Programs And Podcasts

Wood that’s been split and sawn, and sanded and shaped can make some fine furniture. But if our compassion should get the best of us and we didn’t want to see that wood face that stress, most of us would just have some chunks of tree sitting in our living rooms. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how the sanding and shaping in our lives helps us mature into the kind of people God wants us to be. Good encouragement coming today.

Join Greg Laurie for the Annual Jesus Revolution Baptism at Pirate's Cove on July 18.

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Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ.

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What if self-control isn’t mainly about saying no, but about keeping Christ at the center of what we desire?

Money has a way of revealing what our hearts are chasing. Our spending, saving, giving, and borrowing decisions often tell a deeper story about what we love, what we fear, and what we believe will satisfy us. That’s why biblical temperance is about far more than discipline or willpower.

In our continuing series on the cardinal virtues and how Christian character shapes the way we handle money, author and theologian Pierce Taylor Hibbs joined the show to help us consider temperance, or self-control. 

He is a Senior Writer at Westminster Theological Seminary and the author of The Book of Giving: How the God Who Gives Can Make Us Givers. Today, he reminds us that self-control is not merely a human achievement. It is a gift of the Spirit that helps us enjoy God’s gifts without letting them take God’s place.

When many people hear the word “self-control,” they think of willpower. They imagine discipline, restraint, or simply saying no to whatever they want in the moment.

But Scripture gives us a deeper picture.

Self-control is not merely a personality trait some people have and others lack. It is not gained by sheer determination. Instead, self-control is closely connected to the heart. A lack of self-control often reveals disordered desires—places where our hearts are chasing something other than God. The presence of self-control reveals a heart that is increasingly content in God and His promises.

That means temperance is not about rejecting every enjoyable thing in the world. It is about rightly ordering our loves. God must be first, and everything else must take its proper place beneath Him.

In other words, self-control is about keeping first things first.

That truth should encourage us. If self-control were only a matter of willpower, many of us would have little hope. We have all experienced the frustration of trying harder, setting new goals, making new rules, and still falling back into the same habits.

But Galatians 5 tells us that self-control is a fruit of the Spirit. It is something God produces in His people as we walk with Him.

That does not mean discipline is unimportant. Habits, boundaries, budgets, and accountability can all be helpful tools. But they are not the source of true self-control. The source is God Himself.

So when our desires are out of order, the first step is not merely to try harder. It is to turn to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to form in us what we cannot produce on our own. God has given us a new heart in Christ, and by His Spirit, He teaches us to desire what is good, lasting, and true.

Temperance may involve restriction because our desires can easily become disordered. But restriction is not the goal. The goal is joy rightly ordered under Christ.

A simple example is something like coffee or sugar. There is nothing wrong with enjoying either. They can be good gifts from God. But if our world were to fall apart without them, that might reveal something about the state of our hearts.

The problem is not that we

It’s been said the only certainty in life is death and taxes. In this program, Chip suggests that pain and difficulty are also an inevitable part of everyone’s journey. He’ll explain why we all experience heartbreak, disappointment, and hurt, and how we can learn to respond in the right way.

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What’s the secret to a strong family? Author and mom Jessica Smartt says it’s not perfection – it’s connection. Drawing from her book Come On Home, Jessica shares powerful and practical ways to build a lasting family legacy, navigate technology with wisdom, and create meaningful memories as a family. You’ll be encouraged to create a home where your kids feel safe, seen, and deeply loved. Because as Jessica reminds us, “Your family doesn’t have to be perfect to be strong.”
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I first learned about the United States Life-Saving Service years ago on a family vacation. We got to see a life-saving station that actually has been preserved at a strategic point along the Atlantic coastline. There used to be a lot of them. In some areas, they were like just seven miles apart, you know, along the coast. Each one was staffed by a seven-man crew. I’m going to tell you, these guys were ultimate heroes in every sense of the word! When a ship was in distress near their assigned area, they’d go out into the surf, out into the storm, even a hurricane to try to rescue the people on board. They lived their motto: “You have to go out. You don’t have to come back.” They saved countless lives who otherwise would have been lost.

But it was only recently that I learned how this heroism actually all began. William Newell was a medical doctor, and he was at the New Jersey Shore at a place called Barnegat the day after a ship had gone down during an overnight storm. He was at the beach and the bodies of 13 crewmen washed ashore. He said, “Here I was, a man who spent his life trying to save lives. And here was a situation where I was absolutely powerless to do anything to help them. Something’s got to be done about this.” Something was. A few years later, Dr. Newell was Congressman Newell; in a position to make a difference. So, he led the effort to birth the United States Life-Saving Service. It started with a few life-saving stations in New Jersey, and then it quickly spread all along the Atlantic Coast because of one man’s heart for those who were being lost.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Helping Others Live.”

One man looked at lives being lost and he said, “I cannot just let them die.” Jesus is like that. That’s why He went to an awful cross to rescue us from the otherwise inevitable eternal death penalty for our sins. And He’s looking for others who will have a heart like his; a heart that looks at people around you and says, “I can’t just let them die. I’ve got to do something about this.”

One of Jesus’ original rescuers, the Apostle Paul, expressed the heart that Jesus wants to plant in all of us in 2 Corinthians 5, beginning with verse 11. It’s our word for today from the Word of God. He said, “Since we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.”

Paul never wanted anyone he knew to have to face the awful judgment of God for their sin. He went on to say, “Christ’s love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all.” If Jesus could die to save them, can’t I at least tell them what He did for them? I can’t just let them die. Where I live, where I work, where I go to school, the groups I’m in - that’s my stretch of beach. I am His life-saving crew for the people there who don’t know Christ.

This isn’t about getting them to change their religion. It’s not about religion at all. It’s about the only One who died for their sins. There are a lot of religions. There’s only one Savior. There’s only one Rescuer. Your mission is to take them by the hand, walk with them up Skull Hill to that cross and say, “This was for you.”

The church you’re in, the ministry you’re in - is it committed as top priority to saving lives on the stretch of beach you’ve been assigned by God, or are you just feeding and comforting the life-saving crew? If your ministry, your church, your Bible study isn’t about rescuing those who will die otherwise, you might need a quick heart exam. Do you have the heart of your Savior? Because He said His reason for coming was to seek and rescue the lost. So you can’t say you’re following Jesus and not be reaching the lost. Because if you follow Him, that’s where He’s going.

An 1883 Life-Saving Service report to Congress displayed a photo of a life-saving crew and it asked this question, “Why would a group of ordinar

Join us as Pastor Jim Scudder defends Biblical Zionism and traces Israel's central role from Genesis to Revelation. This discussion will help us gain a better understanding of Israel's unique role in biblical history and prophecy, discover what Scripture reveals about Israel's future, and develop the discernment needed to navigate today's complex spiritual and geopolitical landscape.

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