A New Beginning

Guest (Male): At the Harvest Crusades, pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie points out that we all need Jesus, and he points out why we all need Jesus.

Greg Laurie: Every sinner needs a savior. Broken people need healing. Captives need freedom. Hopeless people need hope. And the guilty need forgiveness. We need a savior. And Jesus is the savior of the world. Jesus will save you from your sin.

Guest (Male): Tomorrow night, pastor Greg Laurie steps onto the stage at the Harvest Crusade at Angel Stadium in Southern California. He'll feature music from Brooke Ligertwood, Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes, We the Kingdom, and Chris Tomlin. Details at harvest.org. It's all about introducing people to Jesus. More than a million have responded to the gospel in the 50-year history of Harvest Ministries. And today on A New Beginning, we'll visit a recent Harvest Crusade to get a taste.

Greg Laurie: I want to talk to you as an individual. And some things that God has to say to you. But first, I want to start with a story about a guy that needed some work. He he was looking for employment, and he heard they were hiring down at the local zoo. So he went down and said, I I heard you were hiring here maybe a janitorial position is open. And the zookeeper said, Sir, I'm sorry. We just filled that position, but um noticing you're kind of a big dude, and I don't want you to be offended by what I'm about to say, but our gorilla died the other day.

And we've ordered a new gorilla. He's on his way. But we need somebody to take his place temporarily. So here's what we're asking. If we had a custom gorilla suit designed just to fit you, would you be willing to pretend to be the gorilla for the next week or so until the real gorilla arise? And when they told him how much they would pay, the guy quickly agreed. So the next day, he felt kind of foolish there in his gorilla suit in the gorilla cage. He thought no one's going to believe I'm an actual gorilla, but people were believing it.

They were enjoying it. By day two, he's beating on his chest. He's kind of having fun. By day three, he's swinging back and forth on the vine, really enjoying this whole masquerade, pretending to be a gorilla. And he got a little too excited and swung a little too far and landed right in the lion's den. And a lion starts walking toward him, and he thinks, Oh no, if I cry out for help, everyone will know that I'm a fraud. But if I stay silent, this lion will attack me. The lion got closer and closer. And finally, the guy in the gorilla suit cried out, Help!

And the lion said, Shut up or you'll get us both fired. You know, there's a lot of people pretending to be something that they actually are not. There are a lot of people that say they are Christians who actually are not Christians. 74% of Americans say they believe in God. 63% identify themselves as Christians, but are they really Christians? You know, the Bible says, Check up on yourself. Are you really Christians or are you just pretending to be Christians when you actually aren't at all? Now I know most of you in this stadium are believers.

You are followers of Jesus, but some of you are not. And you might be wondering, Why would I want to even become a Christian? They're not the most popular people around, obviously. And what is what's in it for me? Well, let me just answer that for a moment. If you become a Christian, you will discover the meaning of life. Because everyone gets around to asking, Why am I here on this earth? Why do I exist? What is the meaning of my life? And when you put your faith in Christ, you'll find the answer to all those questions because God created you to know him.

And so you'll discover the meaning of life if you become a Christian. If you become a Christian, God will forgive you of all of your sins. Some of you are wracked with guilt. You wake up in the middle of the night thinking about the things that you've done, the people you've hurt, the devastation you've caused. But God can forgive you of your sin and remove your guilt. The Bible says that we will confess our sin. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And And if you become a Christian, and this is the most important one of all, you will know that you will go to heaven one day.

That's the most important. What matters more? Everyone of us is going to enter into the afterlife. The statistics on death are really impressive. One out of every one person will die. And so the question is, where are you going to spend the afterlife? Well, if you put your faith in Christ, you can know for sure that you will go to heaven when you die. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me. Your life will go from hopelessness to hope, from black and white to color when Christ comes in your life.

And in a little bit, I'm going to give you an opportunity to do what many have done over the last 35 years. I'm going to ask you to pray a prayer that we call the sinner's prayer that I'll talk about in a moment. A simple prayer where you simply ask Christ to come into your life. So you be thinking about that because I'm going to ask you to make that stand in just a few moments. Let me tell you how I became a Christian. It was the last thing on my mind, age 17, 1970, going the wrong way in life.

I was raised in an alcoholic home. My mother was married and divorced seven times, had a lot of boyfriends. She was living the partying, drinking lifestyle. She drank to excess every night, basically passed out. I had to grow up fast. I had to take care of her. In many ways, I was more the parent in the relationship. And I didn't want to follow in her footsteps. Before I knew it, I was in high school. I was partying with all my friends, drinking, getting drunk. And I'm thinking, I don't even enjoy this. Why am I even doing it?

But then the whole drug culture came along. And we were told drugs would make us more aware. And there was some truth to that because as I began to experiment with drugs, I became more aware of how empty I was inside. So it was almost like a process of elimination. I I didn't want to live the lifestyle of my mother and the other adults I knew. I didn't want to live this druggy lifestyle that I'd found myself in. Where was the answer? Well, I transferred from one high school to another because on the school I was transferring to, they had a strong drug culture, meaning that the people in charge kind of looked the other way.

And so I went there to change. But instead of finding a drug culture, I found a Jesus culture. On my first day of school, some of my friends said, Greg, watch out. We have a lot of Jesus freaks on this campus. And I said, the last thing Greg Laurie will ever do is become a Jesus freak. Famous last words. And of course, I I heard the gospel for the first time in a way that I understood. And I prayed what is sometimes called the sinner's prayer. Some people say, Well, there's no sinner's prayer in the Bible.

Well, there actually is a sinner's prayer in the Bible. And it's in the story that Jesus told us, found in Luke chapter 18. Jesus says two men went into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee. That would be a religious leader. The other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself, and he prayed this. God, I thank you. I'm not like other people, cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I'm certainly not like this tax collector over here. I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of my income. And the tax collector stood at a distance.

He dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now Jesus offers this conclusion. I tell you that sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those that exalt themselves will be humbled, and those that humble themselves will be exalted. We'll stop there. So God sees things differently than we see. We look at the outside. God looks on the inside. And sometimes we think, Oh, I'm a good person, and I I go to church, or I I read my Bible, and I do these certain things.

I've been baptized. Those are all great things, and every Christian should do them. But sometimes we can be good on the outside and not be right on the inside. We think by living a good life, we will find ourselves getting to heaven. But you're not going to get to heaven by living a good life at all. If you wanted to sum up all the religions of the world, you could do it in one word. Do. Do this, and maybe you'll get to heaven. Do that, and maybe you'll reach Nirvana. Do this other thing, and maybe God will accept you.

But Christianity can be summed up in one single word, done. Salvation is done. It's given to you as a gift from God, purchased by Jesus Christ on the cross when he bore the sin of the world, and he said, It is finished.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

Greg Laurie: Hey everybody, you can watch our Sunday services on a special broadcast that we call Harvest at Home. It's streaming on the Harvest Plus platform. So download that app right away, Harvest Plus, and you can enjoy being a part of our extended church family every Sunday.

Guest (Male): Well, we're visiting a Harvest Crusade today as pastor Greg brings us important insight on how to be sure of eternal life.

Greg Laurie: So I mentioned the sinner's prayer. So here's this guy that says, God, be merciful to me a sinner. Here's the prayer I lead people in. I don't always pray it exactly the same way, but this is the gist of the prayer. And this is the prayer that I will lead you in if you choose to pray it with me. It starts with these words. God, I know that I'm a sinner. God, I know that I 'm a sinner. That's what this man said. He said, God, be merciful to me a sinner. And a better translation of that would be, God, be merciful to me the sinner.

So this guy was a mega sinner, a sinner on steroids, if you will. And he knew it. And so God has given us the Ten Commandments. And some people say, Well, I live by the Ten Commandments. That's all the religion I need. Really? What are the Ten Commandments? Uh they don't know. Well, let me tell you some of them. You shall not have any other gods before me. You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. You shall not lie. You shall not steal. You shall not commit adultery. Every one of us have broken those commandments.

And the Bible says, if you offend in one point of the law, you're guilty of all of it. So you're a sinner. You have to take responsibility for your sin. Another definition of the word sin means to miss a mark. Think of an archery contest. And the objective is to get your arrow into the bull's eye or at least hit the target. So one person may fire 10 arrows and and all 10 of them hit the target, but none of them hit the bull's eye. Then I may fire 10 arrows and none of them hit the target.

I hit a cow over here. I hit a tree over there. See, we both missed the mark, then maybe I missed the mark more than you missed the mark, but it doesn't matter because if you fall short of God's standards, you have sinned. Jesus said, Be perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect. Someone says, Well, what are you perfect? No. That's where Jesus comes in. That's why I need Jesus. I have to admit my sin. I heard about a gorilla named Koko that knew sign language. This gorilla could sign 1,000 words. Another interesting thing about Koko is she loved cats.

So she had a few cats as pets. She was very gentle with them. And one day, Koko the gorilla that knew sign language got upset about something and ripped the sink off the wall of her pen that she was living in. Just ripped that sink right off the wall. Someone came in and they signed to Koko, Why did you do this? And Koko signed back, The cat did it. Even gorillas lie. We do the same thing. It's not my fault. I'm not responsible. It's the way I was raised. It's my childhood. It's a fault of my teacher.

It's a fault of my boss. It's a fault of my dog. It's a fault of the cat. I have to admit that I have sinned. Every sinner needs a savior. Broken people need healing. Captives need freedom. Hopeless people need hope. And the guilty need forgiveness. We need a savior. So when I lead people in a sinner's prayer, I say, Pray this after me. God, I know that I'm a sinner. And I'm sorry for my sin. And I know that you are the savior. A sinner needs a savior. And Jesus is the savior of the world.

Jesus will save you from your sin tonight. Jesus came to pay a debt he did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay. A sinner, that's you, that's me, needs a savior. That's Jesus. And what does he save us from? He saves us from hell. Oh yes, hell. You know, sometimes people say, I don't like all these hellfire and brimstone preachers. Really? I haven't heard any lately. Where do you find them these days? Seems like we want to skirt the subject of hell, but Jesus spoke more about hell and all the other preachers in the Bible put together.

Hell is real. And the last thing that a God of love wants is for any man or any woman to spend eternity separated from him in this place called hell. So when I lead people in what I call the sinner's prayer, I have them pray, God, I'm sorry for my sin. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for my sin and rising again from the dead. And then I had that person pray, Jesus, come into my life right now and be my savior and my Lord. And that's what this is all about.

Christianity is a relationship with Christ himself, living inside of you. Sometimes people will say, I need a little religion. Listen, friend, you don't need a little religion. You need a lot of Jesus, and he wants to come into your life right now. Jesus says, Behold, I stand at the door and I knock. And if you will hear my voice and open the door, I will come in. So you have a choice. If Christ is knocking at the door of your life, which he is, which he is right now, I either open the door and I welcome him in, or I leave the door shut.

It's sort of like this. You invite Jesus into your house. Welcome in, Jesus. So glad to have you. Uh can I get you something to eat? He says, Sure. He takes a seat. You go into the kitchen, open the fridge. Oh, devil's food cake. I can't serve him that. Um what do I serve him? And you're thinking of what to make Jesus. And suddenly you hear noise in your front room. What's going on? You walk into your front room. Jesus has the front door of your house open, and he is throwing your furniture out on the front lawn.

Excuse me. Hello, Jesus. What are you doing? That's my furniture that I bought at Sears. And I don't know why you're doing that. And he says, just just stand back. He's taking down your wall covering. He's ripping up your carpet. Lord, I've had that since the '70s, that shag carpet. He's tearing it up. He's throwing out your lava lamps. You probably don't even know what that is. Google it later. He's He's changing everything, and you're saying, Well, isn't this great? You ask Jesus to come into your house, and he takes everything away. Jesus says, Would you just stand back for a moment?

He lets out a loud whistle. A huge moving van backs up into your driveway. Written on the side of it, in other words, Father and Son Moving Company. They roll out beautiful new carpet. Whoa, that's beautiful. I've never seen that before. He puts up new wall covering. He brings in handcrafted furniture. Beautiful paintings are placed on your wall. You say, Lord, you have really good taste. He says, I know. I did create the universe. And then it dawns on you, Jesus only got rid of the old stuff to put something far better in its place.

See? So listen. You ask the question tonight, Greg, do I have to give up anything to become a Christian? Do I have to give up anything to follow Jesus? As a matter of fact, you do. You have to give up hell for heaven, emptiness for fulfillment, hopelessness for hope. It's God's trade-in deal, and it's here for you now. Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, but I know that you are the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Jesus, come into my life right now and be my savior and my Lord.

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Who wants to pray that prayer with me tonight? There's no magic in this prayer. You could pray this prayer and not mean it, and absolutely nothing would happen. But if you really want to know God and you pray that from the depths of your heart, I am telling you that God in heaven will hear this prayer, and he will answer this prayer, and Christ will come into your life tonight, and everything will change for you. You can take that to the bank. You have God's word on it in the very word he's given to us, the Bible.

You have to realize you're a sinner. You have to recognize Christ died on the cross for your sin. You have to be willing to churn from that sin. The Bible says we need to repent and be converted. And the word repent means to do an about-face. It's a military term. It's like I'm going this way, now I'm going this way. Right? You repent of your sins. God will forgive you, but you must repent from that sin. Then you receive Christ. And this is a moment that is very special. In fact, you may never have another moment like this again in your life.

Don't let this opportunity slip by. Let's pray that prayer. Let's see what God will do in your life because God loves you. And God has a plan for you. Let's all bow our heads, and everybody, let's pray together. Let's all pray. Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit will speak to the heart of every man, every woman, every boy, and every girl. Help them to see the words we've shared tonight are true. Help them to come to you now and believe and receive all that you have for them. We commit them to you. We pray for them now.

We ask you to move their hearts toward you. And we commit this to you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Today on A New Beginning, we've been featuring pastor Greg Laurie's message at a recent Harvest Crusade. And a few minutes later, he prayed with those who had come forward to invite Christ into their life. And you know, you can do that too, as pastor Greg prays.

Greg Laurie: All right, let's bow our heads and pray. Pray this after me. Lord Jesus, I know that 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. I turn from my sin. I repent of it. I'm sorry for it. I choose to follow you, Jesus, from this moment forward as my savior and my Lord, as my God and my friend. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Amen. God bless you.

Guest (Male): Now if you just prayed with pastor Greg and have meant those words sincerely, the Lord has heard you and forgiven you of your sin. You're now a Christian. And we'd like to help you as you begin to walk with the Lord. Pastor Greg would like to send you his new Believer's Bible. It helps you build a strong spiritual foundation. It answers common questions new believers have. It won't just sit on your shelf. It'll change your life. We'll send you the New Believer's Bible free of charge. Just ask for it by calling 1 800 821 3300.

Call anytime, 1 800 821 3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Well, pastor Greg, that was a message from a couple of years ago at a Harvest Crusade here in Southern California.

Greg Laurie: Yes.

Guest (Male): You really enjoy preaching the gospel in those larger venues, don't you?

Greg Laurie: I do. It's a real privilege. And And I remember that message in particular, the sinner's prayer, because sometimes people say, Oh, there's no sinner's prayer in the Bible. But as I pointed out, there is. When that sinful man just said, God, be merciful to me a sinner.

Guest (Male): Mm.

Greg Laurie: So I want to keep proclaiming this gospel to as many people as I can. And I want to just say I really appreciate your prayer and your support for us as we engage in what we like to call proclamation evangelism, which means we proclaim the gospel and we encourage people to respond. So anything you can do to help us continue on, support us financially, that's really appreciated because more people need to hear that there's a God in heaven who loves them.

Guest (Male): Yeah, yeah, that's right. Your partnership helps us bring the gospel to so many. It's amazing how many people are so hungry for the hope of Christ. You can play a part in changing lives. So make your investment today by going to harvest.org. Just click on donate or call us anytime at 1 800 821 3300. That's 1 800 821 3300. And one last thing, as mentioned, the Harvest Crusade is coming to Southern California tomorrow night. Pastor Greg welcomes music guests Brooke Ligertwood, Kari Jobe, and Cody Carnes, We the Kingdom, and Chris Tomlin. You'll be able to watch live online at harvest.org or on the Harvest Plus app.

And thanks for supporting this event in prayer. Well, next time pastor Greg helps us consider the important privilege of discipleship. He points out it's the next step in following Jesus. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.