Greg Laurie - Home Before Dark
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From the moment you were born you have been on a quest. What you were after wasn't completely clear but you wanted your life to have some kind of purpose and meaning. You wanted to know why you were here on this earth and you wanted to be happy. It has been said, "There are two things that are true of every person. We all want to be happy. We are all going to die". From the very earliest moments of our lives we are on this search. We are on this quest.
A philosopher named Hugh Moorhead from a major university once wrote to 250 of the best-known philosophers, scientists, writers, and intellectuals around the country. And he asked them this simple question. "In your opinion what is the meaning of life"? Some offered their best guesses. Some admitted that they made up a purpose for life. Many wrote Moorhead back asking if he had discovered the meaning of life. That is how a lot of people are. They don't know where they are going with their lives. They don't know what the meaning of it is. Here is the problem. As you age quickly you will find you are wasting a lot of your life. This is very important for you that are young to know where you are going. To know what life's purpose is. The evening of your life is determined by the morning of it. Or the end by the beginning.
As far back as I can remember I was searching for the meaning of life. Maybe earlier than most kids. Maybe because of the home I was raised in. I had a mother who was beautiful. She was a dead ringer for Marilyn Monroe. She had a lot of husbands. She was married and divorced seven times. Had a lot of boyfriends in between. In fact I was not planned if you will. I was a result of a little fling my mom had while she was in long beach. I was an illegitimate child. She was always trying to find fulfillment in relationships with men. She also was a raging alcoholic. She would get fully drunk every night and pass out.
I was a young kid. I had to take care of myself. I had to take care of my mom. There was no father there for me. Ironically the very life I hated that my mother was living I soon embraced myself. I was out drinking and getting drunk with my friends. Then the whole drug culture was coming along. I started using drugs as well. I just came to a point where I knew this is not the answer. It was sort of like process of elimination. It is not in that affluent boozy lifestyle of the adult world I lived in with my mom. It wasn't in the social culture of my high school of drinking and partying. It was isn't the drug culture I also was a part of.
So where was the answer? Then a cute girl came along. I was on my high school campus. I saw this attractive girl. She wasn't a beauty queen. You have got to understand. But there was something special about her. I thought, "Who is that girl"? I saw her talking to a friend of mine. I thought, "I am going to walk right up and break into the conversation and introduce myself to her". As I walked up and waited for them to stop talking for a moment, I saw she had her textbooks for school and her notebook and then she had one of those strange books you know the one with ribbons coming out of the bottom and gold pages. I went, "Oh no. She is a Jesus freak. What a waste of a perfectly cute girl".
I talked to her a little bit. That lunch hour on my high school campus I wanted to see where she was. I found her sitting on the front lawn with Christians singing songs about God. I sat down far enough away where people wouldn't think I was a part of it but close enough to eavesdrop a little. I looked around at these Christians with these smiles on their faces and I thought to myself, "These people are a few clowns short of a circus. There is something wrong with them". I watched them a little bit longer. Here was the problem. I knew some of those people. In fact some of them used to be my buddies and I knew how much they had changed. I tried a new thought on for size. I thought, "What if? Of course this couldn't be true but what if the Christians are right? What if God can be known? What if I can change"? I thought, "Oh no. There is no way. Not the life I have lived. I could never change. But what if"?
And then as you saw in that video before I came out it was that one statement I heard that day where the preacher said, "Jesus said, 'you are for me or against me.'" I looked around at those Christians and said, "Well they are for him for sure. I am not one of them. Does that mean I am against him"? That was the day I put my faith in Jesus Christ.
Now let me tell you something. that is the last thing I planned on doing that day. Maybe you are checking this out. You are here in the Wells Fargo Center or maybe you are watching in a host site. Maybe you are watching on your iPad or your smartphone or your computer or your flat screen or a little black and white with rabbit ears. I don't know how you are seeing this. But here is the question I have for you. That is have you considered who Jesus is. Maybe you are saying, "You Christians are all losers. You don't know what you are talking about". Really? Try a new thought on for size. What if everything we are saying tonight is true? What if Jesus Christ can change lives? More specifically what if he can change your life? I am telling you right now he can and he will if you will open your heart to him.