first time I've tried to tackle the milestones that are going to happen, at least from my perspective, between now and the end of when Christ returns and then describing our eternal state.
So it is by far the most detailed dive I've ever taken into the topic of end times. So I can say this to you, Max, because we're close to the same age. You know, we're not young men anymore. We're coming toward the end of our race so we pray and hope, God willing, we have a few more gallons in the tank and maybe a couple more decades to keep going, maybe further, we don't know. But did you write this because you're getting older and you've become more reflective?
Is there something about the age you're at and where you're at in life that's caused you to say, I need to really think deeply not just about the Lord's return but about eternity in general? Absolutely, Greg. I'm genuinely curious about what's next. I really am. I am very, very excited.
I'm kind of like a kid outside the amusement park. I just can't wait to get through the gates. I'm super excited about what's going to happen and I'm just fascinated with every topic. I want to talk about Armageddon. I want to talk about the millennium. I want to talk about the eternal state. I even want to ponder the great white throne judgment as horrible as that's going to be, but I want to have a clear understanding of what happens next.
And so I think that's part of it. I'm curious about what's next for me, but I'm very concerned about what's happening in the world. This is a unique generation in which we find ourselves. Watch what's happening around Israel and Gaza, which is terrible. The innocent people killed on both sides of the border. Watching what's happening with Russia and Ukraine, China and Taiwan. The plunge in morality here in our own nation. These are things that have caused me to lift up my eyes and say, Lord, is something major about to happen?
So I think this is an important conversation to be having personally in my life as I close in on 70 years, but also globally as we're seeing so much chaos around the world. Well, everybody, you want to order this new book just written by Max Lucado. The title of it is What Happens Next? And we're offering this book to you this month for your gift of any size.
Whatever you send will be used to help us continue to preach the gospel, to teach the Word of God, which is so very important, especially in these days as we're waiting for the return of Jesus Christ. Again, it's called What Happens Next? Let us send you a copy really quickly. You want to read this book.
Yeah, that's true. It's full of rich inspiration on a topic that sometimes confuses us. So get in touch with your investment in the work we do each day, and then ask for this new book from Max Lucado called What Happens Next?
The subtitle is A Traveler's Guide Through the End of This Age. You can call us any time, night or day, at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write, A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514.
Or just go online to harvest.org. Well, next time, more on the importance of being salt and light for the kingdom. But before we go, Pastor Greg closes today's study this way. Years ago, we were traveling to Europe. We were speaking at some pastors' conferences, and I bought something called a backpack stroller, because Jonathan was a little guy, and I had to put him in a stroller, and then I had a backpack to carry him around, and I didn't want to take all of that hardware overseas.
So I said, well, this is a great idea. It's one device that does both, a backpack stroller. And I didn't test it out till I got there. And I opened this thing up, and it was the worst design object of all time, because you had to hold it up the whole time.
There were no back wheels, so you're in the little stroller, but there's no back wheels, so you can't lay it down, so you have to hold it. And I thought, this is impractical. And then when I put it on in the backpack form, the wheels dug into my back. So I discarded it. It was worthless, and we still, to this day, use that expression. We'll look at something that doesn't seem to be working, and we'll say, it's a backpack stroller. Right?
A backpack stroller. An unsalty Christian. And so we want to be the salt of the earth. you grow in your faith at harvest.org
