A New Beginning

Guest (Male): Who is called to go into all the world and preach the gospel? Short answer: we are. We each have the privilege of sharing a message that saves lives. Today, Pastor Greg Laurie points out it's the most important privilege we have.

Greg Laurie: God's primary way of reaching people is through people. Not just preachers, not just missionaries; we're all called to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

Guest (Male): When you think back on your spiritual journey and how it was you came to Christ, most likely there was at least one human being involved in the process. Aren't you thankful for that person? Well, we each have the opportunity to be that person for someone else. It's God's plan for disseminating the good news.

And today on A New Beginning, as part of his series called Refresh, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how refreshing it is when we follow through with our evangelism privilege and responsibility.

Greg Laurie: Okay, well, how many of you are fishermen? I'm not much of a fisherman myself. Years ago, I was in Alaska, and I went on a little fishing trip for king salmon. I was with very seasoned fishermen who knew what they were doing. I didn't even know how to bait my hook. Well, anyway, we're all just waiting for a bite, and one friend of mine kept saying, "I just got a hit. I just got a hit," and he hadn't got a hit.

I asked the guy who was with us, our guide, "How will you know when you get a real bite?" He says, "You'll know." And it's like almost right after that, boom, my pole moved, and I started reeling away, and I got a big king salmon on my line. I was so excited, and I worked it. This went on for a while, for maybe 20 minutes, I'm reeling away. Finally, we get that fish right at the side of the boat, and the guide gets his net in there and he misses it, and the fish breaks away. And then, of course, when you tell someone that story, no one believes you because we all talk about the one that got away. But in my case, it really happened.

But I'll tell you a story about a fisherman who got a beast of a fish. It's called a Muskellunge fish. Ever heard of those? So this guy is testing an outboard propeller on his little boat on a lake in Ohio. And as he's cruising along, he sees this massive Muskellunge fish right near the surface. So he casts his line in the direction of the fish a couple of times; the fish disappears. So the guy goes back to testing his motor. Half hour later, the fish appears again. It's right near the surface.

So this guy grabs a leather glove, gets right behind the musky, grabs it behind the gills, and is wrestling it onto the boat. The fish was so big another fisherman nearby came and helped him get this beast of a fish on his boat. And when it was all said and done, it weighed more than 53 pounds. Had he caught it properly, if you will, with a rod and a reel, it would have set the record. So this is what makes me laugh: this fisherman was interviewed afterwards. "How did you pull this off, catching this fish with a glove, by hand?" And his response is, "Well, I was at the right place at the right time, and I guess I was just fool enough to grab it."

I said, "Greg, what are you talking about? Is this a message on fishing?" Yes, it is. It's a message on fishing for men. Jesus said, "Follow me, and you will be a fisher of men." A literal translation of that is, "catch men alive." I suppose we need to be at the right place at the right time and be fool enough to grab it. I want to talk to you in this message about how to lead a person to Christ. Now, as you know, we're in a series we're calling Refresh, and last time we talked about the refreshing power of sharing your faith, and this is a part two to that message.

And you'll remember I pointed out to you that when you reach out to others, when you put your focus on others, it spiritually refreshes you. Remember Jesus said, "Give and it shall be given to you, pressed down, shaken together, running over; with the same measure you give, it shall be given back to you." Jesus said, "It's more blessed," or literally, "happy-making," "to give than it is to receive." There's a happiness in giving the gospel out to others. And of course, over in Proverbs 11:25, it says, "He that refreshes others will be refreshed himself."

So I want to help you share your faith. Now, last time I mentioned if you know John 3:16, you're armed and dangerous. John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." That is the gospel in a nutshell. You know that. You can go out and cause some trouble in a good way. So let's in this message talk about the who, the where, the why, and the when of telling others about Jesus. Let's start with the who.

Who is called to go into all the world and preach the gospel? Short answer: we are. I am. You are. Jesus said in Matthew 28, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you; and lo, I am with you even to the end of the age." By the way, in the original language, that is addressed to everyone. Not just preachers, not just pastors, not just missionaries. It's addressed to students.

It's addressed to athletes. It's addressed to men. It's addressed to women. It's addressed to older people. It's addressed to younger people. It's addressed to older people who think they're younger people. The point is, it's for everyone. No one gets off the hook, if you will. We're all called to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Now, where are we to preach the gospel? Again, everywhere. Into all of the world. Let's localize it. Go into all of your world and preach the gospel. Go into your sphere of influence with the message of Jesus Christ.

Number three: why are we to do this? This is important. Why are we to do this? Because God's primary way of reaching people is through people. And the primary way we do that is through the verbal articulation of the gospel. You say, "Well, I'll just be a good example, and I'll be a model of what it means to be a Christian, and that will be my form of evangelism." By all means, be a model. By all means, be a good example. In fact, to be honest, if you're not going to be a good example, I would rather you did not preach the gospel.

So be that godly example, but that in effect earns you the right to articulate your faith. The primary way God brings people into the kingdom is when they have had the gospel verbally articulated to them. In 1 Corinthians 1:21, Paul writes, "In the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God. It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those that believe." There is power in this message being communicated to a person.

Number four: when are we to share the gospel? Answer: all the time. All the time. You know, the Bible says, "Be instant in season and out of season." Or a modern translation puts it this way: "Be on duty at all times." Now, I have an illustration for this of when God called upon me at a very unusual moment. So I was in a department store, this is some years ago, and I had to go to the restroom. Yes, preachers have to go to the restroom, too. So I took my seat in the stall, trying not to visualize this, and I'm there, and there's someone in the stall next to me.

He clears his throat. Okay, someone next to me, whatever. And then I hear a voice say to me, "Hi." Now look, I don't know about you, but I don't talk to people in restrooms. I mean, my objective is to get in and out as quickly as possible. He says, "Hi." I didn't really know what to do. I said, "Hi." Then a moment goes by, and I hear this voice say, "Were you supposed to meet me here?" I'm like, what? "Were you supposed to meet me here?" "No. No, I wasn't supposed to meet you here." I mean, who is this person?

Getting kind of irritated. And then suddenly it occurred to me: what if the Lord wants me to share the gospel with this guy? But wait, in a bathroom? Could God use you in a bathroom? And then he says, "Well, do you have something for me?" I'm thinking, what is this guy? What is going on? And I say, "What is it you're looking for?" He says, "Some drugs." I get it. So the guy was wanting to make a drug buy. He thought his drug dealer was going to meet him in the bathroom.

And I said, "Well, I've got something better for you than drugs." He said, "What?" He's very interested. I said, "A personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ." Again, I'm thinking, I can't do this in a bathroom. But I was doing it. And then this is what the guy says: "I already tried that." "You already tried accepting Christ?" "Yes," the man says. I said, "Well, did you go to church?" "Yes," he said. I said, "Where did you go to church?" He said, "I went to Harvest Christian Fellowship."

I said, "Really? Did you?" I said, "Do you know who I am?" He said, "No." I said, "I'm Greg Laurie, the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship." And then he said, "Oh my God!" I had to laugh; it was hilarious. I said to him, "Buddy, God must really love you. He sent your pastor into the bathroom where you were trying to make a drug buy. I want to talk to you afterwards." So I waited for him. It was in the sock section, as I recall. So he comes out of the restroom; he was easy to identify.

He was the guilty-looking guy. And I just said, "The Lord loves you. Stop running from him." And I prayed with him, and he recommitted his life to the Lord. So you never know when God will call upon you. When are we to present the gospel? Whenever an opportunity arises. Point number five: how are we to share the gospel? Now, this is where the rubber meets the road, and frankly, this is where it falls apart for many people.

They just don't know how to get started, and even more, once they've got started, they don't know how to finish. They don't know how to make that invitation for a person to come to Christ. So we're going to look at John chapter four together, a very familiar story of Jesus and the woman at the well. And here we see Jesus as the master communicator. Yes, he was God walking among us. Yes, he was the Savior of the world; he was the Messiah.

But he also was the greatest evangelist of all time, and he models for us how to engage people with his message. The Bible says of Jesus, "The common people heard him gladly." That simply means Jesus never spoke over anyone's head. When he communicated, people understood him. It was Albert Einstein who once said, "You should speak in such a way that your grandmother would understand." I like that. Let me expand it. We should speak in such a way that a child could understand.

I want children to understand what I'm saying. Sometimes I get letters from kids, eight or nine years old, that will watch Harvest at Home, and I'm so glad when I get a letter like that because I want the kids to understand. Maybe they don't understand everything I'm saying, but maybe they'll hear a joke or an illustration will connect with them. But I want to connect to those people. And as we're sharing the gospel, we want to connect with people and bring it to them in a way they can understand. That means we have to avoid what I call Christianese.

Do you know what Christianese is? It's sort of verbiage we use that doesn't make sense to a non-believer. You walk up to someone who isn't a Christian and you say, "Hey you, heathen. Have you been washed in the blood, sanctified, and are you part of the body of Christ?" Do you know how weird that sounds? You just asked the person if they're washed in blood and if they're part of some body. All they know is they don't want to continue to have a conversation with you. You've got to communicate in a language that people understand.

And Jesus certainly did that. You know, sometimes people take that which is so incredible and so beautiful, and they make it unnecessarily complex. Even worse, they make it boring. I can't stand boring preaching, can you? So we need to make it understandable. We need to connect with the person that we are talking to. The objective is not to win the debate. The objective is to win the soul. The objective is to not burn the bridge; the objective is to build the bridge.

And Jesus did that so perfectly. Listen, everything doesn't have to be a sermon. You might be surprised to hear that from a preacher, but sometimes you just need to be a friend and make that initial connection. And try not to be a weird person. Try to be half-normal, if possible, as you talk to people about Jesus. Listen to this stat; it's interesting. Seventy-nine percent of unchurched people agree with the following statement: "I don't mind talking to a friend about their faith if they really value it."

I mentioned this last time. "I don't mind," says almost 80 percent of the public, "talking to a friend about their faith if they really value it." So you can see there is an audience for what we have to say if we go about it in the right way. So when you're communicating with a non-believer, take the time to listen to them. Take the time to hear what they're saying. Try not to discover something that is called tact. Tact is the intuitive knowledge of saying the right thing at the right time.

The apostle Paul used tact so perfectly when he presented the gospel to the people in Athens at a place called Mars Hill. This is where all the intellectuals would gather to debate and discuss the latest philosophy that was coming along. And so Paul stands up at this place called the Areopagus. In fact, I've stood at this very site where Paul stood and delivered a message. And so it's very exciting to be in this place where such a historical moment happened.

But here are all these people with all these different philosophies. And Paul had spent some time in Athens looking around the city, and there were lots of idols in Athens. Lots of false gods and lots of altars erected to false gods. So Paul's looking at all of these altars erected to these false deities, and he comes to one that's erected toward the unknown god. I guess the people of Athens figured, "Well, in case we missed one, we'll put this one up: to the unknown god."

So Paul stands up before the people of Athens and all these philosophers and says, "Men of Athens, I can see you're very religious. And I was walking around your city, and I saw this altar erected to the unknown god. That's the one I want to talk to you about." He could have said, "Men of Athens, you are a bunch of idol worshippers. You're pagans, and you're all going to hell." Would that have been true? Yes, it would have been. But Paul wanted to build a bridge instead of burn one. That was a good beginning.

Some years ago I was in Hawaii, and I was in a cab. The cab driver's name was Tom. So we're cruising along, and there on the road was what they call a ghost bike. A ghost bike is a bike that's been painted white; sometimes there are flowers in front of them to commemorate the fact that someone riding a bike was killed there. And unfortunately, there were a few ghost bikes out on that particular day. It was a very well-used road there on the island, the Big Island of Hawaii.

And I saw the ghost bike and went, "Oh, a ghost bike. That's sad." And Tom the cab driver says, "Yes, I have a friend that was riding on this highway and was killed not long ago." So I said, "Well Tom, what do you think happens after we die?" And so Tom the cab driver told me his philosophy. He believed that you would come back as another life form, and talked about it for a while. I didn't interrupt him. I didn't contradict him. I didn't roll my eyes; I just listened to what Tom the cab driver had to say.

So he finished talking about what he thought happens after a person dies. Then Tom says to me, "Well, what do you think happens after a person dies?" See, that's a give and take. And then I told him what the Bible says. I said, "Well, I believe that if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you go straight to heaven," and I expanded on that a bit. And after I was done, Tom said, "I like your version of the afterlife better than mine." I said, "Well Tom, it's not my version. It's God's version." But my point of bringing this up is I was establishing a conversation, a dialogue with a person.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie pointing out how we need to be ready to share the hope of Christ with Tom the cab driver, or Mary the cashier, or Wilson the next-door neighbor. Good insight today on A New Beginning, and there's still more to come from this message. It's a study called The Refreshing Power of Sharing Your Faith - Part 2. Now, to present the flip side of the coin, we've been talking about sharing our faith with others. Has anyone ever really shared the gospel with you? Pastor Greg, it's an important message, and it's easy to understand, isn't it?

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 rip tide 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.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie will lead us in prayer in just a moment. But first, he wants to send you a New Believer's Bible for free. He'll have the details coming up right after this prayer.

Greg Laurie: So let me just lead you in a simple prayer, and you can pray this prayer after me. You can pray it out loud if you'd 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.

Guest (Male): Yeah, we'll be glad to send it all your way, free of any charge, if you 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 that 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 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 call us at 1-800-821-3300. Again, that's 1-800-821-3300. Well, next time, more insight from Pastor Greg on personal evangelism. We're learning how to share the gospel Jesus-style next time. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.