January 2, 2025 3:00 am
Ever driven on a tire that’s out of balance. Sometimes it feels like the tire is bouncing down the roadway . . . the steering wheel wabbles, your seat vibrates and you wonder if you’re losing control. But a tire store can adjust that balance and give you a smooth ride once again. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie shows us how to adjust a life that’s out of balance. If your life is wabbling and it feels a little out of control, glad you pulled in for an adjustment today from the 10 Commandments.
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A New Beginning is the daily half-hour program hosted by Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California. For over 30 years, Pastor Greg and Harvest Ministries have endeavored to know God and make Him known through media and large-scale evangelism. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners.
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A New Beginning presents something for the New Year from Pastor Greg Laurie. We want to help you get stronger in your faith and discover what it really means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. To help you do that, we're offering a book called Discipleship, The Road Less Taken. I explore what the Bible says about discipleship and how we can grow in this area. And we'll send this book to you for your gift of any size.
Get your copy of Discipleship, The Road Less Taken at Harvest.org. What do you get excited about? What do you think about the most? What do you dream about, plan for, perhaps scheme for?
What are you passionate about? That is your God. Pastor Greg Laurie says making the Lord God your God is the pathway to settled contentment. If you will put God first in your life, I promise you, on the authority of Scripture, everything else will fall into its rightful place.
Put Him first. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace how sweet the sound. Again you hear when the angels are singing.
This is the day, the day when life begins. Ever driven on a tire that's out of balance? Sometimes it feels like the tire is bouncing down the roadway. The steering wheel wobbles, your seat vibrates, and you wonder if you're losing control.
But a tire store can adjust that balance and give you a smooth ride once again. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie shows us how to adjust a life that's out of balance. If your life is wobbling and it feels a little out of control, I'm glad you pulled in for an adjustment today from the Ten Commandments.
This is the day, the day when life begins. Let's look now at these commandments together. Down here in Exodus 20 starting in verse 2, commandment number 1. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, who shall have no other gods before me. That's commandment number 1.
No other gods before him. Commandment number 2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that's in heaven above or earth beneath or in the water under the earth, nor shall you bow down and serve them. For I the Lord your God, I'm a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children of the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandment. So commandment number 3.
No carved image that you bowed down before. Commandment number 3. Exodus 20 verse 7. Don't take the name of the Lord in vain. Commandment number 4 verses 8 to 9. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Commandment number 5 verse 12.
Honor your father and mother. Commandment number 6. You shall not murder. Commandment number 7 verse 14. You shall not commit adultery. Commandment number 8.
You shall not steal. Verse 15. Commandment number 9 verse 16. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. In other words you shall not lie. And finally commandment number 10 verse 17. You shall not covet your neighbor's house or his wife or his male servant or female servant nor his ox or his donkey nor anything that is your neighbor's.
There it is. The 10 commandments. The commandments are broken into two sections. Not five and five as we might assume.
But actually four and six. The first four commandments have to do with our relationship with God. The final six commandments have to do with our relationship with other people. So if I love God with all of my heart soul and mind I am not going to have another God before him. I am not going to bow down before a graving image. I am not going to take his name in vain.
And I am going to honor Sabbath. If I really love my neighbor as I love myself I am not going to kill them. I am not going to steal from them.
I am not going to lie to them or covet what belongs to them. I think Augustine summed it up perfectly when he said love God and do as you please. See if I love God as I ought to love God I will naturally want to do the things that please God.
That is what he was really saying. So let's focus on the first commandment. That is all the time we have is to do only one commandment in this message. Commandment number one. Exodus 20 verse three.
Thou shall have no other gods before me. Do you think you have ever broken that commandment? A survey revealed that 76 percent of all Americans consider themselves completely true to the first commandment. So do you think that is accurate? That most of us have never broken the first commandment.
I suggest to you we have broken it more than we may realize. Because everything starts with the place of God in your life. Because you will end up serving what you worship. Remember when Jesus was tested by Satan in the wilderness. And the Bible says that the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
I am not even sure how that played out. But we know that Satan the devil is described in the Bible as the god of this world. The prince of the power of the air who rules over the demon forces right now. So in a sense the devil said this is my stuff. And it belongs to me.
Interestingly Christ did not dispute it. I don't know if he gave him a glimpse into the future but whatever it was the devil is saying this is all my stuff and Jesus I know why you have come. You have come to die on the cross and purchase back what was lost in the Garden of Eden. And I am going to make you a deal you cannot refuse.
Bad Godfather imitation alert. Satan says I will give it to you. You can have it on a silver platter. You don't have to die on a cross. You don't have to go through any of it. I will give you what you have come for.
Here is my condition. He says I want you to worship me. Jesus says thou shall worship the Lord God in him only shall you serve. Wait.
What? The devil didn't say anything about service. He said just worship me momentarily. Worship me. But Jesus said only worship God because you will serve him. In other words he is saying you will end up serving what you worship.
You see. So what is on the altar of your life is of the greatest importance. But here the Lord now gives them the motive for keeping the commandments.
The motive. Verse 2. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage.
God does not start by threatening or scaring them. He starts by reminding them of what kind of God he was. A loving caring God who delivered them from bondage and misery.
You might say well that is great for them. They were slaves in Egypt. Well hey you were a slave too. We all were to sin on our way to hell. But God loved us so much he sent his only begotten son to die on the cross for our sin.
And we turned from our sin and believed in Jesus. Thus we have so much appreciation for all that the Lord has done. Therefore it should be our privilege and pleasure to seek to live a life that is pleasing to him. Not because we have to but because we get to. You see you don't obey the Bible because you have to. You obey because you want to. And the reason you want to is because of all that God has done for you.
You love him because he first loved you. That is what the Bible says. Jesus did not say keep my commandments and I will love you. He said if you love me you will keep my commandments.
So before the Lord tells them what he wants them to do he says hey check it out. Look at what I did for you. So this should be your way to respond. My love for him is a response to his love for me. Now Kathy and I as we mentioned we've been married for 46 years. I have certain expectations of her. She has certain expectations of me. God is the same. He wants an exclusive relationship.
He doesn't want to share you with other gods any more than your husband wants to share you with other men. How would it sound if a wife says to her husband honey I'm going out on a date now with Chad. I don't know why I picked Chad. Seemed like the right name Chad.
Something sketchy about the name. No they are not. I'm kidding.
I'm kidding. I'm going to have all the Chads rise up in anger against me. Is anyone here named Chad? Sorry Chad.
Because I can tell you are a great guy. Your wife there. Keep your eye on Chad.
Anyway I digress. But if the wife said hey I'm going on a date with Chad tonight honey. Oh and I probably won't be home tonight. I'll see you in the morning.
That's crazy. Can't have that. You need faithfulness in a marriage.
Honor the vows that you make in a marriage. The Lord says I want the same thing because why? I'm a jealous God. Whoa. God's a jealous God. Hello. Someone's insecure.
Right. God's not insecure. He says I've done this for you. I want an exclusive relationship with you and I don't want to share you with anybody else. Look to want your spouse to be faithful to you is a reasonable thing. In a way you're a jealous parent. You want the best for your child. The very word jealousy speaks of ownership. You know we're connected. You're my child. And God's saying I'm your father and I want you to be faithful to me.
So don't have any other gods before me. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everyone I want you to know about our app called Harvest Plus. Think of it as a harvest version of Netflix.
We have all of our resources in one place. We have our movies like Steve McQueen The Salvation of an American Icon, Johnny Cash The Redemption of an American Icon, A Rush of Hope, and much more. Then we have our television program, daily devotions, and much more.
So go and download the Harvest Plus app. Well today Pastor Greg is presenting a practical look at the first of the Ten Commandments. Don't have any other gods before him.
Let's continue. What does it mean to have another god before him? You know we think of an idol worshiper as someone bowing prostrate before some carved image. Yeah that would be an idol worshiper for sure. But that's not the only form of idolatry. In the epistle of first John we read the words little children keep yourself from idols. There's a lot of things that can become idols in your life. Listen to this. An idol is anyone or anything that takes the place of God in your life.
Let me repeat that. An idol is anything or anyone that takes the place of God in your life. So the question is who or what is your god? Everybody has a god. Even an atheist has a god.
They'll say they don't but they do. Maybe their god is themself. Maybe their god is their atheism. But they have a deity. They have someone or something they bow before that is on the altar of their life.
How do you determine who your god is? Okay question. What do you get excited about? You know what gets you out of bed in the morning? What do you think about the most? What do you dream about? Plan for perhaps? Scheme for? What do you spend most of your money on?
What are you passionate about? That is your god. Now most of us would say oh the lord is my god. Well good.
I hope he is. But sometimes we can put other things in his place. It's not who we name.
It's who we ultimately serve. Sometimes your god with a small g can be something that's not necessarily bad but it's out of its rightful place. Idols are not always evil outright. Listen. The most dangerous idols are good things that are twisted. You can make an idol out of your family. What?
Hello? Oh yeah. You can make your family more important than god. Well we should focus on our family. Yes we should but the lord has to be number one. If the lord's number one everything else falls into its proper place. God is more important than even your marriage. God is more important than your kids. God is more important than anything. God is more important than your career. And sometimes people make the career the god of their life.
And yes you should work hard and do what you can but god needs to be in the number one position. There are so many things that can choke the word of god out in our life. And again I emphasize they are not always bad things. Oh sure they're sinful things. They can be booze or drugs or illicit pleasures.
Those can all become idols in your life. But it can be good things out of proportion. Jesus said it this way in what we call the parable of the sower. Remember he talked about a sower that threw a seed out.
And some seed fell on ground and it began to grow but it was choked out by weeds. And he said in Matthew 13 22 the seed sown among weeds represents a person who receives the message. They receive the message but listen life's busy distractions. His divided heart and his ambition for wealth result in suffocating the kingdom message and prevent him from bearing spiritual fruit.
Did you hear that? Life's busy distractions. There's nothing wrong with your career.
Nothing wrong with your schedule. Nothing wrong with all the things we're engaged in each and every day. But don't let them become god in your life and push the true god out of your life as a result. Keep god in the number one position. If you will put god first in your marriage. If you will put god first in your finances. If you will put god first in your singleness. If you will put god first in your career. I promise you on the authority of Scripture everything else will fall into its rightful place. Put him first. Because Jesus said seek first the kingdom of God.
Right? Which means the rule and reign of Christ in your life. The kingdom of God.
Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. What things? What you're going to eat. What you're going to wear. What you're going to drink. Where you're going to go to school. Who you're going to marry. Everything you need in life. It'll all find its proper place.
But sometimes we let things take the place of God. Classic example is the rich young ruler. You know this guy had it made.
Young man climbed his corporate ladder. Had a tricked out chariot. It was lowered.
Extra big wheels. Had a latte. Cruises up to Jesus. Hey Jesus.
What must I do to inherit eternal life? You would think Jesus would have said man you're like such an awesome dude I want you on my team right now. You're good for my image. Come on and I just got a bunch of fishermen. I need you.
By the way can we use your chariot? Jesus says the very opposite. He says okay. I'll tell you what.
Loose paraphrase buddy. Sell all that you have. Take the money. Give it to the poor and follow me and you'll have eternal life.
This guy couldn't do it. He went away sorrowful. Why did Jesus say that? And by the way Jesus never said that to anybody else. I'll tell you why he said it because Jesus being God could look right in that guy's heart and he could see it's the stuff that he owned or maybe I should say his stuff that owned him. And so Jesus was effectively saying if you want to follow me you got to get this out of the position that it's in right now and I need to be the Lord of your life and this man couldn't do it. What's holding you back from Christ? To somebody else Jesus might say you need to terminate that relationship.
That thing is killing you spiritually. To another he might say man you need to give up that vice or that thing you're doing. You can't live that way anymore. But listen when we come to the commandments of God here is what we quickly discover. I can't live up to these commandments. I have broken these commandments and you have broken these commandments. And the Bible says if you offend in one point of the law you are guilty of all of it. Wow.
Who hasn't done that? But here is the good news. Two thousand years ago God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross and take the full penalty of our sin upon himself. And the Bible even says he took the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which is a King James way of saying all the laws that said you are a sinner and he nailed them to the cross.
He did that for you. Because the law, the commandments don't make me holy. They show me I am not holy. They are like a moral mirror. You ever look in a magnifying mirror? That's alarming isn't it? Remember when I was a kid I would look at old men and I would notice that when they shaved they missed patches.
Like what is wrong with these people? Now I have a magnifying mirror and I look in it and I say uh oh. I missed a couple of places didn't I? But see I look in God's mirror and I realize I fall short. But the good news is it is not there to make me feel miserable. It is there to drive me into the open arms of Jesus who will forgive me of every sin I have committed. Yes Jesus died on the cross. Paid the price for our sin. Rose again from the dead. And now he stands at the door of our life and he knocks and says to the fool hear his voice and open the door. He will come in.
And I want to ask you in closing have you asked Jesus to come into your life. What if it were your last day? Today. Tonight.
Tomorrow. If you're a Christian you don't have to live in fear of death. It doesn't mean you look forward to it. But it means you're ready. It means you're prepared. Prepared to meet your God. And I ask you that right now. Are you prepared to meet God.
Because heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. I've told you the story before of a tombstone. And somebody was walking through this graveyard and they saw the writing on the tombstone.
Which had these words. Pause now stranger as you pass by. As you are now so once was I. As I am now so you shall be. So prepare for death and follow me. Someone reading that tombstone was overheard to say to follow you is not my intent until I know which way you went.
Right. Are you prepared for eternity. You say well how do you get prepared. You admit to God you're a sinner. And you invite Christ into your life. He'll forgive you of your sins and the commandments you've broken.
And then he'll start changing you from the inside out. And if you haven't done that yet you can do it right here right now. He's just a prayer away. In a moment we're going to pray together.
And I'm going to extend an invitation to you wherever you are. Everyone in this room wherever you are this is for you. This is your moment to get right with God and ask Jesus to come into your life. If you need to do this do it now.
Don't put it off. This is your day. The day of salvation. Let's pray. Father I pray now for every person here.
Every person watching and listening wherever they may be. If they don't know Jesus yet let this be their moment of decision. Their moment where they pass from darkness to light.
The moment where they pass from unbelief to belief. Help them Lord to see their need for you. Help them to come to you now we ask in Jesus' name.
Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an invitation to get your heart right with the Lord. And if you'd like to do that today Pastor Greg will help you with that in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. And then thank you for partnering with us to help these daily studies continue.
Your investments have eternal benefits. Why not make this a part of your personal ministry to partner in an effort that's making a real difference with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for your prayers and for prayerfully considering how God might lead you to help tangibly. Online you'll find us at harvest.org and there you'll see the way we'd like to thank you for your donation right now.
That's harvest.org or write us at A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside, California 92514 or call us at 1-800-821-3300. We're here around the clock to take your call again at 1-800-821-3300. And then Pastor Greg just before we go would you mind praying with the person listening who wants to make a change today in their relationship with the Lord. I'd be happy to Dave you know as you've been listening to this today maybe you've heard another voice by that I mean yeah you heard me say a few things but you heard God's voice speak to you deep in the recesses of your heart and it suddenly dawned on you this is what I need or to state it more accurately this is who I need I need Jesus and I want Jesus but maybe you don't know how to make that connection let me help you God is only a prayer away he stands at the door of your heart and he knocks and Jesus says if you'll hear his voice and open the door he'll come in let me help you open the door so to speak of your heart as you invite Jesus to be your Savior and Lord so here's what I would like you to do I'd like you to stop what you're doing and I want you to pray a prayer after me I'll lead you in this prayer and as you pray it God will hear you pray this after me right now if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life Lord Jesus I know I am a sinner and I am sorry for my sin and I need your forgiveness right now would you come into my heart my life as Savior as God as friend I choose to follow you from this moment forward thank you for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me in Jesus name I pray amen I know that was a relatively short prayer maybe you felt something as you prayed it maybe you felt nothing that doesn't really matter because God's word says these things will change these things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life it doesn't say so you may think you have it or you may hope you have it if God's in a good mood no that you can know it and I want you to know if you pray that prayer in a minute Jesus Christ the Son of God has come into your life so congratulations you're now a sinner now continue to follow the Lord yeah to help you we'd like to send you something that'll help you build a strong foundation for your faith it's Pastor Greg's popular New Believers Bible it'll answer many of the questions you might have and get you started off right in your new relationship with the Lord so get in touch and ask for it we'll send it free of charge 1-800-821-3300 we can take your call anytime that's 1-800-821-3300 write us at a new beginning box 4000 Riverside California 92514 or just go online to harvest.org and click know God well next time more insight from God's top 10 be listening for another practical look at the 10 commandments join us here on a new beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.
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