A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: God allows trials in our lives so we will grow up spiritually. We may not like trials, but Pastor Greg Laurie points out that God can often refine us best during those times of challenge. God has a plan, God has a purpose. Iron is entering your soul, God is toughening you up for something He has in the future. And remember this, even when things look bleak, all things work together for God's glory and your ultimate good.

Music: This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Can you hear the angels singing? This is the day today when life begins.

Greg Laurie: Wood that's been split and sawn, sanded and shaped can make some fine furniture. But if our compassion said, "get the best of us," and we didn't want to see that wood face that stress, well, most of us would just have some chunks of tree sitting in our living rooms.

Guest (Male): Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how the sanding and shaping in our lives helps us mature into the kind of people God wants us to be. Good encouragement coming today.

Music: This is the day today when life begins.

Greg Laurie: Sometimes in the dry wastelands of life, I will find God more than I find Him anywhere else. I would love to perpetually live on a mountaintop, never having an emotional low, but the reality is, spiritual fruit does not grow on mountaintops, it grows in valleys.

But why do I have to go through trials as a follower of Jesus? Here's the answer. James 1, verse 2. "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. And though when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow, so let it grow. And when your endurance is fully developed, you'll be perfect and complete." We'll stop there.

So if you're taking notes, here's point number one. God allows trials in the life of the Christian so we will grow up spiritually. Again, God allows trials in our lives so we will grow up spiritually. So iron will enter our soul. Let me explain.

You've heard the story of Joseph. He's in the Old Testament book of Genesis. He was one of the sons of Jacob. And Jacob favored Joseph. By the way, your kids know if you favor one of their siblings over another. You think you're very secretive and evenhanded, they know.

And they probably have little debates about who is your favorite child or favorite grandchild. My grandchildren come to me, "who's your favorite grandchild, Papa?" I say, "you're all my favorite." "No, come on. Who's your favorite?" And so, all of the brothers of Joseph knew that dad favored Joseph over them.

And one of the ways he showed it was he gave him what is called a coat of many colors. Now, this basically was just a coat that was more reserved for someone that was didn't have to work in the fields. And so his brothers were cut-off clothing and they're out there laboring, and Joseph would come cruising in in his cool coat. "Hey guys, how's it going?" And he would rat his brothers out.

And tell dad what the brothers were up to. And one day the brothers said, "we can't take this anymore. Let's just kill him." Seems like an overreaction to me. "Let's kill our brother Joseph." And then Reuben, the oldest brother, sees a group of slave traders traveling by. He says, "Why don't we just sell him to the slave traders instead? We'll make a little money on the side." They all thought that was a great idea.

Then they took that beautiful coat Jacob gave to his son, tore it up, covered it in blood, and went home to dad and said, "Oh, Dad, worse than ever. Your son that you love so much is dead. He was killed." And Jacob was brokenhearted. And so what happens to Joseph? He's he's bought by a guy who effectively was ahead of the secret service for the Pharaoh.

And this man had a huge estate. His name was Potiphar. And Joseph was so responsible that Potiphar kept giving him more and more responsibilities. Next thing you know, Joseph is running everything. Well, Potiphar had a wife. She was the original cougar.

She saw the handsome young Joseph and started to hit on him. Her name was Mrs. Robinson. No, wrong story. That's a dated cultural reference. Google it. I don't even want to go into that. But anyway, if you know the movie, she was like Mrs. Robinson, trying to get Joseph to be involved with her sexually. He resisted her advances and then she falsely accuses him of rape, and he's sent off to prison.

Now he's sitting in a prison cell. How easily could he have thought, "well, is this what you get for following God? I made a principled stand, I resisted the enticements of this woman, and I'm in prison." But God was at work. And it's interesting because he had an iron collar around his neck.

And then we read this interesting verse, Psalm 105, verse 18. "They bruised his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar." A different translation emerges from the original here, which says, "as he laid in iron, iron entered his soul."

He was getting toughened up. Guess what? God was preparing Joseph for something big. Maybe God's preparing you for something big too. Iron is entering your soul. God is toughening you up for something He has in the future. And remember this, even when things look bleak, all things work together for God's glory and your ultimate good.

God has a plan. God has a purpose. Here's another point, God's ultimate purpose for us is to be conformed into the image of Jesus. We often quote Romans 8:28, "For we know that all things work together to those who love God and are called according to His purpose." But verse 29 says, "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestined to be conformed into the image of His own dear Son." So put it together.

Here's what it says, whatever you're going through in life, God will ultimately work it for good, but His endgame is actually to make you more like Jesus. See, we miss that last part. "Oh, yeah, I'm going through a hard time. Where's the good? I don't see the good." He'll work all things together for good to those who love Him, and then He wants to make you more like Jesus.

So we have to get the bigger picture because God is preparing us for heaven. Here's another one, suffering can bring glory to God. Suffering can bring glory to God in our lives. Listen, any fool can be happy when the sky is blue and the sun is shining. But when you're going through a storm, it's a different matter.

You know, you might have people that know you who are not Christians. And they say, "look, it's a Christian, smiling, all happy. They go to church on Sunday. They're so happy, praise the Lord, whatever." And then one day crisis hits your life. Something horrible happens. Now they're watching.

And you still have a smile on your face, and you still have faith in God. And they're saying, "Whoa, maybe I need to take a second look at this Christianity thing, because maybe there's something to it." That's right. Because when a Christian can glorify God in a time of difficulty, it is a powerful testimony to a lost and watching world.

Case in point, Paul and Silas. They were arrested for preaching the gospel. They were treated in a very cruel way by a Roman guard who whipped them and then put their feet in stocks. And we read at midnight Paul and Silas sang praises to God.

And then we also read, and the other prisoners were listening. And that can be translated they were listening with pleasure. Because I don't think those other prisoners had ever heard anyone sing praises to God in that hell hole, in that dungeon. And I don't know if Paul and Silas were doing like a two-part Lennon-McCartney harmony, or, you know.

All I know is these people had never heard that kind of thing before. Suddenly a great earthquake comes, the walls are shaken and collapse, and the Roman jailer knows he's dead. He'll be executed for losing the prisoners. He pulls out his sword, he's ready to kill himself, and Paul stops him and says, "Don't hurt yourself, we're still here."

And this guy drops down on his knees and says, "What must I do to be saved?" Why? Paul and Silas earned the right for this man to hear the gospel by the way they lived in adversity. They weren't praising God when the walls collapsed of the prison. They were praising God when they were in stocks in the prison. And that man came to faith as a result. Yes, God can work through these situations.

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

Greg Laurie: You know, I've heard people describe a trip to Israel as seeing the Bible actually come to life. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie, and 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, well, 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.

Guest (Male): 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. Well, today Pastor Greg is pointing out the purpose of the challenging times in our lives. Good encouragement for times of trial.

Greg Laurie: Suffering can be used to prepare us for a special task. Back to Joseph. He's in a prison cell. So two other guys are arrested, they work for the Pharaoh. It was the baker and the butler. So I guess the butler did it. He did something. And they had these weird dreams, and Joseph interpreted their dreams.

Then he said, "When you get out of here, make sure you help me. I'm the guy that can interpret dreams, okay?" They forgot all about him. He sat there another two years. One day the Pharaoh had a troubling dream, and it was actually a dream about the future of Egypt and a famine that was coming.

And then the butler remembered, and he said, "Hey, I know a guy in prison, he can interpret dreams." Pharaoh says, "Bring him up here." Joseph comes before the Pharaoh, he interprets the Pharaoh's dream. Pharaoh is so impressed he says, "I'm making you the one who's in command of the food supply of Egypt."

And Joseph went from the prison to the palace and became the second most powerful man on the planet. So the famine came and it hit his brothers way back where they were living. And so Jacob said, "Go to Egypt and get us some food." So when to the palace come the brothers of Joseph. And he recognizes them, but they don't recognize him.

See, he didn't dress like they did anymore. Now he looked like an Egyptian. He walked like an Egyptian. And he probably had guyliner on, right? And a shaved head. He recognizes them. He starts talking to them. They don't know. They're talking to their brother they sold. And then he says, "Everyone leave the room."

He looks at his brothers and he says, "I am Joseph." I wonder if that reverberated. "I am Joseph!" And they looked at him and collectively thought, "And we are dead!" But no, he didn't condemn them to death. It would have been the ultimate payback story. But it wasn't.

It was the ultimate forgiveness story. He forgave his brothers for the horrible things they did to him. But then he made this amazing statement. He said, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good to save many people alive." Incredible.

I know what was in your heart, I know you were evil, but God used it for His glory. God may have preserved you for something that is coming. And here's the thing, when you've gone through a hard time, you can really minister to someone else who is going through a hard time.

Paul actually writes over in Second Corinthians that we can comfort others with the comfort we have been comforted with. Paul writes, "He comforts us in all of our troubles so we can comfort others." So if you're a cancer survivor, and someone finds out they have cancer, boy, you're the person they need to talk to.

I saw a woman who posted on our Harvest At Home service. She's had some miscarriages. And she has a ministry to other women who've had miscarriages. See, here's how I got through it. My wife and I and our son, we have a ministry that we never wanted.

We have a ministry to parents who've lost children. I never wanted to join that club, but I became a bonafide member when our son went to be with the Lord some 13 years ago. And as a pastor, I've performed many funeral services, far too many for children, which are the hardest.

Because you're trying to find the right words. And I look at parents sitting in the front row and I think, what can I say to bring a measure of comfort and hope to them? And then one day I woke up and I was in the front row and the pastor was speaking to me.

And I remember the devastation, I remember wondering how I would get through it, how I would survive it. But the Lord has helped us and continues to help us, though we still miss our son so much. But the point is, is now I can comfort others with the comfort that I've been comforted with.

And I've found one of the things I do more of now than I used to do before our son had died, is I I'm a better listener. I'm not so quick to draw with a Bible verse. I'll listen. Tell me what happened. I'm so sorry. Well, let me just share a few things that we learned in this journey that we're still on.

And they'll listen to me, and to my wife, and to my son, because they know we've gone through it. So listen, there's things that have happened to you that you wish had not happened to you, but did it ever occur to you, God allowed them to happen to you so you can help others that are going through those same things?

This is very important for us to realize. God has a plan, and God has a purpose. And He can use all of these things in our lives and in the lives of others. Now let me close with one thought. And thoughts can be long. This could be a 30-minute thought.

This could be a four-minute thought, but it's going to be a shorter one, not a longer one. The greatest travesty of justice in all of human history, the worst crime that was ever perpetrated against any man was the arrest, execution, and bloody murder of Jesus Christ, the Son of God on the cross.

People want to blame someone for it. "It was the Romans that did it." Others will say, "It's the Jewish people that did it." Let me say something that'll blow your mind. It's God that did it. Because the Bible says, "It pleased the Father to bruise Him." Oh, no, the Father took no pleasure in watching His Son suffer and die.

But the Father knew that through the death of His Son on the cross, that salvation would be purchased for all of humanity. So out of the greatest travesty of justice came the greatest good of all time, your salvation and mine. Isn't that great to know?

Greg Laurie: The fact is, Jesus voluntarily went to that cross. No one took His life. Jesus said, "Greater love has no man than this that He lay down His life for His friends." He laid His life down. He went voluntarily to that cross. He died there. As I've often said, it wasn't nails that held Jesus to the cross, it was love for you. And for me.

God loves you and God wants to forgive you. And I don't know why you're here today, how you got here today. Maybe this is your first time at church. Maybe you were brought by a friend. Maybe something bad has happened in your life and it's got your attention. I want to just say first of all, I'm just glad you're here.

And I want you to know that God will help you if you'll call out to Him and ask for His forgiveness. Because Jesus didn't stay on that cross, did He? He rose again from the dead three days later. And He's with us right now in this place, standing at the door of your life and knocking. And He says, "If you'll hear His voice and open the door, He will come in."

Jesus can come into your pain, He can come into your struggle, He can come into your life. And He can forgive you of all of your sin and give you the assurance that you'll go to heaven when you die. And then if that wasn't enough, and then He'll give to you the meaning of life.

You wonder, what is the meaning of life? Why am I here? Short answer, the meaning of life is to come into a relationship with God and to walk with Him. And He'll show you what your life is all about and where your life should go. But He won't force this in your life. You have to ask for Him to come in and forgive you of your sin.

And in a moment we're going to close in prayer, and I'm going to extend an invitation for you to believe in Jesus and be forgiven of your sin. And I'm telling you it can happen in just a second. It's so amazing how quickly we can change. I remember when I was just a kid, 17 years old, and I was on my high school campus, Harbor High School.

And uh, I saw the Christians sitting there. I just wanted to look at them. And I thought they're so weird. And there's no way this is true. It's not true. They're crazy, look at them. And but I just kept watching them. They're singing songs about Jesus and. And then a guy got up to speak and I thought, okay, what's this all about?

And I don't remember most of what he said, but when he said, "Jesus said, you're either for me or against me." Suddenly I looked at the Christians and I thought, it's all true. How did that happen? How did I go from saying, "It's not true, I don't believe any of it. It couldn't be true," to, "It's all true and I want it"? I don't know how, but I didn't do it. God did it.

It's a work of the Holy Spirit. And you experienced it as well, didn't you?

Greg Laurie: You know, people have said to me, "Greg, you're an evangelist, tell us the one thing you can say to a non-believer to make them believe." What do you think I carry that around in my back pocket? If I knew such a thing, I would have already told you, trust me.

There's no one thing I could say to make a person believe. But I do know as we proclaim the gospel, as we share our faith with others, God's Holy Spirit will open their hearts up, and they can believe just like that. Like that man, going back to the story of Paul and Silas and the Roman jailer, he just said, "What do I need to do to be saved? What do I need to do to have what you have?"

"Hey, believe in Jesus," he said. "I believe in Jesus." And that can happen for you right here, right now. The Bible says, "Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved." So we're going to pray and then I'll extend this invitation for you to come to Christ today, for you to change your eternal destiny, for you to find the meaning and purpose of life.

If you need Jesus, respond now. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your word to us. Thank You for Your love for us. And I pray for any person here, Lord, if they don't know You, let this be the moment they believe. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Pastor Greg Laurie: Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer.

Guest (Male): And if you'd like to make that kind of change today in your relationship with the Lord, Pastor Greg will help you do that in just a moment before we wrap up today here on A New Beginning. Are you receiving Pastor Greg's daily devotions each day via email? If not, let's take care of that right now. You can sign up today, free of charge at harvest.org. And you'll receive a daily inspirational thought from God's word each day in your inbox. Again, go to harvest.org.

And then, Pastor Greg, just before we go, would you mind praying with the person listening who wants to make a change today in their relationship with the Lord?

Greg Laurie: I'd be happy to, Dave. You know, as you've been listening to this today, maybe you've heard another voice. By that I mean, yeah, you heard me say a few things, but you heard God's voice speak to you. Deep in the recesses of your heart and it suddenly dawned on you, this is what I need. Or to state it more accurately, this is who I need.

I need Jesus and I want Jesus, but maybe you don't know how to make that connection. Let me help you. God is only a prayer away. He stands at the door of your heart and He knocks. And Jesus says, "If you'll hear His voice and open the door, He'll come in." Let me help you open the door, so to speak, of your heart as you invite Jesus to be your Savior and Lord. So, here's what I would like you to do.

I'd like you to stop what you're doing and I want you to pray a prayer after me. I'll lead you in this prayer and as you pray it, God will hear you. Pray this after me right now if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. And I am sorry for my sin, and I need Your forgiveness right now. Would you come into my heart and my life as Savior, as God, as friend?

I choose to follow You from this moment forward. Thank You for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. I know that was a relatively short prayer. Maybe you felt something as you prayed it, maybe you felt nothing. That doesn't really matter because God's word says, "These things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life."

It doesn't say, "So you may think you have it," or, "You may hope you have it if God's in a good mood." No, that you can know it. And I want you to know if you prayed that prayer in a minute, Jesus Christ, the Son of God has come into your life. So congratulations. You're now a Christian. Now continue to follow the Lord.

Guest (Male): Yeah, and to help you follow the Lord, we'd like to send you Pastor Greg's New Believers Bible. It's in an easy-to-understand translation with hundreds of helps specifically for those who are new to the faith. It'll answer many of the questions you may have and get you started off right in your new relationship with the Lord.

So get in touch and ask for the New Believers Bible. We'll send it free of charge. Just call 1-800-821-3300. That's our 24-hour phone number. 1-800-821-3300. 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're definitely a listener-supported ministry. It's the generosity of listeners that helps 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 call us at 1-800-821-3300. Again, that's 1-800-821-3300.

Well, next time, as Pastor Greg continues his Refresh series, we'll consider how revival is the ultimate spiritual refreshment. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.