A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: Why is Jesus not come back yet? He's waiting for more people to believe.

Guest (Male): To Christians, the prospect of the soon return of Christ is an exciting thought. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us have the right attitude as we wait.

Greg Laurie: And we can grow impatient. Lord, come on. Return. I'm so tired of this horrible world. Come for us. Okay, yes, but you have a job to do. We have a job to do. We need to reach more people with the gospel. There's more souls to be saved.

Guest (Male): For many kids, as the days count down to the end of a school year, there's excitement. No more homework, no more tests. I think Alice Cooper sang about that. But those final hours of a school year can go by so slowly. A lot of us feel that way about the return of Christ. We're excited to see our Savior, but we've been waiting a long time. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out the reasons for the wait and shows us what God would have us do with our extra time.

Greg Laurie: Let's grab our Bibles now and turn to James chapter 5. James chapter 5, and the title of my message is what the Lord's return means to you. I don't know if you heard this recently, the Doomsday Clock. You ever heard of the Doomsday Clock? Top scientists and security experts moved it to 90 seconds to midnight. By the way, this is the closest this clock has ever been. And it's a reminder that even nonbelievers know we're living in scary times. Things are shifting. Things are moving quickly. Things are moving at a rapid pace as the Bible said they would in the last days.

Because Jesus compared it to labor pains when a woman is getting ready to deliver her child. Uh the labor pains get closer and closer together until the baby is born. And that's how Jesus said it would be in the end times. These events would compress and be closer. And doesn't it seem like that's happening right now? Every time you turn around, you're like, wait, what's what's going on? It's a simple message that everyone seems to be getting collectively. Jesus is coming again. And I know that stresses people out. Not that Jesus is coming, but when we see so many things going wrong, and they've even coined a phrase for it.

It's called Doomsday Anxiety, which includes, according to an article, the fear or worry about the end of the world or life as we know it. Symptoms include chronic nightmares, an underlying feeling of fear, an obsession with the news or doom scrolling, doom scrolling through online media. So you get a buzz on your phone, you look at it, and you read something that startled you, and that causes you to be alarmed. So what should we do? Well, the Bible says when you see these things begin to happen, freak out, right? No, that's not what it says.

Jesus said when you see these things begin to happen, look up for your redemption is drawing near. You know, it's really important for us as Christians to understand Bible prophecy. Bible prophecy is basically what the Bible says about the end times. And not only is it important for us to know about it, but there's a blessing attached to the person who studies Bible prophecy, and specifically in the book of Revelation, it says blessed is the person who reads and hears the words of this prophecy and keeps the things that are written in it for the time is at hand.

Now I know someone would say, well, it's really hard to understand Bible prophecy. Well, I don't know that that's true because it's not God's desire to conceal. It's his desire to reveal. And to the point, the very word revelation means the unveiling. And that 's why Jesus, when speaking of the abomination of desolation in Matthew 24, he says, let the reader understand. Why? Because we need to understand these things and what they mean to us today, and it should impact us in the way that we live. When we study Bible prophecy, it's not there to tantalize or entertain us.

It should motivate us to personal godliness and bold evangelism. 1 John 3:2 says, beloved, now we're the children of God. It's not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we will see him as he is. But then it goes on to say this, and everyone that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. So if I understand Bible prophecy as I ought to, it will have a spiritually purifying effect on me. In other words, it will cause me to want to live a more godly life.

You know, some people love to study Bible prophecy. They're almost fanatical about it. They bring in all their charts and here's here's what's going to happen next. And that's fine to have an interest in it, but some people think everything's a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Well, maybe you're kind of going overboard, but then I look at some people, it's almost like their hobby to study Bible prophecy, but I see their life is falling apart or their marriages unraveling or they're living a moral life. And as far as I'm concerned, you're missing the point. The point of the study of end times events is to cause us to want to live a more godly life.

Heard about an old man that was out fishing, and uh he heard a voice say to him, hey you, pick me up and kiss me and I 'll turn into a beautiful princess. He's like, who said that? Again, he hears his voice. Hey you, pick me up and kiss me and I 'll turn into a beautiful princess. He hears it a third time and now he realizes it's a frog saying this to him. Hey, true story. And I'm the old man in the story. This happened yesterday. Not really. So the third time the frog says to the old man, pick me up and kiss me, I'll become a beautiful princess.

He picks up the frog and puts it in his pocket. The frog says, I said kiss me and I 'll become a beautiful princess. The old man said, at my age, I'd rather have a talking frog. Kind of cool, right? See, he missed the point. And if we don't have this impact us in the way that we live, we too are missing the point. Okay, so here we have James now telling us how we should be impacted by end times events, how we should live as we wait for the return of the Lord. James 5 verse 7.

Dear brothers and sisters, writes James, be patient as you wait for the Lord's return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to reap. You too must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. Don't crumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look, the judge is standing at the door. For examples of patience and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We give honor to those who endure under suffering.

For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him in the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy. Stop there. How should we live as we await the Lord's return? Point number one, be patient. Be patient. Verse 7, dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord's return. By the way, the word used here for patience is not speaking of a passive resignation, but rather an expectancy as one waits on the Lord. Um sort of an excitement, living in a state of readiness.

The Bible says, for those that look for him, Christ shall appear the second time. Look for him. And so the idea here is is is looking forward to it, sort of like a kid on Christmas Eve. Remember when you were a little boy or girl and you were hoping your parents got you what you told them you wanted for Christmas, and you ran down the stairs and and there it was, and you tore the package open? That's how we should be living as we await the Lord's return with excitement, not some lazy-fair attitude. In fact, Paul in Romans 13 verse 11 says, understanding the present time, the hour has come to wake up from your slumber because our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

The night is nearly over. The day is almost here. And then Paul goes on to say this. So therefore, let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Right. So wake up and live a life that is honoring God. Notice the farmer waits. And that's hard for us to do. We don't like to wait for anything. By nature, I am an impatient person. How about you? Uh you know, I'm the person who if I buy a pizza and I bring it home, 1/3 of it will probably be gone because I will eat it in the car.

And it's not easy to eat pizza when you're driving. That's not a good travel food, is it? But we like to get things now. We live in a time of instant gratification. Why wait to buy it? Charge it. Uh you don't have to go down to the mall and shop anymore. Just go to Amazon Prime. You might even get same-day delivery. Hungry? Call Uber Eats. I heard about some kid that charged up $1,000 on Grubhub. So all of a sudden, there's a knock at the door and all this food starts arriving, package after package of food that Dad's thinking, what is going on?

Why is this food coming? He thought his kid was playing with some game and he was on the Grubhub app ordering, ordering, ordering, ordering. So watch your kids with those apps, right? But we have to be patient.

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

Guest (Female): We love to hear stories of how lives have been impacted through the teaching of God's word, like this one.

Guest (Female): Thank you, Pastor Greg, for teaching the Bible so clearly and breaking the Bible down for me to understand it better. I also like the humor you add to your sermons. I find that to receive your daily devotionals, and they're so encouraging to me. I've also shared them with a close family member who gets very anxious about life. Your studies have helped us both. Thank you again.

Guest (Female): When we hear from you, it's not only a blessing. It also confirms that the program is making an impact. If you have a story to share, would you email Pastor Greg? Send your email to greg@harvest.org. That's greg@harvest.org.

Guest (Male): Well, Pastor Greg is reinforcing the value of patience as we await the Lord's return. Glad you're joining us for today's message with the Lord's return means to you.

Greg Laurie: Sometimes it may seem to us as though God is late. You know, the people of Israel were impatient. It had been 400 years since they had heard from a single prophet, 400 years since they'd seen a miracle, 400 years and they had not had a single angelic appearance. But Galatians 5 says when the time was just right, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, born under the law to redeem those that are under the law. And Jesus, the Messiah, fulfilled prophecy and was born in the manger of Bethlehem when the time is right.

And when the time is right, the Messiah will return again. No one knows the day or the hour, the Bible says, but we need to wait patiently. And sometimes if it seems to you as though the Lord is late, here's this word for you from Scripture. 1 Peter 3, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. He's patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Why is Jesus not come back yet? He's waiting for more people to believe. And my prayer is that we will have a minimum of one more spiritual awakening before the Lord comes for his church.

One more. Maybe more. I think you can make a pretty good scriptural case for there being a spiritual awakening before the Lord's return. But that's what we should be praying for. That 's why we've asked you all to be praying for revival and and pray that God will send a spiritual awakening. It will come at the right moment. Martin Luther once said, and he said this to me personally, not really. He said quote, there are two days on my calendar, this day and that day, that day, the day of the Lord. And we can grow impatient.

Lord, come on. Return. I'm so tired of this horrible world. Come for us. Okay, yes, but you have a job to do. We have a job to do. We need to reach more people with the gospel. Is it possible that there is walking this earth the one person that Jesus is waiting for to believe before the rapture? You guys said rapture twice. What is the rapture? I have no idea. I just like the word. Now the rapture is an event the Bible talks about. From the Greek, it's the Greek word harpazo, which means to be taken away quickly.

Um Latin translation rapturus, we get our word rapture from it. But the event of being caught up to meet the Lord is spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 4 when it says, the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout. The dead in Christ arise first, and we who are alive and remaining will be caught up, harpazo, that word, together with them in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. So what if the Lord is waiting for that one last person? And what if you somehow knew who that one last person was and they were sitting next to you in church?

Would you be tempted to turn to them and say, uh hello? Can we get on with this right now? Could you just accept Christ? Imagine if we led some people in prayer and we asked this in Jesus' name, amen. Boom, we're in heaven. Okay. The Lord's waiting. He's waiting. There's more souls to be saved. If you've ever seen that movie Schindler's List, powerful film, true story based on the life of Oscar Schindler, who was a German businessman who hired some Jewish people. He saw some Nazis shoot one of the Jews in cold blood, and he was deeply moved.

And he decided to spend the rest of his life saving Jewish people from Nazis. He said, and he was played by Liam Neeson in the film, he said, I have a particular set of skills. No, that's a wrong movie. Excuse me. That's from Taken. Another character he played. Anyway, but Oscar Schindler, played by Liam Neeson, was having a conversation uh with his accountant Itzhak Stern. And he says in the film, I could have got more out. I don't know I could have got more. Stern says, Oscar, there are 1,100 people alive because of you. And Schindler replies, but I could have gotten one more person, and I didn't.

How powerful. Would we say that one day, oh man, I could have reached one more person. I could have shared my faith with one more person. Why didn't I do that? This is the attitude we are to have. Point number two, as much as possible, stand in unity with fellow Christians. As much as it's possible as we await the Lord's return, stand in unity with fellow Christians. Look at verse 9. Don't crumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. Look, the judge is standing at the door. Don't complain about other believers.

Go to them and try to help them. To grumble about means to groan within oneself. It's a description of a person with a bitter attitude who is always criticizing and complaining. Someone might say, I have this spiritual gift of criticism. No, you don't. There's no gift like that. Well, I I just see the everything that's wrong. Well, that's part of the problem. Don't be that person. The problem with bitter people is they generally can't keep their bitterness to themselves. And so the Bible warns about a rooted bitterness springing up and defiling many. Don't be that person tearing others down.

You have a disagreement with someone, go to them nowadays with social media, especially Twitter. People will just attack one another. Christians will attack one another without even understanding the other person's position. And this goes against what Jesus says. In Matthew 18:15 when he says, if another believer sins against you, go privately to them and point out the offense. And if they listen and confess, you've won that person back. Listen, never tear others down to lift yourself up. Never make yourself look better at the expense of someone else. Oh well, they don't do this, but I I do it.

And you know, don't do that. The Bible actually says you should not engage in that. Why? Point number three, be aware of the afterlife, meaning you're going to be judged. Verse 9. For look, the judge is standing at the door. Christians will be judged, but let's explain that. There are different judgments in the Bible. There's the great white throne judgment spoken of in Revelation 20 where the small and the great stand before God, and the books are open and a book is open, which is the book of life. And we read, whoever does not have their name written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire.

That judgment is for nonbelievers only. No Christian will stand at the great white throne judgment. I don't even think we'll be present at the great white throne judgment. But then there's another judgment the Bible speaks of called the judgment seat of Christ. And that's not a judgment as to whether or not you will get to heaven. As a matter of fact, that particular judgment takes place in heaven. And Paul writing about it in 2 Corinthians 5 says, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

So this is not, are you going to get to heaven? You're in heaven, but this is about rewards. You see, rewards are going to be given in heaven. Uh you know, the Bible says, your father who sees you in secret will one day reward you openly. And the Bible talks about different crowns that are given. There's a crown of life. There's a crown of rejoicing and other crowns listed in Scripture that God will give out. So here's when you will be rewarded. Think of sort of like um the Oscars or the Emmys or the Grammys.

You're receiving an award for what you did on earth. And uh we might be surprised by some of these awards go to. We think, oh, you know, Billy Graham's going to get every award. Well, maybe he will. But maybe we'll be up in heaven and and the award goes to Mod Furkinbinder. Like who who? Don't Google that name. I made it up. There is no Mod Furkinbinder. It's sort of like Bobby Buzzkill. These are fictitious characters. Mod Furkinbinder. Who is Mod Furkinbinder? Did she ever write a book? No. Was she in a Christian band? No.

Was she some kind of a preacher? No. Who was she? She was a faithful old lady that was immobilized in her home and stayed and prayed for people all around the world. And she was faithful to what God called her to do and she'll be rewarded because her father who sees her in secret will reward her openly. Listen, you will not be judged for what God has called me to do. I will not be judged for what God has called you to do. We will each be judged for what God has called us individually to do.

So live the way you ought to be living and make your life count.

Guest (Male): Good encouragement from Pastor Greg Laurie today here on A New Beginning. His message title, what the Lord's return means to you. We're getting some important insight in Pastor Greg's current series called Walk This Way. If you're enjoying this series, why not drop Pastor Greg a note and let him know. Our mission statement here at Harvest Ministries and A New Beginning is knowing God and making him known. Our focus is bringing people into a personal relationship with God through his son Jesus Christ. Have you ever made that kind of decision in your life? Pastor Greg, somebody can enter into that kind of relationship today, can't they?

Greg Laurie: They can. And it's so simple. And I think because it's so simple, people think, oh, it can't be that easy. Well, look, Jesus did all the heavy lifting. He carried the cross for you. He died on that cross that he carried. This isn't about what you do. It's about what he's done. But here's what the Bible says. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So let's just say that you're caught in a riptide out in the ocean and you need help and there's a lifeguard at the stand and they see you.

You've got to call out to them and let them know you need saving. And the same is true when it comes to eternal life. Jesus is ready to save you. Will you call out to him? You say, well, okay, how do I do that? You do it through prayer. And prayer is just talking to God. So listen, I'd like to lead you in a simple prayer. And if you pray this prayer after me, I believe God will hear it and answer it and Christ will come to live inside of you. Thousands of people have prayed a prayer like this over the years that we've been doing this radio broadcast and have seen their life change.

There's no power or magic in a prayer. It's all about your commitment to Christ. But this is a way to call on the name of the Lord in this prayer. So if you want Jesus to come into your life and forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want to fill that big hole in your heart, just pray this prayer after me. You could pray it out loud if you like. Pray it in the quietness of your heart, but pray these words if you would.

Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin. I am sorry for my sin and I turn from it now. And I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Be my Savior and my Lord. Be my God and my friend. Thanks for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Listen, if you just pray that prayer, I want you to know that God has heard you and has answered it. The Bible 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, that you may know.

It's yours now. God has given it to you because it's the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Congratulations and welcome to the family of God.

Guest (Male): Yeah, that's right. And listen, we want to help you get started in this new relationship with the Lord. Would you let us send you something? It's free of charge. It's Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. Scores of people have read this edition of God's word. New believers love the study helps written just for them. And they appreciate that it's in an easy to understand translation. We'll send it to you today. Just ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. You can call anytime, 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org. You know, Pastor Greg, I've read so many listener letters over the years where folks have said that they pray for you.

Many say they pray for you on a regular basis. And I know that means a lot to you.

Greg Laurie: Yes.

Guest (Male): Uh that's one of the most encouraging and and actually helpful things they can do. Isn't that right?

Greg Laurie: Absolutely. You know, when people come up to me and say, I pray for you all the time, some have even said, we pray for you every day. Wow. Uh I'm humbled. I'm blessed. I'm thankful and I need your prayers more than you know. So if you do pray for me and our family and our ministry, thank you so much for that. And as you pray, I would ask you to pray about one other thing, if you would, please. Would you pray about giving to our ministry? You know, giving of our finances is a very spiritual thing.

You know, Jesus said, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. If you want to see where a person's priorities are, look at where they spend their money. And when we invest in the work of the kingdom of God, we're laying up for ourselves treasure in heaven. So we have this really cool program we put together called Harvest Partners. And what it means is these are folks that simply not only give to our ministry, but they give on a monthly basis. So we can depend on their gifts. And that helps us to respond to new opportunities to bring the word of God and to preach the life-changing message of the gospel.

So pray about that if you would. Keep praying for us. And if the Lord directs you, become a harvest partner as well. And in advance, let me say, thank you so much.

Guest (Male): Yeah, yeah, that's right. And as the Lord leads, we hope you'll call us so we can explain more and help with the details. Our number is 1-800-821-3300. That's 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 Jesus' return should affect the way we live while we wait. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.