The Secret to Sharing the Gospel Effectively - Part 1 of 2

Dave: Coming up today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie has an important word of encouragement about focusing on what's most important.
Greg Laurie: I don't know if I can remember a time in our nation when we've been more divided. I think sometimes we're allowing our political views to overshadow our theological views, and we find ourselves divided. We need to remember that our primary message is about God's kingdom, calling people to Christ.
Dave: Whether it's a small folk group or a large orchestra, beautiful music comes when everyone plays together in rhythm and harmony. If each is playing a different tune, they have a word for that: yuck. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out the importance of unity in our efforts to bring the gospel to our generation. In a time of division and disunity in the culture, it's more important than ever that we all come together in one accord, as the Bible puts it.
Greg Laurie: If you've ever had a new car, there's nothing like the smell of a new car. You're cruising down the road, everything is clean and shiny, and everything's working. Let's just say you got your new car and you're driving around. You're loving it, it's so fantastic. Then after about a week or so, your car just sputters and stops. You have to pull over to the side of the road. You have it trailered to the car dealership. You're pretty upset. You're saying, "Why did this car stop? It's brand new." And the dealer gets in your car and he turns it on and he says, "You're out of gas." How silly would that be? I bring this up because sometimes as Christians, we fail to realize that we need to be filled and refilled and refilled again with the Holy Spirit. We're looking at a church, the first-century church, the church that changed the world. This was something that they encountered on a regular basis. I think sometimes as Christians, we're sort of sputtering. We're slowing down, we're not firing on all cylinders. It's because we need fuel in the tank. But what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? When we hear that phrase, we imagine it must be an emotional experience. The fact is, it can be. When you say, "Lord, fill me with Your Holy Spirit," you may feel something. But then again, you may feel nothing. Do you have an emotional experience when you put gas in your car or your SUV? You may once you see how much money it's going to cost you. We have to set the emotional idea aside. Understand this first-century church, they were filled with the Spirit again and again and again, and it set them into motion. In fact, I think you could title the book of Acts "The Acts of the Holy Spirit." The Bible doesn't call this the Acts of the Apostles; it was titled later. Really, this is the work of the Holy Spirit. And when we bring up the Holy Spirit, some people wonder, "Who is the Holy Spirit?" I heard someone ask my wife the other day, and they're very new in the faith, "Who is the Holy Spirit?" Well, that's a good question. The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is a personality. He's not just a force. He has a distinct will and purpose. In fact, the Holy Spirit can be resisted, the Holy Spirit can be quenched, the Holy Spirit can be lied to, the Holy Spirit can be insulted, and the Holy Spirit can even be blasphemed. The only unforgivable sin in the Bible is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring us to Jesus Christ. That's point number one: He's come to bring us to Jesus. In John 16:8, Jesus says, speaking of the Spirit, "When He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." So if I blaspheme, it means I'm resisting the primary work He has come to do in my life. I'm saying no to Jesus. The only unforgivable sin is the rejection of Christ. Every other sin can be forgiven. The Holy Spirit comes to bring us to Jesus. Number two: the Holy Spirit seals us. So when you become a Christian, He seals you. What does this even mean? Over in Ephesians 1:13, it says, "When you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago. The Spirit is God's guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised long ago and that He purchased us to be His own people." Let's go back to that new car purchase. If you go down to the car lot, you say, "I like that car. I'd like to buy that car. Can you hold it for me for six months?" They're going to say, "No, we cannot do that because someone else may come and want to buy that car." But if you put a deposit down, we'll hold it for you for a certain amount of time, maybe 24 hours, maybe 48 hours. But we need a deposit showing that you really want to buy this car. So you put a serious deposit down on the car. In the same way, God says, "I'm serious about the work I'm doing in your life. To prove it, when you believe in Me, I'm giving you the Holy Spirit. It's My guarantee that I'll give you the inheritance I promised." Number three: the Holy Spirit assures me that I am a child of God. Have you ever doubted if you're really saved? Have you ever questioned if you're really going to heaven? Have you ever wondered if you really are God's child? If you put your faith in Christ, the Bible says God has sent His Spirit into your life to remind you that you belong to Him. In fact, we read over in Romans 8:16, "The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." I know I'm a Christian. I know I'm a child of God. You say, "Why? Because you're such a great person?" Yes. No, not really. On the contrary, the opposite of that, despite my shortcomings and my mistakes and my sins, I know I'm God's child because His Spirit confirms it in my heart. And you sense it as well, don't you? We're told over in 1 John 5:13, "These things we write to you that you may know that you have eternal life because you've believed on the name of the Son of God." So let's review: the Holy Spirit comes to bring us to Jesus. He seals us. The Holy Spirit reminds us we're God's children. Here's another one: the Holy Spirit teaches us. John 14:26, "The Helper," Jesus says, "the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and will bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you." Have you ever had a time where you're just reading the Bible and all of a sudden it just comes alive? A verse just jumps off the page and it speaks to you so directly. It's exactly what you needed to hear. Or has there been another occasion where maybe you're sharing your faith with someone or encouraging or ministering to someone, and suddenly a verse that you don't even remember memorizing jumps into your brain and you're quoting it perfectly and you're saying, "How did that happen?" That is the work of the Holy Spirit teaching you and bringing things to your remembrance. And also, the Holy Spirit leads us. Romans 8:14 says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." And I've found this leading is usually just a prompting, just a sense of direction. "I feel like I need to go talk to that person. Maybe I need to do this thing." Little promptings from the Holy Spirit that you will begin to sense as you mature in your faith. Finally, the Holy Spirit wants to empower you and fill you again and again and again. Ephesians 5 says, "Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord." That phrase "be filled" is a command. You're commanded to be filled with the Spirit. Secondly, it's something you should receive again and again. It speaks of a continuous flow of the Spirit into your life. So we need to be praying for this each and every day. We're in Acts 2, and we're reading about the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church. They spoke in new languages or tongues, and there were divided flames of fire on their head. Let me say this: this was a one-off event. It never happened like this again. People were filled with the Spirit again, but not in this particular way. So this was sort of the explosion of the engine, if you will, like when you start your car, that set the early church into motion. We don't need another Pentecost anymore than we need another Calvary. Jesus doesn't have to die again and again. He's done that; it's finished. And we don't need another Pentecost. What we need is to appropriate what was unleashed on the Day of Pentecost, for the power of the Spirit is still here for us today. For as Peter said to the believers there, "This promise," speaking of the Holy Spirit, "is to you, it's to your children, it's to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
Dave: Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We really enjoy hearing when people appreciate Pastor Greg's messages.
Guest (Male): I just wanted to let Greg know that he has inspired my life. I feel like he's an older brother and he's given me so much hope and love with the Word of Christ. I just retired as law enforcement after 41 years and thank you for everything you do in bringing the word of Christ to the lost and to the needy. Take care.
Dave: It's a blessing to know that listeners are hearing these messages and God is using His word to touch hearts. How have Pastor Greg's studies impacted your life? Would you let him know? Send an email to [email protected]. Well, Pastor Greg is about to lead us into an exciting part of our text today in Acts chapter 2. He continues.
Greg Laurie: So let's find out what happened, because after this outpouring of the Spirit took place, Simon Peter got up and preached a sermon and 3,000 people believed. That's a lot of people. Why? Why did so many respond? I think there's some principles in his message that we can employ in our own lives as we share the gospel. Let's read Acts 2:2-7. I'm reading, by the way, from the New Living Translation. "On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and they began speaking in other languages as the Spirit gave them this ability. At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. And when they heard the loud voice, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own language being spoken by the believers. And they were completely amazed and said, 'How can this be?'" So people from around the world are gathered in Jerusalem for the Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is poured out and everyone hears their language represented as people who don't know those languages are speaking in those languages and giving glory to God. This reminds us the gospel is for everyone on every continent. The gospel is not just for the white man, it's not just for the black man, it's not just for the Hispanic person or the Asian person. It's for every person in every continent and every language. It's for everybody. We read in the book of Revelation, chapter 7, verse 9, that there's going to be a great multitude in heaven that no one could number from all tribes, peoples, and languages. So the question is sometimes asked, "What about the person in the middle of the desert who has never heard the gospel?" Apparently, these people are going to hear the gospel because every language, every tribe, every culture, every race is represented in heaven. So what's the explanation? Some people say, "They're just drunk. Yeah, this is what drunk people do all the time, speaking in languages they've never heard before giving glory to God." Most of the time you can't even understand what a drunk is saying. What a ridiculous explanation. But it reminds us of 1 Corinthians 2:14: "People who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it, but for those who are spiritual, they understand what the Spirit means." So God is getting ready now to change the world with 120 people. What can we learn from them? Here's point number one, if you're taking notes: they were unified. They were unified. They were together. Verse 2: "On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place." These believers had no earthly power. They had no armies, they had no money, they had no status, they had no political power, but they had Jesus and Jesus had them and they were together. I don't know if I can remember a time in our nation when we've been more divided, and I would even say in the church, so many unnecessary divisions. And I think sometimes we're allowing our political views to overshadow our theological views. Some people are even picking churches according to if they represent them in every way politically, and we find ourselves divided. We need to remember that our primary message is about God's kingdom, calling people to Christ. It is the devil that wants to divide us because the devil knows that he can divide and conquer. And my response is, let's get together. Let's work together. Let's pray together. And that's what we do in the Harvest Crusade; we come together and we pray and we bring folks out to hear the gospel. We can disagree on secondary issues and still focus on what matters, which is the gospel. The Holy Spirit's poured out. I wonder, what if God was waiting for us to get together before He poured His Spirit out on us? What if He was waiting for that? "I'm going to do it, but you need to come together. You need to stop letting things divide you." 2 Chronicles 7:14 we often quote, God says, "If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways." Notice that's not addressed to an individual; it's addressed to a group. He's talking to us, not just to you or to me. It applies to us, of course, but He's saying, "Hey all of you, all y'all," as they say in the south, "all y'all, if you'll turn from your sins and get together and pray together, I'll hear from heaven and forgive your sin and heal your land." So here is this violent rushing wind. The word "suddenly" implies it was supernatural, and of course it was, this incredible move of the Holy Spirit. And they're filled with the Spirit and as I've already said, God wants to refill you again and again and again. As a matter of fact, after the Day of Pentecost, some of the apostles were told to stop preaching the gospel. So what did they do? They said, "Let's pray for even more boldness to preach the gospel." I love that attitude. And in Acts 4:31 we read, "After they prayed this prayer, the building where they were meeting shook and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they preached God's message with boldness." So God refilled them again, didn't He? Now, there's no better example of the difference that the Holy Spirit can make in a person's life than Simon Peter. Simon Peter, who openly denied his Lord. Simon Peter, who was more concerned about the opinions of some random stranger than what Christ Himself thought. Who gets up to deliver this sermon? Simon Peter. Where did he get this hutzpah? Where did he get this courage? Where did he get this boldness? He got it from being filled with the Holy Spirit. Remember Acts 1:8: "You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you to be witnesses unto Me." This is practical power. This is power with a purpose because it's not how high you can jump; it's how straight you walk when you hit the ground again. I think sometimes people want to go to church, they want to have an emotional encounter. That's okay in a way, but what I'm more interested in is how it impacts you. The holiest moment of the church service is when God's people walk out the doors and the impact we make in the world. That's where we'll see if this is making any difference in our lives. So let's look now at what Peter says. Acts chapter 2, verse 36. He gets up and says these words to the people gathered, "Everyone in Israel know for certain the Lord God has made this Jesus whom you crucified to be both Lord and Messiah." Peter's words pierced their hearts and they said to him and the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" Peter replied, "Everyone of you should repent of your sins and turn to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." This promise is to you, to your children, those who are far away, and to all who have called on the Lord our God. Then Peter continued preaching for a long time. I underlined that verse in my Bible: "He continued preaching for a long time." See, long sermons are good sometimes, people. But anyway, he continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all the listeners, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day, about 3,000 in all. Wow. 3,000 new believers. It's amazing. On one day, after one sermon. Why did Peter have such an amazing response to his message? He knew his audience or his congregation. He knew that some of the people he was speaking to literally played a role in the crucifixion of Jesus. Can you imagine? If maybe one of those Roman guards was there that pounded the spikes into the hands of Jesus. The religious leaders were there for sure listening in, very critical. And he points maybe a finger, "You crucified Him." Not speaking figuratively, he's saying, "You, I know you, I remember you, I was there, I saw you. You crucified Him." So it's very specific. He also quotes a lot of scripture. He quotes huge portions of the Old Testament, apparently from memory. So the fisherman had been busy. He had been reading and memorizing the Bible. It's not like he pulled out the scroll of Joel here. That's a big giant scroll. They didn't have Bibles like we have now. "Wait, let me open... someone help me open Joel." No, he just from his heart quoted scripture. See, that was his audience. They were people that knew scripture, they were Jewish people in Jerusalem for Pentecost, and he spoke to them in a way they would understand. Contrast that to Paul on Mars Hill, speaking to the people of Athens. We would describe that as a pagan culture; they didn't know the Lord, they didn't know scripture, they worshiped false gods. And so Paul spoke in a different way to them. And if we were to look at our country today, we're much more like Athens than we are like Jerusalem. We're in a post-Christian era. When I began preaching back in the 1800s, people were more biblically literate then. When I would say Adam and Eve, or Noah and his ark, or reference some story, they at least had a general sense of what that meant. Nowadays people don't even know the most basic Bible stories. That's why we have to really speak in a clear way to people today. So when you're sharing your faith, get to know the person you're speaking to.
Dave: Pastor Greg Laurie with great insight today from our studies of Acts chapter 2 and our need to unify and deliver the good news to a culture that needs it so desperately. And there's more to come from this message here on A New Beginning. Well, Pastor Greg, let's speak to someone listening today who sort of feels like they're on the outside looking in. They believe in God, they hope to go to heaven, but they're not completely sure they will, and they're not even sure how to be sure. They can be sure, can't they?
Greg Laurie: That's right. The Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So think of it this way: maybe you're out in a riptide in the ocean and you can't get your footing and you're in trouble and you see a lifeguard. Call out for help and the lifeguard will rescue you. The same is true spiritually. You're drowning in your sin, you need help. Jesus will save you, He will rescue you, but you must call out to Him. And you know how you do that? You do it in prayer. So let me just lead you in a simple prayer, and you can pray this prayer after me. You can pray it out loud if you like, and this is where you are calling out to Jesus to save you. Just pray this: Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. And I know You are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now, Lord, I turn from my sin and I put my faith in You. Be my Savior, my Lord, be my God and my friend. I choose to follow You from this moment forward. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Hey, if you just prayed that prayer, I want you to know that Christ Himself has come to live inside of you. And I have a resource I want to send you. It's called the New Believer's Bible. So the New Believer's Bible is the New Testament in the New Living Translation with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you are making to follow Christ. There's some other materials included as well in what we call the New Believer's Growth Pack, but let me get this New Believer's Bible into your hands as quickly as possible.
Dave: We'll be glad to send it all your way free of any charge if you've prayed along with Pastor Greg today. Just ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. You can reach us anytime, 24/7, at 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click "Know God."
Greg Laurie: We're so thankful for the work God is doing through this ministry. We're 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. 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.
Dave: That's right, and you can make your donation right now at harvest.org. Or write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24/7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Next time, we'll take a closer look at the message Peter preached in Acts 2 and identify seven principles for effective evangelism. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.