Tag Archives: laurie

Greg Laurie – Eternally Good

March 4, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia—Acts 16:6

God is wiser than I am, and what is immediately good actually may not be eternally good. And what is eternally good isn’t always immediately good, but painful.

Sometimes when God says no, we will say that God didn’t answer our prayer. But what we really mean is that we didn’t like the answer.

We say, “God, will You do this?” and God says no. So we conclude that God doesn’t love us. But God said no because He does love us. He has a different purpose in mind.

We find an example of this in Acts 16, where Paul was concerned for the churches in Asia Minor and wanted to revisit them to check on their progress. There was one small problem, however. God had a different plan. Although Paul made every attempt to go to Asia, God basically said no: “After [Paul and Silas] had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them” (verse 7).

The Spirit did not permit them. I am intrigued by that statement, because I wonder how the Holy Spirit conveyed that truth to them. Was it simply a lack of peace? Have you ever been heading into a situation where everything looked good outwardly, but in your heart you had a sense of doubt as to whether it was good? Whatever it was, you didn’t know if you really should be doing it.

And sometimes the way God says no is as simple as a door being closed. God has His timing. In the case of Paul and Silas, His timing wasn’t right for them to go where they wanted to go. God wanted them to go to a different place. And the same can be true of you as well.

Greg Laurie – Your Life Depends on It

March 2, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

The word disciple means “learner.” A disciple is a pupil, one who comes to be taught. But a disciple is not a passively interested listener. The idea of a disciple is that of someone who listens to one who possesses full knowledge, drinking in every word and marking every inflection of the voice, with an intense desire to apply what has been taught. A disciple really wants to learn.

I daydreamed my way through a good portion of my early education. But I have found that I will listen when something is important to me. I must admit that when I fly, I don’t listen all that closely to the flight attendants’ safety instructions at the beginning of the flight. I note where the emergency exits are and then go on with whatever I am doing. If the plane were going down, however, and I knew that I had twenty minutes before impact, you can be sure I would listen carefully to any safety announcement made at that time.

Why? Because my life would depend upon it.

Our spiritual lives depend on knowing the Bible.

A disciple is one who listens carefully and pays attention, because the most important thing is to know what God requires, what God desires, and what God wills. What is the best way to discover these things? We find the answers to all of these questions in the Word of God. For to obey God in anything, we must first know what He asks.

Greg Laurie – To Be Like Him

March 1, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

“For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”—Romans 8:29

God loves us, and He is always looking out for our eternal benefit. We are fond of quoting Romans 8:28, which says, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” But after verse 28 comes verse 29: “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

If we isolate verse 28, we may get the wrong idea and think that everything always has to turn out nicely. We might think that whatever happens, it will get better, and we can tie it all up with a nice little bow and say, “You see? This bad thing happened, and it turned into a good thing. And now. . . .”

That is true of a lot of things in life. But then there are things that are bad, and they stay bad. And they always will be bad. So even when what we are going through is difficult, the Bible says, “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

The ultimate good is not our temporal happiness. The ultimate good is that we are going to be like Jesus Christ. That is God’s objective. As the apostle John reminds us, “But he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”

So there are things in life that will make sense. And there are other things that won’t make sense. But just remember this: God loves you, and He is always looking out for your eternal benefit.

Greg Laurie – The Sovereignty of God

February 28, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Your regulations remain true to this day, for everything serves your plans—Psalm 119:91

Luke’s gospel tells the story of ten men with leprosy who were in need of a touch from Jesus. Leprosy was incurable. They asked Jesus for a healing, and He extended it to them. But out of the ten, only one returned to give Him thanks. We read that “One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, ‘Praise God!’ He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done . . .” (Luke 17:15).

Earlier he had prayed loudly for a healing, and then he was loud with his praise. I love the fact that the original language uses two words from which get our English word “megaphone.” The man was loud in thanking Jesus for what He had done for him.

As Christians, we should give thanks to God because we recognize that He is in control of all circumstances surrounding our lives. As Proverbs 16:9 reminds us, “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”

God is sovereign, which means that God is able to do what He pleases with whomever He chooses whenever He wishes. The prophet Jeremiah said, “I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course” (Jeremiah 10:23). And we read in Proverbs 20:24, “The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?” That is the sovereignty of God.

But what about when bad things happen? Is God still in control? Yes. And the Bible tells us that despite the bad things that happen, which many times are inexplicable, God can work all things together for good to those that love Him (see Romans 8:28). As the psalmist wrote, “Everything serves [His] plans” (119:91).

Greg Laurie – Real Faith

February 27, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God—Acts 14:21–22

If your faith cannot make it through adversity, then, with all respect, I would have to say that it isn’t real faith. The faith that cannot be tested is the faith that cannot be trusted. Real faith gets stronger through hardship, not weaker. It becomes more resilient; it doesn’t fall apart.

In Acts 14, we read that Paul and Barnabas encouraged the believers “to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God” (verse 22).

Notice that Paul and Barnabas encouraged them to continue in the faith—not in the feeling. Emotions come and go. There are times when you feel God’s presence, and then there are times when you don’t. So what do you do then? You press on, because “the just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). Whether we feel God’s presence today or we don’t, that is okay. We are to press on, because this is a walk of faith. Don’t worry about emotions. Don’t focus on emotions that fluctuate. Remember that God is with you, and one day you will join Him in glory.

A. B. Simpson wrote, “Once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord; once it was the feeling, now it is His Word. Once His gifts I wanted, now the Giver own; once I sought for healing, now Himself alone.”

When you are a young Christian, you want the blessing. But as you grow, you just want God. That is a mark of maturity. We need to continue in the faith when the skies are blue and also when they are filled with clouds. We must press on when our health is good and also when it is not what it used to be. Because we know in that final day it will all be worth it.

Greg Laurie – Staying Usable

February 26, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me—2 Corinthians 12: 9

Do you think having a vision of heaven might make you a little arrogant? Imagine sitting around with a group of people who were talking about where they went for vacation. We went to Hawaii. . . . We went to Tahiti. . . . We went to Italy. . . .

The apostle Paul could say, “I went to heaven.”

“No, no! Where did you go, Paul? Really.”

“Heaven—I went to heaven.”

“Yeah? What was it like?”

“I can’t really explain it. But it was better than where you went.”

So that Paul would not be filled with pride, God allowed adversity into his life to keep him humble and usable. Writing about this experience, Paul said,

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:8–10)

God may allow hardship in the life of a Christian. In Paul’s case, it was “a thorn in the flesh” (see 2 Corinthians 12:7). We don’t know what this thorn in the flesh was, exactly. Whatever it was, Paul asked the Lord to take it away three times, and three times He said, “My grace is all you need.” God allowed this hardship in Paul’s life to keep him usable in His kingdom. And he was very usable.

A Tangible Place – Greg Laurie

February 25, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell. That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses—2 Corinthians 12:3–5

Periodically books are written in which people claim to have had visions of heaven. But there is an instance of someone’s writing about heaven that we know is legitimate. The apostle Paul went there, and he wrote a few verses about it in 2 Corinthians 12.

Certainly a topic as exciting as this would have merited its own book, with a title and byline such as The Book of Heaven by the Apostle Paul. He could have told us all about it. But he didn’t.

That is not to say there are no descriptions of heaven in the Bible, because the apostle John spoke at great length about heaven in the book of Revelation and gave us descriptions of it that are a little bit difficult, quite frankly, to wrap our minds around.

But all Paul would say about heaven was, “I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell” (2 Corinthians 12:4).

The word “paradise” that Paul used here appears three times in the New Testament. The first time we see it is when Jesus spoke to the criminal on the cross next to Him and said, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Another time it is used is in Revelation 2:7, to describe our future dwelling place. It is sometimes translated as the royal garden of a king, which means there was no verbiage to really do justice to the meaning of the word. There was really nothing you could say to express it.

But here is the thing we need to know: Heaven is a tangible place, not a state of mind. The King James Bible uses the word heaven 582 times in 550 different places. Heaven is a real place.

An E-Mail from Heaven? – Greg Laurie

February 23, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Imagine that you were desperately hoping for a letter from someone special. You stand at the window, waiting for what seems like an eternity for the mail carrier to arrive. Finally, he drives up and puts something in your mailbox. You bolt outside and tear into your mail, looking for that precious letter. Maybe it’s from someone you love. Maybe it’s an answer to a job application.

Or imagine you are waiting for that e-mail response from someone you had contacted. You really needed to hear what they had to say. The moment it arrived you opened it.

But what if you had a handwritten note from God, directly to you? Would you carry it around in your pocket for a couple of weeks and open it when you got around to it? I doubt it. You’d probably tear it open as you’re thinking, Wow, God spoke to me! What does He have to say?

The Bible is a letter written by God to us. A lot of us carry it. But few of us ever read it.

One of the wonderful, supernatural aspects to reading God’s Word is the way it speaks so directly to specific circumstances in our lives. We may have read a portion of the Bible many times before, but suddenly the words leap off the page at us with fresh meaning and power.

No matter where you are in life, God has a personal message for you in the pages of the Bible. It’s waiting for you right now. Why not take a few minutes to see what He wants to say to you today?

The Subtle Attack – Greg Laurie

February 22, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall—Proverbs 16:18

What brought Adam and Eve down? We assume it was the attractiveness of the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But it wasn’t the fruit; it was what the fruit promised.

Satan told them, “God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). In other words, “Eve, listen. You will be a goddess. Adam, you will be a god. Come on, go for it.” And they did. The devil had appealed to their pride.

That is one of the devil’s subtle ways to strike: he attacks us through pride. Popularity can be more deadly than persecution. Christians start believing their own press and become inflated with pride.

First the devil comes to us and says, You are worthless. You are a piece of garbage. God would never use someone like you.

We reply, “Well, I don’t know. The Bible says that if I will confess my sin, God is faithful and just to forgive me my sins and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. And the Bible also says that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. So I think God will use me.”

Then the devil changes his whole mode of attack. Instead of trying to tear us down, he whispers in our ear, You are the awesome man of God (or the wonderful woman of virtue)! Everything you say is wonderful. You are so great! And we soak it up.

So if you have become filled with yourself and have started to believe you’re “all that,” then watch out. The Bible tells us that “pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).

For Righteousness’ Sake – Greg Laurie

February 21, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

—Matthew 5:10

The great preacher John Wesley was riding along on his horse one day when he realized that three days had passed, and he had not been persecuted in any way. Not a single brick had been thrown in his direction. He had not been hit by an egg. So he actually stopped his horse and said out loud, “Could it be that I am backslidden or I have sinned?” Slipping down from his horse, he knelt on one knee and asked the Lord to show him if there was anything wrong with him spiritually.

A man who disliked Wesley saw him kneeling in prayer, so he picked up a brick and threw it at him, barely missing the preacher. When Wesley saw the brick fly by, he said, “Thank you, Lord! I know I still have Your presence.”

No wonder he was such a powerful preacher.

Your very presence and belief in God bothers some people. Sometimes you don’t even have to say anything. You are like a bright light, shining in a dark place. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18). You will be treated the same way Jesus was.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). Sometimes persecution can show itself in a brick coming our way or in physical harm, even death. At other times, it can show itself in mockery or rejection or losing a job or friends. But if you are living a godly life, then you will face persecution.

From Worship to War – Greg Laurie

February 20, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Not finding them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the other believers instead and took them before the city council. “Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too.”—Acts 17:6

Wherever the apostle Paul went, something was happening. Usually it was either a conversion or a riot. But there seldom was a dull moment.

In Acts 14, we find Paul and Barnabas in Lystra, preaching to people who turned from worship to war. The Greek culture was filled with many gods. And there was a tradition in Lystra that the gods Zeus and Hermes once came to earth, incognito. When they arrived in Lystra, they asked for food and lodging, but everyone refused them. Finally, an old peasant took in these two gods, and all the inhospitable neighbors were drowned in a flood that was sent by the vengeful gods. The peasant and his wife were blessed by their gods, and their humble cottage was turned into a great temple. After their deaths, they were turned into two stately trees.

This was folklore, but the people believed it. So when Paul and Barnabas came along, and God was performing miracles through them, the people thought Zeus and Hermes had returned. So they began to worship them.

But their worship turned to war: “Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe” (Acts 14:19–20).

G. Campbell Morgan said, “Organized Christianity that fails to make a disturbance is dead.”

I think sometimes that instead of our turning the world upside down, the world is turning us upside down. Instead of us impacting our culture, our culture is impacting us. What we need more of today is a holy disturbance. And if we are not making a disturbance, then something isn’t right.

Gain through Pain – Greg Laurie

February 19, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow—James 1:2–3

I avoid pain at all costs. That is why I don’t run. I have tried running, and it hurts. People have told me, “Just run a little. Walk, and then run from here to there.” So I do it, and I hate it.

For me, the most ideal workout would be a pain-free one. I don’t want my muscles to be sore the next day. But as the expression goes, no pain, no gain. And what is true of working out is also true of life: no pain, no gain. If you are looking for a pain-free life, then you are not going to gain spiritually. You see, pain reminds us of a deeper need. Adversity teaches us eternal truths that we would not otherwise learn.

I experience a certain kind of pain every day. I don’t know if I would call it pain, but it is a hunger pang. From the moment I get up, I want to eat. And by 10:00, as lunchtime begins to roll around, I am basically hungry. So I wait, and I tell myself that lunch is coming. And that hunger pang reminds me of a deeper need.

When I have pain in my life, it reminds me of a deeper need, which is a need for God. And He will teach us lessons in those valleys that we would never learn on mountaintops: things we need to know and things we need to share with others.

Think about your life and about some of the greatest lessons you have learned. They have come through adversity, haven’t they? Those are the things you pass on and share with others. You remember those times when the Lord came through for you. And that is why we need to understand that God is in control of all these things.

Custom-Made Faith – Greg Laurie

February 18, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ

—Galatians 1:6–7

In the age of the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, our culture also has an iFaith. It’s a do-it-yourself divinity that has been customized for an individual’s needs. But this is not the faith that is given to us in Scripture.

I would classify this as another gospel, which the apostle Paul warned about in Galatians 1: “Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed” (verses 8–9).

Another variation of a false gospel would be one that promises that God wants us to be healthy and wealthy and always successful. I am not suggesting that I believe in the opposite of this. I don’t believe that God wants everyone to be sick and poor. But I do believe that God wants to be God. He will bless some people with certain resources, but He won’t bless others with the same resources. One person will have good health, while another will have poor health.

God’s bottom line is not to make us happy; it is to make us holy. The goal is not to make Jesus like us; it is to make us like Jesus. Being a Christian is knowing God and walking with Him, no matter what. It means having our faith intact when the sun is shining and the sky is blue as well as when the storm is raging and the journey is difficult.

Jesus made it clear that storms will come into every life. And when those storms come, it will become evident what kind of foundation we have built on.

More Important Than Food – Greg Laurie

February 16, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

If you want to learn about God and His ways, then learn to study this wonderful book God has given to us, the Bible. It is the user’s manual to life. It tells us what is right and wrong and what is good and evil. It tells us how to live, how to do business, how to have a successful marriage, and much, much more.

But most importantly, the Bible tells us how to know and walk with God. In fact, everything you need to know about God is found in the pages of the Bible. That is why Abraham Lincoln said of the Bible, “All of the good from the Savior is communicated through this Book. All things that are desirable to man are contained in it.”

Sadly, many people today own Bibles but seldom read them. As many as 93 percent of Americans own at least one Bible, but little more than half read it, and only 25 percent read it every day.

Yet success or failure in the Christian life is determined by how much the Bible you get into your heart and mind every day, and then by how completely you obey its instructions.

Think about that for a moment.

If you want to grow spiritually, then regular Bible reading must become a part of your life. It is essential. It is not something you will outgrow, any more than you will outgrow eating or breathing. When you begin to grasp the central place Scripture must command in your life, then you will start to appreciate Job’s words about it: “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).

Adversity and Humility – Greg Laurie

February 15, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

“So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant–when you have eaten and are full–then beware, lest you forget the Lord. . . .”

—Deuteronomy 6:10–12

In his book, The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

We talk about the problem of pain, but let’s talk about the problem of prosperity. Prosperity brings responsibility, because we are not owners; we are stewards. Everything God gives to us is a gift, and we will be held responsible for what we do with the resources that are at our disposal. Therefore, we want to make sure that we remain dependent on God.

When life gets really hard and adversity hits, we pray—and so we should. But sometimes when life is going reasonably well, we sort of forget about prayer. In Acts 12, we read that when James was beheaded and Peter was put in prison, the church prayed—and they prayed with desperation, because they knew that if God didn’t come through, there was no other hope.

The psalmist wrote, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word” (Psalm 119:67).

God gave this warning to Israel before they entered the Promised Land and began enjoying all its blessings: “When you have eaten and are full—then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Deuteronomy 6:11–12).

Adversity levels us and keeps us humble, while prosperity tends to make us proud and self-sufficient. We don’t think we need God when we’re in good health or have a wallet full of credit cards or a lot of money in the bank. But when an economy goes south or the doctor has bad news, we turn to God, because we are reminded of what really matters.

From Heaven’s Perspective – Greg Laurie

February 14, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God—Acts 14:21–22

I think when we get to heaven, we will see things differently. I think we will discover that the things we saw as good weren’t as good as we thought they were. And I think some things that we thought were bad actually will be seen in a new light.

We tend to think of prosperity and success always as good things. For some people they can be, if they are used for God’s glory. But quite honestly, for others, these things can be a great distraction and cause them to forget God.

In addition, we think of sickness or loss or failure as always bad. And they can be bad. Very bad. But they also can be good, because these things can cause a person to cling to God and to lean on the Lord like they never would have otherwise, if things had been better. So in reality, from heaven’s perspective, a so-called bad thing actually can be a good thing.

When his friend Lazarus was sick, Jesus delayed going to see him in Bethany. John 11:5–6 tells us, “So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days.”

Because Jesus loved them, He stayed where He was. Instead of running to them, as they hoped He would, He stayed away. Why? Jesus delayed His arrival so He could bring greater glory to His name.

Jesus allowed this for a greater good. And it all comes down to what the definition of good is. They wanted a healing, but Jesus wanted a resurrection.

I think the whys of our suffering will be revealed in time. But until that day, we need to know that through much tribulation, we will enter the kingdom of God.

God’s End Game – Greg Laurie

February 13, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us—Romans 5:3–5

Benjamin Disraeli, a former prime minister of Great Britain, once said, “Youth is a mistake, manhood a struggle, and old age a regret.”

There is no vacation from human suffering and tragedy. And a lot of people try to sort this out, understand it, and explain it. C. S. Lewis called it “the problem of pain.”

But there is a God who, despite the worst tragedy, can bring good out of bad. We acknowledge that life can be bad. We acknowledge that bad things can happen. We acknowledge that tragedies can come into the life a Christian. But we also acknowledge that God is sovereign, which means that He is in control. And we acknowledge that ultimately God can cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are the called according to His purpose (see Romans 8:28).

Yet some hold the view that because they are Christians, they won’t suffer. They may not state it outright, but they believe that bad things won’t happen to them. However, the reality is that we will face trouble, too. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

We may have a hard time putting the words “trials,” “problems,” and “God loves me” into one sentence, because they don’t seem to go together. But let’s take a look at God’s end game. Is it to make us happy in the temporal, or is it to make us holy in the eternal? Is it to keep us always earthbound, or is it, in reality, to prepare us for heaven? The latter is the answer. So God can allow tragedy. No tragedy is good. But God can bring good despite a tragedy.

The Reality of Godly Living – Greg Laurie

February 12, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour —1 Peter 5:8

The Christian life is the greatest life there is. God takes a life that was empty and aimless and headed to a certain judgment, and He turns it around and transforms it. He removes all of our sin. That is more than enough right there, but then He puts the righteousness of Jesus Christ into our spiritual bank account. That is called justification. He removes the guilt that haunted us, fills the emptiness inside of us, and literally takes residence in our hearts. This all comes as a result of the gospel, believed and followed. That is the good news.

The bad news is there are some new problems that come along with all of that. You get rid of an old set of problems and inherit new ones. As the great Bible commentator Ray Stedman said, “A Christian is one who is completely fearless, continually cheerful, and constantly in trouble.”

Once you become a Christian, you have a very aggressive adversary that has set his crosshairs on you. That adversary is the devil, Satan, and he wants to undermine you. He wants to bring you down. The Bible warns that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). That word “persecuted” means to be hunted, to be harassed.

So we need to be aware of that and not be surprised when we discover that the Christian life is not a playground; it is a battleground. I think a lot of people believe in a watered-down gospel, and thus they have a watered-down faith that, in reality, isn’t faith at all. They have heard so many sermonettes, they have turned into Christianettes.

If you live a godly life, the reality is that persecution will follow.

Misplaced Priorities – Greg Laurie

February 11, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers. —Philemon 1:23–24

Imagine what an honor it would have been to know you were mentioned in one of Paul’s epistles. In his letter to Philemon, the apostle wrote, “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers” (Philemon 1:23–24).

I think it would be tempting to bring up that little detail in conversation: Hi, my name is Aristarchus. You may have heard of me from one of Paul’s epistles. . . .

One of the people Paul mentioned was Demas, whose name appeared not only in one epistle, but two. The bad news is the second mention was about his apostasy. Something had happened to Demas in the time between Paul’s letter to Philemon and his second letter to Timothy, because we read, “For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica . . .” (2 Timothy 4:10). In other words, Hey, remember Demas? Yeah . . . well, he is not with me anymore. The reason? Demas “loved this present world.”

That is why the Bible says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:15–16).

There is nothing wrong with being blessed by God with things like a nice home or a good career. In fact, the Bible tells us that God “gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). But if those things have become the most important to you—more important than God Himself—then that is a problem, my friend.

Just Like Us! – Greg Laurie

February 9, 2013 broboinhawaii Leave a comment

We tend to put on pedestals the first-century believers and, in particular, the apostles.

We imagine them speaking in King James English, perfectly living out God’s commandments and boasting stained-glass lives.

Yet the biblical accounts of their lives give us no such illusions. If we had lived back then and met these men and women, the last thing we would have thought was, I think these people will change their world. They were common, salt-of-the-earth-type individuals.

They had calloused hands and few social graces. We would have considered them uneducated, with a limited knowledge of the world.

They had no money and undefined leadership structures. I doubt we would have bet too much on their future.

But something happens to a person when he witnesses the glory of Jesus. The sight has a way of changing one’s perspective. It certainly had a dramatic impact on these men and women.

One of the things I love about the Bible is that it’s a thoroughly honest book. When it describes those whom God used, it presents them with shortcomings and all. That is one of the reasons I so appreciate the Bible. It gives hope to people like me, who so often fall short. We think, If God can use someone like that, then maybe there is hope for me. And that is precisely the point. God recorded even the embarrassing and unsavory aspects of His dealings with His people, so we can understand that He wants to work through us despite our weakness.

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