Sunday Message: Your Password to Unlocking Revelation

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. Let's pray. Lord, we believe that you're coming back again. And you've told us so many times in scripture to watch and be ready and to understand the times that we're living in. So we're asking that your Holy Spirit will help us to understand what this great book, the book of Revelation, has to say to us right now. Speak to us from your word. We would pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. Okay, well grab your Bible and turn to the book of Revelation. Again, the title of my message is Your Password to Unlocking the Book of Revelation. Speaking of passwords, do you ever forget your password? I'm forgetting my passwords all the time and I have to reset them and reset them. And I was on an iPad recently and I got the wrong code and I was locked out for a period of time.

Have you ever been locked out of anything? Well, in the same way, when we come to the subject of Bible prophecy in the Bible, it can seem so vast, so big, even mystical to us. We wonder, how can I understand all of these things? Because you want to understand it. You believe that the Lord could come back because all around us are signs of the times. But how can you crack the code, so to speak?

Listen to this. I know the password to unlocking the book of Revelation. Or we might call it the golden key or the encryption key.

And actually it's hanging on the front door of the first chapter. And we're going to make sense of this book and try to get a handle on all of these things we hear about. Like Armageddon.

What is that? The rapture. The second coming.

Same event or are they two events? The millennium. What does that even mean? The 144,000. Who are they? The antichrist. The mark of the beast. All of these things we hear about, they're all found here in the book of Revelation. And we're going to find that golden key together. That encryption key.

And I'll share with you in just a few moments. And I think we're all very aware of the fact that our world is in turmoil right now. There's a sense of fear in the air. This is due in part to this global pandemic that was supposed to have come and gone. But it just seems to go on and on with new strains of the virus with no real end in sight at the moment. It's caused a global economic shutdown. It's affected people all around the world. Meanwhile back at home we see our cities in turmoil.

We see the murder rate up dramatically. We see all the things that are going on. And it causes us to wonder, are these signs of the times? Are these the things the Bible told us to be looking for, letting us know that Christ is coming back?

The answer is yes, they are. Jesus likened the end times events, or the signs of the times, to birth pains. So, labor pains we might say. So when the baby is closer to coming, to being born, the labor pains get closer and closer together.

The Bible tells us that as we get closer to the Lord's return, we're gonna see these signs, or these labor pains if you will, closer and closer together, alerting us to the fact that His return is near. Have you ever heard of the Doomsday Clock? It's sponsored by a group of atomic scientists, and it goes way back to 1947. And because of the rise of the use of nuclear weaponry, they thought we were getting closer to Doomsday. And back in 1947, they set it to 17 minutes till midnight.

And each year it's gotten a little bit closer. I just read that the Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight than it has ever been. Now they're not even counting it in minutes.

It's 100 seconds to midnight. And as we see these signs happening, we understand that they're almost like dominoes. You know, if you take a lot of dominoes and stack them closely together, when the first domino goes, all the others follow in rapid succession. That's what the last day's events are like.

The first domino falls, and the others come after. Let me give you a big picture of how I see the end times events. I believe the next event on the prophetic calendar will be the rapture of the church. The rapture of the church is that event when Christ comes for his church and we're caught up to meet him in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.

That could happen at any time. Following that will probably be the invasion of Magog against Israel. It could be right after that or a little bit after that, but it seems like it will be in close proximity to that event called the rapture. Also after the rapture, that coming world leader emerges on the scene called the Antichrist, also known as the Beast. He effectively inaugurates a seven-year period called the Great Tribulation Period. When Antichrist first comes on the scene, he seems like a good guy.

He seems like a man of peace, a man with economic solutions, a man who fixes things. But at the halfway point of the seven-year tribulation, Antichrist shows his true colors and commits what is called by Jesus in Matthew 24 the abomination of desolation. He has the Jewish temple rebuilt and he erects an image of himself in it and commands people to worship him. Now there's a series of cataclysmic judgments that fall on the earth for the remainder of the tribulation period, and everything culminates in a massive series of battles called Armageddon.

Armageddon is from the root word mageto, harmageddon. So it's basically talking about where the final wars of mankind will be fought, and they'll be fought in Israel. Then Christ comes back in the second coming. It's a separate event from the rapture. In the rapture, he comes for his church.

In the second coming, he returns with his church. After this, we have what is called the millennium. The millennium means a thousand. The word millennium means a thousand. And it's the 1,000-year reign of Christ, and then heaven and earth become one as the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband.

Amazing things are going to happen. But the first domino has not yet fallen. The rapture has not yet taken place. But we know these things because we believe in the book.

Listen to this. Christians know things that non-Christians do not know. We know that God is good and man is bad.

Now, people often have that reversed. They think man is good and God is bad. And this is often expressed in a question along the lines of how could a God of love allow this and that? Where, in effect, I'm putting myself in the position to judge God. I'm challenging the fact that God is loving because I don't agree with it. Listen, who are you?

When did you become the moral center of the universe? Here's the bottom line. Man is not good. Man is bad.

Bad to the bone. He's utterly sinful. All of us are. But God is good. But because we know man is bad and God is good, we know that man is not going to solve these problems. But we know ultimately God will resolve these things and we know God is in control. Yes, folks, I do believe we're in the last days. I do believe we're in the end times. And it's important that we understand what's happening around us. In Romans chapter 13, the apostle Paul writes, understanding the present time. The hour has come for us to wake up from our slumber because our salvation is near them when we first believe the night is nearly over.

Yes, we need to understand the times we're living in. And there's no better book to explain all of that to us than the book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament. The word revelation means the unveiling because it is God's desire to unveil or to reveal. God does not want to conceal these things from you. He wants to reveal these things to us. And Bible prophecy is not given to scare us.

It's given to prepare us. So what does it reveal? Well, when we come to the book of Revelation, it's like the veil is taken away and I see the spirit world. The spirit world of angels and demons and God and Satan.

The world of heaven and of hell and the world that shows us what is coming as well. Yes, I will learn about the Antichrist and his henchmen in the book of Revelation. But the primary focus of Revelation is not Antichrist, it's Jesus Christ.

Don't waste your time trying to figure out who Antichrist is. Give your attention to who Jesus Christ is because he is the very center of the book of Revelation. And he's the very center of Bible prophecy in general. Revelation 19, 10 says, the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus. Jesus is the centerpiece and the star and focus of the book of Revelation.

And should he not be the centerpiece and star of your life and my life as well. You know, sometimes we can get so caught up in the study of eschatology, which is a word that refers to last days events and so forth, that we can't see the forest for the trees. Listen to this, Bible prophecy is not given to inflate our brains, it's given to enlarge our hearts. Understand the book of Revelation was written to believers who were suffering. In fact, it was written by a believer who was suffering, banished to the island of Patmos. I'm talking about the apostle John. Church tradition tells us that they tried to boil him in a pot of oil and they were unsuccessful. So he was banished to this island where the Lord gave him this unveiling, this revelation of things to come. It's sort of like John was put in a spiritual time machine and catapulted into the future.

I don't think it was a DeLorean. But the idea is he saw the future because he entered into the eternal realm. And so as we look at this book, we need to understand that it was meant to be read aloud and give encouragement to the believers. See, in the first century, they didn't walk around with their own Bibles like we have today. So they would read aloud the truths of God.

And also, this is something that will be an encouragement to you and I. Here's something you need to know about the book of Revelation. It is the only book of the Bible with a built-in blessing attached.

Let me say that again. Revelation is the only book in the Bible with a built-in blessing attached. By the way, there is no other book in the Bible with an introduction and a conclusion quite like this one. And that blessing is found in Revelation chapter one, verse three, when it says, bless it. And by the way, the word blessed can also be translated happy. So happy or blessed is he who reads and hears the words of this prophecy and keeps the things that are written in it for the time is near.

Now, there are three prerequisites necessary to receive this blessing. Number one, blessed is the person who reads it. I already mentioned that the implication of the original language is to read it out loud. You know, there's something wonderful about reading scripture out loud, isn't there?

And we'll do that in just a moment. So you are to read it. But you can't just stop there. Then it says, and to the person who hears the words of this prophecy. You see, I can read it, but I have to hear it. And when the Bible says hear something, it means to have an understanding of it.

It's giving your attention with intention. Jesus would often say, he that has ears to hear, let him hear. A modern translation of that might be listen up, pay attention, hear what is actually being said.

There's nothing magical about simply reading this book. You need to pray that the Holy Spirit will open up your mind and your heart to what it is actually saying. Again, when your focus is on Jesus and on heavenly things, it changes you in the way that you live. In Colossians three, the apostle Paul says, set your affection on things above. Or another way to translate it, think about heaven. Or a simple idea of it is just have your mind and your thoughts focused on the glory of God and on heaven. And if you do that, it'll affect you in the way that you live on earth.

The fact is those that think more about heaven make the greatest difference here on earth. This blessing is promised also to the person who keeps the things that are written in it. So first you have to read it.

Then you have to hear it or perceive it or understand it. And thirdly, you must keep these words. You know, it's interesting to note that whenever you read passages about the return of Christ, there's always an exhortation attached for us to live a godly life as a result. Peter, in 2 Peter 3.11 talking about the return of the Lord says, since these things are happening around us, what holy and godly lives should we be living? If studying Bible prophecy does not motivate us to live a godly life, we have missed the point.

Writing about this, 1 John 3, 3 says, when you have this eager expectation of the Lord's return, you will keep yourself pure just as He is pure. Number two, studying the book of Revelation unlocks the mystery of history. It unlocks the mystery of history. We see that God is in control and things are moving according to a master plan.

This is not being decided by people in government or people in power or people in tech or people wherever they are. God is ultimately in control. He sees the future as accurately as we see the past. You see, when God tells us something that's going to happen, it's not like He's going out on a limb and taking a risk. God being eternal sees the past and the future and the present as the same. Now I said He knows the future as well as I know the past. A lot of times I forget the past.

Hey, I lose my car in a parking lot. What level was I on? Where did I put it again? God remembers the past perfectly, but He also knows the future perfectly. So this is the thing that we need to understand, that this book unlocks the mystery of history. God tells us what is going on. Number three, studying the book of Revelation will bring sense to our suffering.

It will bring sense to our suffering. What do you say to someone who has suffered tragedy? What do you say to someone who is grappling with a disability? What do you say to someone who has lost a loved one?

What do you say to someone who is weeping from grief? Answer, you say, this is not God's final plan because Revelation 21, 4 says, He will wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.

All these things are gone forever. When I read the Bible and specifically the book of Revelation, I realize that God is going to resolve all things in the end. I heard a story about a guy who loved to read the book of Revelation, but he had no proper theological training and he was being criticized by some wiser so-called theologians. And they said, you don't understand the book of Revelation.

And he said, no, I do. I do understand it. They said, no, no one can understand the book of Revelation. It's a mystery. It's a riddle.

It's an enigma. He says, no, I do understand the book of Revelation. They said, all right, what is the book of Revelation about? And he replied, it means we win. Hey, that guy was right.

We win in the end. And God wants us to understand Revelation and prophecy in general. I mentioned briefly the abomination of desolation.

And then it's interesting this statement is attached to that. Let the reader understand. When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet says Jesus, then it adds, let the reader understand.

Why would that be added if I'm not supposed to understand what that is all about? Paul writing about end times events, he says, brothers, I would not have you be ignorant about these things. Speaking of Daniel, in chapter 12 of his book, he's disturbed by visions he is having. And by the way, Daniel in the Old Testament is a parallel book to Revelation in the New Testament.

So I'll be referring to Daniel because they complement one another. But in chapter 12, the prophet is disturbed by visions he's having. He doesn't understand it.

He can't quite wrap his mind around the meaning of these things. And an angel of the Lord appears to him in Daniel chapter 12 and says, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret. Seal up the book until the time of the end.

Many will rush here and there and knowledge will increase. You see, Daniel was told that his visions were a glimpse into the future and he wasn't gonna be able to understand them. In fact, no one would be able to until the time of the end when knowledge would increase.

You see, it was a secret to him at the time, but now we know the secret. Now, I mentioned earlier that I wanted to share with you the password or the encryption key or the golden key, if you will, for unlocking the book of Revelation. It's in Revelation chapter one, verse 19, when John writes, write the things that you have seen, the things which are, and the things that will take place after this. There's three sections to the book of Revelation. Number one, the things that you have seen.

This is what is being written about here in chapter one. The resurrected and glorified Christ with all power on heaven and earth. The revealed Jesus who is in complete control of all that is about to happen.

Then there are the things which are. This is a reference to the seven churches in chapters two to three that we'll look at where we'll get sort of a flyover or a chronological look at the church from the early church to the present day. And finally, number three, the things that will happen after these things. After what things? After the church is caught up to meet the Lord in what is called the rapture.

We're now living in the things which are category. Let's read now Revelation chapter one. I'm going to read verses one to eight out loud because there's a blessing attached to doing that, isn't there? Don't you want to be blessed?

Read along with me. The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place. And he's then signified it by his angel to his servant John who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ of all the things he saw.

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep the things that are written in it for the time is near. John to the seven churches who are in Asia. Grace to you and peace from him who was, who is, and who is to come. And from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

And has made us kings and priests to God our father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold he is coming with clouds and every eye will see him even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him even so.

Amen. Finally verse eight, Jesus speaking, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end says the Lord who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. So here's what we learned from what we have just read. Number one, Revelation reveals that the events of the end times are closely linked together. Verse one says these events will shortly take place. Or another translation, what must speedily happen?

We might say, well wait, this was written 2,000 years ago. But this is not referring to soonness but to quickness of execution once there is a beginning. Remember I said it's like dominoes closely linked together. The idea is when the first one falls the others follow in rapid succession. This is something that once it begins will not stop.

It will go quickly. The whole machinery of human history will be slipped into high gear to run its fatal course into judgment. Number two, Revelation is from Jesus Christ revealing himself to us. After all, who's a better source on Jesus than Jesus?

This is the Lord himself revealing himself to each of us. Remember the story of those two discouraged disciples on the road to Emmaus after he had been crucified. And Christ himself joined them. But they didn't know Jesus was walking with them. And we read that he showed them all the things in the Old Testament about himself. So that's what we have here in Revelation. He's described in verse five as Jesus Christ the faithful witness. If the book of Revelation is nothing else it's a portrait of Jesus.

A selfie of God if you will. And he's presented as the faithful witness. He's a faithful witness. And man we need a faithful witness right now.

We need a trustworthy source. People are coming unhinged with all the crazy conspiracy theories that are out there online and all these fanciful weird ideas about what's going on. And sometimes they take Bible truths and hijack them and attach other things to them. And we need to distance ourself from all of this. And with a clear headed way of approaching this see what the Bible says about our future. And we have no better source to help us with that than the true and faithful witness Jesus Christ. He always speaks the truth to us but he always does it in love. You know the Bible says speak the truth in love. And if there's one thing that's so clear about the nature of God it is this, he loves you. I remember years ago I was with Billy Graham and by the way I've written a book about Billy Graham called Billy Graham the Man That I Knew and it will be out in a couple of months.

And I basically tell the stories of the times I had with Billy and the things I learned from him. But I remember being with him at his last crusade there in New York in Flushing Meadows, the site of a world's fair and Billy spoke to a massive audience and he was a much older man at that point and he had to be helped up to the pulpit to speak. But when he stood up and began to speak there was so much power in his words and this man who had walked with God for so many years turned to the crowd and simply said God loves you. And he turned to the next section and said God loves you. And he turned to another group of them and says God loves you and that just resonated with me.

And that's what we learned from scripture. God loves you. He's a faithful witness.

He's a loving witness. What a contrast to the fickle love of our culture today. Our world loves you when you're young and beautiful. In contrast God loves the plain and aging. Our world loves the famous celebrity and breathlessly follows their every move on social media and contrast God loves the unknown nobody.

Our world loves the rich and powerful. God loves the poor and the weak. God loves all people. He loves ordinary people like you and me and you are loved and because you're loved he cleanses you of your sins. Look at verse five. He washed us from our sins in his own blood. I want you to notice the past tense of that verse. In other words this has already been done if you're a Christian.

God has forgiven you for all the wrongs that you have done because he loved you, he cleansed you. John 3 16 says for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son and whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. We also learn from what we just read that when Christ returns all the world will know.

Everyone will know when Jesus comes back again in what we call the second coming. Jesus said as the lightning shines from the east to the west so will the coming of the son of man be. Have you ever seen a lightning storm? Kind of hard to miss right?

Lights up the sky. That's what the second coming will be like. In verse seven of Revelation one says every eye will see him even those who pierced him. So Christ is gonna return again in an open way.

Also we discover here that Revelation gives us the only description of Jesus Christ and it's largely symbolic. You know it's amazing to me that in all the things written about Jesus four gospels, all the epistles, could not someone have described what he looked like? I mean we do know certain things about certain Bible characters but we know nothing about the physical appearance of Jesus. Was he tall? Was he short? Was his hair dark? Was his hair light colored? I can tell you this much. He most likely does not look like the more familiar portrayal of him in a lot of the older religious art with brownish blonde hair.

No not at all. I'm sure his skin was dark. I think his hair was dark. He was Semitic. But that's not important. If it was important, God would have given us a physical description of him. But here is the only description of Jesus found in the Bible.

Again, it is largely symbolic. Revelation one verse 14. His head and his hair were white like wool and white like snow. His eyes are like a flame of fire. His feet like fine brass as if refined in a furnace and his voice is as a sound of many waters. It mentions his eyes being a flame of fire that could be literally translated his eyes shot fire. So it appears that Jesus is indignant about something. There's something he's seeing that he's not pleased with. He sees and knows everything.

The Bible says everything is open for the one with whom we have to do. You probably used to think your mother had eyes on the back of her head, right? She saw everything. Jesus sees everything.

He's aware of everything. You know, when you meet someone, you look into their eyes. And when a person doesn't want to make eye contact, that's usually maybe an indication of something not being quite right. But Jesus is looking at us. We read in the Bible that Jesus looked at Matthew and said, follow me. We also read that Jesus looked at Peter after his denial. He's looking at us. He's looking at you. And his eyes are filled with fire. Also, as he looks at us, he's telling us something that's very important.

And this is my final point. The book of Revelation tells me to not be afraid. The book of Revelation tells me not to be afraid.

I know I've said some things that might alarm someone. Oh wow, what is the mark of the beast and when is the antichrist gonna show up and will I have to go through this great tribulation period? Here we have this important word in the first chapter of this great book. Don't be afraid, verse 17. Don't be afraid, says Jesus.

I'm the first and the last. I'm he who lives and was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore and I have the keys of Hades and death. Don't be afraid. Jesus said when you see these things begin to happen, freak out because you're dead.

No, he didn't say that, did he? He says when you see these things begin to happen, look up for your redemption draws near. Don't be afraid. See, the problem is we're afraid of the wrong things and we're not showing the proper fear of God. We're afraid of, oh, going to the dentist or being audited or someone giving us a hard time but we don't reverence and fear God. The Bible says the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Now when the Bible tells us to fear God, it doesn't mean be afraid of God.

It means they have reverence for God, have a sense of awe about God, have respect for God. In fact, the remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else but on the other hand, if you do not fear God, you fear everything else. Are you paralyzed with fear right now about things that can happen? If your life is cut short, if you get the coronavirus or if some other thing happens, listen, don't be afraid, fear God and when you fear God, you'll have a confidence in him because you're trusting in him. David said the Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom then shall I be afraid? When we say the Lord is the strength of my life, we can then say of whom then shall I be afraid? Is the Lord the strength of your life right now? If so, don't be afraid but as non-believers, I'll tell you what you should be afraid of. You should be afraid of death and you should be afraid of judgment and these are things that are coming but if you put your faith in Jesus, you do not have to be afraid.

Let me loop back to something I mentioned earlier. Where was this book written? It was written on the island of Patmos. That's the island that John the Apostle was banished to. It's not a tropical paradise. We hear island, we think all cool island waves and he's probably out surfing and sunbathing.

No, no, no. It was a horrible island that he was banished to, a place of extreme isolation and I wonder if I'm talking to somebody right now that feels like they're isolated. Maybe you're confined to a hospital bed.

Maybe you're incarcerated and you can't get out of the place that you are in. Let me say this. It was in this place of isolation that God revealed himself to John in an amazing way and sometimes in your hardest situations, God can reveal himself to you. Larry King recently died. It was my privilege to be in his show back in the early 2000s and I remember we were having a discussion and Larry always had questions about the afterlife. He had Billy Graham on his show, Franklin Graham on his show, other preachers and he would always ask him about the afterlife and I remember him turning to Billy and asking, are you afraid to die? And Billy said he wasn't. When I was with Larry, he asked about, well, you know, why does God allow tragedy and hardship in the world?

If God is all powerful, why doesn't he stop it? And I told him the story of a lady who had come to me at church the Sunday before that. This was filmed on a Monday and she had found out she had breast cancer and she was very afraid but it brought her to God. It woke her up to her need for Jesus. She said, that horrible event brought me to Jesus and I'm reminded of what the psalmist said when he said, before I was afflicted, I went astray but now I have kept your word. So I said, Larry, sometimes God can use sickness to get our attention and bring us to himself and then Larry shot back, well, don't you think Christianity is a crutch? And I said, oh no, Larry, Christianity is a whole hospital.

Then just as you're going to break, Larry said, that's a good line, write that down. I hope he heard and I hope you're hearing and I hope you understand that whatever you're going through it can be that very event that brings you to God. It shows you your need for Jesus when things are not going the way you want them to go. You can turn to him. Don't run from God, run to God because listen, Jesus is coming back again. Yes, one day he'll return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords wearing that crown but before he'd wear that crown, when he returns, he would wear a crown of thorns where he would die on the cross for our sin and suffer and die in our place because as I said earlier, we're all sinners separated from God but we can be forgiven of our sin and know him in a personal way.

Let me ask you a question right now. What if Jesus Christ came back tonight? Would you be ready to meet him? You know the Bible tells us when Christ comes back, two will be in a field, one will be taken and the other left. A man and a wife would be in a bed and one will be taken and another left. If Christ were to become, would you go to meet the Lord?

Here's another way to state it. What if this were your last night on earth? What if this was the moment you would die? Jesus says that he holds the keys to death and hell which means he decides when we'll be born, he decides when we'll leave this world. That is why the Bible says prepare to meet your God.

Listen to this. Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you.

Are you prepared? You can't just go down to the airport and board a plane without buying a ticket and going through security and then saying well you can't just assume you'll go to heaven. Heaven is not the default destination for every person.

The way you can know you're going to heaven is by believing in Jesus Christ, putting your faith in him and I think somebody right now watching me wants to do that. You want to know God in a personal way. You want to go to heaven when you die. You want to be ready for the Lord's return. You want peace in your heart instead of that turmoil and fear and agitation that's in there now. Listen, he's just a prayer away. Jesus says behold, I stand at the door and I knock and if you'll hear my voice and open the door, I will come in.

I'm not talking about religion here, folks. I'm talking about a relationship with the almighty God who will come and take residence in your heart. If you want Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin, if you want to know with certainty that you will go to heaven when you die, if you want to know that you're ready for the Lord's return, I'd like you to stop what you're doing right now and pray a simple prayer. In fact, I'll pray it and you can pray it after me. You can pray it out loud if you like. You can pray it quietly in your heart, but pray this prayer with me right now. This is what is sometimes called the sinner's prayer.

There's no official sinner's prayer in the Bible, by the way, but we take principles from Scripture and put them together for a prayer in which you're calling on the Lord. The Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved, so let me lead you in that prayer where you will do just that. Just pray this after me. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I know you're coming back again, Jesus, and I want to be ready, so come into my heart. Forgive me of my sin.

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for hearing this prayer and answering it. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Did you just pray that prayer? Want you to know on the authority of God's word that he's heard your prayer and Christ has come to live inside of you, and now it's a whole new adventure that's going to start in your life of knowing God in a personal way.

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 want to find out how to come into a personal relationship with God, go to knowgod.org. That's k-n-o-w-g-o-d.org.