Greg Laurie — The Ups and Downs and Ups of a World Changer
- Watch
- Audio
- Donate
- Become Partner
Okay, we're in two passages today, Second Samuel 11 and Psalm 32. Second Samuel 11 and Psalm 32. And the title of the message is, The Ups and Downs and Ups of a World Changer. Now as you may remember, this series is based in Hebrews chapter 11, which is a record of world changers. Great men and women of faith that impacted their culture. Ordinary people, people just like us. Now the character we're gonna look at in this message, well, everyone knew his story. And it's interesting 'cause in Hebrews 11 very little is said about him. In fact, his name is mentioned but everyone knew the story of this man I'm talking about, King David. King David. In battle he was fearless, in wisdom he ruled his kingdom without pear.
So it's not surprising to find him in the hero's hall of faith, because he really was a world changer. But David was like the perfectly balanced man, okay? He was masculine, he was tough as nails, he was a warrior, he was a poet, he was a musician, he had a tender heart toward God. He was really the greatest king in the history of the nation of Israel. And he also found himself in the Messianic line of Jesus Christ. And listen to this, God himself said of David, "He's a man after my own heart". Oh my, that's quite a compliment. To have the Lord himself say it. That's an interesting expression. I might see a guy chowing down on a burger and I'll say to my wife, "Now that's a man after my own heart". What do I mean when I say that? I mean that's what I'd like to do, that guy is like me. So the Lord is saying, "David, he's a man after my own heart".
Incredible. In fact, when our Lord walked this earth he identified himself as Jesus the Son of David. He could have just as easily said Jesus the son of the descendant of Abraham, or the son of Noah, or the son of Adam. But no, Christ identified himself as the Son of David because that was his lineage, he connected back to David. Having said all these nice things about him, I have to also say David was far from a perfect man. Far from perfect. In fact, two names come to mind when you think of David, it's David and Goliath and David and. Bathsheba. Yeah, you know. We all know. One was his greatest victory, the other his greatest defeat, and that sort of sums his life up.
So let's look now at the ups and the downs and the ups of a world changer. Let's look at the rise of David. He was the least expected man, or the most unexpected man I should say, to ascend to the throne of Israel. But here is what happened, God chose a guy named King Saul, maybe I should say the people chose him. He was the people's choice. They liked Saul. Saul had a chiseled face, he had great height, he stood taller than everybody else, he was sort of charismatic and he looked like he would be a good king at first but it wasn't long until he was filled with pride and was blatantly disobeying God. And the Lord warned him and Saul kept disobeying. And finally the Lord said, "You're done, I'm gonna replace you". So the Lord directed the prophet Samuel to go to the city of Bethlehem because there in this little city was a man named Jesse that had some sons and the Lord said to Samuel, "One of his sons is the next king of Israel. I'll tell you who when you get there".
So Samuel shows up in town, everybody turns out. They didn't have internet or television, this was a big thing. A prophet's in town. So they're all there watching him, and there is Jesse with his seven incredible sons. The magnificent seven right there. So Samuel's figuring, "Okay, it's one of these boys". And he looks at each one and the Lord said, "It's not him. It's not him. It's not him". And then finally Samuel stops in from of Eliab, the tallest of the sons of Jesse, who probably reminded him of Saul, and Samuel thought, "This is surely the one". And the Lord said, "Will you stop judging according to outward appearance? I look on the heart, he is not the one". So after he's done looking at all of the sons Samuel says, "The Lord hasn't chosen any of these sons, do you have any other sons"? "Yeah", says Jesse, "one other, but he's a little weird. He hangs out in the field, he watches his little flock of sheep. He's a musician, that explains a lot. He sings songs about God". "Well, bring him in here". The prophet demands.
So in comes David, reddish hair color, probably freckles on his face, full of vim and vigor. I don't even know what vim and vigor are, but I'm sure he got it. And the Lord says, "That's my boy". And so right there on the spot Samuel pours oil on David's head symbolizing this is the next king of Israel. The people watching probably thought that Samuel was going senile. "Are you kidding me, him? And not Eliab or one of the other sons, you're choosing David, of all people"? But it shows that God sees things differently than we do. And that brings me to my first point about being a world changer, God uses ordinary people to change the world. If you're taking notes, there it is. Number one, God uses ordinary people to change from the world. Contrast David with Saul. Saul was loved by his parents, stable home. David was forgotten and ignored by his parents, he was the polar opposite of Saul.
Saul stood head and shoulders above everybody else, there was even a song about Saul on Israeli radio. I discovered it recently. It went like this.
♫ No one slick as King Saul ♫
♫ No one's quick as King Saul ♫
♫ No one's neck is incredibly thick as King Saul ♫
No, that's Gaston. I'm confused, sorry. Beauty and the Beast, get it? Okay, forget it. But that was him. That was the very guy he was. And in contrast, David was just an ordinary shepherd boy, but chosen by God. Why do you think God seems to go out of his way to choose, well, the most unqualified people? It's a very simple answer, so he'll get the glory. See, God isn't looking for talented people or gifted people or handsome people. I'm not saying he won't use those people, but I'm saying God is looking for available. And God can do a lot with a little and God can do extraordinary things through very ordinary people, people just like you. So that was David. And why does the Lord do it this way? First Corinthians 1:26 gives the answer. It says, "Remember brothers and sisters, very few of you are wise in the world's eyes, but God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those that think they are wise".
Listen, you have nothing to say about what family you were born into. You have nothing to say about the circumstances you're facing right now. You have nothing to say about the hand that you have been dealt in life, but you have a lot to say about how you will react and what you will live for. See, you can't control your circumstances. I've tried, it doesn't work. But I can control my reaction to the circumstances. I'm the one who decides if I'll honor God or if I'll be angry with God. I'm the one who'd decides if I'll be better or bitter. And David said, "You know what? My family doesn't care much about me, my Dad won't even acknowledge me, but I'm gonna honor God". And that brings me to point number two, world changers are focused on what really matters in life. World changers are focused on what really matters in life. For a real insight into who David was, just read the Psalms. Understand Psalms were songs, okay? So think of David as a singer songwriter, alright? Walking around with his guitar, harmonica, Bob Dylan style, whatever. Whatever person you want to insert there that you would think is a good singer songwriter, and he wrote songs about God. In fact, he would express his love for God. Psalm 34 he says, "I'll bless the Lord at all times, his praise will continually be in my mouth". And he was focused, he wrote in Psalm 57, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed". Which meant that he had fixed his heart on God or he knew where he was going, he knew what was most important, he put the Lord first in his life.
Do you remember that film that was out in the 90's called City Slickers? Anybody remember that film? Billy Crystal was in it. He played a character named Mitch who was looking for meaning and purpose in his life, having some fiction in his marriage. So he goes to a dude ranch and he's herding cattle. And there while he's doing that he meets a living, breathing cowboy named Curly, very effectively played by Jack Palance. And Curly is as tough as nails, and they're out riding one day and Curly's up there on his horse and his cowboy hat on, and Billy Crystal's on this smaller horse with a little baseball cap on. And then Curly turns to Billy's character and he says, "Do you want to know what the secret of life is"? And Billy's character looks, "Yes". And then Curly does this. And then Billy says, "You're finger"? "No". He says, "It's just one thing, just one thing". And Billy's character says, "One thing, what's the one thing"? And then Curly says, "That's what you have to find out". But I thought Curly was on to something, wasn't he? It is just one thing, and David knew what that one thing was, and he wrote about it in Psalm 27:4. He said, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life". He had that one thing going and he knew what really mattered in life.
Point number three, world changers are faithful in little things, so God gives them bigger things. World changers are faithful in little things so God gives them big things. Okay, so what was David's responsibility? Watching this flock of sheep. I mean, think about this. You're David, you're out in the field tending your flock. You're called in, you meet the prophet Samuel, he pours oil on your head, he says you're the next king of Israel, now your brothers hate you even more than they did before, and then you just go back to your flock of sheep. No crown was given to him, no stretch chariot with secret service protection was waiting. Just everything back to normal. So David's like, "Go back, watch the sheep". And he was a good shepherd. And I think as he'd watch those sheep, that's where a lot of his psalms would come from. I'm sure watching them one day, just thinking about how dependent they were on him, how stupid sheep were, how he needed to take them to the streams to get them to drink. He thought, "You know what? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters, he restores my soul. He anoints my head with oil".
He's thinking about these things watching the sheep. And I'll tell you what, any predator comes along, that predator's going down fast. David would take it out, he was very adept with that sling and that stone, and he would kill bears and lions, and he was faithful. So one day his dad says, "Son, I want you to go visit your brothers, they're out there in the military, on the front lines facing off with the Philistines". The father says, "Take some bread and cheese to you brothers". So effectively David is making a pizza delivery. What is pizza? It's bread and cheese. Very artfully done, I might add. Throw in a little pepperoni, it's even better. But really, he's delivering pizza. So he shows up and his brothers see him and Eliab, his older brother, who's still ticked off that he wasn't anointed king says, "Oh, have you left your little flock of sheep to come see what the big boys are doing"? And David's looking around going, "Who's that guy down there"?
And there down in the valley of Elah was this oversized man, nine feet six inches of solid muscle, covered in body armor with a massive sword asking for someone to come fight him. Saying, "Come fight me and if I lose we'll serve you, but if you lose you'll serve us". And everyone was terrified, including David's brother Eliab, including King Saul. David says, "I'll take him on". "You and what army"? "Oh, me and the Lord. 'Cause I'm looking at that giant in the light of God, I'm not looking at God in the light of that giant". And you know I talked about this in my message Facing Your Giants in this series, so we'll just kind of fast forward through it. And you know what happened, David picked up that stone, he got it slinging around, and he got the momentum and let it fly and it hit the giant in the forehead and Goliath came crashing to the ground. That was the rise of David, now the fall of David.
Second Samuel 11. "The following spring, the time of the year when kings go to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to destroy the Ammonites, and in the process they laid siege to the city of Rabbah. David stayed behind in Jerusalem. Late one afternoon David got out of bed after taking a nap and went for a stroll on the roof of his palace. He looked over that city and he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. He sent someone to find out who she was and he was told, She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Then David sent for her, and when she came to the palace he slept with her, then she returned home. And when Bathsheba discovered she was pregnant she sent a message to inform David". I'll stop there.
David was around 50 at this point. He had been ruling Israel for 20 years, he had gone from victory to victory. He had distinguished himself in so many ways, man of God, skilled musician, gifted poet writing psalms of praise, a wise and compassionate ruler, and a man of great courage. He was on an absolute roll, and that's when the devil hit him. Hey, know this, when things are going really well, that's usually when the devil hits. See, when you're going through crisis you're dependent upon God.
There's a family in our church, they have a little son named Braden, he's 11 years old. Bill and Tara are the parent's names, and this little boy has leukemia. And I went and saw him just the other day and had prayer with him. And he's doing very well in this fight against leukemia. And I'm gonna ask you all to remember Braden in your prayers, that God would completely heal this little guy. But he has so much faith. He even encouraged his parents at one point, saying, "Mom and Dad, don't worry, the Lord is with me". And I thought, 11 years old. But I think when you're facing a crisis you are hanging on to God and he gives you the strength you need when you need it.
So those parents, they're hanging on to the Lord. And I said to them, "Bill and Tara, I know this is so hard and I'm so sorry you're going through this, and I know you would gladly in a heartbeat take the pain and sickness of your son upon yourself if you could, but you can't. But listen, there's someone who's already done it, and his name is Jesus Christ". But I added, "But here is one thing that is good that comes despite this horrible thing you're going through, and that is you're hanging on to God". See, when you're going through crisis you're hanging on to God. 'Cause if God doesn't come through you're dead in the water. But God always comes through, but here's the problem. When there is no illness, when there are no unpaid bills, when there is not a crisis you're facing, sometimes we're not hanging to the Lord as tightly as we were before. See, you're in a hardship and you think this is bad, maybe this is one of the best times of your life because you've never been closer to Christ. Think about it that way.
So when David was facing a giant he was trusting in the Lord. When David was running through Saul who was hunting him down like wild dog, he was calling out to God. And when he was anointed as the King and ascended to the throne he prayed for God's help. But 20 years have gone by and things have gone well and David's kind of kicking back and taking sort of a spiritual vacation from God. Which never works. So the devil gets him. When will the devil hit us? When we are the most vulnerable. But let me point out, David had set himself up for this particular attack. Because Second Samuel five tells us in direct disobedience to God David took concubines after he became king. Now if you're young and you don't know what that is, ask your parents later. In Deuteronomy 17 the king was told never do this. Never take concubines. Why? Because the Lord said, "Because your heart will turn away".
And that's what was happening to David, his heart was slowly but surely turning away from God. He had lost sight of that one thing, now it was too many things, and most of those were the wrong things and he was being consumed by lust. Listen, God gave you a sexual desire. He created sex, I think we know this, right? And he wants to bless sex, and he will bless it in the safety of a marriage relationship, you see? And the scripture even says, "Drink water from your own well and be satisfied with the wife of your youth or the husband of your youth". Be faithful to your partner, live in a monogamous relationship, the Lord will bless. But David was filling his mind with lust. And so when you do that it's just gonna get worse. Listen, you don't feed lust, you starve it. And David had been feeding his lust with all these concubines. And one thing was leading to another. And so one warm spring night when the soldiers went to war David went to bed. He was in bed when he should have been in battle. He was staying up late, sleeping in, and being physically and spiritually lazy. And now the attack comes, he sees the beautiful Bathsheba bathing herself.
And by the way, when the Bible says something, that a man was strong, that a woman was beautiful, the Bible does not exaggerate. This means that Bathsheba was incredibly attractive. Actually the word used for her here, beautiful, translated beautiful, it's from the Hebrew word, babedo foxedo. You probably never heard that Hebrew word. Babedo foxedo, she was a babe, she was a fox. Okay, I made all that up. Okay, I think she was a babe, I think she was a fox, but there's no word that babedo foxedo. But you can use that name to name your child if you want. Maybe your dog, I'm not sure. You know what? Name a cat that. It could be a good punishment for them. So he couldn't have avoided the first fluke, I mean, there it is, boom. Okay. Walking around, kicking back, filled with lust. There is the beautiful Bathsheba.
It's usually not the first look that gets us into trouble, it's the second look, right? You know what I'm talking about? You look, you go, "Huh". Right? David's first look was probably a really long one, drinking it in, oh my. Okay now look, he should have just, "Lord, I wish I hadn't seen her. She is beautiful, but just give me strength right now. I'm gonna go write a new psalm or something. Take a cold shower and stop looking in that direction. Maybe put a wall up there, I don't know what". No, but he immediately acts on it. "Who is that woman"? So one of his servants comes up, verse three, "She is Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite". Man, you got to give this servant credit, he knew exactly what was going on with David.
You know what, here's an interesting thing to consider, sometimes other people have a better sense of what we're doing than we have. See, this servant knew David. He knew David was a womanizer. And he knew what David saw. "Uh, excuse me sire, she is the wife of Uriah the Hittite". In other words, "she's married and you're married, so forget about it". "Yeah whatever, bring her up here right now". He gave the order. God was putting a roadblock in David's life to not sin. And God puts roadblocks up in our life. Have you ever noticed when you try to do something wrong, God doesn't make it easy for you, he makes it hard. That's why I think it's so ridiculous when someone says, "I just fell into adultery". Really, just like that? Kind of like tripping over a rock. "Whoops, sorry, I'm in adultery. How did this happen? How did I end up in the bed of another person? How did this happen"? Did you fall into the hotel room or wherever? Give me a break, you didn't fall into anything. You planned it, you plotted for it, and you executed it, and then you've lied to cover it up over and over again. You don't just fall into it, you got to jump through a lot of hoops to end up in this situation, and David did. And now he's in a mess of a situation.
But okay, don't do it, he does it. Roadblock number one, he goes for it. And now of course, Bathsheba lets him know that she's pregnant, roadblock number two. Now you've already done it, repent. Maybe tell Uriah what you've done, confess to Bathsheba, maybe the kingdom, you know? But he didn't do that. He didn't call the press corps of Israel and say, "I didn't have sex with that woman". That's the wrong story, I got confused. How many of you know who I was referencing? How many of you don't even know what that meant? Ask someone later, the same one who'll explain concubines will explain that. By the way, there's a connection. Okay, so. He wasn't coming clean. Instead of just saying, "Alright Lord, I sinned, I'm sorry". No, he has an idea. "I know what I'll do, I'll bring Uriah back from the battle, he'll go spend the night with his wife and he'll think it's his kid, not mine. So he gives the order. "Bring Uriah back".
Uriah comes back, he's sent to his home, but he's such a courageous guy he can't bear the thought of having this wonderful luxury of being with his wife while his fellow soldiers are still in the front lines of the battle, so he sleeps outside of his house the first night. David thinks, "Oh great, I have some do gooder". He gets him drunk, sends him home, still Uriah will not sleep with his wife. Another road block, but David won't give up. He says to his general, "Send a charge against the enemy and have everyone fall back and leave Uriah by himself". Which happens and Uriah is killed in battle. The word comes back, Uriah's dead. "Yes. Okay, I'm gonna marry Bathsheba and no one will never know". Ah, the Lord knew. And the Bible tells us that our sin will find us out. And we read here that this thing that he had done displeased the Lord. Second Samuel 11:27.
Okay man, David is messing up so bad. You're saying, "Wait, he's a world changer? This is horrible". I know. But you know, here is why he was still a man after God's heart. Despite this, here is why. 'Cause he was miserable and he did repent. Should have done it sooner, but he did repent. See, a person who really isn't a man or a woman of God will live in sin without guilt and they won't repent. A person who is really a man or woman of God will live in guilt when they're sinning and they will eventually get right with God. And that's who David was, he was still the man after the heart of God. Now it's time for his comeback. We've seen his rise, his fall, now the comeback of a world changer. Go to Psalm 32. I had you turn there as well. Psalm 32. And he wrote this in the aftermath of being confronted by God. And he says "Oh, what joy for those who's rebellion is forgiven, who's sin is put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those who record the Lord has cleared of sin, who's lives are in complete honesty. When I refused to confess my sin I was weak and miserable and groaned all day long, day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me, my heavy evaporated like water in the summer heat. Selah".
By the way, the word Selah means pause and think about it. So if this were a song it would be like an instrumental break. And the point of the Selah or the musical interlude was to contemplate what had just been said. So David's saying, "Think about this, ponder it, this is how miserable I was. Selah. Finally I confessed my sins to the Lord, I stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, I'll confess my rebellion to the Lord, and you forgave me and all my guilt is gone". Psalm 32 describes the futility and misery of sin that is unconfessed. For 12 months David fought the conviction of the Holy Spirit. He was not experiencing God's presence as he had before. Was he still in a relationship with God? Yes. Was he in fellowship with God? No. When your child disobeys you and disappoints you are they still your child? Yes, they are. Are they in a good relationship with you at the moment? Probably not, and that's where David was at. But when he was confronted he repented.
And you know what's interesting? How the Lord dispatches a prophet, this time it's the prophet Nathan. And the Lord waited until David was ready to come clean. So Nathan wants an appointment, he gets one immediately. That's what happens when you're a prophet. Shows up and says, "Sire, I have a story to tell you, something going on in the kingdom you need to be aware of". "Okay, speak on". "Alright, there's this guy, he's very poor, he has one little baby lamb. He loves the lamb, the lamb eats off his plate, it sits at the table, it's like a family pet. He loves this lamb like a daughter. Anyway, there's this other guy, he's really rich, he has a bunch of sheep, a bunch of cattle. So this other guy, he has a friend come into town to visit him who wants to have dinner. And so instead of slaying one of his many sheep, he kills the guy's lamb who has one little baby lamb. What should be done to a man that would do that"?
David's blood is beginning to boil, he's gripping his throne and he says, "He should restore four times what he's taken and he should be put to death". Kind of overkill. I mean it's bad, but death? "Put him to death". Nathan points his finger in David's face and says, "You are the man. You the man". "You the man, man. I just described you, that didn't even happen. You're like the guy who had the many sheep and the many cattle, and you took Uriah's wife and then you had him killed". So now David has sinned and he's committed adultery and he's effectively committed murder. But then I love what happens there, it says that David repented of his sin. That's why he was a man after God's own heart, he repented of his sin. Okay so, the prophet said, "The sword will never depart from your house". God forgave David, but he still faced repercussions for his sins.
So know this, if I go out and rob a bank this afternoon, you read about it in your Twitter feed. "Pastor Greg robs bank". I won't be preaching the next Sunday. Now if I repent of my sin will God forgive me? Yes, but I'm going to jail and probably to prison, alright? So if you go out and you committed a sin, I'm not gonna rob a bank, I promise. But if you go out and commit a sin and you say, "God, forgive me". He will forgive you. You'll be restored to immediate fellowship with him again, but you could still face some of the repercussions of your sin. In David's case he saw it played out in the lives of his children. His sons and daughters behaved badly, they rebelled against him and they did some of the very things that he himself did. So he lost a lot of moral authority there. But having said that, he was forgiven by God and he made his way into the Messianic line, he got himself in the Christmas story.
Okay, let's test your Bible knowledge. Where was Jesus born? Bethlehem. Very good. Bethlehem, why was Jesus born in Bethlehem? Because that's where David lived. And Christ was from the root and offspring of David, you see? Both through Mary and Joseph, so our Lord was born there in Bethlehem because this is the hometown of David. So David's in the most exclusive genealogy in human history. And guess who else made it into that genealogy? Bathsheba. What? How did she get in there? Well, that's called the grace of God, isn't it? How did I get in there? "How did I get my sin forgiven? God's grace was extended to me". I didn't deserve it, you didn't derserve it, but the Lord gave it to us freely. And for that we say, "Lord, thank you". It's an amazing thing. So God gives second chances. Yeah, David fell. He fell big, but he came back and he came back strong. And that's what we want to do, we want to admit our sin to God.
See, here is the problem, we have ups and downs in our life. I've called this message The Ups and Downs of a World Changer. The Christian life should not be up and down, the Christian life should be in and out. I know some of the guys are thinking, "Mm, In-N-Out Burger". No. I don't mean In-N-Out Burger. It should be in and out, not up and down. You meet some Christians, they're up one day, "Oh, the Lord's so good". Next day, "I don't even know if there's a God". Next day, "I'm in great, serving God". Next day is, "I don't". Come on, stop it. It's not up and down, it's in and out. You see, what do you mean in and out? In for worship, out for service. Jesus said in John 10, "I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved, they'll come in and go out and find pasture". So we're in for worship, here we are today, we're getting refueled, we're getting fed, we're getting perspective, we're worshiping, we're serving, we're giving. That's coming in, now we go out.
Listen, the holiest moment of this church service is when you walk out those doors and you go out into that world to be a world changer. And the only way you're gonna be a world changer is if your world is changed first. And I wonder if there is some of you here today who don't even have a relationship with God yet. I mentioned that statement by Jesus where he said, "I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved". Listen, there's only one way into a relationship with God. There's only one road that leads to heaven, and that is the road through Jesus Christ because he said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me". You say, "Well, that seems so narrow". Yeah, it's narrow. It's a narrow road that leads to life. And you know what? Few there are that find it. That's what Jesus said.
But listen, the reason Jesus is the only way to the Father is Jesus was God walking among us and he was the only one qualified to die for us on the cross. And that's what he did, he died in our place and took all of our sins upon himself, and that's why today I don't have to stand here facing the consequences of my sin, because Jesus died for me and he died for you. And he rose again from the dead three days later and he's with us here right now. And he's ready to come into your life if you'd like him to. David could have lived in sin, David could have ended in sin. But he came to the Lord, he came back to the Lord I should say in his case, but you can be forgiven of your sin. And the Bible says if you will confess your sin God is faithful and just to forgive you your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. But listen to this, God can not forgive the sin that we will not confess.
So you have to say, "Lord, I'm sorry". David had to say, "I'm sorry, God". And you have to say, "Jesus, come into my life". And he'll do that for you today and you can leave here today knowing your life is right with God. And there might be some of you that have been flirting with the sin we've been talking about, sexual sin. It might be something else, but whatever it is, you need to get right with God. You need to repent, I encourage you to do that today as well. Let's pray.
Father, thank you for your word to us, now help us respond. And I pray for any that are here or are watching that do not know you in a personal way, Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit will convict and convince them of their sin and bring them to yourself now.
Now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying together, how many of you would say today, "Greg, pray for me. I want Jesus Christ to come into my life. I want him to forgive me of my sin. I want to know that when I die I will go to heaven. Pray for me, I need Jesus in my life right now". If that's your desire, if you want your sin forgiven, if you want Christ to come into your life, if you want to go to heaven when you die, will you lift your hand up wherever you are and I'll pray for you right now. Just lift your hand up and I'll pray for you. God bless you. Anybody else? Raise your hand up high where I can see it. You want Christ in your life. God bless you. God bless you. Anybody else? Raise your hand now. Your watching the screen maybe, I can't see you of course, but the Lord sees you. Would you take this little step of faith and raise your hand wherever you are? God bless you.
While the heads are still bowed maybe some of you would say, "I need to repent and get right with God. I'm a child of God but I'm not living like one. I've been doing things I should not be doing, and the Lord's spoken to me today and I want to repent and get right with God. Pray for me". If that's your desire, if the spirit of God has been speaking to you raise your hand up and let me pray for you right now. God bless you. God bless you. Each one of you, God bless. All of you. Now Lord, I pray for all of these. Help them to follow you. You that have just raised your hand, pray this prayer after me. Just pray this:
Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, but I know you are the Savior who loves me, who died for me. Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sin. I turn from it, I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.