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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – The Person God Uses

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Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

—Colossians 3:23

When I was eighteen and a new believer, I quickly came to understand where the phrase starving artist came from. All I knew how to do was draw cartoons, so I was doing that as well as some freelance graphics on the side. I was trying to make ends meet, but most of all, I longed to be used by God. So I would hang around Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, waiting for an opportunity just to do something.

One day one of the pastors said to me, “Greg, I need you to do something for the church.” I said, “What is it?” Preach the gospel to the ends of the earth? Pray for the sick? I’m ready. Here am I, send me!

“We need you to buy a doorknob.”

“A doorknob?”

“Yes,” he said. “We need you to go to Sears and buy a new doorknob for the church door.”

It was a little job, but I was excited for the opportunity. I was on a mission from God to buy a doorknob. I went to Sears. There must have been three hundred kinds of doorknobs in every size, shape, and finish. I finally bought one and took it back to the church. I was so excited. (It turned out to be the wrong size . . . but I tried!)

Are you excited for any opportunity to serve the Lord, even if it’s a little one? The issue really isn’t big jobs or little jobs. It’s that you are doing it for the Lord. Is that fact alone enough for you? Is it enough that God would want to guide you and use you? If so, then you’re the kind of person He is looking for right now.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – Make it Count  

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Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. —1 Corinthians 10:31

I remember when, as a young Christian, I would sit in the pews at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa and listen to Senior Pastor Chuck Smith speak. I would think to myself, I wonder if God would ever use me? I wonder if the Lord would ever speak through me? Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that God would allow me to be a pastor and someone who has the privilege of proclaiming the gospel. It was beyond my own dreams, beyond my own aspirations, even.

If you are planning your future right now, if you are thinking about what course you want to follow in life, ask God for His direction. Say, “Lord, I want to be the person that You want me to be. I want to marry the person You want me to marry. I want to be in the center of Your will. I don’t want to go out there and blow it. Help me to do Your will.” God’s plans for you are better than anything you have ever planned for yourself.

God has given each of us certain abilities, talents, and resources. The question is, what are you doing with them? Are you seeking to use them for His glory? Are you offering your resources and future to Him?

I’m not saying that you have to be a pastor. But whatever you do, whether you are a doctor, an architect, a secretary, a computer programmer, a builder, a musician, or something else, you should want to serve the Lord and do it for the glory of God. That is what matters. Your life can be a testimony and a witness for Jesus.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

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Greg Laurie – Faithful in the Little Things

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If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. —Luke 16:10

When I was a young Christian attending Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, I would listen to Pastor Chuck Smith and some of the other pastors and think, That is what I want to do. I want to serve the Lord like that. I want to speak.

I had been a believer for about three or four months when I went to see Pastor Chuck one afternoon. I sat down in his office and said, “I’ve been listening to you speak. I want you to know that I want to be used by God. Whatever you want me to do around here, I would be happy to do it.”

I was kind of hoping he might say, “Greg, why don’t you teach for me Sunday morning?” or something like that. Instead, he suggested that I talk to Romaine, another pastor at Calvary Chapel. (Romaine was a former drill sergeant in the Marine Corps.) So I went to Romaine’s office and told him, “I want to be used by God.”

“You do?”

I said, “Yes, I do. I want to serve the Lord.”

“That’s great,” he said. “See that broom? See that tree? Start sweeping.”

There was a pepper tree on the church property, which I believed had only one function: to drop leaves. I would sweep under this tree, and one minute later, there would be two hundred more leaves. I would sweep it up. Two hundred more leaves. That was all I did for weeks, even months. I just swept that tree and did little things around the church. But that was good. They were testing my faithfulness. Do you want to be used by God? Then be faithful in the little things.

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Greg Laurie – Following His Lead

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A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps—Proverbs 16:9

When I first started out preaching, I wanted to be an evangelist more than anything else. I went to a Billy Graham Crusade and said, “Man, that is what I want to be when I grow up!” I never dreamed that I would preach in large stadiums, but I just felt that God had called me to bring the Good News to people. I didn’t feel called to be a Bible teacher; I just wanted to share the gospel.

For a couple of years, I traveled around with Christian bands and shared the gospel. And then this little Bible study opened up in Riverside, California, which no one else wanted to lead anymore. So it was passed around from various pastors, friends that I knew at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. Then they said, “Well, Greg, why don’t you do it?”

So I did. The Lord blessed that Bible study, and it started to grow. So I thought, I have to get someone to take over this Bible study, because I am called to be an evangelist. But it kept growing, and people started calling me Pastor Greg. I thought, I am not your pastor. I am 21 years old. I don’t think you really want me as your pastor.

Then I began to realize that God was calling me to be a pastor. But here was the problem. This church was in Riverside, and I lived in Orange County. I was born and raised in Orange County. I did not want to go to Riverside. That was inland. I wanted to stay at the beach. But the Lord was directing me, and so I went, and I continued to teach. The Bible study grew and grew and grew. Fast-forward a number of years, and it is a church of 15,000 people.

Sometimes God leads us in a different direction than where we want to go. But we must trust Him because He knows the way.