Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. Let me ask you a question. Are you eager to make a difference in the spiritual lives of others? When you give to Harvest, you become a part of our mission to make God known through unique avenues like television, radio, and large-scale evangelistic events.
Support us today at harvest.org slash donate and help us to continue to spread the gospel around the world. Sometimes the full implication of getting an abortion doesn't hit you till later in life. But here's the good news. If you've had an abortion, God can and will forgive you. Today, Pastor Greg Laurie addresses one of the most important hot button issues of our day and how God's forgiveness is available if we'll ask. You can become a new person in Christ. Old things passed away. Everything can become fresh and new.
That's what the Bible says and that's what God wants for every person. 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 all the angels are singing. This is the day, the day that life begins.
The Etch-a-Sketch was introduced in 1960 and kids today are still being introduced to this low-tech marvel. Erasing your mistakes is the easiest part. Turn it upside down and give it a shake. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out that God can erase our sins as well. You don't have to turn yourself upside down.
Shaking is optional. Today, the hot button issues of our time and discovering God's heart on these important matters. This is the day, the day when life begins. Now, we all have a worldview. Some have a biblical worldview, some have a secular worldview. So you have to get your worldview, in my opinion, from the right place because far too often our worldview is based on our emotions. I feel this.
I think that. Ok, so we don't want to reason that way. We want to reason from scripture. What does the Bible say about this particular topic?
God has given us absolutes to live by. So let's talk about sex. Sex is created by God. Let's not forget, God created sex, ok? And sex can be good in its proper context. Sex can be blessed in the proper place, which is in a marriage relationship, period.
That's it. And Hebrews 13, 4, says give honor to marriage. Remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.
And then Proverbs 5, 15 says drink water from your own well, share your love only with your wife. Sometimes people will characterize sex as it's there for pro-creations. Christians teach it's just there for, you know, reproduction.
That's all. Well, no, I mean it is there for reproduction. Thank God for sex.
We wouldn't be here without it, right? But God gives it to us for pleasure in its proper place and God also gives it to us as a way to express our oneness. When a man and a woman come together sexually a oneness takes place.
The two become one. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6, 15, don't you realize your bodies are parts of Christ. Should a man take his body which belongs to Christ and join it to a prostitute?
Never. If you join yourself to a prostitute you become one with her. Because the Bible says two are united into one. So run away from sexual sin.
No other sin so clearly affects the body. This one does. But we marginalize it. Oh no, it means nothing. It's just a hook up. It's just a one night stand. No, it means a lot. And it matters.
It's not a toy. Well it doesn't hurt anyone as long as it's consensual. It doesn't hurt anyone.
Well first of all it separates you from God because of your sin. But then there are longer lasting repercussions. The University of Tennessee did a study among young women that found there seems to be a direct correlation between illicit sexual behavior and serious emotional problems. Also it will hurt your future marriage. The University of Oregon did a study among young men and found that those who engage in premarital relationships make poor marital risks. And the trend today of course is we'll just live together.
Enjoy the benefits, right? Friends with benefits. Well that's not a trial marriage.
That's basically a trial divorce. Because studies have been done that have revealed that those that live together before marriage have a far higher divorce rate than those that don't. God has set this up the way it's supposed to be set up.
It's there for your own good. Then there's a connection between sex outside of marriage and pregnancy of course. One million teens become pregnant every year. Many of these babies never make it to term. And here's the thing about abortion.
This is not an unclear message in the Bible. The Bible clearly teaches life begins at conception. Not at birth. At conception. The moment conception takes place you are a living soul.
David writes in Psalm 139, 13. You made all the delicate parts of my body. You knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous.
How will I know it? You watched me as being formed in utter seclusion. I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. Showing that God has a plan for us before birth. God says in Jeremiah 1.5 I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb.
It's so important. God had a plan for you even before you were born. And you say well what if the baby is conceived out of wedlock. I was conceived out of wedlock. I am the result of a one night stand of my mother. But thankfully she carried me to term. Thankfully she did not abort me.
God spared my life. Every child has a right to live. We don't think about the repercussions of abortion. It is celebrated in the magazines. They make a joke out of it as though it is nothing. And they don't talk about the depression that follows. They don't talk about the higher suicide rate.
The University of Minnesota study on teen suicide found that the rate of attempted suicide increased ten times for teens who had aborted during those previous six months. And I have talked to women who had an abortion maybe much earlier in their life. And it came back to haunt them later in life.
Because they sort of mark time. Like the day of that abortion and ten years later they see a ten year old young person and think well that would be the age that my child would have been. Oh yeah but we don't want to think of them as a child.
What was that? They are just the product of conception. Or an embryo or a fetus or some other word we would use. They even say well it was a potential human being.
Or really what else would it become? Ok so sometimes the full implications of getting an abortion doesn't hit you until later in life. And that is a very hard thing to deal with. It is not a potential human being.
It is a human being with incredible potential. And a lot of these ministries to pregnant women have sonogram machines. Because they have found that 90 percent of mothers who have a sonogram decided against abortion. So when our first son Christopher Kathy was pregnant with him and we went and looked at a sonogram. Sonograms were very primitive back then. They were like drawings on cave walls. Along with dinosaurs. No but I mean you could see there was a living baby in there but you couldn't make out details.
No sonograms are almost like 3D. You can see the face of the baby. They are amazing.
Aren't they? So you have a Greg hold on now. What about when the mother's life is in danger? What if? Let's play it out for a minute.
I think the normal maternal instinct of a mother is to save the life of her baby no matter what. A couple years ago we were in Maui. Well that wasn't a couple years ago it was many years ago actually. Because my grandson was quite young then.
Maybe one and a half. And so I was on the beach and his mom was not far from me and he was playing dumb by the water's edge. And a little wave rolled in and kind of toppled him over. And I am you know I am getting out of my seat to run to him.
His mother Brittany is already there. I have never seen a human being move so fast. She was like a panther. It is just like I am like oh get up help Christopher. She is like. Carrying him back.
And I am like I am almost up now. I was moving as quickly as I could but that is just a maternal instinct. That is what a mother does.
Father too but for the sake of the point a mom. If you are walking across the street with your little child and they are a little bit ahead of you and a car is coming. You say oh car is coming I can't get in the way of the car. My life would be in danger.
See a kid. That is bad. And I shouldn't laugh. You know that is just an illustration. But you laugh because it is so ridiculous. Of course you would push the child out of the way of the car. Maybe the car hits you.
Acceptable risk right? Mr. Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Well we are talking about the issue of abortion today as a part of Pastor Greg's series on hot button issues.
Let's continue. I heard an amazing story not long ago about a young lady living in Samoa. Her name is Simia Mativa. But her nickname was simply Tiva. And her name means poor thing. So Tiva got pregnant and she had a rare blood disease. And there was no cure for it at the time. So the doctor said Tiva if you have this baby you will die.
For sure. You will die. And so her whole family said don't have the baby. Let the doctor abort the baby and we want you to live. And she said I agree. So she signed the paperwork. Then her family left the room and she called the doctor back. Can I ask you a question?
He came back. She said I want to change that. I want to have the baby. He said you could die Tiva.
She says I know. But I want to have the baby. So he delivered the baby. And tragically Tiva did die. So before she died she gave a name to the little baby. She named him Moses. So Moses grew up to be a man. He went to Vietnam.
Fought for our country. He married. And he and his wife had twelve kids. Thirty-four grandkids and twenty-one great grandkids. That's sixty-seven in total. All have come to Christ. And fourteen of them are in ministry today. You have heard.
Isn't that great? You heard of the Katinas. The group of brothers that sing. No relation. But there is relation. I am kidding. There is relation. Yeah they are part of this Katina clan. Great godly men.
Good friends. So Tiva, whose name meant the poor thing, did a great thing didn't she? It was a sacrifice.
The ultimate sacrifice. We don't think about long term repercussions. You know you bought this child. Who knows what would happen with that child. Who knows what would happen with the children of the child. And the grandchildren of the child. And the great grandchildren.
Who knows? But we cut that short. It was an inconvenience.
The uterine content. It's my decision. Really? Well what about the little baby's decision? Well it doesn't matter.
Wow. What a tragedy this is. But here is the good news. If you have had an abortion God can and will forgive you. If you have committed adultery God can and will forgive you. If you have lived a homosexual lifestyle God can and will forgive you.
So we have to call these things for what they are. But God doesn't expose these things or convict us of these things to shame us but rather to save us. Because you might be a more moral person. Well I have never committed adultery. Ok great.
I am glad of that. Have you ever looked at a woman or a man with lust in your heart? Yeah ok. You know what Jesus said about that in the Sermon on the Mount right? You have committed adultery in your heart. We have all sinned. We have all broken God's commandments.
We all need Jesus Christ. I love the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. The religious leaders came and threw her before the feet of Jesus. And they said, the law says she should be stoned.
What do you say? He looked at all of these creeps. And stooped down and wrote something in the sand. And then he stood up and said, let him that is without sin cast the first stone.
And the Bible says they left from the eldest to the youngest. Then Jesus looks at this woman and he says, woman where are your accusers? It is an interesting phrase he uses for her woman. It is a term of respect. Like ma'am or lady. I am sure that girl had been called a lot of things but I doubt anyone had ever called her ma'am or lady. Ma'am where are your accusers?
Lady where are your accusers? She said, I have none Lord. Why would he say that to her? Because he didn't see her for what she was. He saw her for what she could become. Right.
He would change her. Don't define yourself by your sin. You can become a new person in Christ. Old things passed away.
Everything can become fresh and new. That is what the Bible says. That is the biblical world view. And Jesus saw that and then he said, go and sin no more.
So I just heard a story my wife told me about. We have a ministry here called Mentoring Matters. And the older ladies help the younger ladies. You know they share from their life's experience and from the scriptures the godly ladies.
And it is wonderful. And so they had a little time of sharing yesterday. And many of the young women got up and talked about how it had helped them. So one young woman in particular got up and said, yeah well I just came to Christ. And I prayed the sinner's prayer with Greg.
And I got my New Believers Bible. And she immediately enrolled in the New Believers Bible group. And she talked about how one of the people in the group was texting her, are you coming?
Make sure you come. They are following up on her in a beautiful way. And then she joined the Mentoring Matters. And as she learned more about the Bible she realized she can't live with her boyfriend anymore. And so they both stopped living together and now he is a Christian. And then they both got baptized at our last baptism at Pirate's Cove. And now they are walking with the Lord and they are a part of our young adults group.
Just classic transformation. But I left out something. In 2017 she was a prostitute walking the streets. And you might drive by and go, there is no hope for her.
Really? Jesus looks at her and sees her for what she can become. There is no hope for him. We might see a dead drug addict or that criminal or whoever he might be or whoever she might be. But God sees what you can become and Christ can transform you. That is the biblical worldview.
And that is what God wants for every person. But we must come to him and admit we are sinners and stop making excuses for our sin. And be willing to turn from our sin. The Bible says that we will confess our sin. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Now look. Every one of us have sinned. And if we haven't done it in actions we have done it in our minds. And we all need God's forgiveness. And there might be somebody here that is trapped by an immoral lifestyle. There might be somebody here that is trapped by an addiction to drugs or alcohol. There might be somebody here that is under the control of some other sin or vice or whatever it is and you don't think you can ever get free again.
That is a lie. You can be changed by Christ. He can change the narrative of your story.
But you must come to him and call out to him. I just think of this young lady I mentioned. What a change in her story.
And it can be your story too. But you must come to Jesus and say I am sorry for my sin. I turn from that sin and I choose to follow you. Jesus died on the cross for your sin.
He bore all the wrongs and sins that you have ever done on himself. And he rose again from the dead and now he stands at the door of your life and he knocks and says if you will cure his voice and open the door he will come in. So we are going to close with a prayer.
I am going to extend an invitation for anyone here that wants Jesus Christ to come into their life. Let's all pray. Father thank you for your word to us.
Thank you that it is true. Thank you for your promises and I pray for any person here or any person watching wherever they are. If they don't have a relationship with you let them come to you now and believe. Now while our heads are bowed and we are praying. If you want Jesus Christ to come into your life I want you to pray a prayer with me. You can pray it out loud if you like or you can pray it quietly in your heart but I want you to pray this. If you want this relationship with God.
Just pray these words. Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner and I know that you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I am sorry for my sin. I turn from it now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord. As my God and friend. In Jesus name I pray.
Amen. An important prayer from Pastor Greg Laurie with those making a change today in their relationship with the Lord. As you've listened to a new beginning maybe you prayed along with Pastor Greg. If so we want to help you begin to live this new life of faith. We'd like to send you his New Believers Bible. It's in the New Living Translation which is so easy for a new believer to understand.
And you'll find scores of special helps that answer the questions you may have. We'll send you the New Believers Bible without charge. Look for it when you call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 number 1-800-821-3300.
Or write A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside, CA 92514. Or go online to Harvest.org and click Know God. And Pastor Greg we're so thankful for the work God is doing through this ministry. We're touching lives for eternity. And we're really thankful for our friends who see the fruit of this ministry and invest so this work can reach even further.
Isn't that right? Absolutely. When you invest in Harvest Ministries you're investing in the souls of men and women, boys and girls. And what is the value of a soul?
Well let me personalize it. What's the value of your soul? What's the value of the soul of your husband, your wife, your son, or your daughter? Or your mom or your dad?
Or your best friend? Well I would say you probably couldn't put a price tag on it. It's so valuable. Well listen, God says all souls are mine.
God loves us and sent his son to die on the cross to pay the price for all of our sins so we could be forgiven and come into a relationship with him. I can't think of a better investment of my resources, of my money, than in the work of the kingdom of God. So we would ask you to prayerfully consider investing in Harvest Ministries as we continue on to fulfill the Great Commission.
Yeah that's right. And you can make your donation right now at harvest.org or write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Well next time, as Pastor Greg continues his series called Hot Button Issues, he brings us a message called How Could a God of Love Send Someone to Hell? Have you ever been asked that? Some good insight is coming next time. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie.
