A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: If ever there was a generation that needs to be engaged with the gospel, it is this generation.

Dave: Our culture has lost its way. And today, Pastor Greg Laurie says the good news of God's forgiveness has never been more needed and available.

Greg Laurie: So don't tell me the day of evangelism is over, because the gospel still works. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. People need Jesus, and they'll always need Jesus.

Dave: We can send a text to someone on the other side of the planet at practically the speed of light. Through social media, videos can circumnavigate the globe as the event happens. It's an exciting time for communication. And there's nothing more important to communicate than the hope of Christ.

And just when the world has so much capability, it also has so much need. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie says it's time we all do our part to get that message out.

Greg Laurie: Evangelism is never going to be passé. It's always going to be something God wants us to do. Now we might find new and creative ways to do it, but ultimately, we never want to deviate from this calling God has given to all of us. And I look at this young generation today, and I think to myself, if ever there was a generation that needs to be engaged with the gospel, it is this generation.

The gospel still works. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. People need Jesus, and they'll always need Jesus. So we want to keep that in mind always. In the church, we get excited about a lot of things. Some people get excited about the latest conference. Oh, this conference was so amazing! Did you go to this conference? Others might get excited about a new building program. Oh, we got our new building up! Others might get excited if their candidate got elected.

You want to know what God gets excited about, if I can use that verbiage of God? God gets excited, heaven gets excited when people believe in Jesus. The Bible says there is joy in heaven over one sinner that comes to repentance. Think about that for a moment. Every time a person turns from their sin and puts their faith in Jesus Christ, there's a shout of praise in heaven. There must be a lot of praising in heaven because of all the people that come to the Lord each and every day.

I mentioned the Great Commission. Let's go to our text now. Matthew 28. Let's read it. This is a very important statement that, frankly, we all should commit to memory. Jesus says, Matthew 28 verse 18: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." Notice the word "therefore." As I've told you before, whenever you see the word "therefore," find out what it's there for.

He's drawing upon what has been said. What was just said? "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth, so go therefore." Because He has this authority, we're His representatives. So we go therefore and what do we do? Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 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.

There's one more version of the Great Commission, if you will, and that's in Mark 16:15 where Jesus simply says, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person." So to pull it all together, the Great Commission is to go into all the world and preach the gospel, led by the Holy Spirit to bring people to Christ, then to disciple them. This is where a lot of people miss a key element. It's not just to proclaim the gospel. It's to lead people to Christ and disciple them, get them up on their feet spiritually, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you to the end of the age.

I believe if we would just obey the Great Commission, we would experience personal revival. Why do I say that? Because when you get your eyes off of yourself for a moment and think about somebody else that's lost and separated from God, and leave your comfort zone and seek to share your faith, next to being a Christian, this is one of the most joyful, fulfilling things we can do. And this is why the devil doesn't want us to do it.

If there's one thing Christians and non-Christians have in common, it's this: we're both uptight about the gospel. Satan's uptight with us sharing the gospel. We're uptight with sharing the gospel. Non-believers, they don't want to hear it. Don't talk to me! Because, like we were saying earlier, they think you're going to shove it down their throat. They think you're going to be judgmental and mean. We should never be that way.

If you want to win some, be winsome. Be nice about it. Share the gospel with a smile on your face. Care about the person you're talking to and build that bridge. So many times, Christians burn bridges instead of build bridges. And the objective is not to win the argument. It's to win the soul. Because I've seen some Christians who are very knowledgeable and they come in with both gospel guns loaded, and they unload them on the non-believer and tear down their arguments and humiliate them.

And the non-believer says, "What a jerk! I never want to talk to a Christian again." You could have done a lot more if you just would have shown a little compassion and love, and let them share for a while and say what they think. And now you can respond appropriately with the message of the gospel. But this is the Great Commission. But sadly, for many, the Great Commission is the Great Omission.

Dave: Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We're so moved to hear from listeners that join us from all over the world, from every background, every profession, every age, and in every circumstance of life.

Guest (Female): Hi, Pastor Greg. I'm 16 and I've been through a whole lot in my life. I've been in foster care since I was six and I've prayed to Jesus that He would let me be adopted by this family. And it's finally happening. It's amazing to see that God answers prayers, and I see it in my own life. I know I'm young, but I'm ready to commit my whole life to Jesus.

I didn't know how much I needed God until these past few weeks. I have a boyfriend who also loves Jesus, and he goes to church with me on Sunday mornings. I watched the Jesus Revolution movie with my boyfriend and his mother, and it made a tremendous impact on all of us. As I watched you be baptized at the end of the movie, my boyfriend and I realized that we also want to be baptized at Pirate's Cove together. Anyway, thank you, Pastor Greg, and I'm ready to take the next step with God.

Dave: Do you have a story to share with Pastor Greg? If so, would you let him know? Send him an email at Greg@harvest.org. That's Greg@harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg is pointing out today how the Great Commission has been given to all believers. We're all to pass on the good news to those around us. And we're getting some practical insight today on doing just that.

Greg Laurie: Now let me say something that might surprise some, but I believe it's true. I believe to not share the gospel can actually be a sin. Now you might say, "Well, Greg, you're going too far." Well, wait, hold on. What is a sin? There's different definitions of sin because there's different kinds of sin. One definition of sin is to cross a line. So if I'm told, "Don't step on the black carpet," and I step on the black carpet, I just crossed the line. That's called a trespass.

So when I break a commandment or I do what God tells me not to do, I just crossed the line. That's a sin. That's a sin of commission. But then there's a sin of omission. The sin of omission is not doing what I should do. The Bible says, "To him that knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." So if I'm walking down a street and there's a house on fire, and there's a crowd of people standing outside and someone says, "There's a child on the second floor of that house," and I just walk by, maybe post it on Instagram. What a jerk I am!

Hopefully, I'll call 911. Maybe I'll be a hero and try to run in and save the child. But to walk by with complete indifference, that's almost criminal. In the same way, if I really believe the Bible, and I really believe what the Bible says about the afterlife, that there really is a heaven and there really is a hell. If I really believe the gospel, which effectively says Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father. And I really believe if a person rejects Christ, they will spend eternity separated from Him, and I don't even try to engage a person in a conversation, that can be the sin of omission, you see.

So we don't want that to happen. And I think also we miss out on a great blessing. Here's how it spiritually revives you. When you get a new believer in your life, it can reinvigorate your faith. Listen to this: a new Christian needs an older believer in their life to stabilize them. An older Christian needs a younger believer in their life to energize them. So if you've known the Lord for a long time and you just hang around with other people that have known the Lord for a long time, you go to church, you go out afterwards, maybe you argue theological minutiae.

But when you have a brand new believer that's hearing this all for the first time, man, it's going to change you. First of all, you're going to have to mind your P's and Q's. Because if you have a brand new Christian in your driving to get lunch after church, you might drive the speed limit for the first time in years. You might think about what you're going to talk about over lunch. Not that normal conversation that you have where you complain about things or argue about things.

But you might actually talk about things that would interest the new believer. And then they'll ask you questions and you may not have the answers. Then again, you might have a lot more answers than you think. See, God does not give us this truth to hoard and to keep to ourselves. He gives us this truth to share. And Jesus said, "Give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, running over. With the same measure you give, it will be given to you."

When you're a generous believer in every way—that includes with your finances, that includes your evangelism, that includes everything where you're a giving person—God will replenish your supply. And I think when you are around a new believer and they're asking you questions, well, it reminds you of things you've forgotten. Haven't you ever shared something with someone and as you're sharing it, you get re-excited about it again?

You're telling them what Jesus did and what it was like when you first came to Christ and how your life was changed. And as you're sharing your story, you get all fired up about it. That's why you need to do it. It's not just for the lost people, folks. It's for us! It's for us too. It's sort of like going to Disneyland with kids or adults. You know, when you go to Disneyland with adults, it's not always that much fun, especially if they're older adults.

Because first of all, they're going to complain about the admission price, which is somewhat justifiable. What is it, like a thousand dollars now? And then, you know, you walk in and now they have these little things. If you're standing here in the line, you'll be in the ride in two days. It's like, I don't even want to know that. That makes it miserable for me. And you know, so you're tired and you don't want to... it's a whole different experience. A lot of critiquing things, "Oh, you know, this is so fake," and all that.

Go with a kid. Just go with a kid and see Disneyland through the eyes of a child. It'll be a whole new experience for you. They're excited! They want to go on the crazy rides. They want to have fun. It's a magical place for them. And I think in the same way, when we only hang around older believers and we never engage new believers, we can actually begin to find ourselves in a place of complacency, in a place of dullness. And actually, what we need is a new Christian in our life that will revive us again.

And I think this is part of discipling. I'll tell you something. I kind of broke all the rules, the way I came to Christ. And by that I mean, normally you share the gospel with someone, you either lead them to the Lord or you bring them to church and they come to Christ, then you follow up and you help them grow in their faith. None of that happened for me. No one invited me to anything. I wouldn't even have people give evangelistic booklets to me out on the street.

They would give them to people around me and skip me. What was that all about? I actually wanted them to. I think it was sort of this look in my face. I don't know what it was. Must have intimidated people. Can you imagine? Anyway, so you know my story. I saw the Christians meeting on the front lawn of my high school campus. I sat close enough where I could eavesdrop on their conversation. No one invited me to the meeting, but I heard the gospel.

And I heard enough to understand I needed Jesus, and I went forward and prayed and asked Him into my life. Now I could have gone the wrong direction. I could have fallen through the cracks. But thank God someone followed up on me. And his name was Mark. He came up to me, maybe a few days later, and said, "Hi, is your name Greg?" I said, "Yeah." He says, "I saw that you accepted Jesus Christ the other day." I was like, "Yeah, so?" Because I didn't really know what had happened to me.

I'm like, "Yeah, so? Yeah, I did. What about it?" "Well, you need to start going to church." "Nah, that's okay." "No, you need to come to church with me." "No, no, I don't really want to go to church with you." "Yeah, whatever. Where do you live? I'm going to come pick you up." "No, I don't want to go to church with you," I said. "No, you need to come to church. Come on!"

And he was so persistent, just to make him stop, I said, "Okay, here's my address." He shows up at my house. I did not want to go to church. Now, so all I'd known of Christianity literally was a Bible study of like 25 young people. I'd not been in a church pretty much my whole life, maybe when I was a little boy with my grandparents, but I don't remember a lot about that. So I go to this church. It's Calvary Chapel. It's in the middle of the Jesus Movement.

There's people everywhere, coming out of the windows practically, worshipping God. And I literally walked in and it kind of freaked me out. There was too much love in one place. And you have to understand the way I was raised. My mom never hugged me. I'm not saying this to elicit sympathy, but if you feel bad for me, go ahead. But she never hugged me. She never said, "I love you." So literally, I was in an environment where there was no affection, no "I love you's."

And I walk up and a complete stranger comes up, some girl: "God bless you, brother, I love you!" And she hugs me. I'm like... I didn't want to be hugged. I didn't want to be in this place. And it was so packed out, there was no seats, and I was glad. And I started to walk away and someone in the front row recognized me because they went to my high school. They said, "Greg, come sit with us!" And I walk in and they're singing, "Happy, happy, happy, happy, where does this happy feeling come from? Jesus!"

I'm like, "Why are they pointing up? What's up there? What's happening?" And I sat in the front row and I thought, "Oh man," and I was very uncomfortable. And then a guy walks out. He's old. He's bald. And I'm thinking, "Oh, really?" His name was Chuck Smith. I thought, "I don't want to listen to some adult. I don't like adults because all the adults I'd been exposed to were not very good examples to me."

And this guy comes out and he brings his Bible, and I'm thinking, "Oh brother, this is going to be so boring." And he opens up the Bible and it just comes alive. And I'm like, drinking it in, and you couldn't get me out of the place after that. I went every night of the week to every Bible study they had. And this guy, Mark, he said, "Now I want you to come home and meet my parents." I'd never been around a Christian family.

My mom was married and divorced seven times. We didn't sit around a table and eat a meal and have a prayer followed by a Bible study. You kidding me? She'd be passed out on the floor! That was my life. So I'm sitting in this house. We have our little meal. We have prayer. They say grace. I'd never done that before. And afterwards, "Let's have a Bible study." And they're talking about things in the Bible and I'm drinking it in. I'm like a sponge. I'm like Spongebob Squarepants.

No, not like that. But you know, I'm just taking it in. I'd never heard this before. My life was changed. Why? Because one guy just said, "I'm going to go help that guy, Greg." And he took me under his wing. And because he did that for me, here I sit today. We all know the great rock star preachers, if you will, the Billy Grahams of the world. Thank God for them! But you know, a lot of times it's the unsung heroes that play a key role.

Someone who sows a seed in the life of a Billy Graham or someone that follows up on someone, that stands in the gap for someone. You don't have to be a theologian to do this. And by the way, you know more than you think you know. I already said that, but you really do. Because you sit in church all the time and you hear all these Bible studies. It's going in your heart and it's going in your mind. And when you try to help someone, it'll start coming to your memory because the Holy Spirit will bring it to your memory. So I'm telling you, you can be used by God to share the gospel.

Dave: Pastor Greg Laurie with important insights today on a new beginning on the need for all of us to share the good news with those around us. It's just too important not to. Now, if you yourself aren't sure where you stand with the Lord, we can help. Pastor Greg, what would you say to the person listening who just doesn't know if they're really a Christian? They can't think of a time when they made a deliberate decision for the Lord. It's just not a good idea to assume everything's just going to work out okay, is it?

Greg Laurie: No, and this is one area of your life you want to be sure about: where you're going to spend eternity. The Bible says, "These things we write to you that you may believe on the Son of God and that you may know that you have eternal life." Listen, I know I have eternal life. I know I'll go to heaven one day. And I hope that doesn't sound boastful. And if it does, I'm boasting in what God has done for me, not in what I've done for God.

The reason I know these things is because I've turned from my sin and I've put my faith in Christ, you see. And if you do the same, you can have the same hope. You just need to call out to the Lord and admit you're a sinner and ask Jesus Christ to forgive you and come into your life. The Bible says, "Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved." Will you call upon Him right now? I'm going to pray a simple prayer.

And I'm going to ask you to pray this prayer after me, if you would. So if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want to know for certain that Christ is living in your life, then pray this prayer with me. Just pray these words:

Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. But I know You are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin. I turn from my sin now and 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. Thank You for answering this prayer. And I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

Dave: Amen. And listen, if you have just prayed that prayer with Pastor Greg and you've meant those words sincerely, the Lord has heard you and forgiven your sin, and you're now a Christian. And we want to help you get started in this new life of faith. Let us send you Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. It's in an easy-to-understand translation, and there are scores of features to help a new believer build a solid foundation.

So get in touch and ask for the New Believer's Bible. We'll send it free of charge. Just call 1-800-821-3300. You can call anytime, 24/7. 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 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 it, Pastor Greg?

Greg Laurie: Yeah, it's really true, Dave. And I believe it's so important because 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. And then, of course, that changes the course of their future. That impacts their children and their children's children. The gospel changes everything.

And 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.

Dave: Yeah, that's right, and 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 brings us more insight on how personal evangelism plays an important part in bringing a spiritual awareness to our culture. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.