Life can be like tending a garden. What we water grows. If we spend all our time feeding worry, pleasure, and listening to the voice of our adversary, we shouldn’t be surprised when weeds take over. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us focus our attention carefully. The voices we listen to are like seeds. Some bring peace, others just bring pests. At some point, we’ve gotta ask: are we planting the right crop, or just giving the weeds a comfy home?

Listen on harvest.org

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A New Beginning is the daily half-hour program hosted by Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California. For over 30 years, Pastor Greg and Harvest Ministries have endeavored to know God and make Him known through media and large-scale evangelism. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners.

Support the show: https://harvest.org/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Even when your faith feels fragile, you don’t have to sink. When we look to Jesus rather than our feelings, we can be held steady—whether through loss, personal failure, or other sufferings where faith just seems impossible to hold on to.

Notes:

Focus verse - 1 John 1

#1 Faith can be shaken, but you don’t have to sink.

Faith can be shaken and feel fragile by painful events.

God did not give up on Elijah, Jonah, David, or Peter.
And He’s not giving up on you either.

#2 1 John was written to give assurance to believers.

“I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
so that you may know you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:13 (NLT)

We need truth. We need the word of God.

We’ll never be unshakable if we’re not rooted in God’s unchanging truth.

Bible promises:
God began a good work in you He will complete it.
God is the author and finisher of our faith.
Salvation is God’s work from beginning to end.

#1 God is light.
1 John 1:1–2:2

#2 God is love.
1 John 2:2:3–4:21

#3 God is life.
1 John 5

Read 1 John 1:1–4

John said that for three years they gazed, they stared, and they beheld Jesus.

#3 To have unshakable faith, you need to look to Jesus.

Jesus will sustain you and be with you.

#4 When you look to Jesus, your life will be filled with joy.

Sin promises joy—but it produces sorrow.

#3 When you find something wonderful, you want to share it.

The best kind of witness is the overflow of a Christ-filled life.

#4 The obstacle to joy is unconfessed sin.

Read 1 John 1:5–7

Real faith is proven by obedience.

“Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight.” Psalm 51:4 (NKJV)

If you fall into sin, you have no one to blame but yourself.
James 1:14–15

There is always a way out of temptation.

God’s light does not expose you to shame you. It exposes you to heal you.

#5 The way to be forgiven of your sin is to confess it.
1 John 1:8–10

Confession is saying, “God, You’re right and I’m wrong.”

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Hebrews 8:12 (NKJV)

You’ll find that His mercy is greater than your mess.
His grace is deeper than your guilt.

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Learn more about Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries at harvest.org.

This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners.

Support the show: https://harvest.org/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jon Erwin’s credits include I Can Only Imagine, Jesus Revolution, and—most recently—the hit show, House of David. He discusses the craft of filmmaking, the ever-changing methods of sharing the gospel, and why his art isn’t 100% biblical.

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Learn more about Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries at harvest.org.

This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners.

Support the show: https://harvest.org/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.