A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: People hide behind facades, but they're really waiting for someone to enter their world and show them the way. Will you be that person?

Dave Palmer: Coming up today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out the important role we can have in someone coming to Christ. But it's up to us to make the first move.

Greg Laurie: They're not going to say to you, "Show me the way to come to Jesus," in most cases. They're waiting for you to initiate the conversation. They're waiting for you to talk to them about God.

Dave Palmer: Imagine coming upon a burning car with someone trapped inside and you help them get free. Or imagine seeing a toddler heading toward a busy street just as Mama turns her head and you scoop them up just in the nick of time. It's a good day when you save someone from peril.

Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out we save someone from eternal peril when we help them come to Christ. And when that happens, it's a very good day. Practical help today with evangelism.

Greg Laurie: The title of my message is "The Refreshing Power of Telling Others About Jesus." Why don't we pray? Father, we know that you love the world so much that you gave your only begotten son. We know you're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And we also know, Lord, you've called us to go and preach the gospel to all the world.

And we know you reach people through people. So as we look at what your word says about sharing our faith, speak to us we pray. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. We're going to look at John chapter four together, a very familiar story of Jesus and the woman at the well. 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. Let's see how Jesus did it in John chapter four. Turn there with me if you would. John chapter four, verse three, we read, "Jesus left Judea and departed again to Galilee, but he needed to go through Samaria."

You might want to underline that phrase. It's very important. He needed to go through Samaria. He came to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now, Jacob's well was there. Therefore, Jesus was tired from his journey and he stopped by a well. It was around the sixth hour. That would be 12:00 noon.

And a woman of Samaria came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, would ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

This is a perfect example of how to build a bridge to a person. Now, this was an immoral woman, as the story reveals. She'd been married and divorced five times and she was living with some guy at the moment. This is a woman who was ostracized from the rest of the community. She would not have been an educated woman. She didn't know what the Bible said. So she was living this life that was in opposition to what the Bible teaches.

But Jesus does not start with that. He appeals first to her spiritual thirst. So often we want to go right to the lifestyle of the person we're talking to, and I think in effect, get the cart before the horse. We do need to get to that, and I'll talk about that in a moment, because I believe in telling the truth to people. However, Jesus starts by building a bridge. Jesus starts by appealing to her spiritual thirst.

He reaches out to her, bringing me to some points now that you might want to write down. The first point is simply this. If you want to evangelize Jesus style, that's what I'm going to call this, Jesus style, because that's what it was. If you want to evangelize Jesus style, it begins with a burden. Again, verse four, he needed to go through Samaria.

As a matter of fact, he did not need to go through Samaria. It was actually way out of the way. He was leaving his country. He was effectively going to another country that was populated by people that were known to be the enemies of Israel. So Jesus leaves his comfort zone. Jesus leaves his people, goes to this other place, not just to a woman who was a Samaritan, but an immoral woman who was a Samaritan.

So when you want to share your faith effectively, it starts with a God-given concern. You have to care about the soul of a person who is not yet a believer. Jesus overcame any kind of prejudice. Remember, we talked about Jonah. It was hard for him because he didn't want to go to the Ninevites. He didn't want them to believe and he went the other direction. But he ultimately obeyed God and we had this huge spiritual awakening of 300,000 people.

My friend Craig Groeschel puts it this way. This is the mission statement of his church. Quote, "We will do anything short of sin to reach people for Christ." I like that statement. We will do anything short of sin to reach people for Christ. Craig is effectively saying we'll do anything. We'll go way out of our way to reach people that don't yet know the Lord.

Second point, if you want to evangelize Jesus style, you need to use tact. I already touched on this earlier. Paul used tact there on Mars Hill. We should do the same thing. Isaac Newton said, quote, "Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy," and that's a very great way to say it. Here's a classic example of someone being tactful in the Bible.

His name was Philip. By the way, he's the only man identified as an evangelist, Philip the evangelist. So Philip was having some great meetings, people were coming to Christ, miracles were being performed, and an angel of the Lord says to Philip, "Go to the desert." That's it. Go to the desert. He could have said, "No, thank you. I'll stay right here." But no, he goes to the desert.

I wonder if Philip's thinking, "What am I going to preach to lizards? What am I going to do in the desert?" Exactly. So he's just literally standing in the desert, waiting for directions, and then he sees this caravan coming his way. It was a large caravan. As it got closer, he could see these were important people. In fact, what he was seeing was a man from Ethiopia that served under the queen.

He was like a foreign dignitary. If it was happening today, it would have a stretch limo with little flags of his country on the car with secret service guys running on each side. So here comes a foreign dignitary, but he's in a chariot, not a stretch limo. And this man from Ethiopia is reading from Isaiah 53. Now, he didn't have a Bible. They had a scroll.

The very fact that he had a scroll says a lot about how important he was because everything was written by hand in those days. There were no printing presses yet. He's reading the scroll of Isaiah, which was given to him. Apparently, this important dignitary from Ethiopia went to Jerusalem searching for God. He didn't find God, but they gave him a scroll of Isaiah.

So he's reading from Isaiah, "As a sheep is led before her shears and is quiet, so he opened not his mouth." He's literally reading aloud from the scroll. Philip's standing there saying, "Okay, Lord, I think I know what I'm supposed to do next." So the guy's cruising by, there's Philip. Hey, how's it going? I'm Philip just standing in the middle of a desert, waiting for you, actually.

Philip says to him, "Do you understand what you're reading?" The man from Ethiopia says, "How can I unless someone shows me the way?" And he invited Philip into his chariot. Philip steps into the man's chariot and we read that Philip explained to him what that text means. By the way, Isaiah 53 talking about a lamb before her shears being quiet, so he opened not his mouth, is speaking of the death of Jesus, who was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

So Philip explained the meaning of Isaiah 53. I love the way the story ends. We read that the man from Ethiopia went on his way rejoicing, Acts 8:39. But here's the important thing. When Philip saw this man reading from Isaiah 53, he says, "Do you understand what you're reading?" And the man said, "How can I unless someone shows me the way?"

This is what people are looking for. They're not going to say to you, "Show me the way to come to Jesus," in most cases. They're waiting for you to initiate the conversation. They're waiting for you to talk to them about God. When I was a kid, I was searching for God. Now, if you would have asked me, "Greg, are you searching for God?" I probably would have said, "No," but I'm searching for truth.

But in reality, I was searching for God. I tried to find truth through alcohol and partying. I knew that was not the answer. I tried to find it through drug use. I smoked a lot of weed and took LSD and all of that, and I knew that was not the answer. I was searching. And I remember I would hang around Newport Beach at night and lean against a wall there, and there would be Christians walking around handing out religious literature.

And they would look at me and walk right by me. Occasionally, they would give me something to read, but they wouldn't engage me. And I remember thinking as a 17-year-old kid, "Why won't you talk to me?" Because they bought this facade, this image I put out of where I looked like I was saying, "I don't care," but I did care. People hide behind facades, but they're really waiting for someone to enter their world and show them the way. Will you be that person? You know people like this, or you're going to see someone like this before the day is over.

Dave Palmer: Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

Have you downloaded the Harvest Plus app yet? This is an amazing resource. It has so much to offer, and really every one of our listeners should have this on all of their devices. You can download the app for your phone, Android and iOS, you can download it for a tablet, you can download it for your TV. And it's so full of great material.

Greg Laurie: First of all, it has all of my sermons that I'm presently in and ones I've given in the past. It has also our movies. You know, we've done a number of really outstanding films, including Steve McQueen: The Salvation of an American Icon. We have another one on Johnny Cash called Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon. We have another one that's called A Rush of Hope, and many more films that you can watch.

And we're acquiring new films and we're expanding our film library. But as they say in those commercials, but wait, there's more. We also feature videos from Pastor Chuck Smith. We have all of the cartoons that we did for Ben Born Again and Yellowdog for your kids. And then the new Greg Laurie Show, which is our podcast. So download the Harvest app and you will have all of these great spiritual resources at your fingertips to watch when you want to watch them or listen when you want to listen. So download the Harvest Plus app now. It's free.

Dave Palmer: Well, we're getting some solid help in sharing the gospel Jesus style, first by following the example of Philip the evangelist. Pastor Greg takes us further in our study of John four.

Greg Laurie: So just as Philip entered the world of the Ethiopian, so Jesus enters the world of the woman at the well. He says, "If you drink of this water, you'll thirst again." He's using the well as a metaphor for life. You'll be thirsty if you drink of this water again. You could write that over many wells of life, if you will.

You could write it over the well of materialism. If you drink of this water, you'll thirst again. You could write it over the well of fame. If you drink of this water, you'll thirst again. You could write it over the well of so many things, even religion. If you drink of this water, you'll thirst again. Now, the woman isn't fully getting what Jesus is saying.

And now she starts to effectively argue with him, bringing me to my next point. To share the gospel Jesus style, we must adapt to the situation. John 4:15, the woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." She's being sarcastic. "Oh, yeah, you have water to drink? Oh, sir, give me this water that you're talking about."

Jesus effectively calls her out. He says in John 4:16, "Why don't you call your husband to come here?" She says, "Well, I have no husband." Jesus says, "That's true. You've had five husbands and you're living with some dude right now." She's like, "Whoa, how did he know that?" She says, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet."

See, there will come a moment when you're engaging someone. You appeal to their spiritual thirst, but they might ask you a question like, "Well, look, I'm living with my boyfriend or girlfriend, or I'm doing drugs. Would I have to give that up to follow Jesus?" You might say, "Well, I don't want to say yes, that might turn them away."

No, you need to tell them the truth. Yes, you need to give that up to follow Jesus Christ. You see, sin is keeping you from God. Now, I don't start with those issues, but I'm not going to avoid them when I get to them. They need to know that sin separates them from God, but the solution is a relationship with Jesus.

The problem is sin. The solution is Jesus. And so Jesus engages her and tells her what she needs to do. Acts 3:19 says, "Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out and times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord." See, we need to tell people they're sinners and that they need a savior.

Listen to this. The Bible says, "If you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive you your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness." So it comes down to this. If you confess your mess, Jesus will clean your mess up. Next point, if you want to do evangelism Jesus style, you don't deal with everyone in the same way.

See, Jesus dealt in a certain way with the woman at the well, and then he dealt in an entirely different way with Nicodemus. Nicodemus is in John three. The woman at the well is John four. Nicodemus is a religious, devout man. John four is about an irreligious, sinful woman. But the answer was the same for both. They both needed Jesus.

With the woman at the well, Jesus engages her, draws her in, confronts her about her sin, and tells her the truth. With Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night, Jesus effectively cut to the chase. Nicodemus is saying, "Teacher, we know you're a great man. No one could do the things that you do unless God is with them." Effectively, Jesus says, "Listen, buddy, let's just get to the bottom line. You need to be born again."

So the point is we adapt to the person we are speaking to. Sometimes when I'm sharing the gospel, I start by chumming. You know what chumming is? It's getting some bait and things in the water to get the fish biting. So instead of just going in with a full gospel press, I might just kind of allude to it.

Talking to an unbeliever and I might just mention, "Oh, well, I was just reading in the Bible about that very thing you just mentioned," or, "Wow, God answered a prayer for me recently." I was talking to a young lady the other day and she was not a believer and she told me she's going in to get surgery. And I said, "Would you mind if I prayed for you?"

And she said, "Please." And I prayed for her. And I prayed for her in the name of Jesus. See, it's pretty rare you're going to find even an unbeliever saying to you, "I don't want you to pray for me," because they acknowledge, probably, that there's a God out there. So it's a good way to get a conversation started.

I have a friend, his name is Steve Wilburn. He's a pastor of Core Church in Los Angeles. So Steve is very effective at sharing the gospel, not only in the pulpit but out of the pulpit as well. I've been with him on many occasions. Sometimes we'll ride Harleys together and wherever you are, you can be sure it's only a matter of time till Steve asks this question.

And I'll even do it in his voice because he has a very interesting way of speaking. He'll say, "Has anyone ever told you that there's a God in heaven who loves you?" Now, I've been with him when we've been in line in a coffee shop with 10 people behind us and he tells that to the barista. I've been with him in restaurants where he says it to a server.

I've been with him where he says it to random people on the street. And there's a lot of reactions to that statement. Again, has anyone ever told you that there's a God in heaven who loves you? Some people say, "No, what's your order?" Others say they don't even know what to say. And sometimes people will respond.

So we're in a Mexican restaurant, there's me and Steve and as I recall, two other pastors. We're all riding Harleys. We're getting ready to order our tacos and the pastors are having a theological discussion about something, as pastors do. And I'm sitting there kind of listening in on the conversation and then Steve turns to the server and says, "Has anyone ever told you that God loves you?"

So I just watch and pray, "Lord, open this man's heart." This guy was like genuinely touched. He says, "No, no one's ever told me that." Steve says, "Well, there is a God in heaven who loves you," and he starts sharing the gospel. The pastors are still having their theological discussion, oblivious to what is happening. And Steve is literally leading the server to the Lord.

The server prays. These pastors still didn't notice. The server goes away. I turn to the pastors and I said, "Did you just see what happened? Steve just led that server to the Lord." And this reminds me of the church a little bit. You know, we're having our discussions, our political debates, what do you think about this? It's time to lift up our eyes and look.

The harvest is great, but the laborers are few. You know, you think one day I'd like to go on the mission field and cross the sea to tell people about Jesus. Hey, why don't you start by crossing the street? There are opportunities in front of you each and every day. We need to be looking for them.

Dave Palmer: Good encouragement from Pastor Greg Laurie. Today's message here on A New Beginning, "The Refreshing Power of Sharing Your Faith," part two, and there's more to come. And we want to make sure to extend that same invitation to you if you've never made a decision to come to the Lord.

You can make your peace with God and know that your sins are forgiven and that you will go to heaven when this life is over. Pastor Greg, someone 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 rip tide 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 changed. 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 can 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 prayed 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.

Dave Palmer: Yeah, that's right. And listen, would you let us help you get started living this new life? Let us send you Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. It's in an easy-to-understand translation with so many helps specifically for those who are new to the faith. We'll send it free of charge.

So get in touch for your copy of the New Believer's Bible. Call 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime. Again, 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org and click Know God.

You know, Pastor Greg, we hear from people all the time who tell us how these daily studies have impacted their lives. So many have found the Lord and been encouraged through this teaching. And we hope our listeners might pray about making an investment so these studies can continue.

Greg Laurie: Yes, it's true, Dave. And even a little bit helps. People need to hear the gospel so badly. They need to hear the teaching of the word of God. It changes everything because it changes us. And I'm so passionate about it and I'm called to do it and I'm thankful for it. But I can't do it alone.

So I'm going to ask folks that are listening, if you think more people need to hear the gospel, if you believe more people need to hear the teaching of the word of God, then prayerfully consider investing in Harvest Ministries and maybe even become a Harvest Partner, which means you're someone who stands with us every month in your faithful giving. And that opens up a lot of new opportunities for us. So thanks for that.

Dave Palmer: Yeah, that's right. And we really are thankful for your partnership. You can reach us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org. Well, next time, more biblical counsel on sharing our faith effectively from Pastor Greg's series called Refresh. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.