A New Beginning

Dave: Coming up today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us get back to basics and recalculate where we stand and who we will one day stand in front of.

Greg Laurie: Often people say, "Well, it's my life. It's my life. It's my future. It's my career. It's my car. It's my house. It's mine." But actually, it isn't yours. Everything you have has been given to you as a gift from God. So honor Him and glorify Him and worship Him.

Dave: It's about time to pay the credit card bills from this past Christmas. Sadly, often those bills last longer than the gifts did. Ouch. But that's how it is, right? The things of this world promise a lot of joy, but the joy expires before the cost. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us reevaluate our priorities and set our focus on the eternal. A life lived for eternity experiences joy that never fades, and the price has been paid.

Greg Laurie: Why do we exist? Why am I here on this earth? The answer to that question is found, among other places, in Revelation chapter four. If you were to go out on the street today and ask people why do you exist, they would probably say, "Well, to be happy, or to live my truth," whatever that means, or to follow their passion. And maybe they think that would come about through career success, financial security, or others would think fame.

This is not what the Bible teaches. It's not that God doesn't want you to be happy. In fact, He does. But you will never find happiness by seeking it specifically. You'll find happiness will come into your life as a byproduct of putting God first in your life. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."

In fact, one of the unhappiest things a person can do is live to be happy. One of the least pleasurable things you can do is live for pleasure. Live for the Lord, seek the Lord, and you'll find the right kind of pleasure in your life. The Bible says in His presence there is fullness of joy, and at His right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

So we want to put God first in our lives. So here we come to Revelation 4. John has seen heaven, and he sees the Lord seated on His throne in verses two to three of Revelation 4. And then he says in verse three, "I saw the glow of an emerald circling the throne like a rainbow." Can you imagine a circular rainbow? And it's emerald. How interesting.

But then he also sees innumerable angels surrounding the throne of God. And so now here we have John's description of what he sees in heaven, and the answer to the question why we exist is answered. Revelation 4 verse 8, "The four living creatures, each having six wings—these would be angelic beings—were full of eyes around and within. They did not rest day or night, saying: 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!'"

"And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him Who sits on the throne, Who lives forever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him Who sits on the throne and worship Him Who lives forever and ever, and they cast their crowns before the throne, saying—now don't miss this, here's why you exist, it's revealed—verse 11: 'You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created everything, and it is for Your pleasure that they exist and were created.'"

So why do we exist? We exist for the pleasure of God. We exist to glorify God. He created us for His glory. Ephesians 1:11 says He chose us from the beginning that we would trust in Christ and bring praise to our glorious God. But there are people that waste their lives on the pursuit of nothingness.

I think so often people will say, "Well, it's my life. It's my life. It's my future. It's my career. It's my car. It's my house. It's my dog. It's my everything. It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to." No, that's a song lyric. But you know, it's mine. But actually, it isn't yours. Everything you have has been given to you as a gift from God.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:19, "You don't belong to yourself. God bought you with a high price, so glorify God with your body." Heard a story about a lady that was at an airport and she was waiting for her flight, so she went and bought some cookies to eat and sat down at a table. And there was another man seated at the table.

And so she took her first cookie and she was munching on it. And all of a sudden, much to her surprise, this man reached out into her cookie bag and took one of her cookies and ate it. She thought, "I can't believe this guy. Who does he think he is?" She reaches in, takes another cookie. The man reaches in, he too takes another cookie. She reaches for a third, so does he.

Finally, they come to the last cookie in the bag. She reaches for it and he grabs it first. He smiles at her, breaks it in half, and gives her half of the cookie. She was so outraged, she stood up and walked away in a huff and opened up her purse and saw her bag of cookies was in her purse.

See, he was not eating her cookies, she was eating his cookies. And he was nice enough to share the last one with her. Get it? That's us and God. They're His cookies. Life is a gift from God. The breath you're drawing in your lungs, the beat in your heart, it's a gift from God. So honor Him and glorify Him and worship Him.

We're made to worship. We're wired to worship. And by the way, everybody worships. Republicans worship. Democrats worship. Skeptics worship. Even atheists worship. You'd say, "Greg, you're wrong. They don't worship God." I didn't say they worship God. I said everyone worships. We worship someone or something.

Some worship themselves, some worship objects, some worship other things. But we're wired to worship God Himself. But what is worship? When we say glorify God, what do I mean when I say worship God? It means to ascribe worth or value to something or someone. It comes from the root word worthship.

And God is clearly worthy of our praise. Back to Revelation in chapter 5, verse 12, it says in a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise." There's actually a number of words in the Bible that are translated into the word worship. One is the word shachah, which means to bow down and do homage. We get our English phrase Shaka Khan from it. No, that's a joke.

If you laughed at that, I don't even know, it's a pretty old reference. But to give reverence to something. So it's like respect and reverence. But then another way it's translated from the Greek word proskuneo means to kiss forward. So in contrast to reverence, this speaks of affection.

You know, you don't kiss someone you don't know unless you want to get slugged in the face, right? So putting it together, I'm starting to get a concept of what worship is. It's to honor and respect God, but it's to show affection in that honor and respect toward God. But then another word translates it to serve and minister. So it's the idea of serving Him.

I remember when we went to visit Billy and Ruth Graham, and Ruth had a sign over her sink that said, "Divine service done three times a day." Because Ruth felt when I washed my dishes, I can do it for the glory of God. But here's a verse that pulls it all together. I'm here to glorify God. Paul sums it up this way in Philippians 1:21: "To live is Christ, and to die is gain."

There it is. To glorify God. What does it mean? To say to live is Christ and to die is gain. That's the Christian worldview in a nutshell. And it also addresses two of the most important issues everyone will face. Number one, what is the meaning of life? Number two, what is the meaning of death?

We all live for something. "To live is..." If you were to fill in that blank, what would you say? "To live is pleasure." "To live is fame." "To live is success." "To live is personal happiness." Paul says, "To live is Christ."

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

Guest (Female): Pastor Greg, I was involved in New Age spirituality when I watched the Jesus Revolution movie. It was partially because of your story that I felt safe to start exploring a relationship with Jesus. I ended up praying a prayer to accept Jesus, and now I feel like a new person. My husband and 14-year-old daughter are also attending church with me and reading the Bible. We are so grateful. Thanks again.

Dave: Has Pastor Greg heard from you? Why not drop him an email and share your story? Send it to greg@harvest.org. Again, that's greg@harvest.org.

Well, we're reevaluating our values today as Pastor Greg brings us his message called The Balanced Life: Upward, Inward & Outward. He continues.

Greg Laurie: Let me ask you, is it an alarm or a calling that gets you out of bed in the morning? What are you passionate about? What do you dream about? And that's what you're living for. And if you can say to live is Christ, you can also say to die is gain.

Death for Paul was a certainty, not an uncertainty, but he knew he would go to be with Christ where life would continue, not conclude. It's life on a far better level. It's a promotion. It's a coronation. In fact, Paul goes on there in Philippians 1 and he says, "I don't know which is better. I'm torn between the two. I want to go and be with Christ, but I need to remain here with you."

And you know, it's interesting because the word that Paul uses for departing can be translated different ways. To depart and be with Christ. One word means to strike the tent. You know, sort of like camping. How many of you like to camp? Raise your hand. I'm not a big camper. But you know, campers love it. You set the tent up and you build the fire.

If you're next level, you get out your bow and you hunt your dinner, or maybe go fish. Now you're going to be out there at the campsite. Then when the camp is done, you have to extinguish the fire, you take down the tent, and you go back again.

To me, it's sort of like going to the beach. My favorite time of going to the beach is when I arrive and when I leave. You know, I think I like the idea of the beach more than the beach itself. Because you say, "I'm going to go to the beach and I'm going to just look at the water." So you get down there and you set up your beach chair and you lay out your beach towel. Maybe you have a little music to listen to, put on some sunscreen, put on your shades.

Life is good. And the beach is empty, you got it all to yourself. The sound of the waves rolling in. And then some guy comes down, he has all of the beach to choose from, and he sets his towel right next to yours. And his towel is even touching your towel. That should be illegal.

And he's one of those guys that talks to someone on the phone on speaker the whole time, right? Or plays obnoxious music on his boombox or whatever it is. So you go in the water to get away from the guy, but you're thinking, "I'll have lunch a little bit later, can't wait to have that lunch." And then you see a seagull flying off with your lunch.

And so I'm leaving this place, and you're going home. Now you're happy again. I'll take a hot shower, get all the sand off of me. One day we're going to depart. We're going to strike the tent. But another word that is used for departure is to untie a boat from its moorings. Untie a boat from its moorings. So you sailors know about this. You get on your boat, now you're going to go out and you're going to sail.

Or maybe you're getting on a cruise ship. And I read about a pretty interesting cruise. It was a Carnival cruise that set sail in February of 2013. And on day four, an engine room fire knocked out the ship's power, leaving 4,000 passengers and crew with no electricity, refrigeration, or functioning toilets. It became a hygiene nightmare. And it was horrible. That's one cruise ship I don't want to get on.

But one day we'll all set sail. And you determine where your destination is. So if you've put your faith in Christ, you know that destination is heaven. In fact, that's what Paul says, "I want to depart and be with Christ, which is far better." And by the way, that phrase he used, it's a superlative in the original language, which means far, far better.

Or to put it in Hawaiian vernacular, mo' bettah, bruh. It's far, far better, it's mo' bettah, bruh. It's the best of all. Heaven is way better than earth. Why? Heaven is better because you go from a tent to a mansion. You trade an aging body for a new body. It's better because it's immediate. Notice Paul says, "I'll depart and be with Christ."

He doesn't say, "I'll depart and hang out in purgatory for a few years." There is no purgatory. The Bible does not teach purgatory. That's Catholic teaching, built on their tradition, not built on Scripture. And this is why when I fly or I travel, I never get stopovers if I can avoid them. I always want a direct flight. Reason being, I've been stuck in airports because there was a delay with this flight or that flight or your flight is late and you can't get out of the airport.

And so it's immediate. You go straight into the presence of God. The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Listen, if you have loved ones who have preceded you to heaven, just know that's exactly where they are. The moment they closed their eyes on earth, they opened them in heaven.

The moment they took their last breath on earth, they took their next breath in heaven. But the best thing about it all is you depart to be with Christ, be in His presence. So coming back to the question I raised earlier, why do you exist? What do you live for? If you say, "Well, for me to live is money," then for you to die is to leave it all behind.

As I've said before, you've never seen a hearse hauling a U-Haul trailer. You leave it all. If you would say to live is fame, for you to die is to be forgotten. If you would say for me to live is power, then for you to die is to lose it all. But if you would say like Paul, to live is Christ, then you can say to die is gain.

So let me ask you in closing, are you living the life God created you for? Why did God create you? So you could have a relationship with Him. And that comes through having your sin forgiven and discovering His unique and wonderful plan for your life. Instead of chasing after all the things this world says you should have to make you happy.

The other day I was having a conversation with a psychiatrist that practices in Newport Beach. And I said, "Tell me, what is the number one thing your patients ask you about? What is the main thing that is troubling them?" He said, "Actually, it's an emptiness in their lives. They wonder why despite the fact that they have so many things in their life, they're empty inside still."

And he said, "And the other thing is they feel alone and isolated. They don't have relationships with other people." And I thought the answer is simple. They need a relationship with God and they need to be a part of a church family, right? That's what you need. God built you this way.

But we settle for all these cheap substitutes when the real thing is in front of us. We're separated from God by sin, but Christ came to this earth and died for our sin. He who never sinned once, He who never broke a single commandment, He who lived literally a perfect life died a perfect death for imperfect people.

And then He rose again from the dead three days later. He bore the sin of the world as He hung on the cross so I don't have to bear it. And then He rose again from the dead three days later. And He stands at the door of our life right now and He knocks and He says if you'll hear His voice and open the door, He will come in.

So I close by asking, have you asked Christ to come into your life yet? Have you figured out the reason you exist? And if not, why don't you do that right now? He's just a prayer away. And in a moment we're going to pray, and I'm going to extend an invitation to anyone here, anyone watching online or wherever you're seeing this.

If you need Jesus Christ, if you want your sin forgiven, if you want to go to heaven when you die, if you want this personal relationship with God, respond to this opportunity right now. Let's all pray. Now Father, I pray that Your Holy Spirit will convict people of their sin and convince them of their need for Jesus and help them to come to You now we pray. Amen.

Dave: Pastor Greg Laurie talking about the important decision to come into a relationship with Jesus Christ. And before we go any further on today's edition of A New Beginning, we'd like to give you an opportunity to do that. Here's Pastor Greg to lead you.

Greg Laurie: Pray these words. Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, but I also know that You are the Savior because You died on the cross for my sin and You rose again from the dead. Jesus, come into my life and forgive me of every sin I've ever committed. I choose to follow You from this moment forward. Thank You for hearing this prayer. Thank You for answering this prayer, Lord, and I pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.

If you just prayed that prayer and meant it, I want you to know on the authority of Scripture, God Almighty has heard your prayer and He will answer this prayer. You are now a newly minted child of God. So congratulations, you've made the right decision, and welcome to the family of God.

I want to send you a special gift because of that prayer you've just prayed. 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: 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 write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org and click "Know God."

And then thank you for partnering with us to help these daily studies continue. Your investments have eternal benefits. Why not make this a part of your personal ministry, to partner in an effort that's making a real difference with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Thank you for your prayers and for prayerfully considering how God might lead you to help tangibly.

Online you'll find us at harvest.org and there you'll see the way we'd like to thank you for your donation right now. That's harvest.org. Or write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300. We're here around the clock to take your call again at 1-800-821-3300.

Well, next time, Pastor Greg reminds us of the power tools of the Christian life, spiritual gifts God makes available to us, and the importance of using them. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.