A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: The gospel is a message people need to hear. It’s so important we can’t stay silent about it. Imagine having the cure for cancer and not telling anyone else. To apply it to the point, what we have is even better than the cure for cancer, as wonderful as that would be. We have the cure to sin, the cure to hopelessness, the very cure for life. We’ve got to share this with others. We can’t keep it to ourselves.

Dave Detwiler: The number one reason believers don’t share their faith is fear. What if I offend that person? What if it changes the relationship? Would we be concerned about that if their home was on fire and they were in danger?

The gospel saves people from a very real eternal danger. Today on *A New Beginning*, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us see how Jesus Himself directed us to spread the word far and wide. Someone’s eternity could literally hang in the balance if we don’t.

Greg Laurie: Let’s turn in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 28. We’re in our "Jesus and You" series, and the title of my message is "Jesus and the Great Commission."

People have interesting things put on their tombstones. Sometimes they’re a bit humorous, sometimes they’re a bit tragic. I heard about someone who actually put this on their tombstone: "I told you I was sick." Another person put, "Here lies an atheist, all dressed up and no place to go." Someone else wrote these words—I don’t know if they wrote them, but someone else had them inscribed: "Don’t cry, I’m just changing addresses." I think that’s pretty good, and that’s really true.

I did hear the story about a man who had the unfortunate last name of Odd. Imagine going through life with a last name of Odd. You can imagine the jokes as well: "Oh Odd, that’s odd, you’re odd." He got so sick of it. So knowing that eventually he was going to die, he gave instructions to his family: "I don’t want my name on my tombstone. I want my tombstone left blank. I don’t want anyone to comment on my name after I’m gone." So they did exactly what he said. But people would be walking through the cemetery, they would come to a blank tombstone and read it and say, "That’s odd." I guess he couldn’t escape it.

Often people will give their last words from their deathbed. Karl Marx, the founder of communism, was asked by his housekeeper what he wanted his last words to be. His response to her was, "Get out! Last words are for fools who have not said enough." He said far too much. Queen Elizabeth I gave her last words, which were, "All my possessions for a moment of time."

Voltaire, a famous philosopher and atheist, gave his last words, which are so tragic. He said, "I am abandoned by God and man; I shall go to hell." Is that a hopeless statement? But then there are the last words of those who had faith, for those who trusted Christ, like the great apostle Paul, who in his final letter to Timothy wrote these words: "I fought the good fight, I kept the faith, I finished the course. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me, and not to me only, but to all who love His appearing."

We come now to the last words of Jesus. Now, you might think that would be the seven statements from the cross, and indeed those were His last words before He died. But then He rose again from the dead—spoiler alert, in case you didn’t know that—and then He ascended to heaven. Before He ascended to heaven, He gave His final words, something that we call the Great Commission.

Let’s talk now for a few moments about this Great Commission, bringing me to point number one: God has called every believer to preach the gospel and make disciples. That means you. That means me. We’re all called to do this. This is why we call it the Great Commission and not the Great Suggestion.

There are two primary passages we look to that are effectively the last words of our Lord before He ascended to heaven. The first is in Mark chapter 16, verse 15, where Jesus says, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person." And now we have the version we’re going to focus on in this message, Matthew 28:18. Jesus says, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them"—I would underline that—"teaching them to observe all things that I’ve commanded you; for lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

A couple of things jump out from this statement of Christ. Number one, they’re a command. They’re a command from Christ, our Lord and Savior, our Master and Commander. Our God says to you, He says to me, "I command you to go into all of the world and make disciples of all nations. Go into all of the world and preach the gospel."

Secondly, contextually, they’re not just addressed to what we might call the professionals: the evangelist, the pastor, the missionary. Oh, they’re included, but they’re addressed to every follower of Jesus Christ. Every one of us, no matter what you do, man or woman, young or old, we’re all called to do this. Actually, I’ve found that some of the most effective evangelists I’ve ever met are just everyday people. They’re not preachers. They don’t walk around with a pulpit; they just have a gifting to engage people in conversations about Christ.

This is something we’re all called to do. Another thing is God will give us the power we need to do this. Look at verse 18: "All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore." Now, whenever you see the word "therefore," find out what it’s there for. It’s drawing in what has been previously said. So Jesus is saying, "All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth, therefore," in light of this fact, "go into all the world."

He’s giving you this power as well. Acts chapter 1, verse 8, Jesus says, "You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you to be witnesses for Me." God will give you the power to do what He has called you to do.

The last thing I wanted to point out is that He will be with us in a special way when we do this. Look at verse 20: "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Now look, if you’re a Christian, wherever you go, Christ is with you. You’re never alone again in life. Isn’t that great to know? Jesus said, "I’ll never leave you or forsake you." There are many verses that confirm the fact that Christ is with us.

But this verse has a different sort of meaning to it in context of what has been previously said. Jesus is saying, if you’ll allow me to paraphrase it, "When you go and fulfill the Great Commission, when you go and preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations, I will be with you in a special way, and you will sense the presence of God when you engage people with this message."

But it’s weird because this is a subject some Christians cringe at. There’s one thing that believers and non-believers have in common: they’re both uptight about evangelism. Non-Christians are uptight about being evangelized, and Christians are uptight about evangelizing. But we should all be engaged in this. So for some, the Great Commission has become the Great Omission, and that’s a tragedy.

Now let me say something that may surprise you: to not share your faith can be an actual sin. Let me say it again: to not share your faith can be an actual sin. Now, we think a sin is breaking a commandment. Of course, it is. But there are sins of commission and omission. A sin of commission is when you do what you should not do. A sin of omission is when you don’t do what you should do. The Bible says, "To him that knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."

Let me illustrate. Let’s say you’re walking down the street in some neighborhood and there’s a house on fire. A crowd’s standing around. The fire department has not arrived yet. Someone says, "There’s a small child in that house." You might be a hero and run into the flames and try to save the child. At the very least, you call 9-1-1. But if you take a selfie of yourself in front of the burning house, that’s messed up. That’s a crime in a way. Maybe it technically is a crime, but you can’t do that. That would be like the worst thing you could do.

Let me illustrate another way. Let’s say that you had cancer and you were a medical researcher and you spent all of your time and energy trying to find a cure for cancer. Somehow you came up with a single pill that one could take one time and be instantly cured of cancer. So you took it, and you were cured, and you never told anybody else about it. Imagine having the cure for cancer and not telling anyone else about it.

To apply it to the point, what we’re doing for people is even more important than getting someone out of a burning building; we’re saving them from a burning judgment in eternity. What we have is even better than the cure for cancer, as wonderful as that would be. We have the cure to sin, the cure to hopelessness, the very cure for life. We’ve got to share this with others. We can’t keep it to ourselves.

Dave Detwiler: Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

It’s such a blessing to hear from listeners who take time to express their appreciation.

Male Voice: Hey Pastor Greg, I’m a pastor in North Carolina. I just wanted to let you know that you and your ministry have been a great blessing to me. I have learned and shared many things that you’ve said over the years. I am also a UPS driver, so I get a chance to see a lot of people in a day’s time, and there too get to share things that you’ve shared with me as I drive back and forth to work. Just wanted to let you know you have been a great gift to me. Thank you.

Dave Detwiler: When we hear from you, it’s not only a blessing, it also confirms that the program is touching lives. Would you consider sharing your story? If so, call Pastor Greg at 1-866-871-1144. That’s 866-871-1144.

Today, Pastor Greg is inviting us to do our part of the Great Commission, saying yes to the blessing of sharing Christ with someone else.

Greg Laurie: If you would be daring enough to pray this prayer, you might be surprised by what happens. And the prayer is simply this—it’s a prayer of Isaiah: "Here I am, Lord, send me." Want to say that out loud together? "Here I am, Lord, send me." Watch out. Watch out. God might answer that prayer before the day is over.

Far too often we’re more like, "Here he is, send him," or "There she is, send her. Not me." That was Jonah. God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to them because they needed to repent because judgment was coming. Jonah didn’t want to go to them because they were his enemies, the enemies of Israel. Of course, God had the last word in that scenario.

But the point is, you need to go where God calls you to go. Let’s localize this. Let’s personalize it. Instead of "go into all of the world," let’s just put it this way: go into all of your world and preach the gospel. Your world. You have a sphere of influence. You have people that will listen to what you have to say.

Go into all of your family and preach the gospel. Do your family members know you’re a Christian? I don’t just mean your immediate family; I mean your extended family. Do they know you’ve put your faith in Christ? Go into all of your neighborhood. Do your neighbors know that you’re a Christian? Go into all of your workplace. Go into all of your campus. Do your coworkers or other students you know know that you’re a follower of Christ?

Go into all of your world. I like to call it "frangelism." Frangelism. No, that does not mean only evangelize people with the name of Fran. Is there anyone named Fran here? No Frans? Okay, this is a Fran-free zone. But Fran is an acronym: F-R-A-N. F for friends, R for relatives, A for associates, N for neighbors. Go into all of your world and tell people because Christ has the answer for everyone.

Notice it’s addressed to "whosoever." John 3:16: "Whosoever." I love this verse. Listen, if you forget everything else that I said, I want you to remember this. Every Christian should have this verse memorized. Let’s say it out loud together: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Isn’t that a great verse?

It’s called the gospel in a nutshell. Whoever, or whosoever, as the King James Version puts it. Whosoever, which means the gospel is for everyone. Now, there are some people of a reformed type of theological thinking, also known as Calvinists, and in this case we might call them extreme Calvinists, that believe in double predestination. Which means they believe that God in heaven has predestined some people to go to heaven and He’s predestined other people to go to hell. So it works like this: "You guys, you’re all going to heaven. You’re predestined. You guys, you’re all going to hell." And you say, "But wait, wait, I want to believe in Jesus and go to heaven." No, you can’t because you’re not predestined.

Interesting. Here is what the Bible says: "Whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." The gospel is for everyone.

You might say, "Well Greg, don’t you believe in predestination?" Well, of course I do. It’s in the Bible. "What do you do with those verses where you have predestination and free will? How do you reconcile them?" I don’t reconcile friends. They’re both in the Bible. They’re both true. God chooses, God predestines, but we have a say so in this matter. Listen, you decide where you will spend eternity by what you do with Jesus Christ. Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

I like the statement of the old evangelist D.L. Moody. He said, "Lord, save the elect and elect some more." My job, your job, our job is just to give the gospel out to whosoever and leave the results in the hands of God.

But we say "gospel" a lot. What exactly is the gospel? I frankly don’t think most Americans have heard an accurate and biblical presentation of the gospel. Sometimes I wonder if some Christians know what the gospel actually is. There are certain elements that must be present for the gospel to be the gospel.

Now, I know that you probably are aware of the fact that the word "gospel" means good news. So the good news is there’s a God in heaven who loves you. The good news is you can be forgiven of all of your sin. The good news is you can go to heaven.

But sometimes before I can fully appreciate the good news, I have to first know the bad news. The bad news is that you and I and all of us are sinners, and we fall short of the glory of God, and we’ve broken the commandments of God. There’s nothing we can do to satisfy the righteous requirements of God in our own strength and ability. And that’s where Christ comes in.

The word "sin" in the Bible is translated different ways. One translation of the word means to miss the mark. So think of a game of archery and you and I are competing. I go first and I have ten arrows. My first arrow hits a tree. My second arrow hits a cow grazing in a pasture. My third arrow—we don’t know where that one went. By the time I’ve done, one of my arrows has hit the outer rim of the target.

Now you get up. You’re an expert archer. Every one of your arrows hits the bullseye except one. So you say, "I win." No, you didn’t win. You missed the mark. I was closer to the mark than you were, but you have to hit the mark. The mark that God has set for humanity is perfection. And the Bible says if you offend in one point of the law, you’re guilty of all. Granted, some sin more than others, but one sin is enough to keep you out of heaven.

So how can I be perfect, we ask? Well, you can’t be. That’s where Jesus comes in. That’s why Christ and Christ alone was uniquely qualified to bridge the gap between a holy God that we’ve offended and humanity. And if we’ll turn from our sin, we can be forgiven.

You go, "Greg, I already know this." Okay, good. I’m glad you know it. When did you tell someone about this recently? Have you told them that they can come into this relationship with God?

We talk about everything. We talk about the new hamburger place we just found. "I found the best smash burger of all time. I’ve got pictures, 25 pictures on the Gram, look at it. Whatever. I’ve got a slow-mo video." Okay. Or politics. "Oh, don’t get me started on politics." That’s fine. You’re entitled to your opinion. But we’ll get all fired up about every subject under the sun. When’s the last time you got fired up about talking about Jesus? That’s what you need to be the most excited about. Tell us about your epic smash burger, maybe keep some of your political views to yourself, but the point is, I want to hear you talk about Jesus. It’s so very important. That’s the gospel.

Dave Detwiler: Pastor Greg Laurie with the plain truth about our privilege and responsibility of sharing the message of the gospel. Today on *A New Beginning*, a study called "Jesus and the Great Commission."

Pastor Greg, you’ve been talking about inviting people to come to Christ. We want to do that very thing before we close. What would you say to someone who wants to come to the Lord and make that kind of change today?

Greg Laurie: What I would say is He’s only a prayer away, which means if you will call upon the name of the Lord right now through prayer, He will hear your prayer and answer your prayer. Listen, if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you want Him to forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you’ll go to heaven when you die, just pray this prayer right now after me. Just pray:

Lord Jesus, I know that I’m a sinner, but I know that You’re the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow You from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord, as my God and my friend. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Dave Detwiler: Amen. And if you have just prayed that prayer and you’ve meant those words sincerely, we want to welcome you into the family of God. And let us help you get started walking each day with the Lord. Pastor Greg would like to send you his New Believer’s Bible absolutely free. It answers common questions new believers often have and helps you build a solid foundation for your faith.

So let us know you prayed with Pastor Greg and that you want the New Believer’s Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime at 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org and click the words "Know God."

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.

Greg Laurie: 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.

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 sin 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.

Dave Detwiler: Yeah, that’s right. And you can make your donation right now at harvest.org or call 1-800-821-3300. That’s a 24/7 phone number: 1-800-821-3300.

Well, next time, more insight on sharing Christ with others and then sharing with others how to walk with Christ. Join us here on *A New Beginning* with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.