Greg Lorry and Harvest Ministries recommend a new resource from best-selling author Max Lucato dealing with your thought life.
So many people have Max Lucato books already in their library, but this is his brand new book to help you learn how to team your thoughts. Our thoughts really ultimately affect pretty much everything. And folks, we want to offer you this book by Max Lucato. Team Your Thoughts. for a gift of any amount at harvest.org.
Hey there, thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie, encouraging you. If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org. You can turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4.
My message title today is This Is Us. This is us. I heard the story about a contractor who began A construction project over a thousand years ago, well, almost a thousand years ago, 1173 to be exact, is when this project began, of a huge tower in Europe. It was gonna be a beautiful tower, the great white marble and limestone tower. It was designed to be a bell tower that would stand eight stories tall.
Can you imagine building an eight story tall tower like a thousand years ago? That sounds intimidating today to me. It was going to be at the center of a little plaza where there was a church, there was a baptistry, there was a cemetery, and it was called the Piazza de Miracoli, right? The Square of Miracles. And it was a beautiful thing, and the people there were wealthy, they had financial means, and so they wanted to build this beautiful bell tower that would ring when it was time for people to come to church.
I think we need more bell towers in America, right, to remind people to come to church. The bells would ring, and people in the surrounding area would come, but something happened as they were building this beautiful tower. They had secured the materials, they had drawn up the architecture plans, they had done everything, but they failed to do one thing. As they began to build, they realized there was a problem. The foundation they were building on was not a good foundation.
They realized that it was filled with sand and seashells and decomposed limestone.
So, as they got, I think, to like the third story, they realized that the building was beginning to shift. One side was dropping down further than the other.
Well, because this is when all the city-states were happening in Italy, there was warring going on, and so it took over 200 years to get around to finishing this project. You think it takes a long time to fill that pothole in your neighborhood? Imagine this: 200 years to complete. And it had to be suspended multiple times, and they had to figure out how to counteract this. And so they literally started to build one side of the tower longer than the other, so it kind of counteracted.
And so the building actually had kind of a curve to it, and it took forever to build. And over the years, the building continued to sink on that side to the point where it actually leaned 5.5 degrees off center. That's pretty steep. That's pretty steep. The building today is known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, of course.
You're familiar with that, right? Look at that thing. That's actually been corrected to three and a half degrees, and it's, of course, been fortified with all kinds of steel beams inside of it, making sure that it will stand. It's not in danger of sinking any further. Just don't be anywhere around it if there's an earthquake.
For the love of God, this is not a building that is going to be safe to be around.
Well, the same is true in the Christian life. If we don't get our foundation right, nothing else matters. If we don't get the foundation of our faith and our lives right, nothing else matters. Everything we do needs to be built on the right foundation, the foundation of Jesus Christ. There's no coincidence that Jesus is referred to as the chief cornerstone.
It's no coincidence that he refers to himself as the foundation. On this rock, I will build my church. He is a sure foundation. We need to make sure that when we are building up our lives, our marriages, our families, our businesses, even. that they are built together on the foundation of Jesus Christ.
And because he has given us the blueprints, for our faith, for the church, for the family. He has given us these things. He has given us leaders and gifts and one another to make sure that foundation. is solid. Our series that we are going through right now is called Upward, Inward, and Outward.
Upward, Inward, Outward. It's really the strategy that this church, Harvest, has followed for over 50 years to make disciples, to lead people to Christ, to glorify God, and to change the world through things like the Harvest Crusades, the New Beginning Radio Ministry, our television programs, social media, cartoons, yes, cartoons, movies, and really everything. But more than a church growth strategy, upward, inward, outward, this is a strategy we can all apply to our personal lives. Upward refers to the glorification of God. Everything we do, we should seek to glorify God.
Inward refers to edification, the topic we'll be looking at today. This refers to the building up of Christ's church, edifying one another, iron, sharpening iron, building each other up, fortifying our faith, and then outward, taking that knowledge, taking that desire to glorify God, and doing what? Going out into the world and evangelizing, sharing our faith, and leading others back to Jesus. Every space in our lives, we should look at accomplishing those three things. In our marriages, we should seek to glorify God.
The way we treat our wives, the way we disciple them, the way that we engage with each other. We should try and edify one another, build each other up spiritually, remind each other of what God's word has to say. And our marriage should be an evangelistic tool. As those people in your neighborhood, they have marriage issues and they look at you and your wife and they say, So, how do you guys still like each other after being married for 35 years, right? How is that possible?
You guys still like each other?
Well, it's because. We serve each other sacrificially because Jesus gave us the model for how to have a good marriage. In our marriages, in our friendships, in our jobs, our education, in our retirement, even, our hobbies, our parenting, even our singleness, we should seek to glorify God, to edify others along with us, and to use that season of life, that hobby, that whatever it might be, to reach people with the gospel outward. And so this week we're looking at the second part, as I said, inward. edification.
Edification exists. for God's glorification. Edification exists for God's glorification. We are built up so that He is lifted up. That is why we.
Go through with edification so God can be lifted up so we can honor Him better, so we can glorify Him better. And again, our message title is: This is Us. And we'll be in Ephesians chapter 4. If you want to turn there, we're going to be looking at verses 11 to Yeah. It says this: I'm reading from the New King James Version.
And he gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists. and some pastors and teachers. For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. to a perfect man. To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children.
Tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love. May grow up in all things into Him who is the Head. Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by whatever he joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of love in itself. That brings us to point number one. Edification.
Jesus blueprint. Edification is Jesus' blueprint. And so we see right away that the Apostle Paul, who's the author of the letter to the church in Ephesus, He lists out the leadership structure. of the first century church and even the church today. He says that Jesus, he gave some to be apostles.
Some prophets.
Some evangelists, some shepherds or teachers, that word is interchangeable. Shepherds, or excuse me, shepherds and pastors, shepherd, pastor, and then teachers. And so these were given to equip who, does it say? These men were given to equip who. The saints.
And for what purpose? It tells us, for the work of the ministry. And why? For the edification of the body, to build up the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus established the church, and Jesus.
tells us how to continue Church. He is the architect. He is the master planner. And any true church must build itself with Jesus. as the chief cornerstone.
as the chief cornerstone, as the foundation of everything they do. The Lord says in Isaiah 28, therefore, Thus says the Lord, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. Whoever believes will never be shaken. He's speaking of Jesus here. There is coming one, the cornerstone, the sure foundation that.
Is Jesus.
Now, if you do not have the biblical, historical, true Jesus as the cornerstone in your church, you are not a true church. If you do not have Jesus Christ, the true biblical and historical Jesus, you are not a true church. If you are a part of a church and you're listening today, maybe you attend somewhere else or whatever, if you're a part of a church, That preaches that Jesus is a way of many ways. or that a different Jesus is the way. Or that Jesus preaches a different gospel that is heresy and it is actively leading people to hell.
That is not a true church. That is not a true church. The Jesus Christ we worship here at Harvest is the Son of God. Born of a virgin. He lived a sinless and perfect life.
He was the best teacher to ever live. He fulfilled hundreds of prophecies. He died on a cross for our sin. He rose again from the dead. And most importantly, he is coming back again.
That is the Jesus we worship here at this church. Jesus says that if you would ever lead one of these little ones astray, talking about children, and I think really talking about anybody in this context, if you lead one of these little ones astray, it is better for you to tie a millstone around your neck and take a long walk off a short plank, right? Jump in the deep end of a pool. He's saying it'd be better for you to kill yourself than to lead someone astray intentionally. It's been said you can tell a lot about a nation by the way they treat their children.
By the way they treat their young ones. I would say that we're in peril here in America. More than ever, the public school system on college campuses and public libraries, there is a battle for our youth. There is a battle for the next generation. They're actively redefining things that God has made plain.
That God has made black and white in His Word. This is not a matter of what people do in the privacy of their own homes between two consenting adults.
Okay, that's your business. But the fact is, when you start redefining things that the Bible has made clear, and you're an authoritative person in a school, you're a teacher, you're a principal, you're a superintendent, you help decide on the curriculum that these kids are going to go through, and you are actively choosing to indoctrinate them with an alternate worldview than what the Bible has to say, that's a dangerous thing. That's a dangerous thing, and parents, grandparents, leaders in the community who have children that you have influence over, it is up to us. It's up to us to make sure that our children are prepared for spiritual battle. It's not up to the Christian school.
It's not up to our youth ministry or our children's ministry. It's up to you. You need to make sure you are speaking to them about what is true and right and good. You tell them what sports seem to root for. You tell them where to get the best bean and cheese burrito, right?
Are you telling them why Jesus is a Savior worth following? Are you telling them why the Bible is trustworthy? Are you having these conversations with your kids? Because I can assure you, if you were not, Somebody else says. And you aren't gonna like what they're telling them.
If you are not proactively teaching your kids biblical truth, they will be led astray. The topics of gender, sexuality, the sanctity of life, the exclusivity of Jesus Christ leading to forgiveness, parents. Uncles, aunts. Grandparents. It's up to you.
It's up to you. If you're not having those conversations, you can know one of two things is happening. Either their mind has already been made up and it may be too late. Nobody is too late. Obviously, nobody is too far beyond the reach of God.
He can touch their hearts.
So it's one of those Two things: either their heart, they have already decided, or number two, it is actively being made up. For them, and you need to intervene. You need to talk to them. I just pray that you are not too late because you know, peer pressure. It's a real force to be reckoned with.
You remember when you were in high school and you got peer pressured into doing something you didn't want to do?
Sometimes peer pressure can be a good thing, right? It pushes you out of your comfort zone to go do something maybe good, to go try out for the football team. Oh, my friends are trying out, and I don't know, I'm not that athletic, and so I guess I'll give it a shot. And it stretches you. Oh man, you know what?
Yeah, I don't want to do the football team, but maybe I'll try out for track and field. I kind of like this running thing. Peer pressure can be a good thing, but a lot of times, if you're not careful, it can lead you down a dark path of making bad decisions, of doing things that are destructive to yourself. Kids are kids. What do we expect?
That is why Jesus must be the cornerstone in our lives and in our children's lives. And that is why the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4, that Jesus himself gave the church apostles, Prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. These gifts exist to equip the saints for the work of ministry and for the building up. of the body of Christ. With Jesus as the cornerstone, and when his people are equipped and built up in truth, the church stands strong.
Families remain intact.
Societies succeed. And most importantly, God is honored when Jesus is our foundation. That means that our lives Our marriages, our churches don't lean like pizza constantly and In danger of crumbling and being destroyed, it doesn't crumble under pressure, it holds firm and shines bright in a world of confusion. Edification Is the method that Jesus has chosen to build up his church? It is the Holy Spirit working through believers to build up.
other believers. Because when we build each other up in truth, we become resilient against the lies, unified in our vision and our mission, and effective in passing the baton of faith to the next generation. Paul says in Romans 14, so then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. We should pursue things that make for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
Now notice he says pursue. He doesn't say, so let us rest. And wait for these things to land on our plate. I was not a very good student in high school, and I would just sit there. I had to write an essay.
I remember I would always wait till the night before. I don't always know why I would. I just procrastinated. And my mom came in. I remember one time she said, You're just sitting there waiting for the words to land on your page, right?
For them to just float out of the sky and land on your page. I think a lot of times we can treat our edification that way. We're just waiting for God to do it through osmosis, right? We're just waiting for it to happen organically. It's just going to happen.
I don't have to put any effort into it. This is just going to happen. It's a work of the Holy Spirit.
Well, it is, but we have a part we need to play, and we need to be good students of the word. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, Paul tells us.
So let us pursue, not rest, not wait around to receive, or even hope. Let us pursue. Pursue. The Christian life is an active one. I said a couple weeks back in a message that a stagnant Christian.
should be an oxymoron. A stagnant Christian to be an oxymoron, pursue what makes for peace. And for mutual upbuilding, no believer is self-made. That is why we believe it's so important for each and every one of us to be actively involved in church attendance, attending on Sunday morning, but also a part of a small group. In a small group, you get to dig down and study God's Word.
Maybe you don't know how to study God's Word and it's hard, and you sit down and you start one of those reading plans, you're just like, Man, I just don't get it. This is hard. That's what a small group is for: to help you understand God's Word, how to apply it to your life. We have great curriculum that we give all of our small groups to go through, and it can help you in your process of edification. Again, we are built up so that Jesus.
is lifted up. We are built up so that He is lifted up. That brings us to point number two. Medification produces maturity. Edification produces maturity.
Look back at verse 13. Until we all come to the unity of the faith. And of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children. You should underline that. That we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men.
in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. We should no longer be blown about by every wind of doctrine. I love that image. that Paul pains for us. Um A couple of summers ago, my family and I got to go to Alaska.
That was really cool. We'd never been to Alaska, and we had one other time, but this was a special trip that we got to take and go on a couple of really cool hikes, ride 4x4s, go fishing. It was a blast. And as we were making this one hike, it was pretty steep as we were making our way up to this little, it wasn't a mountain, but we were in the mountains, but you know, good little climb. We got to the top of this thing, and it was windy.
Gusting maybe 20, 30 miles an hour. And we got to the peak where the other side was like a bunch of shale, a bunch of like decomposed rock that was on the other side. And it was pretty sheer. Like looking over the side, you know, you kind of got that feeling in your stomach, like, oh, that's a little scary. It was real sheer.
And while we were standing there, a really strong gust of wind started blowing so hard. And I look over and I'm like, I feel like I'm about to get blown off into the outer space. You know, it was a terrifying feeling getting blown that hard. I look over and my son's got his hands out. He's like leaning into the wind.
He's fully enjoying it. And all I could think of was like Sit down, sit down. You're going to get blown off the side of this mountain. Sit down. And we did, and we grounded ourselves.
We made sure we had good footing and a good foundation because otherwise we literally could have been blown over or possibly blown off that cliff. It's a terrifying thing. And that's what Paul is saying here in Ephesians 4. The goal through edification is that we should no longer be spiritual children, that we should no longer be spiritual lightweights being tossed to and fro by the waves and blown about by every new divisive doctrine, but that we would grow stronger and deeper. into Jesus Christ.
That's what edification does. It gives us discernment when the gusts Of false teachings blow. It gives us stability when the enemy tries to blow us off course. It gives us resilience when the culture shifts and pressures us to conform. Think about a child.
Little kids, you know? They're vulnerable. You can tell them anything and they'll pretty much believe it, right? You can tell them Santa Claus, he can fit down a chimney. You can tell them the tooth fairy is going to come that night.
You know, they're vulnerable, they're unsure, they're easily influenced, and they're even gullible. Yes, I remember when I was a kid, my dad told me he was born big, and up until like two years ago, I believed him. I thought that he was born big, probably until I was like seven or eight years old. That dad was just born that way. You know, I didn't understand how this happened.
I believed him. But kids will believe that stuff. They'll believe anything you tell them, you know? And why do they have that belief?
Well, because they trust so much, but also because they don't have discernment or maturity yet. They don't have that. That comes with life experience. And that's exactly how some Christians still are. You have no discernment.
You go on social media and you hear somebody talking about, oh, there's this new thing called the Gospel of Thomas of Thomas. And it completely discredits what the other gospels have to say. Man, this is groundbreaking. This is really concerning here. We should look into this.
And does this contradict what the Bible says? Is this really true? It's like, guys, that was disproven like 2,000 years ago, like 1,200 years ago. It was written way later. It was not written by Thomas.
These are things that we need to know. And so when you have these TikTok theologians going online and posting about stuff and trying to influence people, if you're not careful, you could be influenced. You could be blown in that direction. A lot of Christians, we don't have discernment. You may have been a believer for 10, 20, or even 40 years, and yet you're still in your spiritual infancy.
That's like me saying I'm a chess master because I have a chessboard and I have the pieces set up, and I've been playing one game over the course of 25 years, and I've never moved a pawn. I'm still deciding which move to make. I'm not a chess master, I'm an idiot, right? That's not playing chess. Longevity doesn't equal maturity.
Longevity doesn't equal maturity. Sitting in church for 10 years doesn't guarantee growth. Edification is your responsibility. Being built up by the word of God, by sound teaching, by fellowship, by accountability. These things are important.
They produce maturity, but we need to dig in. Paul says in Ephesians 4, verse 14, that without edification, again, we are like children. Tossed to and fro by the waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by the cunning creatures. Craftiness of deceitful plotting. In other words, without edification, you're easy prey for the enemy.
You're easy to pick off, right? False teaching, cultural lies, you're easy to to pull off and to pull off from the rest of the pack. But when you're built up, When you're edified, you can stand firm. You're not swayed by every new idea or fad. You are rooted, you are mature.
And again, there's a lot of doctrines and a lot of false winds that are being blown around to this very day. You've got the TikTok theologians coming up with stuff that makes absolutely no sense. You've got the prosperity gospel. Telling people if they put their faith in Jesus, he's gonna Heal them of every disease, he's gonna make them rich, he's gonna give them all the desires of their heart, and they don't have to do anything except proclaim Jesus as Lord.
Well, that's bad news when that person finds out that they've got cancer. Or when that person gets fired from their job and it doesn't align with their prosperity theology, no. The fact is, God allows these things to happen for the greater good. And that doesn't always line up with what we think our greater good is, does it? A lot of times we think we know what's best.
God actually knows what's best. I think the most prominent false doctrine today that I see is the idea that Jesus was some kind of first century pacifist hippie, right? Walking around with his guys, taking life easy, being chill, never raising a ruckus, never hurting anybody's feelings, right? Telling people: be true to yourself. Follow your truth.
He encouraged everyone to follow their heart. That's not the Jesus of the Bible. That's not the Jesus of the scriptures. That's a caricature the devil has created in order for people to justify their sin. Yes, Jesus loved people, He loved people.
He loved them enough to tell them the truth and call them to repentance. When Jesus was talking to the woman caught in the act of adultery, remember they wanted to stone her. Right then and there, and legally. They had the right to. She was caught red-handed.
And they said, Teacher, what should we do? Jesus began to write their names on the sand, and you know the story, and each one of them, the oldest, to the youngest left one by one. And then he said to the woman, Woman, where are your accusers? And she said, There are none, Lord. And he said, Neither do I accuse you.
Go and sin no more. Go and sin no more. He didn't say, Neither do I accuse you, keep living your truth. Keep staying true to what you think is good for you. No, no.
He said, Go and sin no more. Jesus tells us truth. If we don't grow up in maturity through edification, we'll be tempted to believe in a Jesus of our own making instead of the Jesus revealed in Scripture. True love doesn't enable sin, it defeats it, it calls it out. That brings us to point number three: edification.
requires every member's Uh contribution. Edification requires every member's contribution. Look back at verse 15. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into him who is the head, which is Christ. from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself, in love.
Let's stop there. This is not just the job for the spiritual leadership that God has established. This is for everyone. This is for the seasoned saint. This is for the brand new believer.
This is for the mom, the dad, the single person, for the person that may be retired or educated or uneducated. It's for all of us. Paul says every member does its share. Every member must contribute. And then he says In verse 15, speak the truth in love.
Speak the truth. In love. This is what Charlie Kirk did so well. He spoke the truth in love. He did this in a way not to tear people down.
He didn't tell people what the Bible had to say or tell people what God said about them to hurt them and to prove a point and to alienate them. He did it to build a bridge because he knew that God had a greater plan for their life. This is essential that we speak the truth in love. First of all, it means we must speak the truth. Let's start with that, right?
A lot of times we don't feel like the truth is a loving thing to do. You ever have a friend, you're sitting across from them, they're talking to you, and maybe you're with a group of girlfriends or guy friends. I think girls, maybe this is more of a problem. Guys, we have no problem doing this, but they've got something in their teeth, or they've got food like on their face, and the girls are like, oh, she's in the middle of something. I don't want to embarrass her.
Meanwhile, she's got like a huge thing of salsa coming out of the side of her mouth. It's like, that's not a good look. It's okay, you can tell your friends that, right? Guys were like, you look like an idiot, you know? We have no problem with that.
It's like, oh, thank you. Yes, I'm going to wipe. Wipe my face off so I don't look like a fool. We need to speak the truth. We need to speak the truth, but we need to do it from a place of love.
There is no ambiguity. Jesus never spoke with ambiguity. He spoke the truth without compromise, without capitulation, without apology. We stand on God's word. as truth.
But we tell the truth from a place of love again in order to build up, not to tear down. not only to win the argument, not only to prove someone wrong. But ultimately, to lead them to Christ, to build a bridge, to help them understand that God's plan is the best plan. 1 Peter 3:15 tells us, In your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness. and respect.
Being a Christian doesn't mean you're joining the debate club or that you're pointing out what's wrong in everybody. It does mean that when you tell the truth, when you are righting that wrong, that you are doing it from a place of love. Love being your motivation with the goal of leading someone to Christ. Your goal is deliverance for that person, not destruction of that person. Because as we look at people who have hardened their hearts against God and have hardened their hearts against truth.
We must recognize there's no debate. There's no amount of fact or truth or arguments we can do to win some of these people over.
Some are so harded in their beliefs that we can never do anything. That is where we must recognize Jesus set the captives free. Break the chains of these people. Help them to understand that you are the way, the truth, and the life, and you have a plan for their lives. Help us to be that messenger, to be a light in the world, right?
Not to dunk on someone or to make them walk away feeling embarrassed. That's going to happen no matter what. Your goal is to lead people to Christ. That is what we are here for. Truth without love can crush.
But love without truth corrupts, but truth in love. Edifies. That is what we must do. Share the truth. And here's the beautiful thing.
When everybody does their part, not just the leaders, not just the loudest voices, but every member of the body, Paul says the church grows. It is built up and it reflects Christ as the head. And so in closing, I want to ask you, are you doing your part? Are you doing your part in this work of edification? Are you contributing to the health of the church, or are you letting others carry the weight?
Are you building up the body, or are you just consuming? Because Paul says the church grows as every part does its share. That's when it happens. And that's when we see the church grow, when every part does its share. That means when you serve, when you encourage, when you pray for someone, when you step into your spiritual gifting, the whole church is stronger as a result.
Not just you get strengthened so you can be an island off by yourself and you can stand tall as an ivory tower in the wilderness.
Okay, great. Yep, we all need to make a stand in our sphere of influence. But in the church, we are called to edify one another. The whole church is benefited when we share our gifting.
Well when you hold back When you stay silent, And when you disengage, the body feels. feels the loss. Maybe you're listening today and you're realizing that your life Doesn't have a solid foundation that we've been talking about. You've been building your life on religion or politics or success or fame or pleasure. And you're realizing this is a shifting foundation, right?
I thought that this was good, and now this has changed, and now I don't want this anymore. And I realize all this work that I've done over the years really has amounted to nothing, and I'm disappointed with who I've become. Listen, that is why you must build your life on the rock of Jesus Christ. Because when the winds came and the storm blew and the rain fell, it held true. It did not crumble, it did not fall down.
The life that is built on Jesus Christ as the cornerstone will never fail and will never fall. And so maybe you're listening today and you've built your life on sinking sand, on that shifting foundation. Even religion, maybe, you've built your life upon, but not Jesus. I want to tell you today that the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory, only Jesus can save you. And that is what he came for because he loves you. He has a plan for your life. And he wants to heal you and he wants to bring you to himself. Jesus came to save you, he died, rose.
and offers forgiveness to anyone who would accept it. Do you know Jesus today? Do you know him as your Lord and Savior? You may know about him. No, I'm not talking about that.
I'm saying, do you know him personally? personally. Do you have a relationship with him today? If not, you can walk out of here a new creation. You can have your sins forgiven, that burden of guilt and shame removed from your life, and you can.
Come out of this building, no joke, with a whole new lease on life. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but through me. Have you asked him to forgive you and take control of your life? Have you made him your Saviour and your Lord? Because if you haven't, you're missing out.
Jesus came and he said to the disciples, I have come to give life and life more abundantly. The Christian life, there's nothing like it. It's filled with joy, with peace, perspective, and hope. Even in the darkest days, we can have hope because our Savior is a risen Savior and we know that he has conquered the grave. Amen?
And so If you would like to have that hope today. If you would like to put your faith in Jesus Christ, respond to this invitation now. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for each and every person here. You know the number of hairs on their head?
You know the sins they've committed. You know the things they've done wrong, and Lord, you know exactly where their hearts are at. Lord, I pray that you would convict and convince each and every person of their need for you. Only you can do this. Only you can do this.
Try and convince or manipulate anybody into a relationship with you. It's a work of the Holy Spirit.
So I pray that each person here that doesn't have that hope. Doesn't know they're going to heaven when they die, hasn't been forgiven of their sin, Lord, that you would convict them. You would convince them, Lord, that they would recognize their need for you. And they would recognize that Jesus, you are the Son of God. You are the Messiah.
You are the Savior who came into the world to deliver us from our sin and deliver us from hell. and delivers from ourselves. Lord, speak to each person here. And while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, and we're praying, if that's you and you want to put your faith in Jesus Christ, Just pray this prayer out loud after me, wherever you are. Here in Orange County, here in Riverside.
Over in Maui, if you're over there, you pray this prayer out loud after me. Pray this, dear God. I know I'm a sinner. But I know you are the Savior. Who died for my sin?
I thank you for loving me. and for dying for me. and for forgiving me. I turn from my sin today. And I turn to you.
Make me a new creation. From the inside out. Help me to walk with you. and hear from you. And to stand for you.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. God bless you that prayed that prayer just now. Congratulations.
Hey everybody, thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on know God. Mm-hmm.
