A New Beginning

Announcer: Now, I want to put two words together that don't fit: Almost Christian. Today, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us make sure our faith is sincere, our faith is genuine, and we're not holding back in our relationship with the Lord. You can't be an almost Christian. Now, you may be on your way to becoming a Christian, but either you are a Christian or you are not a Christian. But you can't be an almost Christian. That's an oxymoron, almost Christian.

Announcer: This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace how sweet the sound. Can you hear when the angels are singing? This is the day when life begins.

Announcer: Ever drive away from home and have that nagging feeling you might have left the stove on, or forgot to lock a door, or left a curling iron plugged in? If you don't go back and check, you start thinking about how things could go horribly wrong. We want to be sure about certain things, don't we?

Announcer: Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us check ourselves when it comes to the sincerity of our faith in Christ. When it comes to matters of eternity, close enough isn't close enough.

Announcer: This is the day when life begins.

Greg Laurie: Well, let's grab our Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 26. The title of my message is the Almost Christian. The almost Christian. Almost, that's an interesting word, isn't it? It's a word that means slightly short of, not quite, close, nearly. It's often associated with delaying something. Dinner is almost ready, or Jenny almost fainted. That's how we'll often use it.

Sometimes it's because of confusion. So you walk into a restaurant, you take your seat, and the server comes and gives you a menu and then they ask, do you know what you want to order? Well, it all depends. If I'm at Cheesecake Factory, I am literally overwhelmed. I Googled this because I wanted to confirm it. The menu at the Cheesecake Factory has 21 pages of 250 items. Do you know what you want? No, I'm overwhelmed. That's why I like In-N-Out Burger. It's like burger, burger with fries, malt. Chick-fil-A, similar. Chicken sandwich, chicken nuggets, maybe a malt, actually a chicken flavored malt. No, not really, but simplicity.

So, you'll say, you know, I don't know, I'm almost ready to order, or maybe you're a husband and you're going out to dinner and you call upstairs to your bedroom and you ask your wife, are you ready? And she says, almost. You know what that means, right? One hour more, okay, one. Or you're, you get a call from your boss. Says, we're having a meeting, where are you? Oh, I'm almost there, which really means you just woke me up out of a dead sleep. And almost, it's a word we use a lot. It's a word that is associated with procrastinating.

Now, I want to put two words together that don't fit. Almost Christian. You can't be an almost Christian. Now, you may be on your way to becoming a Christian. You may be closer to believing than you've ever been at any other time in your life, but either you are a Christian or you are not a Christian. But you can't be an almost Christian. That's an oxymoron. Almost Christian.

An oxymoron is, well, jumbo shrimp. That's an oxymoron. What is it? Jumbo or shrimp? Or freezer burn. How do you get burned from a freezer? Or, uh, government efficiency. That's an oxymoron. Yeah, for sure. Airline food, another oxymoron. Is it really food? I'm not quite sure.

So we are introduced in this story to what we could describe as an almost Christian. His name was Herod Agrippa, and he was listening to the Apostle Paul preach to him. Now, when we hear the word or the name Herod, which is a name and a title, uh, we get confused because there's a lot of Herods in the Bible. Number one, there's the big daddy of them all, known as Herod the Great. This is the Herod that tried to kill Jesus when he was made aware by the wise men that one had been born in Bethlehem who would be the King of the Jews. And this wicked Herod, uh, had all the little baby boys in Bethlehem killed. And then he was the leader of a, of a horrible, devilish dynasty. After him came Herod Antipas.

Herod Antipas was responsible for the beheading of John the Baptist. After that, Jesus was told that Herod Antipas wanted to speak with him. And Jesus said in Luke 12:32, you go tell that fox, I'm going to keep casting out demons out of people, and I'm going to keep doing miracles, and on the third day I will accomplish my purpose. Ultimately, Jesus did appear before this Herod, but it's worth noting, he did not say a single word to him. Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, had an extended conversation, but to this wicked Herod, Jesus did not say a single word. Then there was a son of that Herod, Herod Antipas, he's the one who slew the Apostle James and had Peter put in prison. He's also the one that gave the great speech and the people cried out, it's a voice of a God and not of a man, and God struck him down.

Okay, that brings us to the Herod we're going to be looking at, and that would be Herod Agrippa. Now, in one sense, it was Paul appearing before Herod, but in another way, it's Herod appearing before Paul. Because the judgment he would render toward the Apostle would effectively predict the judgment that would be rendered toward him. Coming back to Pilate, we can say Jesus appeared to Pilate, but we could more accurately say Pilate appeared before Jesus, because Jesus was God walking among us. And so, that's really the situation before us. And so Herod Agrippa was deeply moved by what Paul said, and he says in Acts 26:28, you almost persuade me to become a Christian.

Another translation of that is, are you actually trying to talk me into becoming a Christian in such a short time? And the answer was, absolutely. That was Paul's hope that this Herod would come to faith. So Herod was close, but not close enough. I suggest to you there are a lot of almost Christians in our nation today. In fact, I would say there are more almost Christians than non-believers, because when surveys are done, there's always a very high amount of people that profess to believe in God. A recent survey found that 87% of Americans believe in God. So we hear of the rise of atheism. Yeah, there are atheists, but most people out there believe there is a God.

Three quarters of Americans believe in miracles. 73% believe in heaven. 71% of Americans believe Jesus is a son of God. 71% of us believe, uh, in angels. Seven out of ten of Americans say Jesus rose from the dead, and they believe that the Bible is the word of God. So, I'm thinking, what? Where are these people? I'm sure not seeing them. But then a recent Barna Poll revealed the following, quote, half of Americans who call themselves Christians don't believe Satan exists, and one third are confident Jesus sinned while on Earth. Okay, Houston, we have a problem.

So we have a lot of people saying they believe in God, they say they believe in the Bible, they believe in angels, but yet they're saying they don't think there's a devil, and they think Jesus sinned when he was on Earth, which is not true, of course, because he was a sinless Son of God. Then 25% of others who claim to be Christians dismiss the idea that the Bible is accurate and all that it teaches. So clearly there's a lot of confusion here. Look, our faith, uh, that we have in Christ is a package deal. God offers it to you. Here it is, this is not something we're going to vote on. This is your opportunity to believe or reject it.

But you don't pick and choose what you like. This is not ala carte Christianity, but it is for some people. And these are what I would call almost Christians. This is why Paul poses this challenge to those who claim to believe in 2 Corinthians 13:5. He says, check up on yourselves, are you really Christians? Do you pass the test, or are you just pretending to be Christians when you actually are not at all? Hmm, powerful question.

Reminds me of a story of a guy that needed work. He heard they were hiring down at the local zoo. And, uh, so he went and applied and said, I'd like to get a job here. They said, sorry, sir, all the positions are filled. But then the person looking at this man said, you know, you're a pretty big dude, uh, a lot of muscle there. I'm going to say something, I hope you're not offended. But our gorilla died the other day, and we ordered a new one, and he's on his way. But I was wondering if we made you a custom gorilla suit. Would you be willing to wear it and pretend to be a gorilla for a few days? We'll pay you really well. And then when the new gorilla comes, you're good, that's all. And the guy said, okay. So they made him a custom gorilla suit, he put it on, he went to the gorilla area, and he felt really self-conscious, no one's going to believe it. And so he walked around a little bit, pounded his chest a couple times, the crowd started to form.

By day two, he's getting excited. He, he's enjoying it. He's swinging on the vines. Everyone's believing he's a real gorilla. He gets a little excited and swings too far and lands right in the middle of the lion's cage. Now the lion is approaching him quickly, and the guy in the gorilla suit doesn't know what to do. If he yells out help, people will know he was a fraud. Finally, he just yells, help! And the lion says, shut up, stupid, or you'll get us both fired. So he was pretending to be something he was not.

And there are people today that are pretending to be Christians when they are not Christians. Again, check up on yourself. Second Corinthians 13. Are you really Christians? Do you pass the test? Or are you just pretending to be Christians when you actually aren't at all?

Announcer: Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Whenever you send us an email, letter, or post a comment on social media, we read every word.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg, I just watched the Jesus Revolution movie you sent me and wow, I loved it. It reminded me of the time I made it to one of the Calvary Chapel beach baptisms in 1972 to watch all the newly saved people come and be baptized. I drove there in my VW bus, Jesus van, and ended up handing out hundreds of the Living Water tracks from Maranatha Publishers. For the past 54 years, I have been and will always be a Jesus freak.

Announcer: Has Pastor Greg heard from you? Why not drop him an email and let him know? Send it to Greg@harvest.org. Again, that's Greg@harvest.org. Well, today, Pastor Greg is presenting a fascinating message called The Almost Christian. It's a good warning for those masquerading in their faith.

Greg Laurie: Let me say something that might surprise you. It is possible for you to pray, keep the Ten Commandments to the best of your ability, attend church on a regular basis, be baptized, and not necessarily be a Christian. Now, if you're a Christian, you should do all these things. But you can do all these things and not necessarily be a Christian.

The outward can be without the inward, but the inward can never be without the outward. Does that make sense? The outward, those things that we do, can be without the inward, but the inward, if you're really a believer, will never be without the outward. Jesus said, by their fruit you shall know them.

For instance, a person can pray and not necessarily be a Christian. Paul showed that nine out of ten Americans pray. 76% of us believe that there is a Heavenly Father that can be reached by prayer. The reality is when, when you're in trouble, most people pray, right? I know I did before I was a Christian. If I was in a crisis, I called out to God, I even called out to Jesus. I had no relationship with him. But that doesn't mean you're a Christian. That just means you're calling out to God. Because in the story of the book of Jonah, a great storm came and all of the sailors called out to their various gods, right? They all had their gods and people will call on God in the day of trouble. But when the crisis passed, do you still call out to God?

Listen, you can say your prayers and never pray. You know, we teach people their prayers. Say your prayers. Learn these prayers. When you're in trouble, pray these prayers. We teach our children prayers. Say your prayers before you go to sleep. Remember your prayers, we say. Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Is that a good prayer to teach a child, really? I think you might be traumatizing that little one. What are you really saying? You know, you might die tonight in your sleep. But, uh, just pray God takes your soul. So good night, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite. Bed, what? Bed bugs?

Now, instead of teaching a child a prayer, teach them how to pray. And God says in the book of Isaiah 59, the arm of the Lord isn't too short to save, his ear's not too dull to hear. Your iniquities have separated you from God. Your sins have hidden his face from you, so he will not hear. So, if you're living in overt sin, don't expect your prayers to be answered. The Psalmist says in Psalm 66, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Listen to this. If you're living in overt sin with no desire to repent, you are not a Christian.

If you are living in overt sin with no desire to repent, you're not a Christian. Now you're saying, Greg, you're wrong on that. Everyone struggles. I, I didn't say if you're struggling with sin. Overt means you're living this way, you're not going to change the way you're living, you have no intention of repenting. Don't tell me you're a Christian. Are you a Christian? Do you pass the test? Or are you pretending to be a Christian when you really aren't at all? Amen. Judge not lest you be judged. Okay, hold on. I am judging you.

Because the Bible says judgment begins at the house of God. And if we don't see any spiritual fruit in your life, why should I believe that you're necessarily a Christian? Listen, a person can make visible change in their life and not necessarily be a Christian. In the book of Acts, remember we read about Simon the sorcerer, and apparently he became a believer. He was baptized. Everything looked pretty good. But then he tried to buy the gift of God that he saw, uh, being utilized at the hand of Simon Peter. And Peter said, your heart is not right from God, turn from this wickedness. And I think that this Simon guy, he was a magician, he was deceiving people. Uh, he was going out of business when Peter showed up and the gospel was preached. And so, he sort of adapted.

He, he wanted to get whatever it is they were doing, so he could stay in business and keep misleading people. This happens all the time. Uh, people become a Christian, I'll put that in quotes, when they need something. Politicians, oh yes. They come calling, they come knocking. Yes, I, uh, would like to come and address your church. I, I too am a believer. Really? I've never seen any evidence of that before, but, you know, because they want to get that evangelical vote. Sometimes a person, their career may be fading. Well, it's time to record a gospel record. It's okay, record a gospel record. But are you doing that because you believe it or you just want to boost your career? You see, you can do these things and not be a Christian.

I mean, think of Judas Iscariot. He, he spent three years hanging out with Jesus. He saw Jesus walk on the water. He saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. He with his own ears heard the sermon on the mount. He knew Jesus was perfect and flawless, yet he betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver. He was so close, yet so far. Yes, you can appear to be a believer and not be a believer. So coming back to our story, Herod Agrippa, the king, one of the Herods, is coming to town. It's a big deal. And his sister, Bernice. They arrive with all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds a visiting dignitary. He, Herod would have been arrayed in a royal, scarlet robe and, uh, there were Roman soldiers around him in their dressed uniforms and, and every eye is on them as they take their royal seats.

Paul's standing there thinking, well, look who just walked into my net. He wasn't intimidated by the power, the authority, or anything else about these two people. He saw them as people to reach with the gospel. And really, as we read now what Paul says, we learn how to share our faith with non-believers. Acts 26:1. Agrippa said to Paul, you may now speak in your defense. And Paul with a gesture of his hand started his defense. I'm very fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing my defense against all these accusations made by the Jewish leaders, for I know you're an expert on Jewish customs and controversies. Now listen to me personally. Okay, now drop down to verse nine. I want to point out something before we read this. This is Paul's testimony.

It's a powerful story, hard to top, quite frankly. He often began his messages with his testimony. And everybody has a testimony. You have a testimony, I have a testimony. And one testimony is not more valid than another because it's more drastic or radical or whatever. Here's all of our testimonies in a nutshell. Once we were blind, but now we see. Right? Jesus Christ has changed our lives. But Paul's story was pretty unique. So he shares it now. Acts 26:9, speaking of Herod Agrippa. I used to believe I had to do everything I could to oppose the followers of Jesus of Nazareth.

Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many of the believers in Jerusalem to be sent to prison. I cast my vote against them, and they were condemned to death. Many times I had them whipped in the synagogue to get them to curse Christ. It shows how hard Saul then called was. He would whip people to get them to deny their faith and curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them. Paul says, I hounded them in distant cities of foreign lands. So one day, I'm on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priest. About noon, your Majesty, a light from Heaven, brighter than the sun, shone down on me and my companions. We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It's hard for you to fight against my will.

I said, who are you, sir? And the Lord replied, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. He loved to tell this story because it built a bridge. Here's the great thing about your story. Uh, it's a great way to preach to a person without preaching at a person. Does that make sense? In other words, as I tell my story, I say I heard a guy say Jesus said, you're for me or against me. So instead of me starting with a sermon, I start with my story, but in effect, I am kind of preaching to them. So it's showing them I wasn't always the way I am now. Christ has changed me. That's the place to begin.

Announcer: Good instruction from Pastor Greg Laurie today here on A New Beginning. He is presenting a candid message called The Almost Christian. Pastor Greg was just talking about the value of sharing our story. Can we ask, what's your story? Do you have a story of how you came to Christ? Or maybe that story is unfinished, it's still being written. Pastor Greg, what would you say to the person listening who, who hasn't quite come to the point of asking Jesus to be their savior?

Greg Laurie: Yes, I think they need to make this commitment to Christ. Here's what the Bible says. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So you need to reach out to God. Not just think about it, not just say, one of these days I would like to, just do it. In fact, you can do it right now. You say, well, how do I call out to the name of the Lord? You do it through prayer. God is just a prayer away. He desires a relationship with you. He wants you to know him. He wants to reveal himself to you. So you just need to call out and say, Lord, save me and help me.

How about if I lead you in a prayer? And you could pray this prayer after me, you can pray it out loud if you like, you can pray it quietly in your heart, but direct this prayer toward God, and you can pray it after me right now. You ready? Pray this after me. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the savior. And I want a relationship with you. So as your word says, I'm calling on the name of the Lord. I'm asking you to save me from my sin, and I'm asking that we begin a new relationship today. Thank you for loving me and sending your son Jesus to die on the cross for my sin, and then raising him from the dead. I now put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ, and I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Announcer: Amen. And listen, if you have just prayed along with Pastor Greg and if you've meant those words sincerely, let us be the first to welcome you into the family of God. And we want to help you get started off right in this new daily walk with the Lord. Pastor Greg would like to send you his new believer's Bible. It's a special edition of God's Word for those who are new to the faith with scores of helps for new believers written by Pastor Greg. So get in touch and ask for the new believer's Bible. We'll send it free of charge. So just call us at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click the words know God.

You know, Pastor Greg, not long ago you mentioned that in the 50 years, actually over 50 years of Harvest Ministries, we know of at least a million, a million professions of faith through this outreach. It's just hard to wrap our minds around that. You know, I learned that if you would stack up a million pennies into the air, it would reach a mile above the Earth. That's the enormity of that number.

Greg Laurie: Wow. Yes.

Announcer: Now, we've reached all those people one heart at a time, one soul at a time.

Greg Laurie: Yes.

Announcer: And frankly, it took investments from our friends one at a time to help make that possible, didn't it?

Greg Laurie: That's totally true. You know, I think of the statement of Jesus when he says, there is joy in Heaven over one sinner that comes to repentance. He could have said, there's joy in Heaven when there's over a thousand on any given day. But it's one. Every soul is precious to God. I mean, how precious is your soul to you? How precious is a soul of your son or your daughter or your father or your mother or your husband or your wife? Well, those souls are of the greatest value, and that's how God sees us. He says, every soul is mine. So, yes, we've been able to reach a lot of people. And frankly, Dave, that's a very conservative number. I think that number is actually much higher. But that was the number we knew we could stand by without any question, and so that's the number that we put out there.

But you know what? We want to reach a million more. We want to reach five million more. We want to reach as many as we possibly can while we can. You know, the Bible says, work while it is the day, for the night is coming when no man can work. So, we have a critical moment in our history, a special time right now to reach people, and let's not let it slip through our fingers. So, that's why I need you all to help me because we have a program that we call Harvest Partners. What that means is these are folks that that do more than just give sporadically or occasionally. These are folks that commit to give to our ministry on a monthly basis. And because of this, we can depend on those gifts, and it helps us to know what we can do, opportunities to expand, et cetera.

So, would you prayerfully consider supporting us in some way, shape or form, but would you even consider going to that next level, if you will, and becoming a Harvest Partner? You'll help us to reach more people with the life-changing message of the gospel because every soul is precious to God.

Announcer: Oh, yeah, that's true. So, get in touch with us today. We're here to take your call 24/7 at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org. Are you receiving Pastor Greg's daily devotions each day via email? If not, let's take care of that right now. You can sign up today free of charge at harvest.org. And you'll receive a daily inspirational thought from God's Word each day in your inbox. Again, go to harvest.org. Next time, more important words of warning from the message called The Almost Christian. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.