A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: The devil's two favorite words are give up. And I think I'm talking to someone right now that's thinking of giving up. Giving up on your faith. Don't give up. Get up. Don't listen to him. The Lord wants us to press on to the upward call.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie points out the devil urges us toward a downward fall. We choose who we listen to.

Greg Laurie: The Christian life is like a race. So the key is looking to Jesus, keeping your eyes on the Lord.

Guest (Male): This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Oh, can you hear how the angels are singing? This is the day today when life begins.

Guest (Male): Life can be like tending a garden. What we water grows. If we spend all our time feeding worry, pleasure, and listening to the voice of our adversary, we shouldn't be surprised when weeds take over.

Guest (Male): Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us focus our attention carefully. The voices we listen to are like seeds. Some bring peace, others just bring pests.

Guest (Male): At some point we've got to ask, are we planting the right crop or just giving the weeds a comfy home?

Guest (Male): This is the day today when life begins.

Greg Laurie: I was at my grandson's lacrosse game the other day. He was playing very well with his team and I was standing next to his sister Ally and I reminded her of when she was a little girl and she was playing soccer. She was in some team called The Purple Princesses or something like that.

Greg Laurie: And she wasn't scoring any goals and I said, "Ally, you need the eye of the tiger." She looked at me quizzically. What, you haven't seen Rocky 3? Okay, the eye of the tiger. And I said, "I'll tell you what, I'll give you a doll if you score a goal."

Greg Laurie: Well, she got the eye of the tiger and she started scoring goal after goal. I thought, someone should write a song like The Eye of the Doll. I don't know, but she was scoring so many goals. I said, "Okay, the doll deal is over with." You're scoring too many goals.

Greg Laurie: But, you know, The Eye of the Tiger, if you don't know what I'm talking about, is a song and it's from Rocky 3. So, in Rocky 3, Rocky is the undefeated champion of the world and he's kind of getting lazy and complacent.

Greg Laurie: He even has a pet tiger. He's not taking anything seriously. He has a challenger in Clubber Lang, played by Mr. T, who beats him. So the rest of the movie is a surprise about Rocky making a comeback, right?

Greg Laurie: Isn't that what all the Rocky movies are about? The big comeback. And so at one point he's being trained by Apollo Creed, his former opponent. And Apollo says to Rocky, "Rocky, you need the eye of the tiger."

Greg Laurie: And you know, spiritually, we too can grow complacent and lazy, and that's what was happening to Israel.

Greg Laurie: Of course, they had gone to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. They were successful. The walls were completed in 52 days. Nehemiah felt like, "Hey, my job is done." He went back to Babylon to continue on as the cupbearer, advisor, counselor to the king.

Greg Laurie: And then a report came to Nehemiah that the people had gone back again, that there was sin among them again, that there was compromise, that everything was falling apart, reminding us that just because you have a good beginning doesn't mean you will necessarily have a good finish.

Greg Laurie: The Constitution of the United States had just been signed when America was a nation. Benjamin Franklin walked out of a meeting room to a waiting crowd and one lady came up to Benjamin Franklin and said, "So, Mr. Franklin, what type of government have you and the delegates given us?" And his response was, "Well, a Republic, madam, if you can keep it."

Greg Laurie: The idea is, we've laid the foundation. Now it's up to you and the nation and the future to maintain this. And the same is true spiritually.

Greg Laurie: You know, we'll be on a roll, we'll be doing great, and then we'll do something that is completely self-destructive.

Greg Laurie: Has that ever happened to you?

Greg Laurie: You're doing well spiritually. You're reading your Bible, you're going to church, you're praying, you're sharing your faith, you're firing on all cylinders, and then you just do the dumbest thing of all.

Greg Laurie: Something that sabotages you. Something you can't believe you even did. And you want to know why you do that? Here's the answer. You might want to write this down.

Greg Laurie: Sin makes you stupid.

Greg Laurie: There's nothing irrational about it. There's nothing logical about it.

Greg Laurie: Go back to our first parents in the Garden of Eden. How crazy was it to abandon literal paradise to take a bite of some piece of fruit offered to them by the devil? But that's exactly what they did.

Greg Laurie: So, that brings me to point number one, if you're taking notes, and it is: starting strong is good, finishing strong is better.

Greg Laurie: Starting strong is good, but finishing strong is better.

Greg Laurie: You can have the worst start, but if you have a great finish, that's really all that matters. Or you can have a great start and a horrible finish and undo all the good that you did.

Greg Laurie: And so we want to finish well. You know, we'll make commitments to things that we won't follow through on.

Greg Laurie: Like diets.

Greg Laurie: How many of you went on a diet at the beginning of this year? Raise your hand.

Greg Laurie: Some of you should have, I don't know.

Greg Laurie: I won't say who, but I'm looking at them right now. No, I'm just kidding.

Greg Laurie: Looking at mirrors is what I should be looking at, right?

Greg Laurie: But diets are a great idea for the first couple of days maybe.

Greg Laurie: Like a high protein diet. How great of a diet is that?

Greg Laurie: Oh, I can eat meat and I can eat cheese and I can eat all these great things. I just can't have carbs, who cares? And after three days you are withdrawing, wanting carbs so badly, right?

Greg Laurie: Or joining a gym. Planet Fitness is the biggest gym chain in America or at least one of them. And one of their gyms has a capacity to only hold 300 people, but they signed up 6,000.

Greg Laurie: And the reason they can do that is because they know guaranteed half of the people that sign up will never show up even once.

Greg Laurie: And then the rest will be sporadic at best. So, oh, I'm going to join the gym. Yeah, but then you don't ever go to the gym.

Greg Laurie: Or maybe you volunteered to serve here at church. You find out there's a need in Children's Ministry. So you volunteer to help out the three-year-olds and after they've tied you to a chair and they're talking about selling you into slavery because you taught that lesson on Joseph and his brothers, you're reconsidering. Do I want to keep doing this?

Greg Laurie: The Bible's filled with stories of people that started well but did not finish well.

Greg Laurie: Samson comes to mind, the he-man with the she-weakness.

Greg Laurie: Superhuman strength, but he self-destructed.

Greg Laurie: We also think of Moses. He did not finish all that well, nor did Noah for that matter.

Greg Laurie: David started very well. He crashed and burned, but he did make a comeback, as did Peter. So you want to finish well.

Greg Laurie: Because the Bible tells us, the Christian life is like a race and the objective of this race is to run to win.

Greg Laurie: Paul says, "Run to win the race."

Greg Laurie: But you also want to finish the race you started. Paul also talked about finishing his race with joy.

Greg Laurie: And in his final epistle, he said, "I fought the good fight, I kept the faith, I finished the course. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness."

Greg Laurie: So we want to finish this race well.

Greg Laurie: Cathy and I just celebrated 51 years of marriage together last week.

Greg Laurie: People have asked what is the secret to a long and happy marriage? Well, it goes back for us to our honeymoon.

Greg Laurie: So we went to the Grand Canyon for our honeymoon and we rented those mules. You know, the little pack mules and they go along those narrow little pads. And so she was on the mule in front of me.

Greg Laurie: And we're riding along and the mule, her mule stumbled. And so she leaned forward and said into the mule's ear, "That's once."

Greg Laurie: I thought, what on earth?

Greg Laurie: It's kind of surprising. I'd never see her do that before.

Greg Laurie: Then we went a little further. Again, her mule stumbles. We're very close to the edge. You don't want to fall.

Greg Laurie: She leans forward again, says in the mule, "That's twice."

Greg Laurie: Okay, we go a little further. The mule stumbles for the third time. She reaches into her purse, pulls out a gun, holds it up to the mule's head, fires and kills the mule.

Greg Laurie: I was shocked. I was outraged. I said, "Cathy, what are you doing?" She turned to me and said, "That's once."

Greg Laurie: This is a true story.

Greg Laurie: Not really.

Greg Laurie: But our marriage is similar to our relationship with God.

Greg Laurie: In fact, the Bible tells husbands to love their wife as Christ loves the church and wives to submit unto the Lord. See, the key to a marriage,

Greg Laurie: there's many keys, but let's just say a key to a marriage, a good marriage, is maintenance, giving attention to it.

Greg Laurie: You know, I think husbands and wives need to read their own mail.

Greg Laurie: Far too often the husband is reading the verses addressed to the wife, telling the wife to do a better job.

Greg Laurie: Or the wife, she's reading the verses directed to the husband, telling him to do a better job.

Greg Laurie: My response is, "Read your own mail."

Greg Laurie: Focus on your part.

Greg Laurie: The Bible says to husbands, "Love your wife as Christ loves the church." That's a lifelong pursuit.

Greg Laurie: Love your wife as Christ loves the church.

Greg Laurie: And then to the wives it says, "Wives, respect your husband."

Greg Laurie: You know, it's interesting that God specifically tells a woman to respect her man and God specifically tells a man to love his woman.

Greg Laurie: That's not to say a man doesn't need love and it's not to say a woman doesn't need and deserve respect.

Greg Laurie: But it is to say, it's worth noting the Bible specifically says, "Husbands, love your wife. Wives, respect your husband."

Greg Laurie: You know that song by Aretha Franklin, R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Did you know that was originally written by a man to his woman?

Greg Laurie: So he's saying, "Woman, I go out and I work hard all day, give me a little respect."

Greg Laurie: So this is something that is actually biblical.

Greg Laurie: So, wives, turn to your husband and say this.

Greg Laurie: Okay, you're not doing it. Turn to your husband, wives.

Greg Laurie: Turn, turn to your husband. Repeat after me. Greg is more handsome than you.

Greg Laurie: No, turn to your husband and say, "I respect you."

Greg Laurie: Go.

Greg Laurie: Did you mean it?

Greg Laurie: You're in church, don't lie.

Greg Laurie: Husbands, turn to your wife and say, "You know, you're right. Greg is more handsome than me."

Greg Laurie: No. Say, "I love you."

Greg Laurie: I want to hear it.

Greg Laurie: Beautiful. Well done.

Greg Laurie: It's maintenance.

Greg Laurie: I read that the Golden Gate Bridge is constantly being painted. They paint it from one side to the other and start over again. It just needs constant maintenance.

Greg Laurie: So does marriage, so does your Christian life.

Greg Laurie: The Bible says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

Greg Laurie: It doesn't say work for your own salvation because it's a gift from God. It's a finished work given to you by Christ.

Greg Laurie: So when the Bible says, "Work out your own salvation," it could better be translated, "Carry to the goal and fully complete."

Greg Laurie: The idea is of going into a mine and getting out the silver or the gold. You got to go in there and get out what God has put in. Work it out, live it out.

Greg Laurie: So we need to keep at it.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

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Guest (Male): Well, Pastor Greg is presenting the final message from Nehemiah today, a study called Finishing What You Start.

Guest (Male): His first point was starting strong is good, finishing strong is better.

Greg Laurie: Number two, stay focused. Don't lose the eye of the tiger.

Greg Laurie: You know, the scripture tells us that we are to run with perseverance the race marked out for us. How do we do it?

Greg Laurie: Answer: We keep our eyes on Jesus.

Greg Laurie: In Hebrews 12, the writer says, "We're all running a race, so lay aside the weight and the sin that so easily besets you or slows you down. Run this race with endurance." Here's the key. "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and now is set down on the right hand of God."

Greg Laurie: So the key is looking to Jesus, keeping your eyes on the Lord.

Greg Laurie: Because the devil wants you to get your eyes off of the Lord and he wants you to give up. The devil's two favorite words are give up.

Greg Laurie: Don't listen to him. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Greg Laurie: And I think I'm talking to someone right now that's thinking of giving up. Giving up on your marriage, giving up, maybe even on your life, giving up on your faith.

Greg Laurie: Giving up on your ministry. Don't give up, get up and remember this: fix your eyes on Jesus.

Greg Laurie: In fact, Nehemiah 4:14 says to the people, "Don't be afraid of the enemy. Remember the Lord."

Greg Laurie: But Israel had forgotten this. They were not remembering the Lord. They were going backward again.

Greg Laurie: Though they had rebuilt these walls and had a spiritual awakening, they were returning to their old ways.

Greg Laurie: They had to return again to the Lord.

Greg Laurie: So that brings us now to our text, Nehemiah 10, verse 28.

Greg Laurie: And this is what they did before their fall began.

Greg Laurie: Nehemiah 10:28, "The rest of the people, the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants, and all who separated themselves from the pagan people of the land in order to obey the Lord, together with their wives, sons, daughters, and all who were old enough to understand, join their leaders and bound themselves with an oath. They swore a curse on themselves if they failed to obey the law of God as issued by the servant Moses. They solemnly promised to carefully follow all the commands, regulations, and decrees of the Lord our God." So number three, they promised to carefully follow all the commands of scripture.

Greg Laurie: I think sometimes people want to pick and choose what parts of the Bible they like and discard the rest.

Greg Laurie: I'm reminded of Thomas Jefferson, who had his own version of the Bible. It was called Jefferson's Bible. And basically what he did was he took scissors and cut out all the parts of the Bible he did not agree with.

Greg Laurie: So in Jefferson's Bible, there were no miracles. So no walking on water, no feeding of the 5,000, no resurrection of Jesus.

Greg Laurie: He also cut out all references to the deity of Christ because Jefferson did not believe Jesus was the son of God.

Greg Laurie: However, he left in the ethical teachings of Jesus like the Sermon on the Mount and parables about kindness, forgiveness, and love, and other lessons on humility, compassion, etc.

Greg Laurie: Because Jefferson regarded Jesus as a great philosopher, nothing more.

Greg Laurie: Well, you can't do that. You can't go to the Bible and take out the parts you don't agree with.

Greg Laurie: Jesus said, "You are my disciples if you continue in my word." So we need to continue in what his word says.

Greg Laurie: Number four, they chose to obey the word of God. To obey what it says.

Greg Laurie: So they surrendered from God's word. Everyone did it. Verse 28 says, "The wives, the sons, the daughters, everyone joined themselves and they made this commitment." And I want to point out something, it was a public commitment. They took an oath, "We are going to do this and we want everyone to know it."

Greg Laurie: It's important to make public stands on certain things like marriage.

Greg Laurie: This is why a wedding ceremony matters.

Greg Laurie: Because people will say, "Well, we're just living together, it's like being married." No, it isn't.

Greg Laurie: Because you know, you could walk away at any given moment.

Greg Laurie: And when you really are in love with someone, you need to make that commitment. "Oh, it's just a piece of paper." No, it's a commitment you're making to God and it's a commitment you're making to your family and it's a commitment you're making to your friends and anybody else who happens to attend.

Greg Laurie: You're saying publicly, "I take you to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, from this day forward, in sickness and in health," etc.

Greg Laurie: So that's a public stand. And by the way, if you want to sabotage a marriage, live together before you get married.

Greg Laurie: Statistics actually show that those who live together before marriage are more likely to divorce than those that don't. So you make a public commitment.

Greg Laurie: And the same is true of your faith.

Greg Laurie: Make a public stand for Christ.

Greg Laurie: Do people in your neighborhood know you're a Christian?

Greg Laurie: Do people on your campus know you're a follower of Jesus Christ?

Greg Laurie: Do people who follow you on social media know you believe that the Bible is true? Make your stand.

Greg Laurie: That's what I love about baptism. It's something you do openly.

Greg Laurie: And it's a beautiful thing when people watch and see a believer going into the water and saying goodbye to the old life and making that commitment to Christ.

Greg Laurie: Here's another thing, number five: they separated themselves from ungodly influences.

Greg Laurie: They separated themselves from ungodly influences.

Greg Laurie: Look at verse 28, "Then the rest of the people, the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, separated themselves from the pagan people of the land in order to obey the law of the Lord, saying, 'We promised and not let our daughters marry the pagan people of the land and not to let our sons marry their daughters.'"

Greg Laurie: If you want to be a godly person, you have to separate yourself from some things and join yourself to others.

Greg Laurie: Being a Christian is is saying no to some things and saying yes to others.

Greg Laurie: Someone sums it up perfectly.

Greg Laurie: It says, "Happy is the man or woman who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful." That's what they don't do.

Greg Laurie: But, in contrast, their delight is in the word of the Lord, and in it do they meditate day and night.

Greg Laurie: In Timothy, Paul writes, "Flee youthful desires and follow righteousness, faith, and peace along with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

Guest (Male): Some good insight today on a new beginning from Pastor Greg Laurie's study series in the book of Nehemiah. Some practical instruction on finishing well.

Guest (Male): And there's more good teaching yet to come.

Guest (Male): But, you know, the very first step in living for the Lord is coming to the Lord.

Guest (Male): Have you ever come to him and entered into a relationship with him?

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg, what would you say to the person listening who just doesn't know if they're really a Christian?

Guest (Male): They can't think of a time when they made a deliberate decision for the Lord.

Guest (Male): It's just not a good idea to assume everything's going to work out okay, is it?

Greg Laurie: No, this is one area of your life you want to be sure about.

Greg Laurie: Where you're going to spend eternity.

Greg Laurie: The Bible says, "These things we write to you that you may believe on the Son of God and that you may know that you have eternal life."

Greg Laurie: Listen, I know I have eternal life. I know I'll go to heaven one day. And I hope that doesn't sound boastful and if it does, I'm boasting in what God has done for me, not in what I've done for God.

Greg Laurie: The reason I know these things is because I've turned from my sin and I've put my faith in Christ, you see.

Greg Laurie: And if you do the same, you can have this same hope. You just need to call out to the Lord and admit you're a sinner and ask Jesus Christ to forgive you and come into your life.

Greg Laurie: The Bible says, "Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved."

Greg Laurie: Will you call upon him right now?

Greg Laurie: I'm going to pray a simple prayer and I'm going to ask you to pray this prayer after me, if you would.

Greg Laurie: So if you want to know that you're going to heaven when you die, if you want to know for certain that Christ is living in your life, then pray this prayer with me. Just pray these words.

Greg Laurie: "Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, but I know you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin. I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and my Lord, as my God and my friend."

Greg Laurie: "Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer. And I ask this in Jesus' name, amen."

Guest (Male): Amen.

Guest (Male): And listen, if you have just prayed that prayer with Pastor Greg and you've meant those words sincerely, the Lord has forgiven your sin and you're now a Christian.

Guest (Male): And we want to help you get started in living this new life of faith. Let us send you Pastor Greg's New Believers Bible. It's in an easy to understand translation and there are scores of features to help a new believer build a solid foundation.

Guest (Male): So get in touch and ask for the New Believers Bible. We'll send it without charge.

Guest (Male): Just call 1-800-821-3300. You can call any time, 1-800-821-3300.

Guest (Male): Or write, A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514.

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Guest (Male): Well, next time, more insight from our Nehemiah study on how we can finish well. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.

Guest (Male): This is the day today when life begins.