Greg Laurie Interviews Chuck Swindoll | Part 3

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Struggling to answer someone's questions about your faith? Pastor Greg Laurie recommends a great book to help.

Greg Laurie (0:06)

You know, I remember the first time that I shared my faith. I was so young, and I was challenged by an atheist. I did not have a clue as to what I should say. And I wish I'd had a copy of this book by Frank Turk and Norman Geiser, and the title of it is, I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. And we want to send you this book for your gift of any size.

SPEAKER_1 (0:27)

Available at harvest.org. Today on a special edition of A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie and Pastor Chuck Swindoll sit down for a rare, revealing conversation.

Greg Laurie (0:40)

Chuck, if you were to give one last sermon, what would your topic be?

Chuck Swindoll (0:44)

The grace of God.

Greg Laurie (0:46)

Yes.

Chuck Swindoll (0:46)

All you've got to do is come to Christ. And little by little, you'll see changes come that you don't deserve. Blessings come that you don't earn.

And He will bring in the grace like you've never had it before. Yeah.

SPEAKER_1 (1:22)

Wouldn't you love to sit down and talk with Pastor Greg Laurie for a while? Wouldn't you love to sit down for a conversation with Pastor Chuck Swindoll?

Well, turns out, they wanted to sit down and have a talk with each other. And we get to be in the room.

Glad you're along for a special edition of A New Beginning. It's the finale of Legends Week. We started the week hearing from World War II hero Louis Zamparini and Pastor Chuck Smith. Glad you're along for this encouraging final installment.

Chuck Swindoll (2:00)

Greg, what would you do differently if you had these 50 years to live over again?

Greg Laurie (2:06)

Well, I've never been asked that before.

Chuck Swindoll (2:10)

You don't have to be profound.

Greg Laurie (2:11)

I would hang out with you more. What would I do differently?

Chuck Swindoll (2:17)

Well, we'd have fun. I'll tell you that.

Greg Laurie (2:19)

Yeah, I don't really, you know, I don't want to say that I wouldn't do anything differently, but for the most part, I don't know that I would do anything.

Chuck Swindoll (2:29)

So you don't have many regrets?

Greg Laurie (2:32)

Well, yes, little. I mean, things here and there, but there's not any big thing in life, where I would say, I should have done this or I can't say I have any major regrets.

Chuck Swindoll (2:45)

Okay.

Greg Laurie (2:45)

That's probably not good.

Billy Graham once was asked, you know, what he would do differently. He said, I would preach half as much. I would spend more time praying, more time studying the word of God and telling the Lord how much I love them. Well, I could certainly say that.

Chuck Swindoll (3:01)

Sure.

Greg Laurie (3:02)

Should I have prayed more throughout my life? Yes.

Chuck Swindoll (3:05)

Yeah, everybody could say that.

Greg Laurie (3:06)

Have I worried too much at times? Absolutely yes. Have I been impulsive at times and run ahead of the Lord? Sure I have.

But by and large, I would say that I found the will of God and I've sought to walk in it. And so I can't say I would do anything differently for the most part. What about you?

Chuck Swindoll (3:33)

I would have said yes more often sooner than no.

Greg Laurie (3:41)

To what?

Chuck Swindoll (3:43)

Opportunities, open doors, stepping into something that I never dreamed I would do. I wouldn't be as reluctant.

I think that goes back to my very, very early years. I'm not trying to excuse it, but my brother was not reluctant. Man, he would take on, he went to the mission field 33 and a half years in Buenos Aires. And when you go down there, when I go down there, I'm known as Orville's brother. You know, and he just bore right into it.

I was a little too cautious sometimes. I was a little too strong with my children. I should have been quicker to say, yeah, that'd be fine. That'd be fine. Cynthia helped me with that. She said to me one day, you know, honey, you and I are both really cautious about our children. And for that reason, we started saying no right away to most things they want to do. We need to stop that. And I came across the whole idea of a yes face when I wrote my book on grace. And we need to develop a yes face.

And I think I probably frowned too much rather than gave my children a yes face. And told them, I would have probably told them earlier how proud I am of them, how pleased I am with them. I would have affirmed more and criticized less. Wow. I would have been more patient. Yeah. Why are we so impatient? It's just, our Lord is so patient with us, and we turn around and expect the next thing to perfection from others. Or so they failed at this. Okay. Did the world stop turning? You know, did the sun stop burning? I mean, life goes on. And I probably would have, earlier on in my marriage, brought Cynthia in to my life and made her more of a partner. Yeah. I learned how to do that after I about ruined our marriage. And she said to me one day, we were in New England in a ministry, and it was tough sledding. And she said, I don't want you to tell people we're partners anymore.