A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: A phrase you hear used today is deconstructing. People will say, "I'm deconstructing my faith." "I'm dismantling my faith." That's not good.

Guest (Male): A faith that needs to be torn apart and cast aside was never a faith we should have built our lives on.

Guest (Male): Coming up today, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us make a new beginning.

Greg Laurie: If your faith collapses, maybe it's because it was never constructed on Christ to start with.

Guest (Male): Every time something huge happens in the world, people start asking, "Wait, is this it? Is Armageddon about to begin?" Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie examines what the Bible actually says about the end times and why we don't need to panic.

God's not caught off guard by any of this. He's had a plan from the very start, and that plan includes you, your peace, your hope, and your future. It's a reassuring reminder you don't want to miss.

Greg Laurie: First John chapter 2. Chapter 2 clearly shows us that we're living in the last days. All around us are signs of the times pointing to the fact that Jesus is coming again. There are some very positive signs that would suggest we might be on the verge of another spiritual awakening in America and even the world.

Then there are some frightening signs that show the conflicts around the world, showing that these events we read about could happen in real-time before our very eyes. It reminds me of the introduction of Charles Dickens to his book, A Tale of Two Cities. He describes France before the Revolutionary War, and he states these things, and they're familiar statements.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was a season of light, it was a season of darkness, it was a spring of hope, it was a winter of despair." It reminds us of the time we're living in right now. Now we read what John has to say in 1 John 2:18: "Little children, it is the last hour.

And as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that this is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that it might be made manifest that none of them were of us." We'll stop there.

Point number one: the Antichrist is coming. The Bible does teach a world figure will emerge on the scene that is called the beast, the wicked one, and also the Antichrist. He will deceive millions of people. At first, he'll seem like a good guy, but he'll turn out to be the worst guy. If Satan ever had a son, this is him.

He'll appear as a peacemaker but will end up being the worst troublemaker that ever lived, and he'll be energized by the devil himself. Revelation 13:2 says that the dragon, who's also explained to be Satan in another chapter, will give him his authority. Really, he's an imitation. Whatever God does, Satan will try to imitate.

So God has His only begotten Son; Satan, in effect, will have his son. We have this false Christ that will be out there, and also there will be other imitations as well. He's not going to be what you might expect, dressed head to toe in black with flaming red eyes and steam coming up, and the Darth Vader theme playing in the background as he quotes AC/DC lyrics or something like that.

He'll probably be very attractive, very charismatic, and very intelligent, but he is a deceiver. A lot of times people will try to figure out who the Antichrist is, but I don't think we should waste our time or energy doing that because he cannot be revealed until the church is caught up to meet the Lord in the air in what we often call the rapture of the church.

The Bible says, "He who now restrains will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way, and then that wicked one will be revealed." That's Antichrist, whom the Lord will destroy with the brightness of His coming. The restraining force in the world today is the Holy Spirit working through the church.

Godly men and women that speak up for what is true, they speak out against what is wrong. Once we're removed, once we're caught up to meet the Lord in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, then Antichrist can enter the scene and do his thing. So don't waste your time looking for Antichrist. Do what the Bible says: look for Jesus Christ. That's what our focus should be.

Point number two: antichrists plural are already here. Antichrists are here already because John not only speaks of the Antichrist, the beast, that world leader, but antichrists. Keep this in mind: the prefix "anti" doesn't just mean against; it also means "instead of." So we could call them "instead of" Christs or imitation Christs, if you will.

Don't forget in the beginning of Matthew 24, known as the Olivet Discourse, Jesus said a sign of the last days is many will come in My name, saying, "I am Christ." Instead of Christ, people are always looking for a substitute for Christ. Mark Zuckerberg of Meta says we don't have enough friends. Maybe he doesn't have enough friends; I don't know.

We don't have enough friends, and so instead of going out and socializing and making some more friends, he says the solution is AI. We need more robots because AI knows us better than friends because they do a better job of knowing our likes and preferences. So I'm supposed to have a cappuccino with my Roomba now instead of go meet a friend somewhere?

This is antichrist thinking. Understand what I'm saying: instead of Christ thinking. I'm looking for substitutes for Christ, other things to look to instead of Jesus. And this is what we should not be doing. The greatest deception is not atheism; it's instead of Christ thinking. A sign of the end times will be pretend believers, imitation Christians.

First Timothy 4:1 says the Spirit speaks clearly, and in the last times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach. A phrase you hear used today is deconstructing. People will say, "I'm deconstructing my faith." "I'm dismantling my faith." I'm questioning my faith. Why are they doing this? Because I've experienced church hurt.

Oh, really? I was hurt in church. Look, if you were hurt in church, I'm sorry that happened to you. The church is full of broken people just like you, and things do happen. So maybe you were hurt in church, but I hope you don't give up on the church. Jesus hasn't. If you're looking for the perfect church, please don't join it because you'll ruin it because we're all flawed.

But I wonder sometimes if this so-called church hurt is actually not some hurt that came from the church but because you heard something you didn't like. "Well, I felt judged." Okay, what happened exactly? Maybe someone said to you, "Hey, why are you living with your boyfriend? That's fornication. That's sin."

And you're saying, "Wait, hold on. What do you mean? You're judging me. I'm leaving this church." Hey, you should thank that person for telling you the truth. You're not going to get truth in that culture out there right now, but you'll hear it from the Word of God in the church. If someone is bold enough to tell you what you are doing is sinful, that's not church hurt; that's keeping you from hurting yourself. Think about it.

Because the Bible says, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Open rebuke is better than secret love." If I really love someone, I'll tell them what's true. We all need some friends that will do that, that will say, "Hey, you look horrible in that outfit," or "You shouldn't have said that," or whatever they do.

They're true friends that will tell you the truth. It would be like going to a doctor, and I don't like what the doctor said, so I said, "I have doctor hurt." The doctor's trying to keep you from hurting; maybe you should listen to him. I went to see a doctor a while ago who told me that I need hip replacement surgery. I need a new hip. Great. So now I've gone from being a hippie to needing a hip replacement.

Perfect. I've gone from acid rock to acid reflux. Come on. And my wife had it done already, so I know what to expect, but I don't want to go get this surgery. I'm postponing it; I've been putting it off. But he's just telling me the truth. He says, "Hey, man, you're bone on bone, okay? Bone spurs even." He shows me the x-ray, slapped me three times.

I don't know what that was about; maybe he should have, actually. He didn't do that. But sometimes we don't like what we're hearing, but they're telling it to us for our own good. But people will get upset. "I don't like what I heard in church. I'm leaving this church." Then they go to another church. "I don't like what I heard there. Now I'm leaving that church."

They go to another church. "I don't like what they're saying. So I'm leaving that church, and we're just going to go home and watch church online." Okay, now we're not even watching church online. We've just left church, and we've left the faith. That's not good. And it reminds me of a guy who was stranded on a desert island, and they finally rescued him, and he had built three huts.

He said, "Wow, what are these huts?" "Well, the first hut is my house." "Okay. What's the second hut?" "That's my church." "Oh, good. What's the third hut?" "That's a church I used to go to." So that's how we all are.

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

Greg Laurie: I've heard people describe a trip to Israel as seeing the Bible actually come to life. I've been to Israel many times, and I've led a lot of tours, and I have to say that's absolutely true. Listen, when you're walking on the same stones that Jesus Himself walked on, that's something that's enriching to your faith.

It's not just a travel experience; it actually energizes and enhances your study of the Bible. Think of it this way: it's a vacation with a purpose. And we're going to be taking a tour of Israel April 6th to 15th, 2027. You can find out more at israel.harvest.org. Step right into biblical history. Join Pastor Greg for a tour of the Holy Land, April 6th through 15th, 2027. Get details at israel.harvest.org.

Guest (Male): Well, we're talking today about the end times and making sure our faith and our fellowship with others is in good working order.

Greg Laurie: I think that we need to ask the question: well, if a person walks away from the faith, they leave the church, they abandon their faith, they say they're no longer a Christian, has that person lost their salvation? They say, "Well, they're deconstructing." I suggest maybe they never constructed to start with.

Maybe they're not leaving their faith; maybe they never had faith in the very beginning. If your faith collapses, maybe it's because it was never constructed on Christ to start with. See, here's what John says again in 1 John 2:19: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us."

Now let me explain. Christians mess up, Christians lapse, Christians sin, Christians can fall away, Christians can backslide, even for a prolonged period of time. And you can do that and still be a Christian. But if you're a true Christian, eventually you'll come home again, just like the prodigal son.

He messed up, he sinned, but he came to his senses and said, "I've sinned. I'm going to go back to my father and say, 'Father, I've sinned. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son; just hire me as a hired hand.'" And he went home and, of course, his father threw his arms around him and kissed him and welcomed him back as a son.

The father missed his son and longed for his return. But if you walk away from the faith and you never return to the faith, my suggestion is you were never part of the faith to start with. You've not lost your salvation; most likely you never had salvation. That's what John is saying. If they were of us, they would have continued with us, and if they don't continue with us, it shows they were never of us to really begin with.

Okay, let's shift gears now to chapter 3. First John 3, read along with me: "Behold what manner of love the Father bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

And I love this final verse; I'd underline it if I were you: "Everyone that has this hope purifies himself just as He is pure." So here's point number three: God loves you more than you could ever know. God loves you more than you could ever know. You say, "I know because I'm so awesome." Not really.

He loves you because He's so awesome. He loves you with an everlasting love, the Bible says. Therefore with lovingkindness He has drawn you. Jesus said, "For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

And then the Apostle Paul personalized it and said, "He loved me, and He gave Himself for me." So God loves you. Coming back to the prodigal story, even when the son had gone astray, the father never stopped loving him. And because God loves you, point number four: He adopted you as His child.

Because He loves you, He adopted you as His child. First John 3:1: "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God." By the way, this word "behold" isn't casual. It's like John is saying, "Hey, look at this. Don't miss this. Check this out. Behold! Behold what kind of love the Father has toward you."

He adopted you into His family. Now, as a boy, I never knew who my biological father was. My mom told me it was a certain man, and I found out about 30 years later he was not my biological father. So my mom married and divorced seven different times, and she had a lot of boyfriends in between as well.

None of these so-called fathers or men in her life ever took any interest in me whatsoever. I mean, they married the beautiful Charlene, my mother, and they got this weird kid that liked to draw cartoons and collect snakes in the deal. None of them cared. "I don't want to—who is this kid?"

But there was one man that took an interest in me, one man that cared about me. He cared enough to give me his name, Oscar Laurie, and he adopted me. And he treated me as a father should treat a son, and that meant a lot to me. And God has adopted you. He chose you, and He adopted you.

I heard about two boys, two sons that were arguing, as brothers do. One was a biological son, one was an adopted son. And the biological son said, "Dad loves me more than you because I have his DNA." And the adopted son said, "Yeah, well guess what? He chose me; he got stuck with you."

God chose you. He picked you out with a purpose. Adoption is intentional. That's why the Bible says we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but one of adoption whereby we cry, "Abba, Father." What does that mean? It means Abba, Father is the Hebrew equivalent of Daddy or Papa. It's an affectionate phrase a child uses of their father. Papa, Daddy.

And God has given you the spirit of adoption where you can say that to Him, where you can say, "Abba, Father." When you go to Israel today, you'll see the little kids calling out for their daddy, "Abba," they'll say, or "Imma" for their mother. And so this is what God has done for you. He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will, Ephesians 1:5 tells us.

So you were adopted, not assigned. You were specifically chosen by God. But aren't we all, some would ask, children of God? You hear that said often. "We're all God's children, right?" Kind of. Let me explain. We are God's offspring, the Bible says, which means we're all created by God, we're all loved by God.

But only those who have put their faith in Christ can truly say, "I am a child of God." The Bible says as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become sons of God. And you can be in a relationship with God but not be in fellowship with God. Let me illustrate with a popular family drama: Prince Charles—excuse me, King Charles now—married Diana.

They had two sons: Harry and William. And William is the heir to the throne, so there's an heir and a spare, I suppose. And if you follow the story, you know that King Charles is fighting cancer. He has a close relationship with William, his heir apparent, and they're in constant communication. Harry has moved to California.

So he's about 5,000 miles away from his father. Now, is Harry a royal son? Of course, he'll always be a royal son just as William is. But one son has chosen to be in close fellowship and communication with his father; another son has chosen not to. So that causes tension and pain, and it breaks the father's heart.

I hope they patch things up because the window of reconciliation may not stay open forever. But the point of it is, we choose what kind of relationship we want to have with the Father. When we're away from Him, it breaks His heart. He longs for communication with us, and if we will draw near to Him, the Bible says He will draw near to us.

So if you feel far from God, guess who moved? God didn't move; He's still there, just like, again, the father of the prodigal, waiting for the son's return, longing for his boy to come back home again. And when he did, the father welcomed him with open arms. And if you find yourself away from God right now, if you find yourself out of fellowship with God right now, the Father will welcome you with open arms if you'll turn from your sin and come to Him.

Guest (Male): Good reassurance from Pastor Greg Laurie today here on A New Beginning. It's from his new series called Unshakeable. And not only will God welcome those who are coming back to him, he'll welcome those who are coming to him for the first time. That's a truth somebody needs to hear today, Pastor Greg.

Greg Laurie: That's right. The Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So think of it this way: maybe you're out in a riptide in the ocean and you can't get your footing and you're in trouble, and you see a lifeguard. Call out for help, and the lifeguard will rescue you.

The same is true spiritually: you're drowning in your sin, you need help. Jesus will save you. He will rescue you, but you must call out to him. And you know how you do that? You do it in prayer. So let me just lead you in a simple prayer, and you can pray this prayer after me.

You could pray it out loud if you like, and this is where you are calling out to Jesus to save you. Just pray this: Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, and I know You are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead.

Now, Lord, I turn from my sin and I put my faith in You. Be my Savior, my Lord, be my God and my friend. I choose to follow You from this moment forward. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Hey, if you just prayed that prayer, I want you to know that Christ Himself has come to live inside of you. And I have a resource I want to send you; it's called the New Believer's Bible. So the New Believer's Bible is the New Testament in the New Living Translation with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you are making to follow Christ.

There's some other materials included as well in what we call the New Believer's Growth Pack, but let me get this New Believer's Bible into your hands as quickly as possible. Here's Dave to tell you more.

Dave Branon: Yeah, we'll be glad to send it all your way free of any charge if you've prayed along with Pastor Greg today. Just ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. You can reach us anytime 24/7 at 1-800-821-3300. Or drop us a note at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click "Know God."

And then let us say a word of thanks to those who support us financially, those who make it possible for us to bring you these studies each day. We are definitely a listener-supported ministry. It's the generosity of listeners that help us be here with these programs. So if you've partnered with us, thank you.

And if you have yet to partner with us, well I hope you'll get in touch today and let us know that you're standing with us. Even a small investment would help. It's actually an investment in changing lives. Thank you for partnering with us. You can donate securely online at harvest.org or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514.

Or call us at 1-800-821-3300. Again, that's 1-800-821-3300. Well next time, more insights on the importance of faith and fellowship as we await the return of the Lord. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.