Greg Laurie - Angels in the Life of the Believer

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TOPICS: Angels

America still needs a spiritual revival, doesn't it? Let's grab our Bibles and turn to Daniel, chapter six, and the title of my message is Angels in the Life of the Believer. Yes, America still needs a spiritual awakening, and that begins with you and me. And I'll tell you why. There is a supernatural battle going on, right now, for the soul of our nation. This is way bigger than a political battle. This is way bigger than an ideological battle. This is bigger than anything we've ever faced before. And it's really, as I said, over the soul of our country. I think that sometimes we forget we're in a spiritual war. We're not wrestling against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and spiritual powers and high places. It's a real world, the invisible world of God and Satan and the world of angels and demons. And that world is just as real as the world we're in right now.

You know, the Bible tells a story of Elisha, the prophet, and a his servant, Gehazi. They were surrounded by enemy forces, and the servant realized, and he woke up from sleep, and he began to panic. And he woke the sleeping prophet and said, "We're surrounded by our enemies. What should we do"? And Elisha, wiping the sleep from his eyes, said, "Don't be afraid, because those that are with us are more than those that are with them". And then Elisha prayed, "Lord, open his eyes that he may see". And the Lord opened the eyes of Gehazi, the servant of the prophet, and he saw the supernatural forces of God, all around them. And that's what we need to pray as we start his message, that God would open our eyes to see the very real spiritual world all around us now. So let's pray together.

Lord, as we open Your word, we pray that You will open our eyes. This is not a game. This is not a dress rehearsal. This is the real thing. And Lord, every day, in this spiritual battle, we're either advancing, or we're retreating. We're either gaining ground, or we're losing ground, not only as a church but also as individuals. So help us, Lord, to think about how this works in our life. Open our eyes to see the work of Your spirit in our life and the work You want to do in our life, and we ask this now in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, as I said, we're back in the Book of Daniel again. We've been out of this book for a while with all that we've been involved with, including Harvest America. We're coming to the end of the first six chapters. Daniel is divided into two sections. The first six chapters deal with history. And this is where all the great Bible stories of Daniel are, of course, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, Daniel in the lion's den and all of that. And a lot of people, all they know of Daniel are the first six chapters. But then there's the next six chapters, and those are prophetic. They talk about the future. And in many ways, the final six chapters of Daniel parallel with the Book of Revelation.

So we learn history in advance from the prophet Daniel, very important information. The last time we saw our hero Daniel, he'd been arrested for praying. As I've asked before, if you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? And by evidence, I don't mean how many Harvest Crusade stickers you have on your car or maybe how many Bibles you have at home but rather real evidence where we could talk to your neighbors or members of your family or your co-workers and say, "Is this person a real Christian"? Well, Daniel was a real believer, and he had an amazing habit where he would pray three times a day. And so he was very open about it.

So anyway, the Babylonians had been defeated. Belshazzar, their final king, is now dead. And Cyrus and the Medo-Persian Empire has taken control of the nation, and Darius is the new king. Straightaway, Darius recognizes that Daniel is the man. Even though Darius was a pagan king, he saw that Daniel was a man of integrity. He was a man of honesty. He was a man that would get the job done. And he immediately favored him. All of their advisors, he sort of inherited from the previous regime. And so, he decided to put Daniel in charge of everything, and the others were very angry about this. They were jealous of Daniel, and they wanted to bring him down, but there was one problem. Daniel didn't have any skeletons in his closet. Daniel didn't have any scandals or any things to expose. And they said the only way we can bring Daniel down is if we find something concerning him and his God.

So they came up with a bright idea. Let's get the king to sign a decree that no one can pray to any god but the king for 30 days. So they rushed into the king's presence and said, "King Darius, we came up with an idea, and we're all in on this, including Daniel. We think you should sign a decree that no one can pray to anyone but you for 30 days". The king, very flattered by this, said, "That's a great idea". So he signed it into law. And here's the interesting thing about the law of the Medes and the Persians. Once the king signed it into law, even he could not overturn it, because he was regarded as a deity. So he did not realize it, but unwittingly, he had condemned his top advisor Daniel to a certain death.

So now a new law has been passed. You can no longer pray for 30 days. What if a law like that was passed in America, tomorrow, or in the State of California? Almost seems believable, doesn't it? You can no longer pray in a restaurant. You can no longer say grace when your meal arrives in a public place. It's a new law. You can no longer pray in church. You can't even pray in your home. Would you obey that law? Would you? I wouldn't, 'cause there are times when the laws of God supersede the laws of man. And this is one of those times.

So Daniel thought, "Well, you know, that's an interesting law they've passed, but I pray every day, and I'm not gonna change that". And you know, there's a lot of ways Daniel could've wiggled out of this. 30 days? He could've said, "I'm long overdue for a vacation. I'm gonna leave town for 30 days. I'm gonna back. That law will be over with". Or he could've said, "I'm pretty prayed up. I pray three times a day. I think I could just kind of not pray for 30 days". Or he might've said, "I can be subtle about my prayer. I don't have to close my eyes or get on my knees, or I'll go home, and I'll pray, but I won't open up the windows like I normally do. I'll kind of do it undercover". No, Daniel thought, "I'm not gonna change a single thing". So he went home, and he prayed as he always did had done.

And now, if you're taking notes, here's point number one. Daniel was a man of prayer. Daniel was a man of prayer. This is a takeaway truth for us, because we too should be people of prayer. Daniel 6:10 says, "When Daniel learned had been signed, he went home. He knelt down as usual". You might underline that. "Just as he had always done, and he prayed three times a day, giving thanks to his God". I love this phrase, just as he always had done. Now when we're first introduced to Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the beginning of the Book of Daniel, they're kids. They're teenagers. Now Daniel's an old dude. He's probably 80, maybe as old as 90. And he still has this habit of prayer, which is a great thing, isn't it? He always prayed. You know, it's been said sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a destiny. And that's good or bad, depending on what kind of a habit it is.

If you think about bad things and develop bad habits, that haunts you for a lifetime. But on the other hand, if you think about godly things and develop good habits, like Bible study, church attendance, giving to the Lord and praying, that will be a great habit. That will become your legacy. And that was Daniel, just as he always had done. And no doubt it was on his knees, he received the fearless courage that he had that enabled him to stand boldly before kings like Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar and now Darius. He understood that when anxiety came, he needed to pray. He could've freaked out. But no, he prayed, as he always had done.

Point number two, Daniel had an attitude of gratitude. Daniel had an attitude of gratitude. Look at verse 10. He prayed three times a day, just as he always had done, giving thanks, underline those two words, giving thanks to his God, giving thanks to his God. Now listen, here was the problem with Daniel. He had never read the Book of Daniel. Just like Job had never read the Book of Job. Now we know how the story ends, but he didn't. He knew that his certain fate was being fed to a den of lions, and by the way, just in case you think these were docile lions, understand that Daniel survived this. I hope that's not something you weren't aware of. Spoiler alert, he survived. But the ones who accused him of this were thrown in the lion's den, and they were eaten quickly. In fact, before they even hit the ground, the lions attacked and ate them. Never underestimate a hungry lion.

I was in Africa, years ago, actually Ethiopia, speaking at a pastors' conference with Franklin Graham and Dennis Agajanian. So we had a little time off, one afternoon, and we went to the Ethiopian zoo. And there was really hardly anyone there working. And we walked right up, I'm not making this up. I know it sounds insane. This is the truth. We walked right up to a lion's cage, and if I wanted to, I could've stuck my arm through this cage. And there, in the corner of this cage, was the most malnourished lion I've ever seen in my life. This lion looked like he was on the verge of death. And so I'm looking at this lion, and I said, "Man, I don't even think he moves anymore". And Dennis Agajanian thought it would be a great idea to shake the cage bars.

So he started screaming. That lion came to life, came lunging at us and roared about as loud as any lion would roar, and after, my blood went cold, and I was scared, 'cause that's a powerful lion. So these lions were hungry. So understand this was God's intervention. He gave thanks without any certainty of how things would turn out. The Bible tells us that in everything, we should give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. It also tells us to rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. See, it's one thing if we give thanks when things are going well. And by the way, you should. If everything's going well for you, today, remember to give thanks, 'cause the problem is sometimes we give thanks when, well, excuse me, let me restate it.

Sometimes we only pray when we have crisis. But when things are going well, we're effectively saying, "Thanks, God, see you next crisis". No, we should say, "Lord, thank you that all my bills are paid. Thank you that my health is good. Thank you that I have food on the table. Thank you that I have this day to serve you. Thank you for what you've done". But then when things are not going well, I still thank God, listen, not for the adversity but for the fact that God is still on the throne. Yes! He's still there in control. "Now Lord, I have this problem, and I don't know how I'm gonna get through this problem. But I know You're in control. And I know You're all-powerful. And I know You love me. And I know You have a plan for my life.

So I'm committing even this to You". And that's how Daniel was praying. "Hey, I'll probably be fed to the lions, but I'm giving thanks anyway, because that is what I always do". Now let's see what happened. So he prayed. He was arrested. Daniel six, verse 16, "So the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. And the king said to him, 'May your God, 'whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.'" Easy for the king to say. He wasn't going to a lion's den. And the story continues.

"A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. And the king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so no one could rescue Daniel. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and could not sleep that night. Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried to the lion's den. When he got there, he called out in anguish, 'Daniel, servant of the living God, 'was your God whom you served so faithfully able 'to rescue you from the lions?'" Verse 21, "Daniel answered, 'Long live the King. 'My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, so they would not hurt me, for I had been found innocent in his sight, and I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.'" We'll stop there.

Point number three, Daniel chose to trust God, no matter the circumstance. Daniel chose to trust God, no matter the circumstance. It appeared that all was lost, and this would be his last night on Earth. But God was at work, and He dispatched one of His secret angels, an angel of the Lord sent to deliver him. Notice that the king spent a sleepless night, despite the comforts of the palace. Meanwhile, Daniel slept like a baby in the peril of a bunch of hungry lions, bringing me to this point. Better to be in a lion's den with God than anywhere else without Him. Right? So maybe you're in a hard time, right now, a lion's den, if you will. Is God with you? Well, if you're a Christian, He is.

So you're good to go. I'd rather be there with God than anywhere else without Him. And Daniel was trusting the Lord. And look at what he said in verse 22. "My God sent his angel". You know, it's interesting to me that the animals had reverence for an angel of the Lord. The animals, apparently, saw the angel of the Lord and backed off. I mean, I don't know what happened in that lion's den. The Bible doesn't tell us. But I imagine when he was dropped in, that the lion said, "Okay, time for food". And as they began to approach the prophet, suddenly they backed off when they saw these powerful messengers sent from Heaven.

You know, it's interesting to me that sometimes animals have more sense than people. Did you read this article in the paper, it was last week, about Koko the gorilla that died? Koko the gorilla understood sign language. And as it turns out, this amazing animal was able to sign more than 1,000 words. And Koko the gorilla understood more than 2,000 words. I read a few articles about the gorilla. And one story that amused me is Koko had pet cats. Who knows why? But she did. And she loved cats. And she'd be very gentle with these little cats. And so she had this one little cat, that she was very fond of, and one day, Koko got angry and ripped a ceiling out of the wall. That's what happens when gorillas get angry. Sometimes, men too, but they're just not usually as successful, but Koko ripped the sink out of the wall, utterly destroyed it. And so her trainer came to Koko and said to her, "Koko, why did you do that"? And Koko signed back, "Cat did it". It's a true story. "Cat did it".

So Koko was smart enough to blame someone else. But it reminds me of the story of Balaam and his donkey. Remember that story? The prophet Balaam was told by God to do a certain thing, and he disobeyed and was going in the wrong direction, riding this donkey, and they went a little ways, and the donkey just stopped. And Balaam became very angry and began to nudge the donkey on. The donkey stopped again and went up against a wall and hit his leg, and so Balaam takes out a stick and starts beating the donkey. The donkey goes a little further and utterly collapses, this time. Now Balaam is beating the donkey, over and over again. And Numbers 22 tells us, "The Lord caused the donkey to speak". And the donkey turned to Balaam and said, "Why have you beaten me three times"?

Now that's amazing, that a donkey spoke. What's more amazing, without missing a beat, Balaam says, "Because you won't do what I want you to do". And then the donkey says, "Haven't I been a good donkey? Haven't I always done what you asked me to do"? Balaam says, "True, you've been a good donkey. I have to admit this. But you won't go when I want you to go". Meanwhile, the angel of the Lord is standing there with a sword drawn thinking, "Who's the bigger jackass down here? I mean, what is going on with this guy"? And finally, the angel of the Lord makes himself visible with a sword drawn, and he said, "Balaam, it's a good thing that donkey spoke, 'cause I was getting uptight with you beating him like you were. And that donkey had more sense than you had".

So sometimes, animals have more insight than people have. But angels, they're involved in the life of every Christian. We don't understand how many times angels have stopped us from doing something we should not have done or gotten us out of tight situations or protected us from harm. There might even be times that angels have spoken to us. The Bible tells us, in Psalm 34:7, "The angel of the Lord guards all who fear Him, and He rescues them". This happened for Simon Peter. He was arrested, and he was gonna certainly be put to death, because James had already been executed by King Herod. And there he was in jail.

And Acts 12 tells us the church began to pray. Constant prayer was offered to God for him. And an angel was dispatched from Heaven. And the angel walked right into that prison cell, and Peter was apparently a deep sleeper, because the Bible says the angel had, I love King James, had to smite him to wake him up. It's like, "Wake up, Peter, wake up". He's just snoring away. Went (imitates smacking). "What"? "You're free, man"! The doors opened up for the prison cell, just like in the supermarket, you know, and out Peter walked. But the point was the Lord sent an angel to do that. And then we find angels in the Old Testament working as well as in the story before us. In fact, there are mentions in the Bible, either directly or indirectly, nearly 300 times. There are millions and millions, even billions of angels. It appears that they are eternal and that they never die.

Jesus, in Luke 20:36, said, "They neither die anymore". And so it would appear that they just go on and on. And they have this special work that God has called them to do. Hebrews 1:14 says they're ministering spirit sent to serve those who are heirs of salvation. Sometimes, angels speak to us, and we may not even know it. The Lord had an angel tell Philip, "Go to the desert". And Philip went to the desert, and there, he met a man who had come from Ethiopia searching for God. But it was an angel that told him to do it. There are times that angels will intervene in our lives, in other ways, and it's even possible you have me an angel. You say, "Well, why would you say that"? Because Hebrews 13:2 says, "Don't forget to entertain strangers, for in doing so, some people have entertained angels without know it".

So look around, right now, look next to you, could be an angel. "How would I know? Will there be like feathers on the ground"? Or little clumps of angel food cake or something like that? No, probably not. Oh by the way, I hate to break this to you, but whenever angels take on human form, they never appear as women but always as men. Sorry, it's in the Bible, girls. What can I say? And I bring this up, because we often use the word angel in a feminine way, like she's as pretty as an angel. But in reality, every time an angel appears in Scripture, they appear as a man. There are no chick angels, only dude angels. Maybe teen angels, I don't know, we'll see. But they're all around us.

And here's the thing with angels. They're sort of like God's secret agents. They're sort of like the special forces, like the Green Berets or Delta Force or the Navy Seals. They're often engaged in missions we never hear about. But they go and do the work that they're called to do. They're deployed to take care of something, and they accomplish that job and return, and we don't even know who did what. We just know the job is getting done. That's angels. They're not there to draw attention to themselves. They're there to do the work of God. In fact, if an angel of the Lord appeared on this stage, right now, we would be tempted to worship it, because they're so beautiful and majestic.

In fact, in the Book of Revelation, an angel appeared to John and revealed the future to him. And John fell down to worship at the feet of the angel. And the angel stopped him and said, "Don't worship me. I'm your fellow servant. Worship God". Sometimes, the question is asked, do we have guardian angels? I don't know the answer, but I think it may be yes. I think it may be that children have guardian angels. I don't know about adults. And I say that, because in Matthew 18:10, Jesus said, "Don't look down on one of these little ones," speaking of children, "for I tell you their angels in Heaven always see the face of my Father in Heaven". So maybe children have guardian angels.

Going back to that story in Acts 12, remember, Peter was freed from the prison. So he shows up at a house where the Christians were praying, no doubt for him, no doubt for his deliverance. So they're having a prayer meeting, and "Oh Lord, deliver Peter. Oh Lord, get Peter out of jail. Oh Lord," and there's a knock on the door. "Someone answer that". So Rhoda, a girl goes and answers the door, and there stands Simon Peter. She goes, "Hold on, one sec". Goes back to the guys praying. "Oh Lord, deliver Peter". "Guys"! "Don't bother us. Lord, get Peter out of prison". "Guys". "Don't bother us". "Peter's at the front door".

And I love what one of them said. They said, "It's his angel". Well, first of all, that would imply that Peter had his own angel. And number two, if there was an angel at my front door, I'd let him in, wouldn't you? And it's a funny thing, 'cause the Bible says they all went over to see what was going on. So it's not like one went alone. They went like a little group. Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh, you know? They pulled the door back, and there's Peter like, "Hey! "an you let me in now"? Sometimes, we pray for something, and God answers our prayer, and we're shocked to find that he answered it so quickly. But it's interesting they said, "It's just his angel".

So maybe we have guardian angels. But even if we don't have specific angels assigned to us, we know that we have angels all around us. And Jesus made a very important, excuse me, Psalm 91 makes a very important statement about this. It says, "God will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands. so you will not strike your foot against a stone". So God will do His part, and you need to do yours. That's form Psalm 91, and I've always thought whenever there's an emergency, dial 911, right, 911, Psalm 91, verse one. "He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide into the shadow of the Almighty. "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God. In him, will I trust".

Have you ever tried to walk in someone's shadow (chuckles)? You have to be very close, don't you? So if I'm in the shadow of the Most High, that means that I'm staying very close to the Lord, bringing me to my next point, point number four, Daniel stayed close to God and never stopped serving Him. Again, Daniel stayed close to God and never stopped serving Him. Look at verse 19. The king comes to the den of lions and says, "Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions"? Your God, whom you serve so faithfully. Another translation, your God, whom you serve continually. So even Darius, a pagan king, recognized that Daniel served the Lord constantly. And he had this angelic protection around him as a result.

So the objective in our life is to stay close to the Lord and trust the Lord and never test the Lord. Remember, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. And among other things, the devil took him to the high place of the temple and said, "Jump off of here". And then the devil quotes the Bible. The devil quotes Psalm 91 and says to Jesus, "For it is written that He will send his angels to protect you, so go ahead and jump". And then Jesus says, "It is also written you shall not test the Lord, your God". See, the devil left something out. The original passage says, "God will keep us in all of our ways". The devil left that out. The point is when we're walking in the will of God, we can be confident. We have angelic protection. But when we go outside of the will of God, when we test the Lord, when we take unnecessary chances and risks, that's another thing altogether.

But here's the takeaway point for me. The Christian is indestructible until God is done with him. You're indestructible, so stop worrying about everything. You know, we worry about our diet. We worry about how old we are. We worry about this, and we worry about that. Worry doesn't help anything. It makes things worse. But just understand that your days are numbered by God, and you will live to the end of those days that God has set up before you and nothing will stop you from that. So rest in that truth. It's a great thing to know. And you know what the bottom line is? We all face our lions in life. Maybe you're in a lion's den of sort, right now. Maybe it's a threat on your life like Daniel was facing. Maybe your marriage is unraveling. Maybe you're having troubles with your kids. Maybe there's a group of people who are slandering you or attacking you because of your faith. It might be a massive trial that you're going through, right now, with no apparent end in sight. You know, it's interesting to note that the Bible compares the devil to a lion. Over in 1 Peter 5:8, it says, "Stay alert, watch out for your great enemy. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour".

So the devil is active, and he wants to destroy us. But the good news is is God will not give us more than we can handle. Going back to the statement of Elisha to his servant, "Those that are with us are more than those that are with them". If you're a child of God, you don't have to be afraid of what the devil can do. The devil can tempt you. The devil can harass you. The devil can oppress you. But he certainly can't take control of you. And I bring that up, because if you're not a Christian, you are a target. In fact, you kind of have a bullseye painted on your chest, and there's nothing you can do to keep the devil away if you don't have Christ living inside of you. The only power Satan respects is the name and the power of Jesus Christ. So you say, "Well, I'll keep the devil way with a crucifix". You think the devil's afraid of a crucifix? "I'll use holy water". There's no such thing as holy water. Purified water, yes, holy water, no. "Well, I'll wear garlic around my neck". Well, that may keep your friends away, but it won't keep the devil away.

The only power he respects is the power of Christ. But listen, here's the good news. Demon powers are out there. There's a lot of demons. You say, "Well, what is a demon"? A demon is a fallen angel. The Bible tells us that there a was a rebellion in Heaven, and 1/3 of the angels rebelled against God, and these fallen angels, also known as demons, are under the control of Satan, also once a high-ranking angel known as Lucifer. That's 1/3 of the angels. That's the bad news. The good news is 2/3 of the angels are on our side. So we're on the winning side here. But only the believer has this hope. Now what about when a Christian dies? You say, "Greg, you've talked about angelic protection, how the Lord watches over us, but what about when Christians get cancer? What about when Christians die in automobile accidents? What about when Christians face tragedy? Where were the angels then"?

Well, like I said, your days are numbered. God knows how many days you will have. That's decided by Him, not by you. But when that work of the angels is completed, that is protecting you, they have another mission, and that is to escort you to Heaven. The Bible tells a story of Lazarus, not the one who Jesus raised from the dead, but another Lazarus who was a poor beggar who believed in God, and he died. And the Bible says the angels escorted him to Heaven. So when a believer dies, they are escorted immediately by angels into the presence of God. Do you find that reassuring, as I do, just knowing that? So you wonder what happens when a Christian dies. The moment you take your last breath on Earth, you take your first breath in Heaven. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. You go immediately into God's presence, and you're escorted by angels.

In Harvest America, back in Texas, we were offered a police escort, which was very nice. So we had cops in front of us with their sirens blaring and their lights going. We went around all the traffic. It was very cool. And I asked if I could have that all the time. They said no, just this, one time. But it was nice, a police escort. We came cruising right into the stadium. Well, I have something better for you than a police escort, an angelic escort into the presence of God guaranteed to every follower of Jesus. So don't be afraid. Here's another thing the angels do, and I'll close with this. They rejoice every time a non-believer comes to Christ. The Bible tells us that Jesus said if we will confess Him before people, He will confess us before His Father, and who else? The angels in Heaven, but then He says if we deny Him before people, He'll deny us before the Father and the angels.

So Heaven is very aware of what is happening on Earth. The angels are very aware. They're going back and forth, between Heaven and Earth, doing the work of God. But here's what we need to focus on. Let's just follow the example of Daniel and be men and women of prayer, be people that have an attitude of gratitude, be people that walk with and serve the Lord faithfully and continuously, and then we have the hope that when that day comes for us to leave this world, we know that we'll be welcomed in the next one by Jesus Himself, escorted by angels. But let me say, in closing, this is only the hope for the Christian. Maybe you've come here, today, and you don't have this hope.

You say, "Well, maybe I'll go to Heaven. I'm not sure. I tried to live a good life". Trust me, you'll never live a good enough life. You're a sinner, just like the rest of us, and one sin is enough to keep you out of Heaven. But the good news is is God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, 2,000 years ago, to die on the cross for our sins. And then He rose again from the dead. And He's here with us, right now, standing at the door of our lives, and He's knocking, and He's saying if we'll hear His voice and open the door, He will come in. And I'm gonna close by extending an invitation for you to believe in Jesus, because there might be someone here, someone watching, right now, that doesn't have this hope of an angelic escort to Heaven. They don't have that confidence that their sin is forgiven, but they want it. You can have it, today, because this relationship with God is right here for you. It's a gift.

And if I were to offer you a gift today, and you wanted to receive that gift, all you have to do is reach out and accept it. And the same is true of the gift of eternal life. You need to reach out and accept it from God. And He offers it to you now. If you would like to be forgiven of your sin, if you would like to know that you'll go to Heaven when you die, if you would like this relationship with God, respond now as we pray together. Let's all bow our heads.

Father, thank You for Your word. Thank You for how powerful it is, how true it is and how full of hope it is. And now I pray for any person here or anyone watching, wherever they are. If they don't have this relationship with You, help them to come to You and believe in You, today. We ask this in Your name.

Now while our heads are bowed, and our eyes are closed, and we're praying together, if you would like Jesus Christ to come into your life, and you would like Him to forgive you of your sin, would you just pray this prayer, right where you're sitting? You could even pray it out loud if you'd like. This is a prayer where you're asking Christ to come into your life. Again, as I pray, just pray this prayer out loud after me. Pray these words. Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, but I know that You're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now come into my life, Lord. I choose to follow you, from this moment forward, as Savior and Lord, as God and friend. Thank you for calling me and accepting me in Jesus' name, I pray, amen. God bless you. Amen!