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August 13, 2021 3:00 am
We’ll learn more today on A New Beginning, as Pastor Greg continues our study of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It’s timeless insight that stretches right into the 21st Century.
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A New Beginning is the daily half-hour program hosted by Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California. For over 30 years, Pastor Greg and Harvest Ministries have endeavored to know God and make Him known through media and large-scale evangelism. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners.
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Everybody you're listening to a new beginning, which is a podcast made possible by harvest partners. If this program is impacted you, I love to hear from you.
So just send an email to Mia greg@harvest.org again it's greg@harvest.org you can learn more about becoming harvest partner by going to harvest.org. Some days, the sky is blue.
Other days in the sky is falling. Pastor Greg Laurie says challenges are normal and expected storms will come in every lot. Sometimes it's a health issue. Sometimes it's a marital problem. Sometimes it's a kid from sometimes it's a legal problem. Sometimes it's a threat against your very life. Here's the good news, if you build your life.
Jesus Christ you'll be able to get to the store and I is not bliss laying amusement.
We shouldn't promise that kind of life in our presentation possible. We need to be on.
Sometimes trials come our way of the Lord is with us in the midst of will help bring us through the learn more today on a new beginning. Pastor Greg continues our study of Jesus sermon on the Mount time was inside 21st century, many of you like go to the be you love the beach. Many of you like the mountains or the beach or more of a mountain person.
Okay why morbid beach person, but I think as I thought about it. Maybe I like the idea of the beach more than actually going to the beach. I like the idea of it like on the go to the beach today so I load up my beach chair. I've got my sunscreen. I got my sunglasses I got my headphones or air pods or whatever. I've got the music to listen to. I got tons of books to read them, always dragging book forever ago maybe have a little lunch. I got my towel so I go down to the beach and I set everything up. There is a tell, here's the book here's everything all right this is great.
I just love the sound of the ocean and there's no one around me then you know I get hot so I have to go in the water but the water so holding California right so I go impartially and maybe I get all the way you and and then why I in the water.
I looked at Siegel is now flying up with my lunch and if that's not bad enough he's wearing my sunglasses to add insult to injury, and maybe he leaves one little final parting gift on my towel just so I know he was there and then.
So I returned to my towel now and I sit down and why is it that if there's an entire beach with all these places to go. Someone pulls her towel up right next to me, even touching my child that should be illegal.
Don't touch my job there tells touching a little bit and you know there and I always have the person that's having the conversation on the phone very loudly on speaker so I'm hearing what the other person is saying and what they're saying or another person with a loud, obnoxious, musical get well enough complaining that some of things I like and dislike mostly dislike about the beach.
Here's what I do like about the beach. I like to go with my grandkids and build sand castles with now I'm not a great Sandcastle builder fill a bucket with then turn it upside down boom that said I might go to the next level. Put a few shells on it. Maybe dig a little moat around it right but there's other people who build elaborate Sandcastle up to me this seems like the biggest waste of time ever you say why because peptides can arise. It is going to wash away are some little three-year-old kid most likely a boy the moment you're not looking is going to come and destroy your Sandcastle so it's not a good idea to build something on San so want to talk about two kinds of people as we wrap this up and even give them names Rocky and Sandy Wright, Rocky, he builds his house on a firm foundation of stone Sandy. However, she's build on this shifting seashore.
And so will find out who to when the storms come in when you get down to it, every one of us builds our life on something we all of a set of values that we live by.
Even people that say they have no values actually have values of some kind. We have a philosophy, something we think is true, that is the foundation of our life. So here's a question.
Will your foundation sustain you when the storms of life, because the storms of life will come your way and one way shape or form and sometimes one storm will follow another event so here's how you'll really know what your life is built on. If you build it on San you'll crumble if you build on rock you will be strong right let's read these final words of Jesus. Matthew seven verse 24. Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise.
He is like a person who builds a house on solid rock though the rain comes endurance notice it doesn't say if it says no other words it will happen in the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it's built on bedrock, but anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish is like a person who builds a house on the sand. When the rains and the floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash when Jesus had finished these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching breakout with real authority, quite unlike their teachers of religious law. Other so now we have this final contrast of two guys building houses and you know it, they probably look exactly the same. They're the same floor plan. They have the same landscaping.
They had the same car in the driveway.
They have the same dog even the same kind of dog try. But here's the big difference one represents a believer the one who hears the word of God and does it. The other represents effectively a nonbeliever, but will call him a pseudo-believer who hears the word of God does not do it. What I mean by a pseudo-believer is he appears to be a believer but actually he is not so. This is not a nonbeliever that never goes to church. This is a person that could be sitting next to you in the seat and they have a Bible, the look just like your Bible and they know the words of the same songs you know and when you pray, they prayed everything looks good, but then one day you find out that person is living a double life, they haven't been a believer at all, but they look like one and you thought they were one and the differences hearing the word and doing it in hearing the word and not doing it. So which one are you.
Here's how you'll know the difference.
Verse 25. Though this rain comes in torrents in the floodwaters rise look storms will come in every life and when I say storm I'm using it as a metaphor for trouble right troubles can accommodate every life. Sometimes it's a health issue. Sometimes it's a marital problem.
Sometimes it's a kid problem.
Sometimes it's a legal problem. Sometimes it's a threat against your very life.
So many things can qualify as a storm or a trial. Whatever you wanted, but storms come and do every life in you know now we have hurricanes we named them right. I actually came across a list of all the hurricanes of days gone by, and all the ones that are coming. They have an alphabetical list, and here's what the next hurricanes going to be names always looking over the list and some I recognize course we all remember hurricane Andrew that was a big one devastating one Hurricane Katrina. I was over in the islands of Hawaii when hurricane and Nikki hit that was a big one as well. But then they had some store names that that seriously these are storm names. There was one hurricane Larry is just something not frightening about hurricane Larry is coming. Larry really then there's another one hurricane Fabian Fabian about why not hurricane Fazio had long blonde hair, and in the here's one of my favorite hurricane Kirk, this is not thriving here comes hurricane current call while right so whatever you name it. Event hurricanes coming your way up that storms coming your way. It's real and it's not any fun. Paul writes in second Corinthians for our present troubles are quite small. They won't last very long.
Yet they produce in us and immeasurably great glory that will last forever.
Not a great glory and great glory. So don't look at the troubles you can see right now rather look forward to what you have not yet seen for the troubles you see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever. Listen these storms sometimes are tidal waves of temptation and other times it's a slow eroding effect of more subtle methods can be persecution tragedy. A major disappointment, but it is going to come but here's the good news, if you build your life on Jesus Christ. You'll be able to get to the store and not only will you get to the start you will be stronger because of the storm. But if you cannot build your life on Jesus Christ. You will not whether the storms at all. So that's what we want to build our life in a good foundation. Mr. Greg Laurie will have the second half of this message in just a moment, everybody Greg Laurie here.
You know my uncle Fred Jordan at one of the first Christian TV programs out there. It was called church in the home.
I remember watching it as a little boy when I was living with my grandparents we have church in the home for you every weekend. It's called Harvest at Home and you get invited to harvest.org we have worship in a message of God's word. So join us this weekend for harvested home harvest.Pastor Greg continues his encouraging presentation about surviving our life storms called the foundation of life was listen, I was interviewed the other day and this person interviewing me asked me if I ever had a moment of my life were you know I had doubts. I was questioning and I said yes as a matter fact I did. I don't know if I qualified as a doubt, but it was very hard and it was a course and our son died, and the question I asked was why and not so much why did it happen to be, though I have to admit I asked that but I really ask more. Why did it happen to him. You know he was 33 years old. He had fallen away from the Lord for a time, recommitted his life to Christ was married a beautiful daughter and another one on the way and he was actually serving the Lord with his ability as a graphic artist working at our church and was on his way to church and was in a auto collision and he died and you know when something like that happened.
You, us, the why question and I think sometimes we feel like wow I you know I must have no faith in God because I'm asking why some preachers won't tell you the sauté. This is nothing wrong with asking God why it's okay hey, don't expect an answer but ask away right is of God would answer you govern the sale, to tell you why. Now you ready for. Write it down.
We probably would like it would probably disagree with it or some other things so you can ask God why even Jesus said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me. So I asked why for a while and there was no satisfactory answer. So I fell back to another issue to other W's what and who let's start with who all right. I don't know why I don't know the answer to wife who is and who do I turn to. Why don't turn to a bottle and I'm not going to turn to drugs and I'm not going to turn to something else vomited turn to Jesus Christ. He is the one who sustains me. That's the who and the one the one as in one of my supposed to do it.
I would've never written the script for myself. But God is allotted in my life and I don't understand why and he does say he causes all things to work together for good to those who love them and of the called according to his purpose. Therefore, Lord, what you want me to do and I determined that I could not waste my pain I was in pain and I thought maybe I can help other people so I became a member of the club. I never wanted to join a club of people who have lost children and and I realize that God had given me a platform to speak both to them and for them to them and for them so you know when you've lost a child.
You can speak affordably to somebody else's lost the job the listen you because they know you gone through it just like if you're a cancer survivor. You can speak more affordably to someone who just found out they have cancer that someone who's never had a before right and that's true of many things, like when you've gone through it. People will listen to you because you've been there so you can have the platform and you can bring words of perspective and encouragement that I speak for these people in remind folks that he if you meet somebody who's lost a loved one, especially a child.
Don't ever ask them are they over it yet.
That's never an appropriate question. Iran actually had someone ask me that like two weeks after her son died he ran into him on the street. I really said about your sent you over that yet. It's all be over it after I kill you. Maybe I didn't think of it, you know what an insensitive thing to say. Seriously I that every weird thing said to me, so I know what it's like to be on the receiving end by well-meaning Christians that don't know what the heck they're talking about and I think we feel as Christians, we always have to have an answer for everything. We have to have a scripture for everything and sometimes the best thing you can do is literally safe. Nothing. Sometimes the best thing to say that someone is suffering would be something along the lines up. I have no idea what it's like to go through what you're going through right now but I want you to know I'm praying for you and I'm here for you know can I do something for you to pick you up a bite to eat.
Could I run an errand for you were just to some other practical thing. I'm just here for you. I don't have sermons for you but I have friendship for you is a time for those words of encouragement. Don't get me wrong, but sometimes we just don't know what were saying to these people and so we have to be sensitive to that public storms are going to come but here's the good news about a storm, a storm is a beginning, a middle and an end.
Some of you are just pulling into a storm hard to prevent home and one assistant is going to be a long one.
This is, I don't want to do this. Some of you are in the middle is this is been going on forever. Once again the stop that some of your just pulling out fish so glad that's in my rearview mirror all know what's out on the horizon sometimes storms come in stages. Sometimes storms come in. They take a hard turn over in Hawaii a big storm is coming their way out long ago perking up. Got the name of it that and so there were all getting ready position and this can be a bad storm. What is the deal with these weather people. They just three drops of rain hit the ground national emergency gathered just breathlessly reporting were here now waiting for the storm to common you know in any way so they thought this huge storm is going to devastate wine. It was common and it was building and it came right there direction just kind of turned give a little bit of the storm and they were fine and the funny thing is a little bit later another strong candidate even expect and that probably did more damage in the first on so that's just like life is in it. Comes here it comes in the dozen cup. Now here comes another. I did expect why were we supposed to have had a big storm yesterday. What happened to that you want to know how to get it to rain three simple washer car is always and always works for me. I don't know about you storm to get it come the other beginning the upper middle day of and then God will get you through your storms. If you're built on Jesus Christ because it comes out of this when you're going to these storms, you learn a little bit because character is not needed in crisis. It is revealed, then repeat that character is not made in crisis it's revealed.
The storm reveals who you are and what kind of faith you have.
Sometimes people go through a hardship or a tragedy in their childhood and is a will that shook my faith. That's why turned against God.
Is this hard thing happened to me when I was young, so I lost my faith well good lose that faith because it comes down to this a feed that can't be shaken is a faith that has been shaken and maybe one of the reasons you lost your faith is. You never had faith in God. So put your faith in God because hardship will come in life.
But the good news is, God will be there to sustain you. They another might be someone here at church tonight that is here because something has happened to you that maybe you face the consequences of some dumb decision. You may maybe some other thing is taken place a bit darker give you bad news.
Maybe it's something else you got fired at your job or you know something happened you know you broke up with your girlfriend or your your husband walked out and I don't know whatever it is, but something of an event I need to get to church and you feel a little embarrassed like you know I don't feel this is right to know what he'd come to the right place. I'm glad your this is the best place to come at all times with especially if you're suffering because the church is a place to get healed at the hospital for sinners and it's a place for the saints to get patched up to some several labs weakness Christianity is a crutch. All Christianity is more than a crutch. It's a wheelchair it's it's everything emergency room. Everything you need. It's there in relationship with God, and there should be no shame in anyone ever admitting they need God's help and so if you had difficulty that's got to the church. God bless you for coming here because Jesus has what you need and so we want to close with this.
It really comes down to knowing God, not knowing about God knowing God. Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on a rock that's rocking every hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand that Sandy who are you rockier Sandy what you built on and do you have the guaranteed hope that if you died you would go to heaven. That is only the hope of the follower of Jesus Christ and Jesus who gave these teachings when and died on the cross for our sin and then he rose again from the dead in the stands at the door of each of our lives in the Knox and says it will hear his voice and open the door he will come in so I want to close with a prayer and an invitation invitation for you to believe in Jesus and invitation for you to be forgiven of all of your sin and invitation for you to know God not know about God know God. A relationship of friendship and much more.
So if you need this relationship with God, or if you want to know you go to heaven when you dive you want to be ready for the Lord's return respond to this invitation as we close now and prayer. Let's all bow our heads.
Father, thank you for your word to us.
Thank you for the promise of Scripture. Now I pray for any person here who does not yet know you help them to see their need for you and help them to come to you now in Jesus name I pray a Esther Greg Lord invitation to get your heart right with the Lord, and if you'd like to do that today.
Pastor Greg will help you in just a moment before today's addition of a new beginning. Concludes but if you missed any portion of today study a message called the foundation of life. You can hear the whole program again online@harvest.org or downloaded MP3 and again that's at harvest.org what is such a privilege to have a good friend here in the studio with us today. He's retired cold case detective J.
Warner Wallace, Jim Wallace and he's just finished his latest book called person of interest why Jesus still matters in a world that rejects the Bible. He investigates the person of Christ, using his training and skill as a detective.
It's it's a unique look at the face and you know Jim, your book is so full of facts cold hard facts, but when people come to the Lord. They come by faith. So how does a factual case support of faith decision, but as we do it if an injury trials were constantly saying they were going to give you enough good evidence to make the right proper inference about what happened even though you are still going to have unanswered questions to the can a person who has can't make a decision on a jury with unanswered questions were not going to impanel your workout leave you off the jury because we know were not going to be able to answer every question will build answer enough though to leave you with a smaller step of trust that for your inference we doing Christianity the same way Jesus did the same thing. He said you know he will believe them ever what I was told you at least believe on the evidence of these miracles is as is the gospel of John. He provides evidence at every turn he he he heals. Then he heralds white. Why is that not order why Dwight why don't you do this first to demonstrate the authority I have with the words and about to say. I boarded the foundation for them evidentially went when John the Baptist is starting to struggle right. He sends his disciples to Jesus. Jesus can easily tell those disciples of John the Baptist go back and tell John he should know better is my cousin, for crying out loud. He left and the woman, her parents met you know he baptized me saw the sending of the really judge another note, we does is he reminds the disciples of John the Baptist of the miracles he has worked in front of them go back and tell John go back and remind John that's evidence that's called indirect evidence. Read the evidence of miracles. Jesus constantly does this even though we know that that evidence. I know this to. I don't expect are you somebody into the kingdom when I want to do is help people to come to remove the barriers they constructed for themselves so that when they hear the gospel is available to them. And so I think the work we do is just to Tell the soil be hearing the ground for you and I know that for me personally, you could on this all day long.
It would've been useless, but at some point God first acted to change the nature of my heart so I would pay attention to the case at all.
I didn't do that.
Nobody I was prayed that position by people who love me enough to pray for me and God's spirit moved in me and it was all got top down, but at the same time only to take time to make a case were kind of like basically is a big preaching the gospel. I needed to hear the case. That way I needed to hear that evidential case before I would listen to the gospel and so as that was held at that's how I became a Christian I became a Christian.
By examining the Gospels as if they were eyewitness accounts to see if they're reliable, and that help me to to tear down the walls that I had constructed so that when I read what the New Testament said about Jim Wallace about my need for a Savior. I was able to actually respond. Well, those are just some of the insights that you'll find reading this brand-new book from G.
Warner Wallace, a former cold case detective in the title of the book is person of interest subtitle why Jesus still matters in a world that rejects the Bible.
This is the kind of insight that helps strengthen our own faith and offer such practical help in sharing our faith with others on their level and would like to send you person of interest to thank you for your investment. So a new beginning can continue coming your way each day so send your donation today to a new beginning. Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514 or call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org Pastor Greg.
You mentioned how someone can become a Christian. With just a simple prayer. That's right. Maybe somebody would like to do that right now. Could you help them with that. Sure, I'd love to a simple prayers right. In fact, I would like to just pray a prayer and I would ask you to pray it after me right now. Pray these words learn Jesus.
I know that I am a sinner but I also know that you are the Savior because you died on the cross for my sin and he rose again from the dead.
Jesus come in the my life and forgive me of every sin I've ever committed. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer Lord, and I pray all of this in Jesus name, amen. If you just pray that prayer and meant to. I want to the know on the authority of Scripture God Almighty has heard your prayer, and he will answer this prayer. You are now a newly minted child of God. So congratulations, you've made the right decision and welcome to the family of God. I want to send you a special gift because of that prayer.
You've just pray it's called the new believers growth packet and then it is a copy of the New Testament in a very understandable translation called the new living translation.
It also is filled with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you made to follow Christ and there's some other outstanding materials in this little packet. I'll send you as well so order your copy today and let me be the first to see the you congratulations and welcome to the family of God and to get that new believers growth packet just get in touch and will be glad to send it right out. You can write a new beginning. Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514 or call us at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click the words know God when next I pastor Greg bring some of his most powerful insights on personal evangelism. So many don't share their faith as they don't feel they know enough to do a good job. All that changes. For us, starting next time you begin. Thanks for doing new beginning. Greg Laurie podcast made possible by harvest partners, helping people everywhere know God sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a harvest partner@harvest.org