A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love one for another." Pastor Greg Laurie points out today we can live our lives as someone who attracts people to the Lord or repels them away. Ultimately, it's our choice. Be known for your love.

Be known as someone who builds people up, not as someone who tears people down. Be known as a person that one could call on for help, a loving person.

Guest (Male): Not many people come into the kingdom because they were sufficiently browbeaten by someone sharing their faith. Few have surrendered to Christianity simply because they lost a fiery religious debate. The Bible tells us His kindness leads us to repentance.

God's love can soften the hardest of hearts. God's mercy beckons those who've lost their way. And coming up today on a new beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us learn to put the Lord's compassion into practice.

Greg Laurie: We're in 1 John chapter 4 as part of our Unshakeable series. The title of my message is "When Love Moves In, Fear Moves Out." 1 John chapter 4: "Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God, for there are many false prophets in the world."

"This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: if a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. If somehow they claim to be a prophet but does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here."

Point number one if you are taking notes: we are in a spiritual war. John speaks of the Antichrist and antichrists plural. Remember the prefix "anti" doesn't just mean against, though it includes that. What it also means is "instead of."

John is saying in the last days you're going to see a lot of "instead of" Christs, or fake Christs, or someone pretending to be Christ or representing Him. This is something we need to be aware of.

Point number two: God is bigger and greater than everyone and everything else. God is bigger and God is greater than everyone and everything else. Look at 1 John 4:4: "But you belong to God, my dear children. You've already won a victory over these people because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world."

The one that's in you is Christ. The one that is in the world is Satan, or anyone or anything else that you think is a threat. Christ is greater than all of that. He's greater than Satan, greater than sin, greater than your problem.

Point number three: if you really know God, you will love others. If you really know God, you will love others. 1 John 4:7: "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another. To love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

I love this. Earlier, we had identified the three major themes of 1 John. Number one: God is light. 1 John 1:1, "This is the message we've heard from the beginning, declared to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness." So God is light.

Number two: God is love, reinforced right here before us. Thirdly: God is life. 1 John chapter 5, "He that has the son of God has life; he who does not have the son of God does not have life." Light and love are inseparable, sort of like grace and truth.

Light and love. Light shows you what's really going on. Ever lose something in your car? It's really dark. You've got to get it out of the garage, you've got to get some light in there, and then you find it. "Oh, that's where that burrito went that I lost one year ago." No wonder there was an odd smell in the car.

So light exposes things. Maybe the light shines into a person's life. Maybe it's a friend of yours. The light of Scripture, the light of truth, and you see they're doing something they should not be doing. That's where love comes in. The light shows the problem, but the love wants to help the person in the problem.

The Bible says if a brother or a sister is overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual should kick them when they're down and tell as many people as possible, preferably on social media. You know that verse? It's not in the Bible. What it really says is, "If a brother or sister is overtaken in a fault or stumbles in sin, you who are spiritual should restore such a person in a spirit of meekness and take heed lest you also be tempted."

What it's really saying is if someone's down, help them up because one day you may be down and you may need someone to help you up. That's light and love. Light shows the problem; love brings the solution. And God is love.

Jesus said, "By this shall all men know you are my disciples, that you have perfect doctrine." Well, we should have perfect doctrine as much as we can. We should believe the right things, but actually He didn't say that. "By this shall all men know you are my disciples, that you have love one for another."

One of the things that drew me to Christ was the love of Christians demonstrated toward each other. I looked at them and I thought, these people are weird. They seem to actually love each other. I don't know what kind of home you were raised in, but I wasn't raised in what you'd call a loving home.

I know my mom loved me in her way, but she never told me. She never affirmed me in that way, so I never heard it. She never hugged me. I was kind of a broken person when I first showed up at church, and some girl comes up to me I've never seen before, throws her arms around me, and says, "God bless you, I love you, brother."

Not everyone's a hugger. Some people say, "I'm a hugger." I'm like, "Oh no, how long is this going to take?" But some people don't know how to do that. I was one of those people. My scene is from Star Wars when Princess Leia says to Han Solo, "I love you."

In the original script, he was supposed to say, "I love you too." But Harrison Ford, who played Han Solo, said Han wouldn't say that. So they rewrote the scene, and it went as follows. Princess Leia says, "I love you." Han says, "I know."

That's good. That's me. "I love you, brother." "Yeah, I know. Okay, can you stop hugging me now, please?" It's taken me a long time to learn how to love, to learn how to say "I love you," and to accept love from others. But that is a mark of a real Christian.

Be known for your love. Be known as a bridge-builder, not a bridge-burner. Be known as someone who builds people up, not as someone who tears people down. Be known as a person that one could call on for help, a loving person.

Don't be a grudge-holder. Some people are known for their anger and that they're always upset about something. By the way, did you know that crows hold grudges? Crows are interesting birds. I wouldn't say I'm a huge crow fan. I'm more a hummingbird fan.

But crows are intriguing. They're better than seagulls; they're worthless. Seagulls are like the cats of the air. Actually, I like cats better than seagulls. Maybe I like them the least of all animals. It seems like they have intentionally targeted my car on more than one occasion. "His car just got washed. Let's go."

Crows, they remember and they literally hold grudges. They did a study on this, and someone put on a mask and they went and captured crows. This did not go down well in the crow community. They immediately started talking about that person. Hear all the crows squawking? They're talking about you.

They're evaluating you. It turns out that these crows would then dive-bomb the people if they wore the mask even much later. In fact, after the original crows died, they found that their children did the same thing. So they're passing this grudge on to the next generation. This is all true.

You say, "Greg, I didn't come here to church to hear about crows." I know, but let me finish. There's one virtuous thing about them. If you treat them well, they'll remember your kindness. If you feed them, they'll bring you little gifts, like little trinkets, buttons, bits of metal, maybe if you're really nice, a dead mouse.

Treat them well and it's like, "Okay, he's good. He's good in the crow community. We just sent out a tweet. Everybody knows it." Well, we don't even call them tweets anymore. Anyway, don't be like a crow and hold grudges. Be a loving person. Be a forgiving person. As I've often said, when you forgive a person, you set a prisoner free—yourself.

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, 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. 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, we're in the book of 1 John today for Pastor Greg's message called "When Love Moves In, Fear Moves Out." He continues now.

Greg Laurie: Point number four: God's love is greater than our worst fears. God's love is greater than our worst fears. 1 John 4:18, God demonstrated this love to us by sending His only begotten Son. Such love has no fear, for perfect love expels all fear. King James translation: perfect love casts out all fear.

If we are afraid, it is for the fear of punishment, and this shows we have not fully experienced His perfect love. I find this verse interesting. You might think John would say courage is better than fear, or faith is better than fear, and that's all true. But instead, John says perfect love casts out all fear.

The word that he uses for cast out or expel is a strong action-oriented word that means to drive out, to throw out with force. Fear and love are mutually exclusive. If you are living in fear, especially the fear of judgment, you have not yet grasped what it is to be loved by God.

Please know this: you are loved by God. God is not mad at you; God is mad about you. And He loves you with the deepest love. And that evicts fear because if you walk around with a concern that God doesn't love me and God's going to judge me, then John is saying, listen, when you know the love of God, it drives that fear away.

He's never going to stop loving you. Point number five: Romans 8:38 reinforces it when it says, "I am convinced that nothing can separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, nor fears for today or worries about tomorrow. Even the powers of hell cannot separate us from God's love."

Our fears change with the passing of time. When we're little kids, we have little kid fears. I hope you don't still have those fears. You're afraid of the dark, you're afraid of the monster under the bed, you're afraid of abandonment. That's why divorce is so devastating, especially for children. I remember that well.

As you get older, maybe your early teens, you have different fears. You have the fear of not fitting in, not being liked or accepted, not being good enough. Then you become a young adult. You have new fears. Now your fear is, am I going to find a career? Am I going to find someone to love me?

Am I going to find a spouse? Or maybe you find yourself comparing yourself to others on social media. Then one day you wake up and you're an old person. And they have different fears too. How do you know when you're an old person? There are telltale signs.

You know you're getting old when you sink your teeth into a steak and they stay there. You know you're getting old when you have a party and your neighbors don't even know it. You know you're getting old when your back goes out more than you do.

You know you're getting old when you use the light on your phone in the restaurants to read the menu. I do it. It's like I can't read this; the type is so small. It's so dark, so I get out the phone. I've got the light. It's such an old person thing. I even find myself using my camera app so I can blow it up a little bit.

"What am I ordering here?" That's a sign of getting old. You know you're getting old when someone actually cancels their plans. You know what I'm saying? Like, "Well, we're going to go out tonight." "Oh, they canceled. All right!"

You know you're getting old when your candles cost more than your cake. You know you're getting old when you drop something and you bend down to pick it up and you wonder what else you can do while you're down there. "I don't want to come down here again. Is there anything else that needs to be cleaned or picked up? Let's get it over with."

Signs of getting old. But the good news is God has something for you in every stage of life. To the child, God says, "I'll never leave you or forsake you." To the teen, God says, "You're fearfully and wonderfully made."

To the young adult, the Lord says, "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." And to the elderly, God says, "Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am he who will sustain you. I've made you, I will carry you, I will sustain you, and I will rescue you."

Last point: our love for God is a response to God's love for us. Our love for God is a response to God's love for us. Why do we love God? 1 John 4:19: "We love him because he first loved us." When we just think about the fact that God loves us, it's overwhelming.

The Bible says it's the goodness of God or the kindness of God that brings us to repentance. His love wore down our rebellion. One day we just realize, why am I fighting with Him? Why am I running from Him? He loves me. And so I respond in love.

I remember years ago, I believe it was 2006, I went to the last crusade that Billy Graham ever preached at. He was an older Billy, an elderly man who needed help even getting up on the stage. They constructed a special pulpit for him that had a little stool he could sit on, but it looked as though he were standing.

This is the last time Billy ever preached publicly. And I remember he stood up before this crowd. He was not like a father figure; he was like a great-grandfather figure, but almost like a prophet-like figure. He turned to the crowd and simply said, "God loves you."

He turned to the middle, "God loves you." And he turned to the other section, "And God loves you." And those words carried so much weight because he lived a life that backed it up. He could have said maybe 30 more things in that span of time, but just those simple words, "God loves you." I think that's something this culture needs to hear.

So what do I do? Well, I respond, I reciprocate. How can I respond to the love of God? Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." So if you really love God, do what He tells you to do. But another way that I can respond to the love of God is to remember what Jesus did for me.

Remember His sacrifice, that He went to the cross and He laid His life down for me. And then He established something that we are to do to memorialize this, that we often call communion or the Lord's Supper. It comes down to this: you want to make sure you're in a relationship with Him.

Paul tells us that when you receive the elements of communion, let a person examine themselves. So we need to do a self-exam. Ask myself, am I living in fear? Do I know that my sin is forgiven? Have I realized God loves me?

Do I have the confidence that I will go to heaven when I die? If not, then He wants to change that and become a believer. So in a moment, I'm going to pray with you who are not sure. Pray with someone that has joined us who doesn't have the confidence that they're a child of God.

You don't have the confidence that you'll go to heaven when you die. You can just pray this prayer after me. Let's bow our heads, and I'm going to lead those of you who need Jesus in your life in this prayer. I'm even going to ask everyone to join in this prayer as an affirmation for those who are praying it for the first time.

Pray this after me. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. But I know You're the Son of God who walked this earth. You were fully God and fully man, and You died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead.

Now, Jesus, come into my life. I choose to follow You from this moment forward as my Savior and my Lord, as my God and my friend. Thank You for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer today here on A New Beginning. It's a prayer that brings people into a personal relationship with the Lord. And if you've just prayed that prayer, you may have some questions. You might like a little help as you get started in your new faith.

That's why Pastor Greg wants to send you his New Believer's Bible. It's a special edition of God's Word with hundreds of special helps and features new believers find invaluable. And the Scripture text is in the easy-to-understand New Living Translation. We'll send you the New Believer's Bible free of charge.

Just ask for it when you call 1-800-821-3300. Reach out anytime, 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click on "Know God." And then let us take a moment to thank you for praying for this ministry and for supporting it through your generous donation.

It's an investment in kingdom business, isn't that right, Pastor Greg?

Greg Laurie: It's really true, Dave. And I believe it's so important because you know the Gospel saves lives. It saves eternal lives because when a person believes in Jesus, according to Scripture, they pass from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God.

Then of course that changes the course of their future. That impacts their children and their children's children. The Gospel changes everything. Thousands and thousands of people respond every single year. Thanks to the Lord, also thanks to you for your investment in this ministry enabling us to reach people wherever they are.

So if this is something you care about, I encourage you to make a financial investment in A New Beginning and Harvest Ministries.

Guest (Male): We really do appreciate your support. Thanks for partnering with us today. It can make a real difference, not just for today or this week, but for eternity. So get in touch with your support today by calling 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24/7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300.

Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or go online to harvest.org. Well, next time, Pastor Greg takes us into 2nd and 3rd John for a look at how truth and love need to go together. We'll see how that works next time. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.