No Good Excuses: Why We Say No to God | Sunday Message

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.

Okay, Luke chapter 14. No good excuses, why we say no to God. I'm going to talk a little bit about excuses.

Now you know what excuses are. Those are what we come up with when we really don't want to do something. An excuse is a reason that shows up after you've decided to not do something. It's really a lack of desire. An excuse is just a polite way of saying, I really don't want to do it.

One person defined an excuse as the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.

So we might classify an excuse as sort of a fancy lie, a lie dressed up for dinner, if you will. And we come up with them all the time. Oh, I can't do that. I'm so sorry. And we're gonna see some excuses before us here in Luke chapter 14.

But take the gym. You know, when it's time to get up in the morning and go to the gym, we come up with all the excuses. Oh, there were four drops of rain last night. I don't think I can go, or my back hurts a little bit. You know, the business model for gyms is built on this simple fact: most of the people that sign up are never going to come back again.

67% of people that join gyms never use the gym.

So we know what it's like to offer up those excuses.

Now, the first excuse we know of in human history happened in the Garden of Eden with our first parents, Adam and Eve. God had created Adam and Eve and put them in an absolute paradise. They were just to enjoy what the Lord created and walk in fellowship with Him. And the coolest thing of all, as the sun was setting, the Lord would show up each and every day walking through the garden in the cool of the day.

So the Lord said, You can enjoy all these things I've created. There's just one restriction: stay away from this tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Scene two: Adam and Eve in front of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why are they there?

Well, God said, stay away from it. What's this all about? And the serpent shows up, Satan, and he deceives them. And he says, Did God really say what you thought he said? Hey, you want to eat of the tree of this fruit?

For in the day you eat thereof, you will be a God knowing good and evil. And the devil then said, You can trust. Yeah Right? Serpent? Snake?

And so They eat of the forbidden fruit. Then the Lord shows up, as He always did, walking through the garden. Calling out, Adam, where are you? Adam's hiding, as was Eve. And the Lord said, Did you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

And now, the first excuse in human history, Adam says, It's the woman you gave me. He totally throws Eve under the bus.

Now, I wonder how he said it. Did he say it as in the woman you gave me? Lord, I was taking a nap. I wake up and this chick is here and she's giving me trouble. It's her fault.

I don't know. Or maybe he said it this way: it's the woman you gave me. God, this is your fault. I'm putting the blame on you, whatever it was. He wasn't taking responsibility for his actions.

But if there was an excuse, Hall of Fame. the one that Aaron offered up. He was watching over the children of Israel as Moses was away, should take the cake.

So the Lord has used Moses and Aaron to deliver the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt. They're making their way to the promised land. And the Lord says to Moses, I want to have a talk with you. Come on up here to Mount Sinai. And the Lord gives to Moses the Ten Commandments engraved on two tablets.

Meanwhile, His Aaron was left in charge. And Aaron was like the worst babysitter of all time. Because the Israelites come to him and say, Hey, where's this Moses that led us out of Egypt? And he says, I'll tell you what, everybody, go get all of your bling, bring your rings, your toe rings, your nose rings, anything that glitters, bring it to me.

So, all this gold is brought to Aaron. He throws it into a fire, molds it in the shape of a golden calf, would have been something they would have worshipped back in Egypt. And he puts it up and he says, This is the God that delivered you from Egypt, and they're worshiping the golden calf.

Meanwhile, up in Mount Sinai, the Lord's giving to Moses the Ten Commandments. He comes down from the mountain. He hears all this noise in the camp. He thinks it's a war. Then he realizes it's a party.

Here he sees Israel dancing around this golden calf naked. Having something akin to an enorgy. And they're singing, celebrate good times coming. Yeah, it's just like, what is going on? They had broken so many of the commandments.

Have no other gods before me, have no graven images. And then Aaron comes up with a lie, the excuse that should be in the excuse, Hall of Fame. He says, I can explain everything. I know this looks bad. But we just threw all this gold in the fire, and this golden calf just came out.

So, what else could we do but strip off our clothes and dance around it? That's a bad excuse. But we come up with excuses all the time when we don't want to do something. I actually read of actual excuses reported by HR managers across the country. These are real excuses.

That were offered as to why a person could not go to work in that particular day. One person said, I got stuck in the blood pressure machine at the grocery store and couldn't get out. Really? Another said, I can't come in, my llama won't stop throwing up. What is this?

Napoleon Dynamite? You ever see that movie? I think he had a llama. Another person said, I accidentally ate cat food instead of tuna, and I'm deathly ill. Wow, now this reminds me of a story.

It involves a friend of mine named John Irwin. John, where are you? You're here somewhere. There's John over there. Very talented director.

He directed Jesus Revolution, The House of David. He has a new series coming out called Old Stories and The first one is going to be about the life of Moses. We'll show you a little bit of that in the near future. But so he goes into this fancy supermarket with his wife. And so she's getting her groceries and he's walking around and he likes beef turkey.

So he says, I'll get three kinds of beef turkey. And he takes them and then goes home and he starts eating the first one. He goes, this is the worst beef jerky I've ever eaten. And then maybe the next one is good, and he tried to get this. It's awful.

What is this vegan beef turkey? What's going on? Third one was just as bad as the other two. And his wife says to him, That's beef jerky for dogs that you bought. What amazes me is they had three kinds of beef turkey for dogs.

And what amazes me even worse, John bought it, but still. That's like the lady saying, oh, well, you know, I thought it was tuna, it was cat food.

So. But here's one of my favorite excuses actually offered. An employee said, I can't come in today because, quote, my reflection looked judgy that morning. And I need a mental health day. To repair my relationship with the mirror.

Give that one a try, see how it goes.

Okay.

So Luke 14. It's a story of a Bunch of guys getting invited to a great feast, a banquet, a big deal to be invited. And they all offered up excuses. Remember, an excuse is not a reason. They have offered up excuses as to why they could not attend.

Luke 14, verse 16. A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to tell the guests, come, the banquet is ready. But they all began making excuses. One said, I bought a field and I must inspect it.

Please excuse me. Another said, I just bought five pairs of oxen. I want to try them out. Please excuse me. This last guy I love.

And others said, I just got married, I can't come. It's just like, my life just ended, I'm married. Verse 21: The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious. He said, go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.

After the servant had done this, he reported, there's still room for more.

So the master said, go into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come so the house will be full. For none of those that I first invited will even get the smallest taste of my banquet. I'll stop there. No, it's important. that we understand the culture of this time.

to appreciate what is happening here. To be invited to a banquet was a big deal. It's like an invitation to the White House. You don't take it lightly. No, you have a choice.

You can accept or decline the invitation.

So you are SVP, right? And if you do RSVP, in other words, if you say, I will come to your banquet, that means that they're going to have food ready for you, a setting at the table ready for you. And so to not show up is really an insult, especially if you don't have a good reason, especially if you offer a lame excuse.

So these folks that we're reading about. Had RSVP. They had said, I'm going to come, and then they didn't show up.

Now, the problem is back in this day, when the food was made, You had to eat it because you couldn't refrigerate it.

So the food was prepared. It's like first the announcement was given: we're going to have a banquet at this date. Will you come? Yes, you say, I will come.

Now that day comes, we've got the food ready.

Okay, get the word out quickly. Everyone needs to show up immediately. The food is ready. And these people deliberately did not come. Why?

Number one. The first guy said, I bought a field and I must inspect it. Please excuse me. No wait, what? You might say this guy was possessed by his possessions.

Now, before we judge him too harshly, we've all done the same thing. Because we bought stuff online. Right, you're scrolling through Instagram. Oh, this looks cool, and you order it. And if you have Apple Pay, you just push the button, bing, it's on its way.

Great. But have you ever ordered something online that was not anything like what you thought it would be. I heard about a guy that ordered a dining room table. It looked beautiful, large, just what he needed. And it came in a tiny little box.

And it turns out that he ordered a little dining room table for a dollhouse. He could hold it in the palm of his hand.

Now you would think the price would be an indication. I would think that the price for a dollhouse table would be a lot less than a large one, but that's what he got. It wasn't what he thought it would be. But this is a man that seemed to think that his possessions were more important than this banquet. And sometimes people will allow their possessions to possess them.

There's nothing wrong with making or having money. But you don't want to be obsessed with it. The Bible never says money is the root of all evil.

However, the Bible does say the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. While some have coveted after they've veered from the faith and pierced their souls through with many sorrows, it's the love of it. You may have a lot of it and love it. You may not have as much as you want and still love it, but that becomes your God. Remember the story of Esau.

In the book of Genesis, Who sold his birthright for a bowl of stew? He was so hungry. We remember Judas Iscariot sold his very soul for 30 pieces of silver. Take away truth. Don't let your possessions possess you.

It's fine to have a successful life, work hard. Do your best. Remember to honor the Lord and your giving as well. But don't become so obsessed with those things because one day you're going to leave it all behind. Remember to lay up for yourself treasure in heaven, Jesus said, where neither moth nor rust corrupts nor thieves break in and steal.

Jesus told the story of a man who had so much stuff he had to build bigger barns. To put it, and I have a friend who's in real estate, and he told me the biggest thing right now in real estate is not building homes anymore, it's building storage units. Because people need a place to store all of their stuff. Oh, I need another storage unit and another one.

So this guy says, I'll build bigger barns, the first-century equivalent of a storage unit. And then one day, and then he says to himself, So just take it easy, man. Eat, drink, and be merry. We still use that phrase today: take it easy. Take it easy.

And Jesus said, But the problem is, the Lord said, Today your soul is required of you.

Now who will all those things belong to?

So it's okay to have things, but don't let that become your primary focus of life. That's the first guy possessed by his possessions. Guy number two, it seemed like his career was more important than Christ. Verse 19. Another said, I just bought five pairs of oxen.

I want to try them out. Please excuse me. Wait, you you bought animals to pull your plow? Or your cart, you haven't even seen them yet? What if they're maimed?

What if they're dead? Uh would you buy a car without test driving at first? Would you be suspicious if you went down to the car lot and found a car you liked and said, Could I take it for a spin around the block? And the guy said, No, you cannot, but I want you to sign this right now. Oh, careful.

You want to know, that's why they offer you the free samples. You want to see what you're getting.

So, with the first guy who was possessed by his possessions, this guy would make a living by plowing.

So it's good to make a living. It's great to have a career. And God will bless it. In fact, in Proverbs 13:4, it says, Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.

So God will bless hard work. God will honor it, especially as you honor Him. And by the way, I think Christians should be the best at everything that they do. We should be the hardest workers. We should be in late and out, not in late, in early.

No, I can't come my lumbas throwing up or whatever. No, show up for work. You know, do the best you can do as the Bible says. Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.

Now we come to the last guy. Hey, I got married and I can't come. Wait, wait. You can't come to a banquet? I mean, you couldn't go home to your wife and say, honey, guess what?

We got invited to this incredible royal banquet. all the food you could ever want and it's free. You don't have to make dinner tonight. I think she would like that. And by the way, he had already RSVP'd.

But what's unique about this third guy. Is he wasn't polite? The first two were polite. Please excuse me. This guy's not even polite.

So, I guess he was allowing relationships to keep him away.

Now, Jesus dials us in, he takes it to the next level. In Luke 14, verse 26, he shows the people what a real follower should look like. Verse twenty five rather, a large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, If you want to be my disciple, you must by comparison hate everyone else, your father, mother, children, brothers, sisters, wife. Even your own life, or you can't be my disciple.

If you don't carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. But don't wait until you count the cost, or who would begin construction of a building without first. Calculating the cost, and he illustrates it with a man who didn't have enough money to finish his project, and a king that went to war by not thinking about the power of his enemy. Then he wraps it up and he says, You cannot be my disciple without giving up everything you own. Salt is good for seasoning, but if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again?

Flavorless salt. Is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It's thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear, let him hear.

So Jesus was very popular at this point. It says in verse 25, a large crowd. was following him, and he said to them, And he tells them what it means to be a disciple. Listen to this. Every disciple of Jesus is a Christian.

But not every Christian is necessarily a disciple. What is a disciple, you ask?

Well, it's defined for us here in Luke 14 and other passages of scripture. And are we not told in the Great Commission to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations? How can I be? Making disciples, if I'm not first a disciple myself, because it takes one to make one.

So, my question to you is: are you his disciple? How do you know?

Well, first of all, If you're really his disciple, you should love him more than anyone or anything else. I mean, granted, these words of Jesus in verse 26 are challenging. If you want to be my disciple, Hate everyone else, by comparison, hate everyone else, your mother, wife, and children, brothers, and sisters in your own life.

Now, I know that sounds jarring. But Jesus is using the technique of sharp contrast to make a point. In other words, obviously he's not telling us to hate people. Jesus told us to love our neighbor. He told us to love our enemies.

He demonstrated that on the cross, saying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Jesus tells us to honor our father and mother. And then later, the Apostle Paul says, husbands are to love their wife as Christ loves the church.

So clearly, the Bible is not advocating hatred. Here's what it is. Love God more than you love anyone else. But if you love God more than you love anyone else, He will give you even more love for other people. It's just having your priorities in order, just like your career or your possessions.

All these things are fine in their place, but God needs to be in the number one position. That's simply what He is saying. When you get into a relationship, you don't want that relationship to pull you away from God. And we see this happen all the time.

Someone's at church every week, they're growing spiritually, they're in a small group, they're serving and volunteering, it's awesome. And then when they disappear, where did they go? I don't know. They went up with this one girl one night, and we haven't seen them in a month.

Well, I'll tell you what may be happening. Maybe it's a non-believer and they've entered into a relationship with him and the inevitable follows. This is why the Bible says, Don't be unequally yoked together with non-believers. For what fellowship does light have with darkness? It's far easier for a non-believer to pull a believer down than it is for a believer to pull a non-believer up.

As an example, I could take someone relatively small in the front row. And I could say, I'm going to try to pull you up on the platform. And despite my massive strength, That hurts me that you laugh, but It was meant as a joke that, you know, I would have a hard time pulling you up. My granddaughter, I'd have a hard time pulling her up. But she could pull me down really easily.

You know why? Because I'm 73 years old. No, because. Gravity is on her side. You see, she'd pull me a bull, she has gravity.

So, when you have a non-believer and a believer in a relationship, often the believer starts compromising.

So, the believer needs to ask himself the question: is this person more important to me than God? Because this person is literally pulling me away from Christ right now. There has to be a moment where you say, I really like being your friend or whatever. This is, but I love the Lord, and if you want to be my friend, we need to share the same values. And I want you to come to church with me and walk with the Lord.

No, I don't want to do that.

Okay, well, maybe you might have to break that relationship off and pray for that person. to make a commitment to Christ. When I first started dating my wife, She was my wife, my girlfriend. I said to her, I don't know where I came up with this. Kathy, if you ever get in the way of my relationship with God, it's over.

What kind of thing is that to say to a girl? But I said it to her, and for some unknown reason Kathy liked it. She said, I was looking for a guy who had conviction, and that really appealed to me.

So, guys, try that out. Maybe you'll never have a relationship with a girl. I don't know what I can say to you, but It's a thought. Love Jesus more than anyone or anything else. Number two, you got to take up your cross and follow him.

Verse 27: If you do not carry your cross, says Jesus, and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

Now If you were in the first century, And you saw some man carrying a cross. You would know that man was going to die a painful death. He'd be surrounded by Roman soldiers. The Romans crucified men on both sides of the road as a warning to not rebel against them. And so this was a graphic, sort of dramatic.

Clear image he was giving, take up your cross. In fact, Christ himself would take up his cross. And die on it for our sins, but he's saying you must take up your cross.

Well, what does that mean?

Sometimes uh Parent may say, well, our cross to bearer is our children. Don't say that in front of your kids. And your kids say, Well, our crosster is our mother, or Our parents. Or my cross to bear is this or that? No, your cross to bear simply means You're dying to And what that means is you're not gonna live for selfish desires.

And Jesus says, if anyone wants to be my disciple, Turn from your selfish ways and take up your cross and follow me.

Now, that is so. different than culture today. Because when you look at social media, it's like a whole system has been designed around self. What's the most popular kind of photography today? It's called a selfie.

And In this obsession with self, where has it gotten us? We have a generation that is the most medicated, the most depressed. And the most down as compared to any other generation in American history.

So here's the solution of Jesus. He dealt with this 2,000 years ago, before there was Instagram and TikTok. He said, if you want to find yourself, in effect, lose yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Number four. A disciple will impact their culture.

In verse 34, he says, Salt is good for seasoning, but if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It's thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. Salt was a big deal in the ancient world.

They didn't have refrigeration, as I mentioned.

So if you Caught a fish. You're either going to eat it immediately or you're going to pack it in salt. Like beef jerky for dogs. And so, you know, so you could save it and eat it later, right? But salt.

Also brings flavor. This morning, my wife made me an omelette. She said, I didn't put salt on it. You should put some salt on it. I over-salted the omelette.

So a little goes a long way. And as Christians, we're like salt in the culture. But salt that has lost its flavor is good for nothing.

Sort of like a flat Coke. I'm not a big soft drink guy. I used to be when I was a kid. Every now and then I'll have a Coke. But when I have a Coke, I want a proper Coke.

I want maximum sugar. If possible, I want it in that thick glass bottle. You know, maybe I'll have a pizza or something and drink the Coke and then Eat raw lard afterwards and whatever else I can find to gain weight. Um But you know You don't want an uncarbonated coke, right? Or a decaf coffee.

Why? I mean, You go to a nice coffee place and the person thinks, I'm gonna decaf soy. Latte With Kale and What? Just get out. What are you doing?

That's What about a decaf Christian? What about an uncarbonated disciple? They see this is the thing. We want to live in such a way. That others will want what we have.

Salt stimulates thirst, right? In the movie theaters, I like to over-salt that popcorn, so you'll spend $30 for something to drink. And if we're living as we ought to live as followers of Jesus, we will stimulate in them a thirst for God. We think evangelism means having all the right answers.

Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is live a life that raises the right kinds of questions. The greatest compliment that can be paid a Christian is not, why are you so judgmental and so harsh? No, it's why are you so loving? and selfless. And kind and cheerful, even when you're going through a hard time.

How is it you can do that? What is your secret?

So you're being salt and you've earned the right. To share the gospel.

So let me look back to this statement of Jesus and close. Verse 21, the servant returned, told his master, Uh that Who was not coming and why they weren't coming? And the master said, Go quickly into the streets and alleys in town and invite. the poor and the crippled and the blind, but there's still room for more. He says, well, go everywhere, go to the country lanes behind the hedges and urge them to come.

This is a picture of what we should be doing with the gospel. Why don't we tell more people? Why do young believers have so much more zeal than older believers? Why is it that those that know the least do the most, and those that know the most? Do the least.

Where did our zeal go? I love how a new believer will want to bring people to the Lord, but as we get older and we walk with the Lord longer, maybe we start taking these things for granted. And we don't want to share the gospel. People don't like to share. This goes back to our childhood.

Put two little toddlers on the floor. Put a toy between them and tell them to share. They can't even talk yet, but they'll get in a fight. Because they don't like to share. It's not in our nature.

And ladies, let me say something on behalf of all men. I feel I'm qualified to say something on their behalf. I don't know why I just appointed myself, but um Men don't like to share their food. Guys, am I right? If I'm right, applaud.

Yay. If you disagree, applaud. You're a beta male, beta male, beta male.

Okay.

Okay, let me restate a sorry. You are though. Um I know you're the decaf latte guys too. But here's the thing. We will share our food.

But we don't like to share our food because some girls go, no, my husband shares food with me. Oh, I know he does. He's taking up his cross and following Jesus and But he doesn't like it. Guys are like dogs. You know, you take food and you put it in the dog dish, the dog wants to eat his food.

Try to interrupt the dog eating his food.

Now you'll say well Can I have a little of it? No, look, we'll do better. We'll get you your own. I'll go out to a restaurant and we'll order something. I'll say, Kathy, what do you want?

Oh, I'm not really hungry. I'll just have a bite of what you're having. No, no, no, no. I know this trick. Yeah.

Dead whatever you want. What are you going to get? A hamburger? Can I have just one bite? No, I'll get you your own.

I don't want a whole hamburger. Just a bite.

Okay.

I know it's going to happen.

So the food arrives. And here comes the fork. The invading fork. in my space hovering around. And first she takes a little stab at this and a stab of this other thing, dips it into this little sauce, because she's pouring little sauces all over everything, dips it here, dips it there, asks for extra sauce, dips it in that too.

And then I can't get to my food. I can't get my fork into my plate because this invading fork is dominating. Finally, the fork's gone, and I eat my meal, and I'm finishing my hamburger, and I'm back down to the last bite, getting ready to. Can I have that? Sure.

Take up your cross and follow Jesus. And she eats it. But you see, we don't like... to share our food. But we do, okay, so the point is we should want to share the gospel with others.

Let me tell you a story, a true story, from the Archives of Harvest. We've been doing these Harvest Crusades for 35 years, is it? Incredible. And we did one in San Diego some years ago. It was a multi-night crusade.

So there is this person that came and hired a limo to take them.

So they went into the crusade, and the limo drivers just waiting around for them to come out. And she didn't bring a jacket, she was kind of cold, and walked up to our merch table and saw these hoodies and sweatshirts and such. And she said to the person working at the merch table, Hey, do you have any like sweatshirts that don't have this blankety blank religious stuff on it? And the person working there very astutely observed: maybe this person isn't a Christian. She said, You ought to go into the crusade and listen to the message.

So the limo driver did. She heard the gospel and went forward and gave her life to Jesus Christ.

So that's great. But the story does not end there.

So the limo driver was so excited Of what Christ had just done for her. The next night she wanted to bring her friends to the crusade. She invited them: come and join me. I'll drive you in my limo. But they all said no to her, just like the people in the story that we just read.

No, I don't want to go, I can't come. And she was sad and frustrated, and driving alone in her limo to the crusade. And there's some guy hitchhiking.

So she pulls over, rolls down her window, she says, Listen, I'll take you anywhere you want to go for free if you will agree to go to the Harvest Crusade before.

Well, the guy had never been in a limo before.

So he gets on the back of the limo. She drives him to the crusade. And he ends up hearing the gospel and he goes forward and gives his life to Christ.

So I love that. By the way, that's getting saved in style, is it not? But here's the point: the zeal, the excitement of this believer wanting to reach other people. Because sometimes you'll ask people to go to a crusade or come to church, and they'll be really nice about it. Would you like to come to church with me some Sunday?

Sure, they say. Really? Would you like to come this Sunday? I love it.

Okay, well we could go out to lunch afterwards. That'd be fantastic. What time shall I pick you up? Pick me up at this time. And you get their address and you drive to their house, and they're not even there.

They're gone deliberately. They never planned on going with you, but they were so nice about it. It makes no sense. You thought they were so close, but then you meet somebody. At work on Monday morning, you don't meet them, you see them every Monday.

And they have their challenge for you, their questions for you. They're always giving you a hard time, harassing you about your faith, and you're thinking, oh man, they're so far from the kingdom of God. I suggest to you that sometimes the nicest people are further from the kingdom of God than the most argumentative. And let me explain to you why some people are argumentative. It's because they're under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Something's bothering them and they're fighting against it. Example. Saul of Tarsus. A religious Jew. A member of the Sanhedrin, which was like the Supreme Court of its day.

A very zealous, committed, educated man. And he reasoned that this. group of people, the Christians. were an offense and he wanted to destroy them.

So he was authorized to arrest them and execute them. And the first man that he executed was the courageous young Stephen, the first martyr of the church. And as Stephen was dying, he prayed, reflecting Christ on the cross. Lord, don't hold this sin against their charge. Saul was so angry and he went on a rampage after that to hunt down Christians until he met Jesus on the Damascus road.

And while he's Riding along on the road, suddenly a blinding light comes from heaven, and he hears a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? And then the Lord makes this interesting statement: It's hard for you to kick against the goads. You think, what does that even mean? A goad is a sharpened stick. You use it to make your animal go faster when he's pulling your cart.

Sort of like, you know, the brake, the accelerator. Go faster. You're kicking against the goats. You're fighting with me, says this voice. And then Saul of Tarsus says, Who are you, Lord?

And he's thinking to himself, Don't say Jesus. And the voice says, I am Jesus, echo chambers, that's that's us, whom you are persecuting. But that day. Saul the Christian killer. became Paul.

The Christ follower. You see, but he was fighting, he was Arguing, he was resisting, but in reality, he was closer to the kingdom of God. Maybe you're that person. Always with the questions, always with the challenges.

Well, I don't want to be a Christian. There's so many reasons why I don't want to be a Christian.

Well, tell me some.

Well, the Bible, it's full of contradictions. Really? Okay, you've read the Bible? Never opened it. How do you know there are contradictions?

I've just heard it.

Okay.

Well, why don't you... Follow Christ. Too many hypocrites in the church. Church is filled with hypocrites.

Now, I wish I could tell you you could find a hypocrite-free church, but if you do, please don't join it because you'll ruin it. Yes, there are hypocrites in the church, but Jesus never said, follow my people. He said, follow me. Jesus will never be a hypocrite. Jesus will be everything he promises to be to every person who follows him.

Really? There's no reasons. There's no reasons. Only excuses. What is an excuse?

Again, it's something you make up when you don't want to do something. Why don't we want to do this something? Why don't we want to follow Christ? Is it really an intellectual issue? What's really keeping us away?

Well, Jesus actually gives us the answer. Says people don't come to the light because they don't want their evil deeds to be exposed.

Sometimes it's really, I don't want to change my lifestyle. I don't want to. Give up anything or do anything to follow God. I want to live my life the way that I want to live it. That's a real reason, but it's not really a reason.

It's not a good one if it is. Because whatever you give up to follow Christ will be more than made up to you in this life and in the life to come. Jesus said, I have come that you might have life and that more abundantly. He'll give you life after death and he'll give you life during life. When I was a 17-year-old kid 10 years ago, The thing that appealed to me about being a Christian was finding the meaning of life.

And I did. But now as I'm 73 years old that Life after death parts getting more interesting. Like, okay, well, how's that going? Or go to heaven because I believed in Jesus. I like that.

What if this were your last day on earth? Would you go to heaven? Do you know?

Well, yes, I would go. Why would you go? Because I'm a good person. Oh, that's not good. Heaven's not for good people.

Heaven's for forgiven people. It's for people who realize their need for God and have asked for His forgiveness. And that's why Christ died for us on the cross, because there was no way we could live a good enough life. to get our way to heaven. We fell short.

But Jesus came to pay a debt he did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay. He died on that cross for our sin and rose again from the dead three days later. And now he stands at the door of our life and he knocks. And he says, if we'll hear his voice and open the door, he'll come in. Are you like Saul of Tarsus running from the Lord, fighting with the Lord?

Or maybe you just have a bunch of shallow excuses. It's time to believe, and He will forgive you. The table is ready. The food is ready to be served. a relationship with God.

Meaning in this life. in hope of heaven in the afterlife. It's all offered to you.

Now it's up to you what you will do with it. I want to lead you in a prayer right now, and if you want... To ask Christ to come into your life if you want his forgiveness. You can do it right here. right now.

Let's pray. Father. I pray for every person here. I pray you will speak to their heart. Help them to see their need for you and help them to come to you, we would pray.

Now while her heads are bowed and her eyes are closed and we're praying. Maybe you would say today, I need Jesus. I've been looking for the. Meaning of life. I have this big hole in my heart that nothing this culture offers has been able to fill.

I want to know God in a personal way. I want... To know that I'll go to heaven when I die, pray for me. If you want Jesus to come into your life, if you want Him to forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you will go to heaven when you die, Would you just raise your hand up right now and let me pray for you wherever you are? Raise your hand up and I'll pray for you today.

God bless you. Raise it up hour. I can see it. God bless you. God bless you.

Yes. Anybody else? God bless.

Some of you are watching in one of our other campuses. Harvest riverside, harvest Maui, maybe watching online. I'm going to lead a prayer that you can pray right now. And if you want Christ to come into your life and forgive you of your sin, just pray this prayer after me. You could even pray it out loud if you like.

Pray these words, Lord Jesus. I know that I'm a sinner. But I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for me. I turn from my sin. And I choose to follow you.

From this moment forward. Thank you for hearing and answering this prayer. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. God bless you.

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.