A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: There's something replenishing and life-giving about sharing your faith. You need an outlet. And Jesus said, "Give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, running over. With the same measure you give, it shall be given back to you." You're blessed to be a blessing to others.

Guest (Male): Some people take in so much spiritual input. They take it in, take it in, take it in. Well, Pastor Greg Laurie says maybe it's time to share it.

Imagine a local food pantry to feed the hungry and less fortunate. They collect donations from far and wide. There are shelves full of food reaching to the ceiling. That's great. But if they never distribute any of that food, what a crime.

Some believers have a heart full of compassion and a head full of knowledge about the Christian life, but it never gets distributed. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us all reach out and share.

Greg Laurie: So this is the last message in our series we're calling Upward, Inward, and Outward. And we're pointing out that these are three principles that should be constantly operative in the life of the Christian. Why am I here on this earth? Number one, I'm here for the glorification of God. Number two, I'm here for the edification of the saints. Thirdly, I'm here for the evangelization of the world. Upward, inward, outward.

To review, number one, I'm here for the glorification of God. The Bible says whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. And I think of Charlie Kirk. He was an amazing young man. I mean, this guy came to faith at the age of 11, and at 18, he started his organization. It's almost like he was born an adult. He was really quite remarkable and very motivated and very intelligent. And you know, he took his gifts and developed them. He didn't go to college. He just learned this all through experience and applying the gift that God gave to him.

And tragically, tragically, he was assassinated. He was murdered. There's no other way to put it. Charlie Kirk is quoted to have said this, and I quote, "I'm nothing without Jesus. I'm a sinner. I've fallen incredibly short of the glory of God. We all do. I gave my life to the Lord and everything I do incorporates Jesus Christ. I want to be remembered for courage, for my faith. The most important thing is my faith." And that is what he's being remembered for.

I'll have a few more things to say about Charlie in a little bit. So we're here for the glorification of God. Number two, we're here for the edification of the saints. And that takes us to Ephesians 4 because it says that God has given us in the church certain gifts. Ephesians 4:11: "These are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers." And their responsibility is to equip God's people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

And so we want to help people grow in their faith. Okay, so now we're coming to the final point. We're here for the glorification of God. We're here for the edification of the saints. And we're here for the evangelization of the world. And how much our world needs evangelizing. How dark it is. Coming back to Charlie. After his tragic death, we saw how twisted our culture actually is. We saw how dark the hearts of some people are.

The Bible says the heart is deceitfully wicked above all things. Who can know it? There were people that were literally celebrating the death of this courageous young man. And it reminds me of that passage in Isaiah about those who call evil good and they call good evil. They put darkness for light and light for darkness. In many ways, this is a moment that is a mirror for our nation. It shows how much we need Jesus. Politics won't save us. Policies won't heal us. Only Christ can. And we desperately need a spiritual awakening in America.

The church is under attack right now. Christian leaders are under attack, and you need to pray for them. It's easy to criticize them, second-guess them, but pray for them. And it's dangerous to do what some of us do: standing in front of crowds and preaching truth. Not everyone appreciates that, needless to say. This was something that was happening in the early church as well. There was an occasion where James, the brother of John, was arrested and he was beheaded by King Herod.

Then Herod arrested Simon Peter. And I love what Acts 12 says, verse one: "Constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church." And that word constant means fervent, passionate prayer. I don't know how hard... did they not pray for James? I don't know about that. But I know they were really praying for Peter. "Lord, don't let Peter die." And you know the rest of that story. The Lord sent an angel, opened the doors literally for Peter, who walked out unharmed.

But we need to be praying. We're going to face spiritual attack. The Bible says, "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." Jesus said, "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely when they tell lies about you." He says, "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad." We're going to face all kinds of attacks. It's going to be being criticized. It's going to be being mocked. It's going to be being canceled. We'll have people attack us physically. You never know what it's going to be.

And Charlie was a young man who spoke up boldly. And he reminds me of someone in the Bible named Stephen. Stephen was the first martyr of the church. And he, like Charlie, or Charlie like him, was a courageous young man that spoke up for what was true. And he died a horrible death. They stoned him to death. But as he was dying, Stephen was given a glimpse of heaven. And he says, "I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father," which is interesting because normally when we read of Jesus in heaven, He's sitting at the right hand of the Father.

But in the story of Stephen, He's standing. Why? I don't know. But maybe the Lord was standing in honor of the first martyr. And the moment Stephen took his last breath on earth, he took his first breath in heaven. And the same is true for Charlie Kirk. The same is true for any follower of Jesus. When you die, you go straight to heaven. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

But why does God allow this to happen? Why such a young man? I don't have the answer to that. We grappled with that for a long time after our son Christopher, age 33, died in an automobile accident. If I could have traded places with him, I would have done it without hesitation. But the Lord took our son at a very early age. These are unanswerable questions. But what we do is we turn to God. The Bible says God is our refuge and our strength, a present help in time of trouble.

And we mourn. I think this is important because sometimes Christians will say, "Well, don't you know when Christians die, they go to heaven? Don't be sad." Oh, be sad. When I die, be sad for a while. I mean, not forever, but shed a couple of tears. I'll be watching you from heaven. No, I doubt that. But no, it's appropriate. You know, the depth of our sorrow is an indication of the depth of our love. And we need to mourn when we lose loved ones.

Even Stephen, when he was martyred, of him we read, "Godly men mourned over him." Why did they mourn over him? He was in heaven. Because they were sad that he didn't live his life out. They were sad he wasn't with them any longer. And the Bible says there's a time to laugh and there's a time to cry. So it's appropriate for us to mourn. And I have to say in all honesty, I was disappointed by the fact that some churches and some pastors made no mention of Charlie after he died. No mention.

This young man was a Christian leader. He was making a difference, and he should have been acknowledged. And that's why we're acknowledging him today. We feel this because he was part of the church. And the Bible says when one member of the body suffers, we all suffer. But then the Bible also says those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. Something very amazing happened after the death of Stephen. Like, worst-case scenario, Stephen dies. Horrible tragedy.

But God was at work. And we read that after Stephen went to be with the Lord, Acts 8, a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and everyone except the apostles were scattered through Judea. You say, "Oh, that's a bad thing." Actually, that was a good thing because Jesus had said to them, "You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." In other words, okay, after the day of Pentecost, you guys are filled with the Spirit. Now go out and share this.

Everyone's like, "Yeah, we'd rather stay in Jerusalem. We want to be under the spout where the glory came out. We'll have a nice little holy huddle here." Now they're scattering. And among those people that were impacted by the life and the death of Stephen was someone I already mentioned, the notorious Saul of Tarsus. And I believe that Stephen's courageous life and death directly impacted Saul and resulted in his conversion.

God can bring good despite the bad. We don't have to say the bad was good. We don't even have to say this bad thing happened so this other thing will happen. All we have to say is this bad thing happened. We don't know why this bad thing happened. But despite that bad thing, God has done a good thing. That's what Romans 8:28 means.

And by the way, Charlie was interviewed in his last interview, and he was asked what his favorite Bible verse was. And that's what it was: Romans 8:28. "And we know that all things work together for good to those that love God and are the called according to His purpose." So the church spread. And I believe right now we have a watershed moment in our nation.

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

Greg Laurie: Hey everybody, you can watch our Sunday services on a special broadcast that we call Harvest at Home. It's streaming on the Harvest Plus platform. So download that app right away, Harvest Plus, and you can enjoy being a part of our extended church family every Sunday.

Guest (Male): Well, you've joined us for a powerful message from Pastor Greg today called "Your Jesus Revolution Moment."

Greg Laurie: Young people, let me address you for a moment. Older people, get out. No, it applies to you too, but I want to direct this specifically to younger people. Charlie's a good example to follow. This could be your Jesus Revolution moment. Seize it. Stop trying to fit in and be cool. Be courageous for Christ because that's the coolest thing you can do. And we need your voice. We need your voice right now.

You know, it's interesting that the Jesus Movement did happen on the heels of a number of tragic assassinations in our country. JFK our president, RFK his brother, MLK Martin Luther King, others as well. And it was sort of traumatizing. The nation was in trauma. And God began to work and everyone was talking about a revolution. "We want a sexual revolution. We want a political revolution." And God said, "I'm going to send you a Jesus revolution." We need another one.

And there's a lot of interesting things happening right now that would cause us to wonder, are we on the verge of another spiritual awakening? There's a lot of wonderful signs that would say maybe we are. Charlie Kirk said, and I quote him, "Gen Z and Gen Alpha are coming to Christ in massive numbers. They don't want fluff. They don't want a watered-down gospel. They want the tough, honest truth. They want the unfiltered gospel of Christ crucified and the power of the resurrection." Amen. Amen.

That's what they want and that's what they need. And that's the only thing that will change them and the only thing that will change our country. I've mentioned to you before there's a lot of interesting trends already in play, like the increase of church attendance with younger people. Young people are coming back to church, specifically Gen Z is coming back to church. And even more interesting than that, and I can't think of historical precedent for this, young Gen Z men are leading the way. That's amazing.

Girls, you'll catch up. Because the fact is usually girls lead the way in everything. So for once, the guys got it right. Way to go, little dudes. Okay, so lead the way. But there's another reason we need to preach the gospel, not only because it's the only hope for our culture but because we need to do it for ourselves. You say, "I don't know what that means." Okay, so we talked about upward, inward, outward, and we compared it through a three-legged stool. Every leg matters. If I remove one leg from a three-legged stool, it's going to fall. It's going to collapse.

These are principles that must be in place in my life on a regular basis as a Christian and we as the church. So we need to be glorifying God. We need to be part of the church developing, cultivating, and using the gifts that God gives us. And we need to be evangelizing. If you're not evangelizing, one leg of your stool is missing, and you're missing out on a great blessing because there's something replenishing and life-giving about sharing your faith.

I think a lot of times as Christians we grow spiritually. We're studying our Bibles, we're going to church every week, we're in a small group, we're praying. But there's something missing in our life, and we can't quite figure out what it is. That something that is missing is an outlet for all that truth. You need an outlet. And Jesus said, "Give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, running over. With the same measure you give, it shall be given back to you."

I can tell you there's been more than one time I've stepped into the pulpit depleted and drained and maybe even dealing with some difficulty of some kind. And as I've just sort of taken my focus off of myself and put it on giving the word of God or maybe proclaiming the gospel, it replenishes me. You've had that too, right? Maybe you're feeling down. "Oh man, this is a hard day. It's hard to be a Christian in America. I have a cold. I have to go put gas in my car." Whatever.

Whatever reason you're not in a great mood. And so you're pumping gas in your car, whatever. And then there's someone over there that has an electric car and they're trying to pump gas in their car. You find that highly entertaining. You're watching it. And then maybe you start a conversation with them. You start talking about Jesus. And the more you talk, the more excited you get because you're rediscovering what we sometimes forget. And then as you share—going back to a fuel analogy—you started on empty and you end on full.

See, that's the thing. This is why we need to do this. It's for you, too. Proverbs 11:25 says those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. God did not give us the gospel to hoard, but to share. You're blessed to be a blessing to others. Discover and cultivate the spiritual gifts that God has given to you. Jesus said, "Look around. Lift up your eyes. The fields are white to harvest. The harvest is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray that the Lord would send laborers into the harvest."

I have a fun idea for you. How many of you are on social media? You have an Instagram account, an X account, Facebook, TikTok? Just raise your hand. Don't be ashamed. Quite a few of you. Okay, good. All right. You have a platform. Use your platform for God. And so here's a thought: record a one-minute message. You can maybe go two minutes. Don't go much longer. A one- to two-minute message sharing your testimony. Just say, "Hi, my name is..." and "Let me tell you how I came to become a follower of Jesus," and tell your story and post it on your platform. See what the Lord will do with that.

It's a place to start, right? But you have to look for those opportunities. Sometimes we'll say, "I want to be a missionary one day and cross the sea." Hey, maybe you should start by crossing the street and talking to your neighbor. Coming back to Charlie one last time. When he left us, he was holding a microphone, as you may recall. And we all have a microphone of sorts. And I'm going to use the idea of a microphone as a baton in a relay race, right?

When you run in a relay race, it's not all about you. It's about working with your team. And when you've run your lap or your portion of the race, you hand it off to someone on your team and they take the baton and they run their length and then they hand it off, and then one final person goes across the finish line. So the baton is here for us to take. All of us, young and old. Will you do it? Will you be that person to reach your generation?

We're going to close in prayer, and I'm going to give an opportunity for anybody here who has never put their faith in Jesus to do so. And there's going to be a final challenge for all of us. Let's pray. Now Father, thank You for Your word and thank You for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sin. I pray for everyone that is here, and if there's anyone that has joined us that is not yet a Christian, they're not yet one of Your children, they haven't had their sins forgiven, they don't have this relationship with You, Lord, let this be the moment they believe.

While our heads are bowed and we're praying together, if you want Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin, if you want Him to come into your life, if you want to know with confidence that you will go to heaven when you die, if you want to fill that big hole in your heart, so to speak, you've tried to fill with everything this culture offers, if you're ready to say yes to Jesus, pray this prayer now right where you are. You could even pray it out loud. 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 me. I choose to follow You from this moment forward. Amen."

Guest (Male): An important prayer from Pastor Greg Laurie with those making a change in their relationship with God today. And he'll come back in just a moment with the final challenge for us before we close today here on A New Beginning. But if you yourself just prayed with Pastor Greg and made a first-time decision for the Lord, well, we'd like to help you get started in your new relationship with God.

We'd like to send you Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. Not only will you find the scripture text in an easy-to-read translation, you'll find hundreds of helps just for new believers. Call us at 1-800-821-3300 and ask for it. We'll send it free of charge. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write 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. Next time, Pastor Greg presents a practical study of the Gospel of Mark called "The Gospel for Busy People." But before we close, here's Pastor Greg once again.

Greg Laurie: I'm going to pose a challenge, and I don't want you to do this unless you really mean it. I'm going to ask you if you would say, "I'm ready to take that baton. I'm ready to take that microphone." And I want to live a sold-out life for Christ. And I want to glorify God with my life and reach as many people as I can with the gospel. I'm ready to say, "Here I am, Lord, send me." If that's what you want to do, I want you to pray this prayer out loud.

Lord Jesus, this world is lost. And You've called me to glorify You. I want to reach my world for You. So use me, Lord. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Open up doors of opportunity. Help me discover my gifts of the Spirit and use them for Your glory. Use me to bring others to You. I commit myself to You now. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. God bless each one of you. If you just prayed that prayer, drop Pastor Greg an email, would you? And let him know. Greg@harvest.org.