The Golden Key to Spiritual Growth

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. You're listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, and my objective is to deliver, hopefully, compelling practical insights in faith, culture, and current events from a biblical perspective. To find out more about our ministry, just go to our website, harvest.org. So thanks for joining me for this podcast.

Hey everybody, welcome to Harvest at Home. I'm Greg Laurie, and I have a special message for you with the title, The Golden Key to Spiritual Growth, and it's based on Mark chapter four. So turn in your Bibles with me if you would.

We're gonna read an amazing Bible story in just a few moments, and of course, we're in the Gospel of Mark right now that we're calling The Gospel for Busy People. Let me begin with a question. Why do some succeed while others fail in the Christian life? And we all know people who have walked with the Lord for many years, and God has used them powerfully, and then we know other people who basically crash and burn.

Here's the answer. The people that do not succeed in the spiritual life end up that way because of choices they make. Not one choice necessarily, but hundreds, even thousands of choices over the course of their lifetime to not do the right thing, and by default, end up doing the wrong thing. Listen, it comes down to this. If you want to grow spiritually, you will. If you don't want to grow spiritually, you won't.

It's really up to you. In fact, God gives us a choice in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 19. The Lord says, I call heaven and earth as witnesses for you today, and I've set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Now choose life. So the Lord is saying, it's up to you. You want to bless life?

You want to curse life? That's your choice, but I give you the choice. And I love how he tells us the right choice. He goes, choose life. Make the right choice.

Do the right thing. God has given you everything you need to know in the Bible about him, and he's given you all the spiritual power to grow spiritually. We're told over in 1 Peter 1-3, his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Okay, we're going to look at one of my favorite stories in the Bible. It's a parable. Now you know what a parable is.

A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Just think of it as a story. We all love stories. We all love to watch movies. We love to read novels. We love to read fiction.

We love a good story, and even better if it's a true story. Jesus told lots of stories. In fact, he told so many stories. The Bible says the common people or the regular folk heard him gladly. He didn't speak over people's heads. He didn't try to impress them with theological words. He broke everything down in an understandable way so they could get it. And we're going to look at the parable of the sower, which is a parable that reveals to us the golden key to spiritual growth. Not long ago, I was invited to the White House, and a group of pastors were invited into the Oval Office at the request of the president to pray for him and give him some advice. Now, some people are critical of that. Why would you go and do that? Well, excuse me, any time a president or a governor or an elected official would say, would you come into my office and pray for me and give me some advice?

I don't think I would say no to that. We have biblical precedent, of course. We look at Daniel advising the kings of Babylon.

We see Joseph advising the Pharaoh and so forth. So, of course, we said yes, and the president was very receptive to what we had to say. And then when it came time to pray, he was very happy to pray and ask for God's help in his life. And then he gave to all of us an unexpected gift. There was a stack of these boxes on his desk, and we were each given one, and this box has a key in it. And as you can see, this is a commemorative key.

On the box it says the President of the United States, and then here's the picture of the White House. And then inside is this golden key. And the president said, now this key opens some lock somewhere here at the White House. I don't really know what, but we understand it's a commemorative key.

We're not expecting to go down to the White House next week and just start trying to put it in key holes and see where we can go. No, it's a commemorative key. It's a golden key, as you can see, and it's a special thing to have, and I'm appreciative to President Trump for giving that to me and the other pastors. But I have a golden key for you today, and this one is not gonna open up any locks at the White House, but it can open up some locks, if you will, in your own life.

It's the golden key to spiritual growth. Now, before we read from Mark chapter four, let's get the backdrop. Jesus had had a long and emotional day. His mother and brothers showed up to where he was speaking, and they wanted to take him home because in their words, they thought he had lost his mind. And then after that, he was accused by the scribes of being inspired by Satan.

Not a good day, a lot of drama. So it's interesting, as we come to Mark chapter four, we read that Jesus has gone to the beach, effectively. Now it's the Sea of Galilee, which is actually a massive freshwater lake. So he went to the water, and I don't know about you, but I love to be near water.

I love to walk on the beach. It's a place where you contemplate things, and you're surrounded by God's creation, and it's just a great place to sort of unwind and reflect. And I think Jesus loved to spend time in the water. We see a lot of his great teachings and activities right there near the Sea of Galilee. So with that in mind, we come to Mark chapter four, and we read these words. Once again, by the way, I'm reading from the New Living Translation. Mark chapter four, verse one. Once again, Jesus began teaching by the lake shore. A very large crowd soon gathered around him, and he got into a boat. And he sat on the boat while the people remained on the shore, and he taught them by telling many stories in the form of parables, such as this one.

Listen, says Jesus. A farmer went out to plant some seed, and he scattered it across the field. Some fell in a footpath, and the birds came and ate it.

Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. I'm sure the Lord was probably gesturing as he was teaching. In the Sermon on the Mount, he says, look at the birds. They don't worry.

Why are you worrying? Look at the flowers, how beautiful they are. Maybe he gestured, and there was a farmer in the distance throwing seed out left and right. So he talks about this seed that goes in a footpath, and the birds come and eat it. Another seed falls on shallow soil with underlying rock, and it sprouted up quickly, but it withered under the hot sun.

He continues on. Other seed fell among thorns, or weeds, that grew up and choked out the tender plants, and it produced no fruit. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they sprouted, grew, and produced a crop that was 30, 60, even 100 times more than had been planted. Now listen to this. Then he said, he who has ears to hear, let him listen. Okay, that's the parable of the sower.

You say, well, that's nice. What does it mean? That's exactly what the disciples said.

Well, what does this mean? And now Jesus explains or interprets this story here in Mark chapter four, verse 13. Then Jesus said to them, if you can't understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?

Here it is. The farmer plants seed by taking God's word to others. The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, but Satan comes at once.

You might underline that phrase. Satan comes at once and takes it away. Now the seed that fell on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and receive it with joy, but they don't have deep roots, and they don't last long, and they fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word. Verse 18 of Mark chapter four. But the seed that fell among the thorns of the weeds represents those who hear the word of God, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth and the desire for other things, and no fruit is produced.

Now the final category. And the seed that fell on the good soil represents those who hear and accept God's word and produce a harvest of 30, 60, or even 100 times as much as has been planted. All right. So what does this mean to us today? Answer.

I have no idea. God bless you, and thanks for watching. Goodbye.

No, seriously. I have a few thoughts about this. I'm a preacher. Of course I do.

I actually have a whole message about these things. These are four reactions to God's word, and you fit into one of these four categories, and I want you to note that only one category was really legitimate or what we might call people who were actually converted. You know, we mentioned earlier that we've seen over 100,000 people make a profession of faith to follow Christ in this year, 2020, from watching Harvest at Home and other outreaches that we've done. Now some would say, well, do you really think all of those people are converted?

Of course not. That's why we call them professions of faith and not conversions. Time will tell if they're actual conversions. But let's just take the odds of the parable of the sower.

One out of four made it. If we applied that to this 100,000 number, that would mean that 25,000 people maybe really committed their life to Christ, maybe more, maybe less, but still, that's a lot of people, isn't it? But here's my point. Back in biblical times, the objective of the sower was to just take the seed and throw it out, throw it out and let the wind pick it up. It's not like they planted the little crops ahead of time and carefully put the seed in and had modern farming equipment to work with.

No, it was pretty primitive. He just walked out, had his seed in his big bag, reached in, threw it, the wind would pick it up, and the seed would go here, there, and everywhere. And so the objective was you did the plowing later to see where the seed went.

And that's our job. Our job is to go into all the world and preach the gospel or sow the seed. You know, it's interesting that the word broadcast actually comes from the root word of sowing seed.

So right now you're watching a broadcast. It's a broadcasting of seed. And we hear such amazing stories from people who've come to the Lord watching Harvest at Home or listening to our radio program or through one of our live events that we do that we call Harvest Crusades and so forth. But we just throw the seed out to as many people as we can. And time will tell who the real converts are.

Listen to this. The only way to tell if someone is really a Christian is through the test of time. I'll say that again. The only way to tell if someone is really a Christian is through the test of time. Because sometimes people come on strong in the beginning and then they walk away never to return.

Other times people have sort of a weak start but then they get stronger with the passing of time. So we just have to wait to see who the real believers are. Sometimes a person will make a profession of faith, they'll fall away, but then they'll return. That's a prodigal. Here's how you know the difference between a prodigal and a person who's not really converted. If a person isn't really converted and walks away and never comes back, then we would just say they're like the seed sown on the roadside that was picked up by the birds. But a prodigal will always come home. You know, as I said earlier, sometimes you can have a weak beginning but a strong finish.

Take Nicodemus. Remember him? In John chapter 3, we read that he came to Jesus by night. In fact, that's mentioned multiple times. He came to Jesus at night.

Why is that important? Because Nicodemus was a celebrity. He was a well-known Pharisee.

Sort of the teacher's teacher, if you will. So for a man of his stature to go to this rabbi named Jesus and ask questions, well, you know, there was a risk to that because he was the guy who was supposed to have all the answers. But he didn't, of course. So he went to Jesus at night.

You remember the conversation. He opened with some compliments and Jesus just cut to the chase and said, Nicodemus, you must be born again. So that really impacted Nicodemus. But we don't read there in John 3 and that conversation of Nicodemus believing. But it appears that he did become a believer because later on in the story, after Jesus was crucified and they were laying his body in the tomb, we read that a man named Joseph of Arimathea came to take the body and he was joined by Nicodemus and the little detail is added, who came to Jesus by night.

So here's my point. Sometimes people look like they're really strong and others look like they're really weak. Example, Judas Iscariot was an apostle in good standing while Nicodemus was still groping his way in.

But in the end, Judas revealed himself to be a full-blown hypocrite and not a believer at all. And Nicodemus, he came over that finish line with flying colors. So you may have a weak beginning but a strong finish. What matters is how you finish. So if you started off following the Lord and you've stumbled and you've fallen and you're saying, it's too late for me. No, it isn't. It's all about how you finish because some have a great start and they never get up again.

So if you've fallen, if you've messed up, get up again. There's still time to walk with the Lord and finish this spiritual race well. Okay, let's look at the different categories together.

Category number one, I'm going to call them highway hearers. Highway hearers and it's in verse 15 of Mark 4, the seed that fell in the footpath represent those who heared the message only to have Satan come at once and take it away. I want you to notice something here. Satan comes at once, Jesus says.

He comes at once. Know this, when you share the gospel with someone, the devil is going to aggressively oppose it. And when someone makes a profession of faith to follow Christ, you need to be there to help them get grounded spiritually. You know, when I was a brand new believer, the Christian said to me, now Greg, be careful, you're going to be tempted by the devil.

I'd never heard of such a thing. Tempted by the devil? I'm thinking of some guy with pointed ears and red skin with a pitchfork. Oh yeah, no, you'll be tempted by the devil. Now, I'd never really thought about temptation before because I think as a young kid I just sort of did what I wanted. Maybe I saw it more as opportunity than temptation. Okay, I'll be tempted by the devil. Then I said, how will I know when I'm being tempted? They said, you'll know. So, I'm still in high school, I'm in a class, and there was a very attractive girl in that class.

So I'm a brand new believer in Jesus Christ. And I've never talked to this girl before. I'd noticed her, but I hadn't talked to her. So after class is over, this girl who never gave me the time of day, she didn't even acknowledge my existence up to that point, walks up to me and says, hi, what's your name? And I looked into her beautiful blue eyes and I momentarily forgot my name. I said, Greg, oh hey Greg, you're really cute. I'm like, what?

I mean, actually, that never happened to me. I know I'm cute, but I didn't really have girls come up to me and say, you're cute, right? You're really cute. I'm thinking, what is this girl saying? I had this little button with a little image of Jesus on it. I'm a brand new Christian.

You're really cute. I'm thinking, what is going on here? And she says, how would you like to spend the weekend with me up at a cabin that our family owns? And I'm thinking, this is temptation for sure.

Because you know why? That kind of thing never happened to me before. And out of nowhere, this attractive girl comes up with this enticing offer. And it was, of course, enticing.

Well, I said no, thank God, but I knew, okay, I think that was my first official temptation. That's what happens when you're a follower of Jesus. The devil is going to come and attack.

So that's category one. So these are the people that, you know, they hear the word of God, but it doesn't really penetrate their hard hearts. Jesus says the birds come and eat it. You know, you've been at McDonald's or some other place and the birds are hanging out, because that's free food, man. That food hits the ground, boom, they swoop down and get it.

Right, so that's what happened. These are people that hear the word of God, but it doesn't really penetrate their hardened heart. Category number two. I'm going to call them rocky road hearers. Rocky road hearers. Verse 16, the seed that won on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately, notice the word immediately, immediately they receive it with joy, but since they don't have deep roots, they don't last long, they fall away, and as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word.

So they start, they take hold of it, but then it doesn't take root in their life. Now, the stony ground Jesus is speaking of is just speaking of the terrain of Israel. I remember years ago I was on a tour of Israel and I had my granddaughter Stella, she was very little at that point, and afterwards I said, Stella, what do you remember most about your trip to Israel?

I thought you would remember some biblical site we went to. She said, rocks. What? Rocks. There were rocks everywhere, and that's true. There's a lot of rocks in the soil.

See, the idea here is that the seed goes into the ground and there's a shelf of rock underneath, so it shoots up, but because it can't get root, it withers in the blazing sun. So this is a description of a person who hears the word of God and boom, they respond. I mean, they respond so quickly. You know, you talk to some people in conversations going for weeks, sometimes months, even years. You feel like you're making a little progress. Other people, the first time you tell them, they say, I want Jesus in my life. Really?

Yeah, I want him in my life. So you say, let's pray, and they pray, and immediately they're like mega-convert, right? They're like, they go to them by a Bible, not just any Bible. They get a giant Bible they start carrying around, and they're at church every day of the week, and they're quoting verses, and when worship is happening, they're lifting their hands higher than anybody else. They're singing louder, and they're even critical of others who aren't growing as quickly as they're growing. And you say to people, that is the most dramatic conversion I have ever seen.

It was like literally night and day. So maybe a month passes by, and they're gone. You don't see them at church anymore. They don't respond to your phone calls or your texts.

What's going on? They just walked away. They fell away. This is the category we're looking at here. So we wonder, what happened to these people?

Well, obviously, they're having an emotional experience, but it didn't take root. See, this is actually not a true conversion, though it looks like one. And sometimes people in this category, rocky road hearers, will say something along the lines of, oh, well, I tried the whole Christianity thing, and it didn't work for me. Oh, yeah, I was a Christian. Oh, yeah, I went to church. I read the Bible. I did all that stuff, but it didn't work for me. Well, no, actually, you never were converted. I'm sorry to tell you that.

You had an emotional experience. Maybe you had some sense of who Jesus was, but if it was a real conversion, you would still be walking with the Lord. Look, Christianity isn't like a product that works for some and doesn't work for others. Christianity, simplified, is a relationship with Christ himself. It was G. K. Chesterton who said, and I quote, Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It's been found difficult and not tried, end quote.

Good quote. So the problem with this person is their heart is shallow soil. There are some people that just get excited about a lot of things. You know, they have the fad that they're into, the new this, the new that. Maybe it's new technology, and all they want to talk about is the new technology. Or maybe it's a band they follow, and they're just really enamored with that. Or maybe it's some other thing they're into.

They get into fitness, fitness, fitness running, and doing all these things, and they abandon it. These are people that are fickle by nature. You know when you're at the market, and there's all that stuff for sale as you're checking out, and you, oh, maybe I'll buy that, and I'll buy that. Things you wouldn't normally buy. Those are impulse purchases. They know exactly what they're doing. They've done research to know what kind of items to put in front of you because there is always the impulsive person. If you want to have an illustration of this, just walk down your block maybe on some Saturday when people's garage doors are open, and you see all these treadmills and workout machines. And do you see people usually in their home gym working out?

No, they're usually a hanger for stuff out of the washing machine. And people got excited, spent a bunch of money on it, but didn't follow through. This can happen, and it can happen in people's relationship with God. Maybe one of the reasons a person like this would fall away is because they built their faith on the wrong foundation. Listen, there's only one foundation to build your faith on. It's Christ.

It's Christ and Christ alone. Don't build your spiritual life on a church in and of itself. Don't build your spiritual life on another person or even on a pastor or a spiritual leader because people will let you down. Build your life on Christ.

He will sustain you and be there for you. But it could be persecution. Go back to Mark 4, verse 17.

And since they don't have deep roots, they don't last very long, they fall away. Listen, as soon as they have problems or are persecuted. Now, we all know about this. When we decide to follow Jesus and you announce it to your family, that doesn't always go over all that well, does it? You know, I came from a family of a lot of people that drank and smoked and, you know, lived that kind of lifestyle. And I used to do it myself, and suddenly I'm the Christian. And we're at Thanksgiving, and I think we ought to have a prayer before we eat. It's like, what happened to Greg?

Where's the old Greg? Well, I was changed, and so I was mocked and made fun of and harassed. And we all are. We're all persecuted in some way, shape, or form. In fact, the mark of a true Christian is they will be persecuted.

It's a barometer of where you're at spiritually. 2 Timothy 3, 12 says, if you desire to live a godly life, you will be persecuted. So, maybe this new believer, or at least we thought they were a new believer, is going strong and someone makes fun of them. Someone gives them a hard time, they say, that's it, I'm out. Okay, they were never converted. Or, it could be something else that pulls them away.

But they never built their life on Christ. We're almost to the golden key of spiritual growth. We have one more category before. I'll call them thorny hearers. Thorny hearers. Let's look at verse 18 of Mark 4 together. The seed that fell among the thorns, the weeds, represent those who hear the word of God, but all too quickly the message is crowded out. Listen, you might want to underline these things. By what? The worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, and no fruit is produced.

Isn't that interesting? These are not evil things outright, but they're other things. So, there's a lot of weeds in Israel, in addition to rocks, all kinds of weeds to choke out the growth of the seed.

So the seed goes into the ground and immediately the weeds are there to hinder the growth of the seed. So this category, the thorny here, is not like the person that shoots up with lots of excitement and enthusiasm. This is a person who seems to be growing spiritually, but gradually they just walk away because other things become more important to them. Listen, not bad things necessarily. Notice it says the worries of this life, the concerns of this life. I mean, there's nothing wrong with being concerned about how you're going to put food on the table. There's nothing wrong with having a concern about a roof over your head. There's nothing wrong with thinking about the needs and necessities of life, but this is a person that allows those things to become more important than God. I mean, they believe it's good to read the Bible. They believe it's a great thing to pray. They're all for going to church. It's just they don't do it.

Why? Well, there's just other things. There's other things we're doing instead, you know, other things that are more important to us than reading the Bible. We'd rather spend more time on social media and we'd like to spend more time watching movies or we just don't have time for God.

Well, that's a choice that you're making. It's been said, quote, more have been killed by food than poison, end quote, and another quote, the second best is often the worst enemy of the best. It's just the worries of this life. So basically a thorn or a weed, if you will, is anything that crowds Jesus out of our lives. Again, verse 19, it's crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth.

Isn't that interesting? The lure of wealth. It's not even saying wealth itself. It's the lure of wealth. You know, there's an interesting passage in 1 Timothy 6, 10 that says, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil and some people craving money have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Now, we've heard that verse misquoted, haven't we? People will say, you know, the Bible says money is the root of all evil.

Actually, the Bible doesn't say that. Money is neutral. It's amoral, not immoral in and of itself. You decide what money will be in your life. It's the love of money. It says, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, which while some have King James coveted after, they've erred, they've left the faith and pierced their hearts through with many sorrows. This is the person that's just obsessed with material things, obsessed with getting ahead financially, obsessed with money, money, money. It's all they think about, it's all they talk about and that can be something that distracts you spiritually because it becomes more important to you than God and you miss out on the true riches. Listen, one of these days when you die, and yes, you will die, we all will, we'll leave everything behind.

As I've said before, you've never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer. So don't make your life about all those things. Now, having said that, there's nothing wrong with being successful. The Bible even says, Jesus speaking, if you'll seek first the kingdom of God, he'll provide all the things that you need, but just don't make that your primary focus. Make Christ your primary focus. And now we come, as promised, to the golden key of spiritual growth.

Ready for it? Go to verse 20 of Mark 4. And the seed that fell in good soil represents those who hear and accept God's word and produce a harvest of 30, 60, and 100 times as much as been planted. Here it is, the golden key to spiritual growth is how you hear the word of God.

Let me say that again. The golden key to spiritual growth is how you hear the word of God. Look at verse 20.

They hear and accept God's word. Now we all know that we can hear something and yet not hear it at all, right? Maybe your mama's lecturing you and she's saying, you need to remember to make your bed and take out the trash and do your homework and in your mind you just hear blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so you're not really paying attention. You're hearing audibly, but you're really not listening. And so you've been listening to a message from God's word. Have you been paying attention?

Have you been checking your phone constantly or having a side conversation? I mean, you need to listen to what God's word has to say. See, every category in the parable of the sower heard it in quotes, but they didn't receive it. They didn't hear it in the right way. The story is told of President Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House. And he complained that no one ever listened to what he said.

So he tried a little experiment out on one occasion. There was a long line of people to meet him and he decided he was gonna say to every single person that he met, I murdered my grandmother this morning. So a person comes, the president says, I murdered my grandmother this morning. And they were responding, oh, good to meet you, Mr. President, that's fantastic.

You're doing a great job. Another person comes, I murdered my grandmother this morning. People kept coming by, he kept saying that, I murdered my grandmother this morning. Obviously, nobody was listening because nobody responded to it until the ambassador from Bolivia came along and he actually heard what the president said, I murdered my grandmother this morning.

And the ambassador from Bolivia said, well, sir, I'm sure she had it coming. Well, listen, the idea is we don't listen. That's why Jesus says, he that has ears to hear, let him hear. Listen to this, success or failure in the Christian life depends on how you hear the word of God. It's not a light thing to hear Bible studies. I know many of you are Bible students and you listen to podcasts and great biblical teaching on the radio and you're in a small group and you read devotions and God bless you, that's amazing.

You're fantastic. But it's important now that you hear it that you apply it and that you obey it. It's actually a dangerous thing to hear the word of God and not apply it in your old life. So what is the golden key of spiritual growth? Listen, it's hearing, it's receiving, and it's obeying the word of God. Now, in Luke's version of the parable of the sower, which we've been looking at, he has a little detail that's very important. He says, having heard the word, they keep it and they bring forth fruit with patience.

Patience, now that's a word, patience from a root word in the Greek that means endurance, endurance. Okay, so the way you get this endurance from the Greek is through trials. The trying of your faith produces endurance and so if you've been tried in your faith, if you've been tested as a Christian, that's making you stronger and the way you bring forth fruit is through endurance, getting through hard times, getting through challenging circumstances and so this is very important for us and how do we bring forth spiritual fruit? Jesus gives the answer in John 15. He says, if you abide in me, you will bring forth much fruit. Then he goes on to say, and this is how you glorify the Father, by bringing forth fruit.

What is fruit? It's results, it's actions, it's evidence that you're a true follower of Jesus and how does that happen? Jesus says, by abiding in me. What does it mean to abide in him?

It means to sink your roots deeply into him and walk with him and cultivate your relationship with him each and every day. Let me close by asking, are you abiding in Christ? Have you built your foundation on him?

Which of these categories do you fall in? Are you like the highway here that hears it and blows it off and isn't really interested in it? You're not interested in spiritual things? Are you like the rocky road here who hears it but other things happen in your life and you build it on the wrong foundation and wither in the sun, you don't stay with it? Or are you like the person who has their heart choked up and the cares of this life and the lure of wealth and other things?

I hope not. You can be the person on good soil. You can bring forth spiritual fruit. The golden key to spiritual growth is simply that. And I hope you have that relationship with God. But listen to this. There are some people listening to me right now that are hearing this message of the gospel for the first time.

I'm kind of like the farmer throwing out the seed. And maybe for the first time, you've heard this simple message. There is a God in heaven who loves you, a God in heaven who wants a relationship with you, but the problem is you're separated from him by your sin. But the good news is 2,000 years ago, God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for your sin. He paid the price for all the wrongs you've ever done and Christ rose again from the dead three days later. And now Jesus, who died and rose, stands at the door of your life and he knocks and he says if you'll hear his voice and open the door, he'll come in. Listen, you can have Christ come into your life right now, so I'm just throwing this seed out. What are you gonna do with it?

Are you gonna say I want that and I want Jesus in my life and I want my sin forgiven. It can happen for you right here, right now. You say, well how? I mean, what do I do? You pray. Pray a simple prayer and God will hear your prayer and even more, God will answer this prayer. Only you can say yes to Jesus Christ.

That's a choice you have. Will you open the door of your life right now and ask Jesus to come in? If you want your sin forgiven, if you wanna know that when you die, you will go to heaven, if you wanna be ready for the Lord's return, if you wanna fill that big old keeping hole in your life and get rid of your guilt, if you want this relationship with God I've been talking about, then pray this prayer with me right now. You might bow your head, you could even pray it out loud, but just pray this prayer with me and this is a prayer where you're asking Jesus to come into your life. 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 my sin and rose again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin and I turn from it now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my savior and my Lord, as my God and my friend. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. Thanks for listening to our podcast and to learn more about Harvest Ministries please subscribe and consider supporting this show. Just go to harvest.org and by the way, if you wanna find out how to come in, to a personal relationship with God, go to knowgod.org. That's K-N-O-W-G-O-D.org.