Exclusive: Greg Laurie makes distinction between believing and repenting
There are a lot of people running around today who are what I would call kind-of Christians.
I know that isn't a theologically correct term, because according to the Bible, either you are a Christian or you aren't.
But I'm referring to people whom we're not really sure about.
They're sort-of Christians or could-be Christians or almost Christians.
You may see some things in their lives that lead you to believe they might be followers of Jesus Christ.
They go to church and talk about God periodically.
Maybe they even pray before their meals.
Yet there are other things in their lives that seem to contradict what they say, and it makes you wonder where they really are spiritually.
I think a lot of people believe they are Christians when they probably aren't.
And one of the reasons for that is shallow and anemic preaching.
I'm afraid there may be a generation of people running around today who believe they really know God when they don't know him at all.
It's because they have been told to believe, but they never have been told to repent.
They have been promised the hope of Heaven, but they never have been warned about the reality of Hell.
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In fact, I question whether most Americans have ever heard the authentic Gospel message.
I know we've heard a lot of preaching and a lot of sermons. But have most Americans actually heard the Gospel? And do they have even a basic understanding of it?
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I read that seven out of 10 American adults have no clue what John 3:16 means, which says, "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (NLT).
And barely one-third of American adults know what "the Gospel" means.
A while back, David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group, wrote an interesting book called "unChristian," which identified behaviors that so-called believers share with nonbelievers.
When asked to identify their activities over the last 30 days, those who considered themselves born-again believers were just as likely to gamble, visit a pornographic website, take something that didn't belong to them, consult a medium or psychic, consume enough alcohol to be legally drunk, use an illegal drug, or lie about someone in retaliation.
I would suggest that these people are not Christians who are living outside the will of God, though that is a possibility.
I would suggest that these people are not Christians at all.
Here's what we don't need today.
We don't need anymore could-be Christians or maybe Christians or kind-of Christians.
We need no-doubt Christians, people whom we can look at and say, "There's no doubt about it.
That person knows the Lord."
So, how can we tell the difference between the no-doubt Christians and the could-be Christians?
There will be spiritual fruit, hard evidence. I think what many in the United States today consider to be Christianity wouldn't have qualified as conversion in the days of the New Testament.
That's because there has been no true repentance and commitment to Jesus Christ.
And what was considered normal as far as first-century Christianity was concerned would be considered radical by today's standards.
What are we to do, then?
Should we accommodate Scripture to our standards or conform ourselves to it?
Some would seek to accommodate Scripture or just ignore it altogether, trusting instead in their feelings or personal opinions.
I remember having a conversation with a young woman who was having an affair with a married man, but she professed to be a Christian.
So I asked her, "Do you believe the Bible is the Word of God?"
To my surprise, she said yes.
Then I explained why her choices were wrong and pointed out the Scripture passages that made this clear.
But she replied, "Well, that is your opinion.
I feel that it's OK for me to do." She didn't come back with any Bible verses to refute my point. She simply felt that what she was doing was OK.
However, our emotions can mislead us.
That's why we cannot base our decisions on whether something feels right or seems good. We must go to a higher authority, and that authority is the Word of God.
In the New Testament book of Acts, we find the story of two men, Peter and John, who had been radically impacted by their relationship with Jesus Christ. So, they went out and were telling as many people about him as possible.
This resulted in their arrest. And ultimately, they were brought before the religious leaders who made an important observation.
The Bible tells us that "when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13 NKJV).
In the same way, people need to see evidence in our lives that we have been with Jesus. Could that be said of us?
May God help us to be like those first-century believers who turned their world upside down.
As we go out into a world full of challenges, temptations, persecution, opportunities and all the rest, may God give us the same power of the Holy Spirit that came upon the first-century church so that we, too, can be bold in our faith.
It's a glorious thing when someone pays us the greatest compliment they possibly could by saying, "There is something special about you. There is something different about you. I want to know more about what you believe. Please tell me."
What we need today are people who walk and talk with Jesus Christ – people who, before they even speak a single word, have something different about them, people who, through their godly lifestyles, have earned the right to be heard.
What we need today are people who have evidence in their lives that they have been with Jesus.
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