A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: It's not hard to be a Christian. It's impossible without the help of the Spirit of God.

Guest (Male): Today, Pastor Greg Laurie points out the Lord not only invites us to come to him, he makes it possible to overcome the obstacles that often stand in our way.

Greg Laurie: There is no sin, there is no habit, there is no addiction, there is no vice that needs to hold you any longer. The resurrection of Jesus assures me I have all the power I need to live the Christian life.

Guest (Male): The resurrection is a pivotal point for the entire Christian faith. Paul told the Corinthian church, "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith."

Thankfully, he then said, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead." And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how the resurrection provides the power we need to break through the barriers and live the Christian life.

Greg Laurie: In our last message, we talked about what the death of Jesus means for you. Now let's talk about what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means to you. Mark chapter 16, I'm reading verses 1 to 8. Saturday evening when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus' body. Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb. And on the way, they were asking each other, "Who's going to roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?"

But as they arrived, they looked up and saw the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside. And when they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side and they were shocked. And then the angel said, "Don't be afraid. You're looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn't here. He's risen from the dead. Look, this is where they laid his body. Now go tell the disciples and Peter that Jesus is going ahead of you into Galilee. You'll see him there, just as he told you before he died."

The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened. So, what the resurrection of Jesus means to you? Six practical truths on how the resurrection of Christ impacts you and me today. Here's number one: The resurrection of Jesus assures me I am accepted by God. Let me say that again: The resurrection of Jesus assures me that I am accepted by God.

Romans 4:25 says he was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Somewhere, I don't know how this happens, but people, even Christians sometimes, think that you must earn the favor of God. You must do certain things and then God will love you. But the opposite is the case. There's nothing you can do to earn the favor of God. And the fact is God loves you no matter what you do. Isn't that great to know? You're accepted by God. You're loved by God. Listen, God's not mad at you. God is mad about you.

Number two: The resurrection of Jesus assures me I have all the power I need to live the Christian life. Romans 8:11 says the spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by the same spirit living within you. So dear Christian friends, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. You know, sometimes people say, "I've tried to live the Christian life and I failed."

Okay, let me say something you might find surprising, even provocative. It's not hard to be a Christian. It's impossible without the help of the Spirit of God. So there has to come a moment where I say, "I can't do this. I can't live by what this book teaches. I can't resist those temptations in my own strength. I need a power greater than the power I personally have." And that's where the Holy Spirit comes in.

Jesus said, "Without me, you can do nothing," but then Paul writes, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Listen to this: there is no sin, there is no habit, there is no addiction, there is no vice that needs to hold you any longer. The resurrection of Jesus assures me I have all the power I need to live the Christian life. Number three: The resurrection of Jesus assures me that I too will live forever in heaven. It assures me that I too will live forever in heaven.

Listen to this: death died when Christ rose. Because Jesus rose, I too will rise. Because Jesus died, I will never die. Now you might say, "Greg, you're delusional and you're getting old by the way, so do you realize that you could die someday, maybe even soon?" I'm aware of that. I'm not denying the reality of death. But I'm also looking at it in another way. Because for the Christian, we never really die. Sure, body goes into the ground, but we live on because the real me is the soul that lives on.

And God will resurrect my body also. But death is not the end of the road, it's just a bend in the road. And when Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, he conquered death. 1 Corinthians 15:54 says, "When these perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die, the Scriptures will come true: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" Have you ever been stung by a bee?

I was walking on the beach with my wife not long ago and there are all these bees out there. I don't know why, I've never seen so many bees on the beach. And Kathy said, "Be careful of the bees." I said, "I'm not going to step on a bee." And right then, guess what happened? Of course, I stepped on a bee. It hurt and then my foot was sort of swollen. So, not something you want to do if you can avoid. It's interesting that death is compared to the sting of a bee.

I heard the story of a father who was traveling in his car with a son who was highly allergic to bee stings. In fact, if the little guy got stung, he could die as a result. So a bee somehow got in the car. And it was buzzing around and the little boy was panicking and screaming. And suddenly the father reached out his hand and closed it. And then he opened it again and the bee came out again and the boy said, "Daddy, Daddy, the bee is still out."

And the father said, "Son, don't worry, look." And the little boy realized that he had taken the stinger of the bee. And that's what Jesus did. He took the sting of death. He bore it in your place. The tomb is not an entrance to death, it's an entrance to life. And the moment we take our last breath on earth, we take our first breath in heaven. And because of the death and resurrection of Jesus from the dead, I don't have to be afraid of dying.

1 Corinthians 15:20 says, "Christ has been raised from the dead, and he has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again." And so this is the great hope that we have right now because that brings me to point number four: The resurrection of Jesus assures me that I will receive a new body just like his. Now there's some confusion about these new bodies. I read a stat not long ago that said two-thirds of Americans believe there will be a resurrection of the dead, but they also believe that they will not have bodies after the resurrection.

What do you think you're going to be, a ghost? Casper the friendly ghost? No, you're not going to be a disembodied spirit just floating around. You're going to be you. Because God is going to resurrect your body. God will resurrect the body of every person who has died in faith and you will be a radically upgraded version of yourself. Job said in Job 19:26, "In my flesh, I will see God. I myself will see him with my own eyes, I and not another."

And the example of the model of this, dare I use the word prototype, understand the context I'm using it in, is Jesus. Jesus died and he rose again from the dead. Was he still Jesus? Of course. Was there any connection between the risen Lord and the crucified Lord? Again, yes, because he still bore in his body the marks of the crucifixion. But remember, he would sit down with the disciples and eat food. I don't think he was translucent, you could see the food going down.

He was in a body, but he was in a resurrected body. And you and I will have a new body one day as well. Colossians 3:4 assures us with these words: "When Christ who is our life appears, you shall be like him." Number five: Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we will have resurrected relationships. Have you ever been talking with someone on the phone and suddenly they drop out, but you don't know they dropped out? So you're still telling them something, maybe something very important and there's silence and you're thinking, "They don't like what I'm saying," or "They're judging me," or "They hate me."

No, actually, you lost service right there. And so, you know what it's like to be cut off in a conversation. Seriously, though, if you're in a conversation with someone you love and then suddenly they're taken, they die, and you can't finish that conversation, how hard that is. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we're going to pick up where we last left off with loved ones who have preceded us to heaven. When Jesus rose again, there was a familiarity with him and the disciples, a connection to the past.

And so one day we will be reconnected with loved ones. And listen to this: it won't just happen at death. It will happen then. But there is a generation that will not see death. A generation that will not go to the grave. A generation that will be caught up in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, into the presence of God. Sometimes it's called the Rapture. We'll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

Here's a description of it in 1 Thessalonians 4:14 and in a number of other verses from that chapter: "Since we believe Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus comes, God will bring back with Jesus all the Christians who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout and the call of the archangel and the trumpet call of God. First, all of the Christians who have died will rise from their graves, and then we'll be caught together with them who are still alive and caught up into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever. So comfort and encourage each other with these words."

So one day it's possible we could be this generation. You're just walking around, going about your business, eating a burger, making a phone call, getting up in the morning, going to bed at night, whatever it is you're doing. And then just in a moment, you can't even measure it in time, you're in the presence of God and you're in the presence of your loved ones who have preceded you to heaven. It's a twinkling of an eye. By the way, that's not even the blinking of an eye. The word twinkling comes from the root word "atomos." It's from the root word "atom." It means something that cannot be divided.

Think about all that Jesus has done for you. Because he died and rose, there are so many blessings available to us. We're made acceptable to God. He gives us the power to live the Christian life. We know we'll go to heaven. We know we'll be reunited with loved ones. We know we'll have new bodies given to us. And this could happen at any moment. And there's one last thing, and this is number six, what the resurrection of Jesus means to you: Because Jesus died and rose again from the dead, we need to tell others.

We need to tell others. Go back to Mark 16:15 and then verse 20: "Then he told them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone. And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they had said by miraculous signs." Now, this is part of what we call the Great Commission here at the end of Mark's gospel. The other part of the Great Commission is found in the end of Matthew's gospel, chapter 28, where Jesus says, "Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teach these new disciples to obey the commandments I have given you."

There are two very important things to note here. Number one: they're a command. Listen, if you're a Christian, you are commanded by Jesus to go into all the world and preach the gospel. If you're a Christian, you are commanded by Jesus to go and make disciples. What does that mean? To preach the gospel means to verbally articulate the message of the gospel. And what is that? In a nutshell, here it is: God loves you. You're separated from God by your sin. Christ died for your sin and rose again from the dead.

If you'll turn from your sin and believe in him, you can know with certainty that you'll go to heaven when you die. I'm commanded by Christ to go into all the world and preach that message. But there's another part to it: and make disciples. What does it mean to make a disciple? It means to help them to get up on their feet spiritually. Jesus explains it: "Go and make disciples, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you."

When I became a Christian at the age of 17, this is 10 years ago—just kidding, you knew that, okay, a long time ago. I didn't really know what I'd done. I didn't understand what it meant to be a Christian. I didn't own a Bible. I'd never been to church for the most part, except when I was a little kid going with my grandparents. I didn't know what the next step was. No one offered me a new believers' Bible like we offer to folks that respond to the gospel. I didn't know.

But thank God, a guy named Mark just came up to me. And I'm in high school and he said, "Hey, I saw that you prayed and accepted Jesus the other day." Because I did it right there in the front lawn of my high school campus. And I was a bit resentful, I'm like, "Yeah, so?" He says, "Oh, well that's great and I'd like you to come to church with me." And my response was, "No thank you." "No, I want you to come to church with me," Mark said.

I said, "No, I don't want to go to church with you." He says, "Where do you live? I want to pick you up and take you to church." "I don't want to go to church." Next thing I know, I'm in Mark's car going to church with them. After that, he took me home to his family and they were all Christians and we'd sit around the dinner table and have a meal. And then they would talk to me about what the Bible said. He discipled me. He helped me get up on my feet spiritually.

You can do that for someone. Let me take it a step further: you must do that for someone. Because it's not only good for them, it's good for you. You see, they need you to stabilize them, and you need them to be energized. It's sort of like when you're around a bunch of kids, they can almost energize you for a while. Maybe a couple hours, and then it's good if they go home and you take a nap, right? But seriously, a new believer can energize you. Why?

Because as they discover for the first time the truths of God, you, in many ways, can rediscover them. Because sometimes we don't appreciate all that God has done. So I'm urging you to go into all the world and preach the gospel. So number one, they're a command. That's why we call it the Great Commission, not the Great Suggestion. Number two: these words were not directed to the original 12, but to everyone.

In other words, this is not just for the so-called professionals. "Oh well Greg, you're an evangelist, you do that," or maybe the pastor should do it, or the missionary. No, everyone should do it. Everyone should do it. The student should do it, the businessman should do it, the housewife should do it. No matter what you do or who you are, you're commanded to go into all of your world and make disciples. This is the Great Commission.

And what is the message we're proclaiming? It's the message of the gospel. And maybe you would like to believe the gospel right now. In other words, you would like Jesus Christ to come and live inside of you. One story I touched on in my message today, and it's really one of my favorite post-resurrection appearances of Christ, is when Jesus walked with those two disciples on the Emmaus Road. The thing is they didn't know it was Jesus. They thought he was a stranger.

But at the end of their journey, they realized they'd been talking to the risen Christ. And here's the part of the story I wanted to focus on: the Bible says Jesus acted as though he would keep on walking. And they said, "No, stay and have a meal with us." And the Bible says as they broke bread, suddenly they realized it was Jesus. Isn't that interesting? Jesus acted as though he would keep walking. Listen to this: Jesus will not force his way into any person's life.

If you don't want Christ in your life, you don't have to have him. But if you want him in your life, he wants to come in. He wants to save you from your sins. That's why he died on the cross. He wants to transform your life. He wants to give you the power over all addiction and vices and anything else that has a hold of you right now. He wants to give you the guaranteed assurance that you'll go to heaven. But you must ask him to stay, just like those two disciples did.

Jesus said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if any man will hear my voice and open the door, I will come in." Right now, Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart, of your life. And if you want him to come in, it can happen right here, right now. It's so simple it'll blow your mind. It's as simple as praying. The Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

So in a moment, I'm going to pray a prayer. And I'm going to ask any of you that are watching right now who are not sure if Jesus is living in your life, you're not certain that your sin is forgiven, you don't have the confidence that you'll go to heaven when you die. I want you to pray this prayer with me. You could pray it out loud if you like, you can pray it silently, but you pray this prayer and mean it and God will hear you. So if you want Christ to come into your life, pray this prayer right now. Just pray these words:

Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. But I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I ask you to come into my life right now and forgive me of all of my sin. I want to see you in heaven one day. Thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer with those making the decision to follow Jesus today. And if you've just prayed that prayer, well first of all we want to welcome you into God's family. And we'd like to help you as you begin to walk with the Lord. Let us send you Pastor Greg's New Believers' Bible. It'll help you get started off right. It has scores of special helps for those who are new to the faith, answers to common questions, and suggestions for getting grounded in the faith. Just ask for the New Believers' Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-hour phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org and click Know God.

Pastor Greg, we're so thankful for the work God is doing through this ministry. We are touching lives for eternity. And we're really thankful for our friends who see the fruit of this ministry and invest so this work can reach even further. Isn't that right?

Greg Laurie: Absolutely. When you invest in Harvest Ministries, you're investing in the souls of men and women, boys and girls. And what is the value of a soul? Well, let me personalize it. What's the value of your soul? What's the value of the soul of your husband, your wife, your son or your daughter? Or your mom or your dad? Or your best friend? Well, I would say you probably couldn't put a price tag on it. It's so valuable.

Well, listen, God says all souls are mine. God loves us and sent his Son to die on the cross to pay the price for all of our sin so we could be forgiven and come into a relationship with him. I can't think of a better investment of my resources, of my money, than in the work of the Kingdom of God. So we would ask you to prayerfully consider investing in Harvest Ministries as we continue on to fulfill the Great Commission.

Guest (Male): That's right and you can make your donation right now at harvest.org or call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24/7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Well, next time Pastor Greg takes some time to explore the Jesus movement of the late 60s and early 70s. It's the last great spiritual revival our country has seen, and it has seen several. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.