Greg Laurie - How to Have Hope in Life
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All right, well, let's grab our Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. And the title of message today is How to Have Hope in Life. Let's pray together.
Now Father, this is the day that You have made. And we'll rejoice and be glad in it. And we're reminded of the fact that 2000 years ago, Your Son, Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. And because of that, we have hope in a crazy, confused and often hopeless world. So speak to us from Your Word as we open it. We want to find hope and we want to leave here today with hearts that are burning. We ask this now in Jesus' name, amen.
I've told you the story before of a man who went to Israel on vacation with his family, his wife, his children. And he took along his, well, how shall I put it delicately, his ever-nagging mother-in-law. Sorry if you're a mother-in-law. Well, sadly on this trip, his mother-in-law died and so now he's trying to figure out what to do. He's so far from home, so he goes to a local mortuary there in Israel and asks the undertaker how much it would cost to ship her body back to the United States. And the undertaker says, well, that would cost you about $5000. But then he said, you could bury her here in the Holy Land for $150. The man thought about it for a moment, said, yeah, I'm gonna ship her back to America. The undertaker said, sir, excuse me, I don't want to be disrespectful, but why would you want to spend so much to ship her home when you could bury her here in the Holy Land? And the man said, well, a long time ago, a man was buried here and He came back to life again. I can't take that chance.
How many of you have heard this joke before, raise your hand? How many of you have not heard that joke before, raise your hand? How many of you who heard the joke thought it was still pretty funny, raise your hand? How many of you who heard it for the first time, never mind, okay, so. Yeah, so that's a joke and what is today? It's Easter, but what else is today? It's April Fool's Day. Wait, how perfect is that? Why? Well, for the simple reason because Easter was the greatest joke in human history. You say, Greg, what are you saying? What, the greatest joke? Yeah, the greatest joke, because on Friday, Satan thought he'd won. He orchestrated the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the cross. He saw Jesus hanging there, beaten and bloodied and He died. And Satan thought, I won, God loses. And then the Father raised Jesus up from the dead three days later. God had the last laugh and the Lord was saying, the joke's on you, devil. You lose.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ. We divide human time by His death and resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus Christ changed human history and it can change your history as well. And it can give us hope and we need hope in our world today, don't we? What do you put your hope in? Do you put your hope in your job or your house? Or do you put your hope in a relationship? Well, that's gonna be problematic because things happen and life disappoints, doesn't it? Or maybe you say, no, my hope is in technology, cutting edge technology. You mean like that robotic car that drove into a person the other day, that technology? Or do you mean the technology where now they have this personal information on us that they're tracking us. Hey, what about that technology developed by Russia where they've developed a new, intercontinental nuclear missile that can hit any target and they ironically named it, I'm not making this up, Satan 2. It seems like whenever we have new technology, we use it to bring more havoc and destruction. No, I hope your hope is not in technology. My hope is in politicians. God help you. God help you.
There's only one place to put your hope and that's in God. And when you don't have that hope in Him, you're gonna be a hopeless person. Hopelessness is like a plague that's affecting America today. It's why many young people turn to suicide. I read in a recent article that young people are committing suicide at a higher rate from 10 to 14 years old, more than any other time. And the reason given is, they're hopeless. There's a sense of hopelessness. Maybe you've lost your hope today. Maybe something has happened to you in life that's been a big disappointment. You hoped to have a strong family but instead today it's splintered and divided. You thought you would have the greatest marriage ever but it's not going so well. You thought you would be successful in business but you weren't. And you thought you were gonna have a great ministry but you don't have that. Or perhaps a tragedy has befallen you. You've lost a loved one. There is an unexpected illness and you feel as though God is to blame.
But I want you to know that you can have your hope restored on this Easter of 2018 because here before us in the Bible in Luke 24 is the story of a conversation of Jesus with two discouraged disciples. They were burned out and they were bummed out. And they had lost hope and they even said it right to Jesus' face and this is also a record of what Jesus did to rekindle their hearts and give them hope again. So let's sort of get the backdrop. Jesus told everybody He was gonna die and rise again from the dead three days later, but they collectively missed the memo. So when Jesus was arrested on false charges and He was taken outside of the city of Jerusalem and He was nailed to a cross, and as His followers saw His beaten and bloodied body hanging there at Calvary, they thought He had failed in His mission. They had thought everything had obviously gone wrong. This could never be part of any plan. But in reality, everything was going perfectly because as the Bible says, it pleased the Father to bruise Him. God took no delight in the death of His Son, needless to say, but He took great delight in what the death of His Son accomplished, which was the purchasing of your salvation and mine.
And so Jesus did everything He said He was going to do including rising again from the dead. So here are two disciples now. We only know the name of one of them. His name is Cleopas. And they can't get out of Jerusalem fast enough. They want to put as much distance between them and that bloody cross as possible. So as they're walking on the road, on their way to a city called Emmaus, who joins them but Jesus Himself. Let's read about it, Luke 24, starting in verse 13. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. The same day two of Jesus' followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles out of Jerusalem. As they walked along, they were talking about everything that had happened. Suddenly Jesus Himself came along and joined them and began walking beside them. But they didn't know who He was, because God kept them from recognizing Him. He said, you guys seem to be in deep discussion about something. What are you so concerned about? They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them named Cleopas replied, You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.
What things? Jesus asked. The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth, they said. He was a prophet who did wonderful miracles. He was a mighty teacher, highly regarded by both God and the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders arrested Him and handed Him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified Him. We had hoped, notice, their hope is in the past tense. We had hoped He was the Messiah who came to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago. Then some women from our group of His followers were at is tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said His body was missing, and that they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive. Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, Jesus' body was gone, just as the women had said. Let's stop there.
If I were Jesus and I was coming back to life and making appearances, the first person I would have appeared to would have been Pontius Pilate. Hey Pilate, remember Me? Pilate, you can't keep a good man down. And he can't keep the God man down. Or I would have appeared to Caesar. Hey Caesar, you think you're a god? You're not a god. I'm God. Or I would have appeared to Herod that when he was with Herod, actually the Bible tells us Jesus didn't say a single word to this leader. No, Jesus did not appear to Herod or to Caesar or to Pilate. He appears to, well, to kind of obscure people. First He appeared to Mary Magdalene, a lady He had cast seven demons out of. And to Mary's credit, she was one of the only people to stand at the foot of the cross and she was first at the tomb to anoint His dead body. And her faith was rewarded when she saw the risen Lord. He appeared also to Peter. But now He is appearing to two people and we don't even know the name of one of them.
So I find this interesting because it brings home a simple point. Jesus always had time for just regular people. You know, the Zacchaeuses of the world. That little dude who was so small, he had to climb up in a tree to get a look at Jesus. A little guy who no one wanted to hang around with because he was a tax collector. Jesus says, I'm coming to your house for lunch today. Or to the woman at the well, a woman who had been married and divorced five times and was living with a guy. Or the woman caught in the act of adultery. The list goes on. He always had time for the down-and-outers, for the hurting people, for the ordinary people, for people like you and people like me. So He appears to these two men. And the Bible tells us they didn't know who He was. Now this wasn't a Jedi mind trick. These are not the droids you're looking for. He did something... How many of you understand that reference? Okay good, Star Wars reference, but basically, they were not able to recognize Him at this point. They didn't know they were walking along with Jesus. And it's a good reminder that as we walk down life's road, if we're a Christian, we're never alone. And Jesus is walking with us whether we can see Him or not, whether we can feel Him or not.
David said, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why, because You are with me. And God is with you right now. I don't know what you're going through. A great passage is Isaiah 43:2 where God says, When you go through deep waters and great troubles, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you go through fires of opposition, you will not be burned up. So, these guys don't even know they're walking with Jesus but indeed they are. They couldn't put enough distance between them and that bloody cross in Jerusalem. They wanted to get away. And you know, this is the devil's strategy. Yes, there is a devil who's out there to wreck havoc and keep us from God. So when we sin, and oh, yes we do sin, we sin more than we think we do. When we sin, we should always go to God and say, Lord, I'm sorry for my sin and You died for my sin on the cross and I repent of it. And you're forgiven. The devil doesn't want you to do that. The devil will try to keep you from the cross, drive you from the cross. The devil will try to keep you out of church. He doesn't want you going to Jesus for forgiveness and he doesn't want you spending time with God's people.
So these guys made two mistakes. They ran away from the cross and they ran away from fellow believers. So they're out there on the road, isolated. So the devil will say, don't go to church. You can't show your ugly face in church. You're such a hypocrite. You've fallen short. Man, the first thing you need to do when you're hurting spiritually is go to church 'cause this is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints. It's a place for you to get right with God. So the next time the devil whispers in your ear, don't pray, don't go to church, just say to him, go to hell. That's right. Mommy, he just said, go to hell. That's a cuss word. No it isn't, not in this context, 'cause hell was made for the devil and that's where he's gonna go one day. So these guys are isolated, they're away from other believers and Jesus joins them and says, guys, what's going on? You look sad. Why the long faces? What's troubling you? They said, well, you know, we, haven't you heard about what happened in Jerusalem? Jesus, about Jesus?
And Jesus says, no, tell me. Now they're telling Jesus about Jesus. This is so classic. So they're going on and on. You know, about He was great, mighty prophets and all these things and but He was crucified and we had hoped He would have been the One to deliver us, but it's been three days since this happened. You wonder if Jesus just said, oy vey, really, come on, guys. How many times did I say three days? How many times did I say really clearly, I will be crucified. I will rise again from the dead count, guys, three days later. And they're even saying, it's been three days since these things happened. And then Jesus takes them on a guided tour of the Old Testament showing them all of those passages that pointed to the coming Messiah. They're listening, and as they're listening, they're thinking, man, this guy, this guy knows the Bible. This guy, you'd think He was there when these events happened. You'd think He wrote the book. You're getting warmer, boys.
And at the end of their journey, what do they say? They say, Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and opened the scriptures to us? Their hearts were burning and I think all of us could use a good case of spiritual heartburn. Have you ever have heartburn before? Too many jalapenos on your double-double at In-N-Out Burger, whatever? I like spicy food, do you? I'm always putting Tabasco on everything and putting peppers on things and then later on, I'm saying, why, why did I do that, right? Well, you know what, you could use a good case of spiritual heartburn, where I mean your heart is burning for God. Listen to this. According to the Bible, you can have three spiritual temperatures. When you're not feeling well and you may go to the doctor, one of the first things that they will do is take your temperature. Why, because that's an indication of how you are doing healthwise.
And so, I want you to take your personal spiritual temperature and I'm gonna tell you the categories. You are either icy cold or you are boiling hot or you are miserably lukewarm. Which one describes you today? Are you a cold person? Are you a burning hot Christian? Or are you a miserably lukewarm person? First there's cold, icy cold. The Bible says in Matthew 24, because sinfulness will increase in the last days, the love of many will grow cold. This is a person that just really has no spiritual life at all. I mean, it's possible one of those people is here. Maybe a few more. It's Easter, of course, so you know, all right, all right, all right. I'll go to church. Here I am. And you're looking at your watch. Is he almost done? Let's get this goin'. You're just cold. When a spiritual conversation comes up, oh you're disconnected, you're bored. Someone says, oh the Bible. Oh the Bible, please, really? You're just a cold person. You don't have an interest in the things of God. That's a bad place to be but this might surprise you. It's worse to be lukewarm than it is to be cold.
You might say, no Greg, it's better to be lukewarm 'cause that's closer to hot, right? No, it's better to be cold than lukewarm. Why, because a lukewarm person, in contrast to a cold person, is a person that thinks they have it together when actually they don't. To the lukewarm people, Jesus says in Revelation 3, I know your works. You're neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Clear enough? Now in the King James Version, it says spew. I will spew you. That's a nice way to say you're sick. Excuse me, I'm not feeling right now and I'm going to go spew. Oh okay. I would like a spot of tea after I'm done if you don't mind really. That's very nice. I'm going to spew. But the real word is vomit, barf, throw up. You know what I'm talking about, right? How many of you have ever thrown up? Okay good. Not good, but I don't know about you but I hate, I hate, I hate to throw up. I don't know anyone who does, but my wife, when she doesn't feel well, she's like, I'm not feeling well. Blegh, she's done, she's good. She's great, I feel good now. I'm like, oh no, I'm sick, I don't want to throw up. I fight it, no no no, no no no, you know. You know how it is. It's not a pleasant subject.
You're thinking, great, this is Easter. You're wearing a suit, get a grip. This is inappropriate. You've said go to hell and now you're talking about barf. What is wrong with you? But I'm trying to make a point. If I were to make you a meal, this is entirely possible and I said, tell me how you like it, and you said, it makes me want to throw up, that's not a compliment. The other day, our grandkids were visiting and they were on their way to school in the morning and my youngest granddaughter was, named Ally, was hungry and so my wife said, Greg, make her some eggs. I can make many things. I can make toast and scrambled eggs. So my wife always cooks over a low flame. I turn it up higher because Ally was late. So I whip these eggs up and even as I served them, I thought, these are the worst eggs ever. But I'm not gonna say it. But they're all rubbery, they're awful. So she took one bite and I said, don't you want the rest? She said, I'm not hungry. She was being nice, but, made her sick. It makes God sick when we're lukewarm. He wants to throw up.
What is a lukewarm person? It's a person who has a self-satisfied condition in which they think they have it all and know it all. Why is it better to be cold than lukewarm? Listen to this. Because there's more hope for a person who is not a believer than someone who thinks they are a believer and are not. Let me say that again. There's more hope for a non-believer who knows they're an unbeliever and owns it than for a person who thinks they are a believer and are not. See that person says, oh I know, I know that. I know, I've heard of that, I've heard of that. I've heard it, I know it, I know it, no. Do you, what do you know? I've heard of that. You don't need to tell me that. But do they do any of it? No, do they walk with God? No, does it impact their life? No, but they've heard it, they know it, whatever. It's a bad state to be in. A person who is a non-believer sitting in a bar right now and is cold and has no faith could be closer to the kingdom of God than a person sitting in church at this moment.
You say, I don't know if that's an amen moment, but okay. There are amen moments. That may not have been it, but you know, I appreciate the affirmation. 'Cause I'm going to a bar afterwards. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. But it was weird, seriously. Let me explain that rather provocative statement. A guy sitting in a bar, or a girl. He's thinking, my life's awful. I need to change. I need God. Maybe I'll ask Christ to come in my life. See, he's closer. He's not there yet, but he's thinking about it. Person sitting at church, oh I've heard this, I know this and they have no interest in God whatsoever. So that's my point. Lukewarmness is the worst place of all. Listen, the greatest inoculation against the gospel is the gospel heard but not heeded. When you're gonna travel overseas, they give you shots, right? Why, to inoculate you against things that you could potentially be exposed to. And what is inoculation? It's a little bit of the thing you're gonna be exposed to injected into your system so you can build up your resistance. So when you hear the gospel again and again and you hear the word and you don't respond. You see, I'm not saying it's not good to hear the word, come and hear the word, come and hear it all the time. My point is when you hear it and you don't do it, when you hear it and you say, oh that was a nice sermon but it doesn't impact you in the way that you live, then my friend, you're becoming a lukewarm person and you do not want to be a lukewarm person. You want to be a boiling hot Christian.
'Kay, here's what Jesus did to change that. Let's go back to Luke 24, starting in verse 28. By the time they were nearing Emmaus, at the end of their journey, Jesus acted as if He was going further. I love that, you might underline that. I'll come back to it. But they begged Him to stay the night with them, since it was getting late, so He went home with them and as they sat down to eat, He took a small loaf of bread. He asked God's blessing on it, He broke it, He gave it to them. Then suddenly their eyes were opened and they recognized Him and at that moment, He disappeared. And they said, one to another, did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, while He opened the scriptures to us? And within the hour, they were on their way back to Jerusalem. How did Jesus ignite their hearts? Through the scripture, through the Bible. Or as Billy Graham would say, through the scripsha. Through the Word of God. As they heard the Word of God, their hearts began to burn.
Listen, you want to have a heart that's constantly burning for God, open the Bible every single day and read it. And let God speak to you. This is why our focus here at Harvest is on the Bible. This is why every service you come to is based on the Bible. This is why we open the Bible, because this is the authority. This is God's Word to us. You spend time in it. You believe it. You memorize it and your heart will burn. But here's something else I want to point out. Look at verse 33. Within the hour, they were on their way back to Jerusalem and found the 11 gathered together and them that were with Jesus. Back to the cross, back to fellowship with other believers. That's where we need to be. Listen, I'm really glad you're at church today. And I know there's a lot of visitors here today and you are welcome here at Harvest. Thank you for coming. It's great you're here with us. This'll probably be a record-breaking attendance for us. We have seats and screens everywhere today and we wanted to try to accommodate everyone. But let me say this. I'm glad you're here today but are you gonna come back next Sunday?
I mean, what is the deal with checking in at church once a year? I call them CEO Christians. Christmas and Easter Only, right? I mean, seriously. These guys, what do they do? Their hearts burned when they read the Word of God and when they reconnected with other believers. The first thing they did was go back to Jerusalem. Let's go back, let's go back and get together with the other Christians. And that's what you need to do as well. I love verse 28. I brought it to your attention. Jesus acted as if He were going further. You get that? He didn't want to impose. He didn't want to push Himself on them. Maybe you've shown up at a friend's house at 5:30 and they answer the door and you can smell dinner's cooking. Smells great. Oh you say, sorry, I didn't know you're having dinner. Sorry to inconvenience you, I'll go. No no, they say, come in and join us. And you say, oh I really couldn't. And they say, yeah, okay bye. Boom, shut the door. What does that mean? It means you interrupted them at dinner time. They probably have enough food for the people there and they don't really want you there.
But let's go back. Oh, I am sorry to inconvenience you. Oh no, come in and have dinner with us. No, I really couldn't. No, come on. No, I couldn't. You're coming. They grab you by the arm. Come on, you're coming to eat with us. We're so happy you've joined us. So Jesus is walking with these guys along the road and He's like, okay guys, see you later. Gotta go. They still don't know it's Jesus. See you, gotta go. Well, wait. We want You to come with us. And so we read this wonderful verse. Jesus went home with them. Jesus went home with them. I love that. Will Jesus go home with you today? And by that I mean, will He be a part of what you're gonna do the rest of the day? I don't know what your plans are. Is Jesus gonna be a part of it? Will He be home with you tonight? How about tomorrow? What about work, what about school, what about other things you're engaged in? Is Jesus going home with you? And by that I mean, is He a part of it? And even more than being a part of it, is He the Lord of it?
Because if you're a Christian, it means Christ is in command and it means you want His will above your own. Is Jesus in charge of your life? Or do you say, Lord, nice to see You. I'll catch You later, what Christmas, okay, bye. Yeah, you're a lukewarm person. Or you can invite Him home. And if you invite Jesus into your home, one day, He will welcome you to His home. That's a pretty good deal. If you say yes to Jesus here, He'll say welcome to you there. If you say come in to my heart here, He will say, enter into My kingdom there. If you will confess Him before people here, He'll stand up for you before the Father and the angels in heaven for you. So it's very simple. He won't force His way into any human life. You need to invite Him in. Jesus purchased your salvation by dying on the cross for your sins. And when Jesus died, He conquered sin and when He rose again from the dead, He defeated death. Let me say that again. When Jesus died on the cross, He conquered sins. When He rose again from the dead, He defeated death. Death died when Christ rose.
You say, Greg, are you delusional? What do you mean death died? People still die. I know that, I know that very well, as a matter of fact. But what is death for a Christian? Yes, the body ceases to function as it once did, but our heart, our soul or spirit goes on to heaven. This is the hope of the follower of Jesus, that death is not the end. It's just moving from one place to another. It's just moving from earth to heaven, and this is really important because today is Easter 2018. Today is April Fool's Day and today is also the birthday of my son, Christopher Laurie. And Christopher has been in heaven now for 10 years. He died in an automobile accident as I'm sure some of you know. So look, when you've lost a loved one as we have. Danny talked about his wife dying. And some of you have lost loved ones. Some of you have lost children. Some of you have lost spouses. We'll all in time lose our parents and our grandparents but we don't usually expect that a spouse would die or that a child would die. And it can a very tragic thing. It is a very tragic thing and it can seem in some ways like the end of life. But I have hope today. I have hope that I will see my son again in heaven because of what Jesus did on the cross and what He did in rising again from the dead. That is the hope of the follower of Jesus Christ. Amen Guy, that would be a good amen moment there, okay so. And you'll forever be known as the Amen Guy, okay? Wherever you are. Hey, I'm the Amen Guy.
So Christopher has two daughters, Stella and Lucy. They couldn't be more different. They're just adorable and beautiful. And Stella is the academic one. She walks around with a book. She's always reading a book and she's very artistic and very thoughtful and asks amazing questions. And Lucy is fun-loving and hilarious and tells jokes and likes to play with slime and stuff. She's, you just, incredible little girl. So I was with them the other day and they asked me, Papa, that's what they call me. Papa, how old will we be when we get to heaven? Now that's a good question. I don't know the answer to that. I said, maybe 33. They said, why 33? I said, well, that was the age Jesus was when He died. And then, Stella, the insightful one, says, well, that was the age my daddy Christopher was when he went to heaven. Then she said, it must mean something. I said, hm. Then little Lucy said, I want to be three when I get to heaven. I said, three? Lucy, do you want to be three? She says, Because I miss the old me. That's Stella and Lucy in a nutshell right there.
Whatever age you are, make sure you're ready to go home to heaven, because that is our great hope. How do you get ready for heaven? Well, you have to admit you're a sinner. Some people choke on that. I'm not a sinner, I'm a good person. You're a sinner and one sin's enough to keep you out of heaven. The Bible says if we offend in one point of the law, we're guilty of all of it. And trust me, you've sinned more than once, many more times. You have to admit you're a sinner. Then you have realize that Christ died on the cross for your sins. This is a pretty much true to scale cross we have here on the stage. You see up on the top, it has a replica of what Pilate wrote. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews and Jesus hung on a cross and He died there. Why, for your sins, because there was no other way to satisfy the righteous demands of God in heaven that we've offended. He died there for you. But then you must ask Christ to forgive you of your sin. He died for you, but you must say, Lord, I need You to forgive me. And then you must ask Him to come into your life.
Being a Christian isn't just going to church. It's not just believing certain things, though that's important. Being a Christian simplified is having Christ live inside of you. The Bible says, for as many as received Him, He gave them the power to become sons of God. Coming back to lukewarm people. You know where you find lukewarm people? You ready for this? You find them in church. You find them in church. Why do you say that? Because when Jesus addresses the church of Laodicea, the lukewarm church, it is to them He says, Behold I stand at the door and I knock. And if you'll hear My voice and open the door, I'll come in. Wait, you mean Jesus was saying that to people in church? Yes, He was. It applies principally to any person anywhere but He's actually saying to a religious person, if you will, you actually need Me in your life. This isn't about rituals, this isn't about religion, this is about a relationship. I want to come and live inside of you. You have to open the door of your life and ask Him to come in and He will. Would you like to do that today?
The last thing I'd point out is if you want to do this, you should do it now. These guys acted on it. When they realized Jesus was alive, they acted on it and went back to be with other believers. You need to act on this. Don't say, oh, you've given me something nice to think about, Preacher, and maybe I'll do it next Easter or maybe before. I don't know, I'm so busy. Really, what if you die? The statistics on death are very impressive. One out of every one persons will die. It's gonna happen. Will you be ready to meet God? See my son Christopher was ready to meet the Lord, not because he was my son but because he was a child of God, because he put his faith in Christ. Are you ready? This could be your last opportunity to get right with Jesus Christ. I don't know what course your life will take or my life will take. All I know is don't wait for another day. Do it now. Christ can come and live inside of you and forgive you of all your sin. And to the lukewarm folk who may not even know they're the lukewarm folk, I pray that you'll see you need to stop living in a life of compromise and complacency and make a real commitment to follow Jesus Christ. Let's pray.
Father, I pray now for every person here, every person watching and listening wherever they are. Help them to see their need for You. Help them to come to You and help them to believe in You today, we would ask.
Now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying, how many of you would say today, Greg, pray for me? I need Jesus Christ in my life. I want Him to forgive me of my sin. I want to know that when I die, I will go to heaven. I want this relationship with God you've been talking about. If that's you, I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand. If you want your sin forgiven, if you want to know you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want that big hole in your heart filled, if you want Jesus to come into your life, raise your hand up wherever you are, right now, and I'm gonna pray for you. Lift your hand high where I can see it. Let me pray for you. God bless you and you and you. A whole family there is lifting their hand. You need to do this? God bless you and God bless you. Wherever you are, wherever you're sitting, raise your hand up, or standing, raise your hand up, I'll pray for you, God bless you. All over the room, hands are going up. I hope yours is one of them.
Some of you are watching on a screen right now. Would you raise your hand too? I can't see you but it's a little step of faith where you're saying to the Lord, I need You, Jesus. Just raise your hand. Let me pray for you. Wherever you are, just say, yes, I need this. God bless all of you wherever you are. I know you're doing it. Also there's some of you here that are lukewarm. Would you admit it? Would you admit you're in that no man's land of having too much of Jesus to be happy in the world and too much of the world to be happy in Jesus? Would you like to say, I don't want to be a lukewarm person? I don't want to be a halfhearted person? I want to be an on-fire follower of Jesus. I need to make a recommitment today. If that's your desire, would you raise your hand up right now? Let me pray for you too. Just raise your hand. God bless you, God bless all of you. God bless you.
Now I'm gonna ask every one of you, if you would please, if you raised your hand, I want you to stand to your feet and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer. Stand up, all of you that have raised your hands. Stand up wherever you are. We're gonna pray together. Just stand to your feet. You guys watching on screen, stand to your feet. Harvest Orange County, Harvest Woodcrest, Harvest Dos Lagos, stand to your feet. Wherever you are, stand up and we're gonna pray together. Stand now. Just stand up and I'm gonna lead you in this prayer. Doesn't matter if I see you. This is between you and God and God in heaven will hear this prayer. If you need to ask Jesus in your life or you need to make that recommitment, this is your day, do it today. I'll wait one more moment, stand up. There might be a few more. Stand up, God bless you. God bless you, God bless you. Anybody else, stand now. All right, now you that are standing, God bless you, Sir. You that are standing, I'm gonna lead you in a prayer. I'm gonna ask you to pray this prayer out loud after me. This is where you're asking Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin and you're making a commitment to follow Him. Again, as I pray, pray this prayer out loud right where you stand, okay? Pray this now.
Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner and I know You're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Jesus, I choose to follow You from this moment forward as Savior and Lord, as God and Friend. I want my heart to burn for You, Jesus. Thank You for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.