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The Refreshing Power of the Word of God | Hungry for God's Word

The Refreshing Power of the Word of God | Hungry for God's Word

Released Wednesday, 8th May 2024
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The Refreshing Power of the Word of God | Hungry for God's Word

The Refreshing Power of the Word of God | Hungry for God's Word

The Refreshing Power of the Word of God | Hungry for God's Word

The Refreshing Power of the Word of God | Hungry for God's Word

Wednesday, 8th May 2024
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Episode Transcript

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0:00

We're glad you're joining us for A

0:02

New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast

0:04

supported by Harvest Partners. Get

0:07

more encouraging audio content when you

0:09

subscribe to Pastor Greg's daily divos.

0:12

Learn more and sign up at harvest.org.

0:16

A growing believer will

0:18

delight in and love the Word

0:20

of God. You'll love it

0:22

because as you read, study,

0:25

memorize, and dig into

0:28

the Word of God, it will refresh

0:30

you. God gave us His Word as

0:32

spiritual nourishment. It feeds our souls. And

0:35

Pastor Greg Laurie says it's

0:37

good to have a hearty

0:39

meal. The Bible restores you.

0:41

The Bible refreshes you. The

0:43

Bible transforms you. This is

0:46

the day when the lost are

0:48

found. This is the

0:50

day for a new beginning.

0:53

Amazing grace how sweet the

0:56

sound. Again you're here on

0:58

the edge of the sea.

1:01

This is the day,

1:04

the day when life

1:06

begins. Ever been so

1:08

hungry you felt weak? Not

1:10

just hunger pangs, not just in

1:12

a hangry mood, you actually felt

1:14

sluggish and powerless. Food is

1:16

at the top of your mind. Well,

1:18

we can start to feel weak spiritually, but

1:20

so many times our spiritual food isn't at

1:23

the top of our minds. Stay

1:25

on the new beginning. Pastor Greg Laurie

1:27

points out just what God's Word does for

1:29

the weary traveler on the road of life.

1:32

We'll see it gives us actual power for living,

1:34

and we shouldn't deprive ourselves. This

1:38

is the day,

1:40

the day when life

1:43

begins. The

1:45

refreshing power of

1:47

the Word of God. Listen,

1:49

if you want to be a growing

1:52

Christian. If you want

1:54

to be a successful Christian. If you

1:56

want to be a believer that brings

1:58

forth spiritual fruit. Jesus says He

2:00

wants us to bring forth and you need

2:02

to be a Bible

2:05

studying Christian. And

2:07

as a believer we are either

2:09

progressing or we're regressing. We're either

2:11

going forward or we're going backwards.

2:14

And the moment we stop the

2:16

forward momentum is when we begin

2:18

the backward regression. I

2:20

read not long ago about a

2:22

coach, a guy who trains people

2:25

for a living. And most of

2:28

his clients were quite overweight, some

2:30

60-70 pounds overweight. This

2:32

guy, this trainer, was in

2:34

perfect shape. Washboard abs, ate

2:36

the right foods, loved to

2:38

exercise, and he really couldn't

2:40

relate to what his clients were

2:42

going through. So this guy decided

2:44

to intentionally put on 70 pounds

2:47

to see what it was like. And

2:49

so he started by changing

2:52

his diet from the foods

2:54

he used to eat to fattening foods.

2:56

For instance, for breakfast he had Captain

2:58

Crunch cereal and then he would have

3:00

a snack. It would be banana bread

3:02

and he would have chicken alfredo pasta

3:05

for dinner and lots of corn dogs

3:07

and donuts in between. By

3:09

the way, this diet sounds really good

3:11

to me except the Captain Crunch cereal.

3:13

I could live without that. But all

3:16

the rest, this sounds amazing. Well, it

3:18

was exhilarating to him because at first

3:20

there was no difference in his body.

3:23

He still looked good, but then he noticed the

3:25

first thing to go with the abs. Then

3:28

he started getting flabby. Then he found that

3:30

his blood pressure was going up. He was

3:32

tired all the time. He

3:34

found himself lethargic and depressed.

3:37

And to me, this is the

3:39

picture of what it's like when we

3:41

start going in the wrong direction spiritually.

3:45

Instead of eating the

3:47

nutritious message of God's

3:49

Word, we fill our

3:51

lives with spiritual junk

3:53

food. So when that happens, you need

3:55

a restart. You need a

3:58

reboot. You need a And

4:01

I want to talk to you about

4:03

the refreshing power of the Word of

4:05

God. Because the reality is as believers

4:07

we all have those moments when we

4:09

stumble, when we trip up,

4:11

when we make that wrong decision, we

4:13

think that wrong thought and we need

4:16

to repent. We need to reboot.

4:19

We need to be revived and

4:21

refreshed. And that's what we're going

4:23

to be focusing on together. Because

4:26

you want to build your life

4:28

as a Christian on Christ and

4:31

His Word. At the end of the Sermon on

4:33

the Mount Jesus gave

4:35

this summary statement in

4:38

Matthew 7. Whoever hears

4:40

these words of mine and puts them

4:42

into practice, He is a wise

4:44

man who builds his house on

4:47

the rock. And the rain came down and

4:49

the streams rose and the winds blew and

4:51

beat against the house. But it

4:53

did not fall because His foundation was

4:56

on the rock. But then Christ goes

4:58

on to say whoever hears these things

5:00

of mine and does not put them

5:02

into practice, He is a foolish man

5:04

who builds his house on the sand.

5:07

And the rain came down and the streams

5:09

rose and it fell with a great

5:11

crash. Look every life is

5:14

going to be tested. Every one

5:16

of us is going to face

5:18

storms in life as followers of

5:20

Jesus. So make sure you're built

5:22

on the right foundation which is

5:24

a relationship with Jesus Himself and

5:26

of course on God's Word. Don't

5:29

build your Christian experience on

5:31

experience. Don't build your

5:34

faith on your physical emotions.

5:36

Build your life on Christ

5:38

and His Word. Because

5:40

as you read, study, memorize,

5:43

and dig into the Word of

5:45

God it will refresh you. Psalm

5:49

19 verse 7 says, the law of

5:51

the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

5:54

The testimony of the Lord is

5:57

sure, making wise the simple. that

6:00

the psalmist uses therefore converts

6:02

means to revive, to

6:05

restore, and to transform. Now when

6:07

we say the law of the Lord that

6:09

could just as easily be translated the word

6:11

of the Lord or simply the Bible. In

6:14

other words the Bible restores you.

6:16

The Bible refreshes you. The Bible

6:18

transforms you. I can think of

6:21

so many times in my life

6:23

where my mind was going

6:25

in the wrong direction. Have

6:27

you ever been gripped by fear,

6:29

worry, or anxiety and found by

6:32

just quoting the right scripture that

6:34

it sort of righted you? Or

6:37

when you're dealing with pain or

6:39

with grief? You know we

6:41

just marked 13 years since our son

6:43

Christopher went to be with the Lord.

6:46

And since that has happened I've

6:48

spoken to countless families

6:51

who've lost loved ones

6:53

especially children. And I've

6:55

talked to them about grief. Grief is

6:58

powerful and it can overwhelm you.

7:00

And there were times when our

7:02

grief was so powerful and so

7:04

overwhelming we didn't know if we

7:07

could go on. But the

7:09

thing is is grief has its place. It's

7:12

the process of healing. It's

7:14

the process of processing the

7:16

thing that has happened to

7:18

you. I compare it

7:20

to being out in the ocean.

7:22

Maybe we're on our surfboards or our stand

7:24

up paddle boards or maybe we're on our

7:26

boogie boards right. Have you ever gone over

7:28

the falls like going over the front of

7:30

a wave and you're in white water. It's

7:32

like you're in a washing machine and you

7:35

don't know which way is up. So

7:37

if you have a boogie board or some

7:40

surfboard and a leash attached to

7:42

your ankle you know one thing

7:44

is certain. That boogie board, that

7:46

flotation device will always go to

7:49

the surface because people have become

7:51

disoriented when they've gone over the

7:53

falls especially if the wave is big and they

7:55

don't know which way is up. And instead of

7:57

going up they go down. So here's what you

7:59

do. If you've got that leash, grab

8:01

the leash and go in the direction

8:03

of your surfboard or your boogie board

8:06

and get your head above the water

8:08

and get a gulp of air. Because

8:10

a new set of waves might be

8:12

coming. That's grief. It just turns

8:14

you upside down. You don't know what to

8:16

think. You don't know what's going on. Your

8:18

emotions are running amok. Grab the

8:20

leash. What is the leash? The

8:22

leash is the Word of God. And

8:25

it pulls me to the surface. And

8:27

I can get my eyes on Jesus

8:29

for a moment. And it can get

8:31

me sorted out and back in alignment

8:33

with God again. How important the Word

8:36

of God is in our life. The

8:39

Word of God restores us. It

8:41

refreshes us. It transforms us.

8:43

Listen to this. Success or

8:45

failure in the Christian life

8:47

depends on how much of

8:49

God's Word you get into

8:51

your life on a regular

8:53

basis and how obedient you are

8:56

to it. Let me repeat that for emphasis. Success

8:59

or failure in the Christian life

9:01

depends on how much of God's

9:03

Word you get into your life

9:05

on a regular basis and how

9:08

obedient you are to it. God

9:11

told His people back in the book

9:13

of Joshua if they want to succeed

9:15

spiritually they needed to constantly be looking

9:17

at His Word. Joshua 1 8. It

9:20

said, this book of the law, or

9:22

the Word of God, shall not depart

9:24

from your mouth. Meditate in

9:27

it day and night that you

9:29

may observe to do according to

9:31

all that is written in it.

9:34

And if you do this your way will

9:36

be prosperous and you will have good success.

9:39

Meditate in the Word of God. What does it mean to

9:41

meditate? Well in the Bible it

9:43

means to contemplate. The

9:45

idea is given in Scripture of

9:48

chewing one's food carefully. In

9:50

Eastern meditation one empties their

9:53

mind. In Biblical meditation

9:55

one fills their mind with

9:57

the Word of God. God.

10:00

And as you memorize and know

10:03

and understand scripture it'll be a

10:05

weapon to use as you share

10:07

your faith and a

10:09

weapon to defend yourself when you're

10:12

being attacked. Remember the

10:14

first temptation that happened back in the

10:17

Garden of Eden is when Satan effectively

10:19

came to Adam and even challenged them

10:21

to doubt the Word of God.

10:24

He said did God really say what

10:26

you think He said? Has God really

10:28

said you cannot eat of all of

10:31

the trees in the garden? And

10:33

this is one of the first things that

10:35

happens to a person when he become a

10:37

Christian. They have doubt about what they believe.

10:40

And Jesus told us how to handle this

10:42

and showed us really when He

10:44

was tempted in the wilderness. Remember

10:46

three ways of temptation came to

10:48

Christ from Lucifer. And in each

10:51

instance Jesus says it is written.

10:54

It is written. He came back

10:56

to the Word of God which

10:58

the Bible describes as the sword

11:00

of the Spirit. Listen a growing

11:02

believer will delight in and

11:05

love the Word of God. You'll

11:07

love it. It's not like you'll

11:09

dread reading it. You look forward to

11:11

reading it. Someone describing the

11:13

happy man says happy is the man

11:16

that doesn't walk in the counsel of

11:18

being godly or stand in the way

11:20

of sinners or sit in the seat

11:22

of the scornful but his delight is

11:25

in the Word of the Lord

11:27

and in it does he meditate

11:29

day and night. The

11:32

Psalmist said in Psalm 119 how

11:34

I love your commandments Lord they

11:37

give my life back to me

11:39

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

11:52

out the new Harvest Plus app. It's

11:54

on Roku, Apple TV and Google

11:57

Play among others and you can

11:59

stream incredible content and

12:01

all major platforms for free.

12:03

You're gonna find live events,

12:05

our evangelistic films like A

12:08

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.

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Plus our TV programs, our

12:20

podcasts, Harvest at Home, and a

12:22

lot more. Stream it all on

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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

12:57

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

13:09

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

13:28

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

13:44

Peter 1, 20 says, you must

13:47

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

13:56

from God. How

13:58

do I know the Bible is the Word of God?

14:00

the Word of God. Here's one

14:02

point. I know the Bible

14:05

is the Word of God because it

14:07

gave me the experience it

14:09

claimed it would give me. Now don't

14:11

say, well Greg you shouldn't

14:13

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

14:20

God. But I believe it because

14:22

everything the Bible promised to me

14:25

was true. Everything the Bible says to

14:27

me I have found to be true.

14:29

For instance the Bible says God would

14:31

forgive me of my sin. First

14:34

Psalm 1, 9 says, if I will confess

14:36

my sin, He's faithful and just, and forgive

14:38

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

16:00

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,

16:35

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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