Episode Transcript
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We're glad you're joining us for A
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New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast
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Learn more and sign up at harvest.org.
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A growing believer will
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delight in and love the Word
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of God. You'll love it
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because as you read, study,
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memorize, and dig into
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the Word of God, it will refresh
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you. God gave us His Word as
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spiritual nourishment. It feeds our souls. And
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Pastor Greg Laurie says it's
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good to have a hearty
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meal. The Bible restores you.
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The Bible refreshes you. The
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Bible transforms you. This is
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the day when the lost are
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found. This is the
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day for a new beginning.
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Amazing grace how sweet the
0:56
sound. Again you're here on
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the edge of the sea.
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This is the day,
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the day when life
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begins. Ever been so
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hungry you felt weak? Not
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just hunger pangs, not just in
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a hangry mood, you actually felt
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sluggish and powerless. Food is
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at the top of your mind. Well,
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we can start to feel weak spiritually, but
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so many times our spiritual food isn't at
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the top of our minds. Stay
1:25
on the new beginning. Pastor Greg Laurie
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points out just what God's Word does for
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the weary traveler on the road of life.
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We'll see it gives us actual power for living,
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and we shouldn't deprive ourselves. This
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is the day,
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the day when life
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begins. The
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refreshing power of
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the Word of God. Listen,
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if you want to be a growing
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Christian. If you want
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to be a successful Christian. If you
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want to be a believer that brings
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forth spiritual fruit. Jesus says He
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wants us to bring forth and you need
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to be a Bible
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studying Christian. And
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as a believer we are either
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progressing or we're regressing. We're either
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going forward or we're going backwards.
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And the moment we stop the
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forward momentum is when we begin
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the backward regression. I
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read not long ago about a
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coach, a guy who trains people
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for a living. And most of
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his clients were quite overweight, some
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60-70 pounds overweight. This
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guy, this trainer, was in
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perfect shape. Washboard abs, ate
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the right foods, loved to
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exercise, and he really couldn't
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relate to what his clients were
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going through. So this guy decided
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to intentionally put on 70 pounds
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to see what it was like. And
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so he started by changing
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his diet from the foods
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he used to eat to fattening foods.
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For instance, for breakfast he had Captain
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Crunch cereal and then he would have
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a snack. It would be banana bread
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and he would have chicken alfredo pasta
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for dinner and lots of corn dogs
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and donuts in between. By
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the way, this diet sounds really good
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to me except the Captain Crunch cereal.
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I could live without that. But all
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the rest, this sounds amazing. Well, it
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was exhilarating to him because at first
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there was no difference in his body.
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He still looked good, but then he noticed the
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first thing to go with the abs. Then
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he started getting flabby. Then he found that
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his blood pressure was going up. He was
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tired all the time. He
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found himself lethargic and depressed.
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And to me, this is the
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picture of what it's like when we
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start going in the wrong direction spiritually.
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Instead of eating the
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nutritious message of God's
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Word, we fill our
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lives with spiritual junk
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food. So when that happens, you need
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a restart. You need a
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reboot. You need a And
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I want to talk to you about
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the refreshing power of the Word of
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God. Because the reality is as believers
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we all have those moments when we
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stumble, when we trip up,
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when we make that wrong decision, we
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think that wrong thought and we need
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to repent. We need to reboot.
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We need to be revived and
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refreshed. And that's what we're going
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to be focusing on together. Because
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you want to build your life
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as a Christian on Christ and
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His Word. At the end of the Sermon on
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the Mount Jesus gave
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this summary statement in
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Matthew 7. Whoever hears
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these words of mine and puts them
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into practice, He is a wise
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man who builds his house on
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the rock. And the rain came down and
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the streams rose and the winds blew and
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beat against the house. But it
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did not fall because His foundation was
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on the rock. But then Christ goes
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on to say whoever hears these things
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of mine and does not put them
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into practice, He is a foolish man
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who builds his house on the sand.
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And the rain came down and the streams
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rose and it fell with a great
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crash. Look every life is
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going to be tested. Every one
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of us is going to face
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storms in life as followers of
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Jesus. So make sure you're built
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on the right foundation which is
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a relationship with Jesus Himself and
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of course on God's Word. Don't
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build your Christian experience on
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experience. Don't build your
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faith on your physical emotions.
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Build your life on Christ
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and His Word. Because
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as you read, study, memorize,
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and dig into the Word of
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God it will refresh you. Psalm
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19 verse 7 says, the law of
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the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
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The testimony of the Lord is
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sure, making wise the simple. that
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the psalmist uses therefore converts
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means to revive, to
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restore, and to transform. Now when
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we say the law of the Lord that
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could just as easily be translated the word
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of the Lord or simply the Bible. In
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other words the Bible restores you.
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The Bible refreshes you. The Bible
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transforms you. I can think of
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so many times in my life
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where my mind was going
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in the wrong direction. Have
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you ever been gripped by fear,
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worry, or anxiety and found by
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just quoting the right scripture that
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it sort of righted you? Or
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when you're dealing with pain or
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with grief? You know we
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just marked 13 years since our son
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Christopher went to be with the Lord.
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And since that has happened I've
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spoken to countless families
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who've lost loved ones
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especially children. And I've
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talked to them about grief. Grief is
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powerful and it can overwhelm you.
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And there were times when our
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grief was so powerful and so
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overwhelming we didn't know if we
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could go on. But the
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thing is is grief has its place. It's
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the process of healing. It's
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the process of processing the
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thing that has happened to
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you. I compare it
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to being out in the ocean.
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Maybe we're on our surfboards or our stand
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up paddle boards or maybe we're on our
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boogie boards right. Have you ever gone over
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the falls like going over the front of
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a wave and you're in white water. It's
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like you're in a washing machine and you
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don't know which way is up. So
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if you have a boogie board or some
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surfboard and a leash attached to
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your ankle you know one thing
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is certain. That boogie board, that
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flotation device will always go to
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the surface because people have become
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disoriented when they've gone over the
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falls especially if the wave is big and they
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don't know which way is up. And instead of
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going up they go down. So here's what you
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do. If you've got that leash, grab
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the leash and go in the direction
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of your surfboard or your boogie board
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and get your head above the water
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and get a gulp of air. Because
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a new set of waves might be
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coming. That's grief. It just turns
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you upside down. You don't know what to
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think. You don't know what's going on. Your
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emotions are running amok. Grab the
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leash. What is the leash? The
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leash is the Word of God. And
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it pulls me to the surface. And
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I can get my eyes on Jesus
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for a moment. And it can get
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me sorted out and back in alignment
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with God again. How important the Word
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of God is in our life. The
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Word of God restores us. It
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refreshes us. It transforms us.
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Listen to this. Success or
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failure in the Christian life
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depends on how much of
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God's Word you get into
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your life on a regular
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basis and how obedient you are
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to it. Let me repeat that for emphasis. Success
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or failure in the Christian life
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depends on how much of God's
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Word you get into your life
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on a regular basis and how
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obedient you are to it. God
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told His people back in the book
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of Joshua if they want to succeed
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spiritually they needed to constantly be looking
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at His Word. Joshua 1 8. It
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said, this book of the law, or
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the Word of God, shall not depart
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from your mouth. Meditate in
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it day and night that you
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may observe to do according to
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all that is written in it.
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And if you do this your way will
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be prosperous and you will have good success.
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Meditate in the Word of God. What does it mean to
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meditate? Well in the Bible it
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means to contemplate. The
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idea is given in Scripture of
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chewing one's food carefully. In
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Eastern meditation one empties their
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mind. In Biblical meditation
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one fills their mind with
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the Word of God. God.
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And as you memorize and know
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and understand scripture it'll be a
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weapon to use as you share
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your faith and a
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weapon to defend yourself when you're
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being attacked. Remember the
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first temptation that happened back in the
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Garden of Eden is when Satan effectively
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came to Adam and even challenged them
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to doubt the Word of God.
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He said did God really say what
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you think He said? Has God really
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said you cannot eat of all of
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the trees in the garden? And
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this is one of the first things that
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happens to a person when he become a
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Christian. They have doubt about what they believe.
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And Jesus told us how to handle this
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and showed us really when He
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was tempted in the wilderness. Remember
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three ways of temptation came to
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Christ from Lucifer. And in each
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instance Jesus says it is written.
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It is written. He came back
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to the Word of God which
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the Bible describes as the sword
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of the Spirit. Listen a growing
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believer will delight in and
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love the Word of God. You'll
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love it. It's not like you'll
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dread reading it. You look forward to
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reading it. Someone describing the
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happy man says happy is the man
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that doesn't walk in the counsel of
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being godly or stand in the way
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of sinners or sit in the seat
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of the scornful but his delight is
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in the Word of the Lord
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and in it does he meditate
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day and night. The
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Psalmist said in Psalm 119 how
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I love your commandments Lord they
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give my life back to me
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because you're unfailing love and your
11:41
words are true. Mr.
11:45
Greg Laurie will have the second half of
11:47
his message in just a moment. Hey
11:50
everybody I want to encourage you to check
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out the new Harvest Plus app. It's
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on Roku, Apple TV and Google
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Play among others and you can
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stream incredible content and
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all major platforms for free.
12:03
You're gonna find live events,
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our evangelistic films like A
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Rush of Hope, Johnny Cash, A
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Redemption of an American Icon, Steve
12:12
Bequeen, The Salvation of an American
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Icon, and our newest film thing.
12:18
Plus our TV programs, our
12:20
podcasts, Harvest at Home, and a
12:22
lot more. Stream it all on
12:24
any device for free using the
12:27
new Harvest Plus app. Well
12:30
today, Pastor Greg is presenting his message
12:32
on the importance of Scripture called
12:35
the Refreshing Power of the Word of
12:37
God. How do you
12:39
know the Bible is the Word of
12:41
God? Sometimes we'll doubt it. Can I
12:43
believe the Bible? Can I be certain
12:46
that this really is God's Word to me? So if
12:48
you have a Bible, why don't you just grab it
12:51
right now and hold on to it. Maybe
12:53
it's an app on your tablet or
12:55
your phone, but I want you to
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think about this book that we call
12:59
the Bible. This is God's message
13:02
to us. Technically speaking,
13:04
the Bible is not one book,
13:06
but it's actually 66 different books
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written over a 1,500 year span of time. Its
13:15
words were written by authors, 40 of
13:18
them all told, from
13:20
every walk of life.
13:23
Kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen,
13:25
statesmen, and scholars. Yet
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all of the authors of
13:30
the Bible write about one
13:32
primary theme, and
13:34
that theme is God's redemption of
13:37
mankind. And each one
13:39
of these individuals was inspired by
13:42
God to write these words. 2
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Peter 1, 20 says, you must
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understand no prophecy in Scripture came about
13:49
by the prophets themselves as they wanted
13:51
to prophesy, but it was the Holy
13:54
Spirit who moved the prophets to speak
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from God. How
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do I know the Bible is the Word of God?
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the Word of God. Here's one
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point. I know the Bible
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is the Word of God because it
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gave me the experience it
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claimed it would give me. Now don't
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say, well Greg you shouldn't
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build your life an experience. This is just
14:16
one of many points as to
14:18
why I believe the Bible is the Word of
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God. But I believe it because
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everything the Bible promised to me
14:25
was true. Everything the Bible says to
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me I have found to be true.
14:29
For instance the Bible says God would
14:31
forgive me of my sin. First
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Psalm 1, 9 says, if I will confess
14:36
my sin, He's faithful and just, and forgive
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me my sins and cleanse me from all
14:40
unrighteousness. So I read that verse and
14:43
I said, Lord, cleanse me of my sin. One
14:45
of the first things I remember experiencing as a
14:48
brand new Christian was the
14:50
sensation of having a massive weight
14:52
removed from me. Now
14:54
I didn't know what I had just
14:56
done. I prayed and asked Jesus into
14:58
my life. I had read that I
15:00
should cast all of my care upon
15:02
Him for He cared for me. I
15:04
hadn't read any verses yet but I
15:06
remember feeling this weight lifted off of
15:08
me. That was God forgiving me of
15:10
my sins. The Bible says
15:12
to me if any man be in Christ he
15:15
is an altogether different kind of person. The old
15:17
things have passed away. Behold everything
15:19
becomes fresh in you. I
15:22
became a different person after I gave
15:24
my life to Christ. I saw that
15:26
change inside of me and I knew
15:28
it was real. I tried to be
15:31
a better person. I wanted
15:33
to be a more caring person. I
15:35
wanted to be different than I was
15:37
but I couldn't change myself and suddenly
15:39
with Christ living in me and
15:41
reading the Word of God I saw that
15:43
these things happened for me as the Bible
15:46
said they would. I read in
15:48
the Bible that God could give to me a
15:50
peace that passes all human
15:52
understanding. Because in Philippians we
15:55
read don't worry about anything.
15:57
Pray about everything. And
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the peace of God that passes
16:02
all human understanding will keep your
16:04
heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
16:07
Have you experienced that peace
16:09
that passes all understanding? I
16:11
mentioned already that my son went to be
16:14
with the Lord and I tested the word
16:16
of God then. I
16:18
couldn't even get to sleep at night
16:20
and I would remind myself of what
16:22
scripture says and I would quote scripture
16:24
to myself and it would console me
16:26
and comfort me and sustain me. I
16:29
believe the Bible is the word
16:31
of God because it gave me
16:33
the experience and promise. Number two,
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I believe the Bible is the
16:37
word of God and that it
16:40
is true because it's confirmed by
16:42
science. Now some
16:44
of you might be thinking, no Greg you're wrong.
16:46
Science and the Bible contradict each other.
16:48
That's not necessarily true. People
16:51
over the years have scoffed at the
16:53
Bible saying it's so unscientific. You
16:55
know, the people that believe the Bible,
16:57
they're fools. Well, it's actually the Bible
16:59
that told us that the Lord sits
17:01
on the circle of the earth. It's
17:04
the Bible that told us the earth
17:06
was round, not flat as many of
17:08
the experts thought at one stage in
17:10
human history. It's the Bible
17:12
that tells us and told us
17:14
that the stars in the sky
17:17
were innumerable. But of course the
17:19
astronomers said, well that's ridiculous. We
17:21
can actually count the stars. And they had
17:24
their count and then they'd get a more
17:26
powerful telescope and add some
17:28
more numbers to that and on
17:30
it grew. But the Bible tells
17:32
us that God stretched forth the
17:34
heavens into a limitless expense which
17:36
can never be measured and filled
17:38
it with stars which are as
17:40
numerous as the sands upon the
17:42
seashore. Well now modern
17:44
science has confirmed this is true.
17:47
That we really can't even count
17:49
the stars in the sky. It
17:51
was the Bible that told us the things
17:54
that we see are made
17:56
out of things that we don't see. Hebrews
17:59
11-3. He says, by faith we
18:01
understand the entire universe was formed at God's
18:03
command. And what we see now is made
18:05
out of things we don't see. Everything
18:09
that we look at right now
18:11
is made up of protons, neutrons,
18:14
and electrons, and also croutons. Now those
18:16
are on your side. But
18:18
the idea is God told us that things
18:20
we see are made of things we don't
18:22
see. So the Bible was
18:24
ahead of science in many ways.
18:26
But listen, the Bible is not
18:28
a scientific textbook. If it were,
18:30
it would be much larger and
18:32
much less comprehensible. The objective of
18:34
the Scripture is not to tell
18:36
us how the heavens go, but
18:38
how to go to heaven. Let
18:41
me say that again. The objective of the
18:43
Bible is not to tell me how the
18:45
heavens go, but how to go to heaven
18:47
and how to know God. Here's
18:50
another point. The Bible is true
18:53
because it's the one book that dares
18:55
to predict the future. Not
18:57
once, not twice, but
19:00
hundreds of times with 100% accuracy. Think
19:04
of all the Scriptures in the Old
19:06
Testament that pointed to the arrival of
19:08
the Messiah. The Bible told
19:10
us in the Old Testament Messiah would be
19:13
born of a virgin. He'd be born in
19:15
Bethlehem. He would be crucified.
19:17
And the Bible said in the
19:19
Old Testament he would be crucified
19:21
before the actual act of crucifixion
19:23
even existed. The Bible is
19:26
the one book that tells us what is
19:28
coming in our future as well. I'm not
19:30
talking about Nostradamus here or
19:32
the Mayan prophecies. I'm
19:34
talking about a reliable source. And that really
19:36
is the mark of a
19:39
true messenger from God or a book
19:41
that comes from God. Can it predict
19:43
the future? And the answer to what
19:45
the Bible is, yes. And
19:47
I could go on and talk a lot
19:49
about how archaeology confirms the Bible. It
19:52
doesn't contradict it. It seems
19:54
like whenever there's a new archaeological find,
19:56
it confirms what the Bible said. And
19:59
I could talk about... So many things
20:01
happening in our world right now that are
20:03
fulfillment of Bible prophecy, the turmoil
20:05
in the Middle East and much, much
20:08
more. As a reminder
20:10
in 2 Timothy 3, all scripture
20:12
is inspired by God. Another
20:15
translation says all scripture is
20:17
breathed by God. Pastor
20:32
Greg Lorry with insights on why we
20:34
can rely on the Bible as the
20:36
Word of God. Our
20:38
message today on A New Beginning is titled,
20:41
The Refreshing Power of the Word of God.
20:43
And there's more to come. We've
20:46
talked a lot about the Bible, God's love
20:48
letter to His children and how He cares
20:50
for His kids. Well,
20:52
Pastor Greg has a further comment he wanted
20:55
to share. So as you've been listening today,
20:57
maybe you've thought to yourself, man, I wish
20:59
I had this relationship with God that is
21:02
being talked about. Well, you can. He's
21:05
only a prayer away. You
21:07
see, becoming a Christian, it doesn't take
21:09
years. It doesn't take months. It doesn't
21:12
take weeks. It doesn't even
21:14
take hours. It can happen in a moment. That's
21:17
how it happened for me. I just heard
21:19
the gospel and all of a sudden I
21:21
realized this is all true. And maybe you've
21:23
realized that as well. Let me ask you.
21:26
Would you like Jesus Christ to come into your life?
21:29
Would you like Him to forgive you of
21:31
your sin? Would you like this relationship with
21:33
God we've been talking about today? If
21:36
so, why don't you just pray a simple
21:38
prayer with me? Say this
21:40
to God, Lord Jesus, I
21:43
know that I'm a sinner, but
21:45
I know that you're the Savior who
21:47
died on the cross for my sin and
21:50
rose again from the dead. Jesus,
21:52
I turn from my sin and
21:54
I choose to follow you from this
21:56
moment forward as my Savior
21:59
and Lord. As my God
22:01
and friend, thank you for
22:03
hearing this prayer. And I
22:05
ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
22:08
Hey, did you just pray that prayer? If
22:11
so, I want to send you at no charge
22:14
what we call a new believer's Bible.
22:16
Here's Dave to tell you more. And let me just
22:18
say, congratulations. You've made
22:20
the right decision. Yeah, yeah,
22:22
that's right. And listen to
22:24
help you begin to live this new life, this
22:27
life where you're at peace with God and
22:29
you can begin to enjoy the peace of
22:31
God. Let us send you
22:33
Pastor Greg's new believer's Bible. It's
22:35
the perfect resource for someone who's new to
22:37
the faith. We'll send it
22:39
free of charge if you'll just contact us
22:41
and request it. Call us at 1-800-821-3300. Again,
22:45
that's 1-800-821-3300. Or
22:52
write us at a New Beginning, Box
22:54
4000, Riverside, California, 92514.
22:59
Or just go online to
23:01
harvest.org and click No God.
23:05
Pastor Greg. Hey everybody, I'm in studio
23:07
with my friend J. Warner Wallace, best
23:09
known as Jim. Jim was
23:11
a cold case detective. He
23:13
came to faith at the age
23:15
of 35 and has taken his
23:17
incredible skills as a detective and
23:20
applied them to our faith in
23:22
helping us to understand our faith
23:25
and articulate our faith. And you know,
23:27
Jim, we live in such a self-absorbed
23:30
culture. You know, the Bible even says,
23:32
in the last days, people would be
23:34
lovers of themselves. Now, that's
23:36
always been true to a certain degree,
23:38
but I can't think of a time
23:41
when people have been more self-obsessed in
23:43
this moment in human history. And of
23:45
course, the smartphone plays a key role
23:47
in that. We have to photograph everything.
23:49
Here we are taking selfies. So you've
23:51
written a brand new book that we're
23:53
offering to our listeners this
23:56
month for their gift of any size. And the title
23:58
of the book is The Truth in Truth. to crime
24:00
and you have a chapter that's
24:03
titled, Legends, Liars, and
24:05
Liability. Tell us about that chapter in particular
24:07
and what you've discovered. Well, it's exactly what
24:09
you just said is that when you, a
24:11
lot of times when you work in gang
24:13
cases, people survive on the
24:15
street by their street cred, right? Which is
24:17
about, are they legendary enough even before there
24:19
was, where there were smartphones? Because I was
24:21
working in these cases when I was a
24:23
pretty young investigator. And these
24:25
people, they were not, like there was no
24:27
social media platforms in which to make you
24:29
an influencer or somebody who's famous. But
24:32
you had your street cred, you had your reputation. And
24:35
reputations often serve as a
24:37
surrogate, kind of a celebrity
24:39
surrogate. In my generation growing up, there
24:41
were gatekeepers to celebrity. If you wanted
24:43
to be known nationally, you really needed
24:45
to be on some show, right? Like
24:47
on these legacy media, ABC, NBC, CBS.
24:50
Well there were only so many shows
24:52
and those producers, those networks were the
24:54
funnel point, the gatekeeper that kept celebrity
24:57
at a minimum. But you
24:59
know in this generation, there are no
25:01
gatekeepers. There are people now who garner
25:03
more views on their YouTube channel than
25:05
people who are garnering on any of
25:07
the streaming media or
25:10
legacy media. So you actually
25:12
have an open road to celebrity
25:14
if you simply would do whatever outrageous thing
25:16
you need to do in order to garner
25:18
it. So it turns out
25:20
that studies show that there
25:22
are two things that motivate our
25:24
desire for celebrity. One,
25:27
is our desire to be known, to
25:29
be cared for, to have really
25:31
good friendships, people care about you. Two
25:34
is what they call a symbolic
25:37
immortality. This idea that if
25:39
I'm famous enough, I'll kind of live forever.
25:41
We're still talking about Marilyn Monroe because she's
25:43
entered the vocabulary even though
25:45
she's no longer with us. But
25:48
it turns out both of those things, our
25:50
desire to be known and our desire to
25:52
live forever are not met by
25:54
celebrity. Now Christianity actually
25:57
offers both of those things.
26:00
Because we're created in the image of an
26:02
eternal God who lives forever and offers that
26:04
for us and is in trying in relationship
26:07
But we also sometimes will point at the
26:09
thing that's closer to us celebrity
26:13
it never Satisfies
26:15
and it says Lewis would say right if there
26:18
is something that I seek satisfaction And if I
26:20
can't seem to find it in this life It
26:22
might just be that it's pointing me to its
26:24
ultimate satisfaction in the next And
26:26
so I think that's part of what we're trying to do in this
26:28
book is to show you that yeah these things we all Feel that
26:31
are part of true crime stories are pointing
26:33
you to your creator And
26:35
our best is explained on the pages of the New
26:38
Testament Excellent, so you're listening
26:40
to G Warner Wallace and
26:42
he's written a brand new book called the
26:44
truth in true crime He knows what he's
26:46
talking about He was how many years were
26:48
you a detective 25 and then you were
26:50
in law enforcement prior to that? Well, I
26:52
guess my total I went to investigations pretty
26:54
fast Probably three years before
26:56
I started working investigations and is
26:59
this your art in your book? Yes,
27:01
he's illustration Yeah, he's a very good
27:03
artist And so he is not only
27:05
writing this book for us to enjoy
27:07
but he breaks it down in an
27:09
understandable way and his Illustrations
27:11
are very helpful And so we
27:13
want to offer this book to you the
27:15
truth and true crime by J Warner Wallace
27:17
for your gift of any size this month
27:19
to help us continue to teach
27:22
God's Word and to
27:24
preach the gospel and call people to
27:26
Christ and We'll
27:28
give it to you for your gift of any size
27:30
whatever you can send We'll use it to continue on
27:32
in this mission to make God known
27:34
to people that need to hear about him
27:37
Yeah, that's right We so much appreciate your
27:39
investment in the work we do here and
27:41
we want to thank you tangibly by sending
27:44
you a copy of this Fascinating new book
27:46
the truth in true crime get
27:48
in touch today by calling 1-800-821 3,300
27:51
call anytime 1-800-821-3300 or
27:58
write a new beginning box for or go
28:00
online to harvest.org. Well
28:09
next time, more insights on the
28:11
importance of God's Word and how
28:13
it refreshes the lives of believers.
28:16
Join us here on A New Beginning with
28:18
pastor and Bible teacher Greg Lauren. Thanks
28:29
for listening to A New Beginning. This
28:31
is a podcast made possible by Harvest
28:33
partners. So for more content that can
28:36
help you know God and equip you
28:38
to make Him known to others or
28:40
to learn more about how you can
28:42
become a Harvest partner, just go to
28:45
harvest.org.
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