A New Beginning

Host (Male): God can do extraordinary things through ordinary people. That means we all qualify. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie brings an example from scripture.

Greg Laurie: We don't see the potential in our lives that God sees. We see a lump of clay. God sees a beautiful vase. We see a piece of coal. God sees a refined diamond. We see problems. God sees solutions. We see an end. God sees a new beginning.

Greg Laurie: (Music plays with singing) 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 all the angels singing? This is the day, the day when life begins.

Host (Male): Ever looked at the social media posts of a friend and think, wow, they live a pretty good life? Someone has pointed out we should never compare someone else's highlight reel to our blooper reel. We live out our blooper reel every day, don't we? We see the flubs, the fumbles, the gaffes, and the goofs up close.

Host (Male): But today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out God sees beyond the blooper to the future. Today, a good example of how God can rewrite our story.

Greg Laurie: (Music with singing) This is the day, the day when life begins.

Greg Laurie: I don't know if you read that story that was in the news about a man who had a hippo as his pet. He lived in South Africa, and this man named the hippo Humphrey, and he adopted him when he was a little calf, and according to this man, this 2000-pound beast was like his pet. He would ride it after it got a little bit bigger. He would play with him. He would even brush its teeth, which seems to be a daunting task. I think that would take a pretty large toothbrush.

Greg Laurie: And the owner said, quote, "He's like a son to me." And then he went on to say, "People think you can only have a relationship with dogs and cats and other domestic animals, but I have a relationship with the most dangerous animal in Africa." End quote.

Greg Laurie: I think you can imagine how the story ended. I'm sorry to say that Humphrey, the hippo, turned on its owner and tragically mauled and killed him. That's because hippos are not good pets because they're dangerous.

Greg Laurie: I remember years ago I was in Africa and I stayed in a little tented camp, and they warned me at night, "Be careful of the hippos." I'm thinking, "The hippos? Why would I have to worry about hippos?" "Oh, they're out running around at night, and they attack and kill people." And they told me, "More people are killed by hippos than lions in Africa."

Greg Laurie: I could hardly believe it. And sure enough, that night I heard some noise outside of my tent, and I opened up the little flap and looked out, and there was a hippo. And those things move fast on land.

Greg Laurie: So, I don't think that the owner realized that Humphrey was a hungry hippo, and he would strike. Why do I tell this story? Because in the same way, sometimes we may think that, "Well, this sin in my life, I have control of it." "It's like a little pet. I'm always going to be able to not be overtaken by it."

Greg Laurie: I'm sure when Humphrey was smallish, I don't know if he was ever all that small, but when he was smaller at least, that his owner never thought he would get as big and aggressive as he became. And we think the same thing about sin. "It'll never overtake me." And one day it does.

Greg Laurie: We have a story before us now in the Bible of a man who was overtaken by sin. A man who probably never realized that one thing would lead to another, and through five steps he fell away from the Lord. And this man was a full-fledged apostle of Jesus Christ.

Greg Laurie: And his name is known to all of us. I want to tell the story of Simon Peter and his fall and his restoration. Hence the title, A Second Chance in Life. Of course, Jesus gave to Simon, his given name, a title. He said, "From this point on, you're going to be called Peter, which means rock."

Greg Laurie: Now, I think the other disciples might have had a little bit of a chuckle at that moment because they're thinking, "Okay, there's a lot of things we could say about Simon, but we would not describe him as a rock." He was sort of unstable at times and vacillating and impulsive. Almost the opposite of a rock. But Jesus gave him a name that he knew Simon would grow into with time.

Greg Laurie: In the same way, we don't see the potential in our lives that God sees. We see a lump of clay. God sees a beautiful vase. Or vas. We see a blank canvas. God sees a finished painting. We see a piece of coal. God sees a refined diamond. We see problems. God sees solutions. We see failure. God sees potential. We see an end, and God sees a new beginning.

Greg Laurie: And so Peter was going to have a fall, and Jesus told him he was going to have a fall. And maybe some of you have fallen spiritually in the last few months or in the last year. But listen, the past cannot be changed, but our response to it can be because God can take our endings and turn them into beginnings.

Greg Laurie: Let me say that again because I know I'm talking to somebody right now that has made a mess of their life. I want you to know this. God can take your ending, and he can turn it into a beginning.

Greg Laurie: So, to pick up where we last left off in the Gospel of Mark. We're in the upper room. Jesus is having his final meal, the last supper, with his disciples. And he has revealed that one of the apostles is going to betray him.

Greg Laurie: To a man they say, "Is it me, Lord? Is it me?" And at that moment, Judas Iscariot was dipping his bread at the same time that Christ was, and Jesus identified the betrayer. And he said to Judas, "Whatever you do, do it quickly." The Bible says at that moment, Satan entered Judas' heart.

Greg Laurie: And so Judas goes out now to betray our Lord for 30 pieces of silver. And now we see what happened to Peter as this was all unfolding. Look with me, if you will, at Mark chapter 14, starting in verse 27. And by the way, I'm reading from the New Living Translation.

Greg Laurie: On the way, Jesus told them, "All of you will desert me for the scripture say, 'God will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. But after I'm raised from the dead, I'll go ahead before you into Galilee, and I'll meet you there.'"

Greg Laurie: Peter said, "Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will."

Greg Laurie: Jesus replied, "Well, I tell you the truth, Peter, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me." "No," Peter declared emphatically, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you." And all the others vowed the same.

Greg Laurie: Now, Luke's Gospel gives us a few more details about this conversation. Jesus turns to Peter and says this, "Simon, Simon, Satan has been asking for you that you would be taken out of the care and protection of God, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to me, you need to strengthen your brothers."

Greg Laurie: Can you imagine Jesus saying something like that to you? I mean, you're just hanging out, and Jesus turns to you and says your name twice and says, "Satan has been asking that you would be taken out of the care and protection of God." I wonder if he'd just paused for a fact. "What? Satan? Satan himself has been asking for me by name?" He's been asking for you. But then he adds these words, these reassuring words, "But I have prayed for you."

Greg Laurie: This is a reminder of how the devil works. Sometimes we'll say, "Oh, the devil tempted me the other day." I think it's very doubtful that you've ever been tempted by the devil himself. Let me explain. The devil is a powerful spirit being, but he is nowhere near being the equal of God. God is omnipresent, which means he's present everywhere. Satan, a powerful fallen angel, can only be in one place at one time.

Greg Laurie: Now, I'm not saying you weren't tempted. I'm just saying when you were tempted, it was probably not Satan himself, but one of Satan's minions, not that kind of minion, but, you know, one of his demon powers doing his dirty work. But in this case, with Peter, the devil himself came calling. But notice that Jesus says, "Satan has been asking for you by name."

Greg Laurie: Satan had to ask first. Listen to this. The devil can do nothing in the life of the child of God without our Father's permission. Let me say that again. The devil can do nothing in our lives without our Father's permission. And God will never allow us to be tempted above our capacity to resist.

Greg Laurie: First Corinthians 10:13, a verse I memorized as a teenager, and I still remember. It says, "God will not allow you to be tempted above your capacity to resist, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it." Know this, temptation can be resisted.

Greg Laurie: Every temptation is an opportunity to run to God. And there is a blessing promised to the man or the woman that resists temptation. Over in James 1:12, it says, "Happy is the person who endures temptation, for when they are tried, they'll receive a crown of life." So don't tell me you can't overcome your temptation. Don't tell me you can't stop drinking. Don't tell me you can't stop looking at porn. Don't tell me you can't stop turning to drugs time and time again.

Greg Laurie: The question is, do you really want to be free from that stuff? Jesus asked a man who had been disabled for his whole life this question, "Do you want to be made whole?" What kind of question is that to ask a man that obviously doesn't like the state he's in? It's a very good question. Because not every person wants to be made whole. Not every person wants to be delivered from drugs. Not every person wants to change the life that they're living. So, it's a question we need to ask. "Do I really want to change?"

Greg Laurie: Don't tell me you're being tempted above your capacity to resist because with every one of those temptations, there was always a way out, wasn't there? It's usually that first bite that gets us into trouble.

Greg Laurie: I don't know about you, but when we go out to a restaurant, we'd be done, and someone would say, "Do you want to get dessert?" "No, nobody wants dessert." Then the server comes, "Can I tempt you with a dessert?" They even use the word "tempt." And their voice even sounds like that for some reason. "Tempt you?" And someone says, "Okay, we'll have one dessert with five forks," all right?

Greg Laurie: So, the dessert arrives, and I say, "I don't even want any of that dessert," and everybody's digging in. And then I decide to take one little bite, and the moment I take that first bite, I'm like a shark smelling blood in the water. I go into a feeding frenzy. And so it's good for me to not take the first bite. It's good for all of us to not take the first look or play around with that thing or think we can conquer it like that guy with Humphrey the hippo. We need to keep our distance.

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

Greg Laurie: 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, 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.

Host (Male): Well, glad you're along today here on A New Beginning. Pastor Greg is presenting a message called A Second Chance in Life from Mark chapter 14.

Greg Laurie: God has put a hedge of protection around every believer. In the story of Job, which is the oldest book of the Bible, the devil comes to God and wants to have a time of bringing difficulty into the life of God's servant, named Job. And the devil says correctly of Job, "Have you not put a hedge of protection around him?"

Greg Laurie: And yes, it is true, the Lord allowed a series of hardships to befall his servant, but in the end, God blessed Job in a wonderful and powerful way. My point is there is protection in our life, and there's always a way out of every temptation.

Greg Laurie: And when the Lord lets us go through times of trial and allows us to be tempted, it's for a purpose. He's trying to make us stronger. But remember, Jesus is praying for you.

Greg Laurie: Every now and then people will come up to me and say, "You know, we pray for you, Greg, and your family every day." And if you're one of those people, from the bottom of my heart, let me say, "Thank you so very much." There's no greater gift that you could offer to me than to say you pray for me or pray for our family or pray for our church. Thank you so much for that. But I have to be honest with you, knowing Christ is interceding for me even means more.

Greg Laurie: There's an old commentator from days gone by, his name is Robert Murray McCheyne, and he made this statement that I quote, "If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference, he is praying for me." End quote. I mean, think about that. Christ himself praying for you. I remember once talking with Billy Graham, and I said, "Billy, would you pray for me?" And he prayed for me right there. And I thought, "Oh, man, this prayer's going to be heard in heaven. This is Billy Graham praying it." Hey, I'm talking about Jesus himself praying for you.

Greg Laurie: Because over in Romans 8:34, we read these words, "Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died, more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God." Listen, "He's interceding for us." "So who will separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?" Yes, he was praying for Peter, and he's interceding for you as well.

Greg Laurie: And Jesus is saying, "You'll be back, Peter." In Luke 22:32, Jesus says, "That your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to me, you'll strengthen your brothers." And Peter understood that, and actually wrote about it in his own Epistle. First Peter 5:10, he said, "After you've suffered a little while, God will restore you and strengthen you and place you on a firm foundation."

Greg Laurie: So Peter could speak from experience. He had suffered, he had fallen, and he had experienced restoration. Why was the devil targeting Peter in particular? Well, I think it's because the devil also saw Peter's potential. He could see that he was first among the apostles. And when Peter said he was going to do something, they would all usually follow.

Greg Laurie: After Christ died on the cross and they hadn't seen the risen Lord yet, Peter said, "I'm going fishing." They all said, "We'll go with you." He was sort of the leader. The devil often targets leaders. That's why you need to pray for those who are in leadership. Maybe you feel like you've been being tempted a lot and attacked a lot by the devil. Maybe that's because he sees your potential as well. So wear it as a badge of honor.

Greg Laurie: Now, there are five steps that led Peter down to his denial of Christ. Here's step number one, if you're taking notes, his first step down was self-confidence. Self-confidence. Go back to Mark 14 verse 29. Peter said to Jesus, "Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will."

Greg Laurie: And this is after the Lord revealed that Judas would betray him. So Peter's effectively saying, "Hey, even if Judas betrays you, I'll never let you down." And he's almost boasting at the expense of others, even if these others fall short. "I, remember you gave me that new name Rock, I Rocky will never let you down."

Greg Laurie: You know, it's never a good thing to boast of your commitment to Christ, especially at the expense of someone else. It's never even a good idea to boast about how much you love Jesus. Rather, boast about how much he loves you. Our love is fickle, it's often changing. God's love for us is consistent.

Greg Laurie: I love how the Apostle John described himself as "the apostle whom Jesus loved." Now, that may almost sound arrogant. "What do you mean, the apostle that Jesus loved?" He's just stating the facts. "He loved me. I feel loved by Jesus." And we can call ourselves a disciple that Jesus loves as well.

Greg Laurie: So his first step down, again, was self-confidence. Insane these words that, "I'll never deny you," after Christ said he would, was actually placing unfounded confidence in himself. And it was also directly contradicting what Jesus said. Listen, Jesus said to Peter, "You will deny me."

Greg Laurie: When Jesus says something will happen, you can take it to the bank. If the Bible tells us something is going to happen in the future, trust me, it's going to happen in the future. And but in Peter's mind, even if everyone else abandoned the Lord, he never would. Look at verse 31 of Mark 14. He says, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you."

Greg Laurie: You know, it's an interesting thing. When you look in the Bible, you find that often, men and women of God fell in the very area that they normally were strong in. And so as an example, we have Elijah. What do we think of him when we think of Elijah? We think of fire. He called fire down from heaven. We think of boldness, bravery. Standing up there in Mount Carmel, representing God. But what happened after the fire fell on Mount Carmel? There was a contract put out on the prophet's life by Queen Jezebel, and Elijah ran and hid in a cave. So he was cowardly and afraid when he was normally known for his boldness.

Greg Laurie: Abraham. Well, he's the father of faith. When we think of faith, we think of Abraham. Yet he had a serious lapse of faith when he lied about Sarah being his wife, saying she was his sister because he was afraid of what would happen. How about Samson, known for his superhuman strength? He was overthrown in his moral weakness. This is why you must never lower your guard in any area of your life. See, it was self-confidence.

Greg Laurie: (Music plays)

Host (Male): Some important perspective from Pastor Greg Laurie from our studies in Mark 14. Today on A New Beginning, a study called A Second Chance in Life. And there's more to come in this message, including a final thought from Pastor Greg before we go today.

Host (Male): Now, just as self-confidence played a role in Peter's denial of Christ, it can also keep us from coming to the Lord in the first place. But Jesus said that he's the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through him.

Host (Male): Pastor Greg, if someone's thinking about following the Lord, but they're still not quite clear on why that's necessary, what would you say to them?

Greg Laurie: Well, they just need to hear more, they need to hear what the essential gospel message is. And I've got a great resource for you. We've set up a webpage that's called nogod.org. K N O W G O D. O R G. You go there, I have a video presentation of how you accept Christ, lead you in a prayer, and then it links to other spiritual resources that will help you grow spiritually. So just go to nogod.org. Do it right now.

Host (Male): And Pastor Greg, we're so thankful for the work God is doing through this ministry.

Greg Laurie: Yeah. 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?

Host (Male): 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 mommy 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.

Host (Male): 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.

Greg Laurie: 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.

Host (Male): Well, next time, as we look further at Peter's denial of Christ, we'll see he found forgiveness and hope. Pastor Greg points out that the Lord turned his mess into a message. More next time. But before we go, Pastor Greg closes this way.

Greg Laurie: I heard a story about two ducks and a frog that like to hang out together in a pond in Farmer Brown's field. And one summer the little pond dried up. So the frog went to the ducks, this is a true story, and said, "Guys, you got to help me out here." "I'm stuck here. But if each of you would take a stick in each of your beaks, I could hold onto the stick with my mouth, and you could fly me out of here."

Greg Laurie: So the ducks said, "Okay, we'll do it." And so they each grabbed hold of that stick with their beaks, and the little frog jumped up and grabbed it with his mouth. And as they're flying out of Farmer Brown's field, Farmer Brown's down there, and he looks up, and he sees this amazing sight of two ducks holding a stick in their beaks with a frog holding on by his mouth. And he said, "That is an amazing thing. Who thought of that?" And the frog said, "I did." And let go. He had to take credit, right? The Bible says, "Pride goes before a fall."

Greg Laurie: (Music plays)