The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. If you would like to know how you can become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org.
That's harvest.org. God has a job for us to do as believers. It's an important job. And Pastor Greg Laurie points out we've been given the resources to do it as well. Jesus said that the Father would give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him. How many of you feel that you need more power from the Holy Spirit? Well, God wants to give you that power.
And He wants to fill you, and He wants to refill you, then He wants to refill you again. So what do you have to do to receive it? You just pray for this power. Ever try to accomplish the simplest tasks in a power failure? Everywhere you go inside your home, you instinctively reach for the light switch, and it doesn't work. If you can't see, you can't do much. All right, just watch TV.
Oh, yeah, I can't. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out power is just as necessary in accomplishing the work God wants us to do. And we'll find out today that work has never been more necessary.
Turn to Acts chapter 2, and the title of my message is Jesus Revolution, the Holy Spirit in Revival. You know, in the late 60s and the early 70s, America seemed to be unraveling. There was a very real threat of nuclear war in the mid-60s. Nikita Khrushchev made some very serious threats against our nation, including placing nuclear missiles in Cuba. And President Kennedy faced off with him in what is called historically the Cuban Missile Crisis. But for kids in school, I was one of those kids in school, we thought we might all die tomorrow. So one year after the Cuban Missile Crisis, our youthful president, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963. All of America mourned.
Meanwhile, the Vietnam War, which was never officially declared, raged on with young men coming home in body bags. And then the drug revolution is breaking out at the same time. Thousands of kids are turning to drugs for some kind of self-realization, some kind of answer, hopefully, and it just made things worse. Add to the drug revolution, the sexual revolution, with the discovery of the birth control pill in the early 60s. Free love reigned and everybody just wanted to express themselves and push away those parameters and those barriers that existed for so long. It all sort of culminated in a big music festival called Woodstock, which was billed as three days of peace and music. And Jimi Hendrix played the Star-Spangled Banner on his electric guitar.
Everything was really groovy, man. But then in 1968, all the psychedelic colors turned to black and white as reality began to kick in, and we reaped the consequences of all of these horrible decisions. It was in 1968 that civil rights leader Martin Luther King was assassinated. And then on the heels of that, shortly after, as a matter of fact, Robert F. Kennedy, the brother of President Kennedy, who was running for the presidency, was also assassinated in Los Angeles right here in California. And then all of these rock icons died in a relatively short period of time.
Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Jim Morrison of The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin. So this is the reality. And because things were so dark, with riots in the streets and division, Time magazine put out an ominous cover story, black cover, red letters reversed out, Is God Dead? That's how a lot of people felt that maybe God was dead, but God was not dead. God was very much at work. And we don't know exactly when it started or where the actual beginning of it was, but in the middle of the drug revolution, in the middle of the sexual revolution, God said the Jesus revolution. I had the privilege of being there.
I had a front row seat. I didn't know it was a revival. I didn't know I walked into the middle of a spiritual awakening. And there was a man that opened his heart and opened his church to it named Chuck Smith. So all these young kids are getting saved.
And they want to go to church. And a lot of churches, one looked at them and said, you're not coming in here looking like that. But for the churches that opened their doors to the Jesus people, as they were called, or the Jesus freaks, as they were also called, those churches experienced revival. For the churches that kept their doors shut to these folks, they did not experience revival.
Here are some things that kind of stand out to me about that time. Number one, there was a sense of expectancy in the services. So when you came to church, you came with a sense that God is going to do something. No one was ever late for church back in those days, by the way, because if you were, you wouldn't get a seat.
So that sense of expectancy. Number two, the Word of God was pretty much taught in every service. You know, Pastor Chuck Smith taught us to love the Bible. And we would go through books of the Bible. And our lives were changed by the Bible. And then also, there was worship. It was a whole new kind of worship that was born before our very eyes.
We would give invitations in pretty much every service. And I think what happens is when nonbelievers come to a church that's alive, a church that's experiencing revival, they want to know God. So we brought friends and people would accept the Lord.
Another big earmark of that time. We believed in the imminent return of Jesus Christ. We believed that Christ could come in our lifetime. So some of you would say, well what is that, 45 years ago? I think your timing was a little off, Greg. Yeah, well you know what, I don't regret living in belief that Christ could come back.
And you know what? We're 45 years closer to His return than we were there. I still believe it. I believe Jesus could come in my lifetime. But we need to pray that God will do this again. Psalm 85 says, will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you?
The prophet Habakkuk understood this when he prayed this prayer in Habakkuk 3.2. I've heard all about you, Lord, and I'm filled with awe by the amazing things you've done. In this time of deep need, revive your work as you did in years gone by.
Show us your power to save us. And so it's similar to how you might feel now. Some of you might be thinking, well that must have been so great back then.
I wish I could have been around then. God wants to do it again because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Okay. So it starts with us. Revival is a community saturated with God, wrote one person. Another said revival is an invasion from heaven. Richard Owen Roberts wrote these words, quote, Revival is an extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results. You know, in the book of Acts, where we read about the Holy Spirit being poured out on the church, we see a very important principle. It is the Spirit of God working through the Word of God in the hearts of the people of God.
Really, you need all three. The Spirit of God working through the Word of God in the hearts of the people of God. And the people that Jesus used to change his world were very, well, ordinary people. Uneducated.
Calloused hands. Few social graces. Many of them were outcasts.
But in a relatively short time, they changed the world. And they didn't have social media. Thomas did not tweet. Peter did not update his Facebook page.
They didn't use any of these tools. They had a road system and a common language that they could use to bring the gospel to the rest of the world under the control of Rome at that time. But really it comes down to this. It was a work of the Holy Spirit. So Jesus told them all after he died on the cross and rose from the dead, go to Jerusalem and wait. And he said in Acts 1a, You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you to be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the rest of the planet, the uttermost parts of the earth. And so they went to Jerusalem. It is the day of Pentecost.
They don't know what they are even waiting for. And suddenly the Bible says there was a mighty rushing wind. And then there were these divided flames of fire over their heads.
I don't even know what that was all about. It was never repeated again in Scripture. And then they spoke in new languages. They spoke in tongues glorifying God. And people are watching trying to figure this out. There are a lot of non-believers there because people had come from all over to be in Jerusalem at that particular time. So Simon Peter gets up to preach. And that in itself was no small thing. Only days earlier this Simon Peter denied Jesus three times.
What happened? He had been empowered by the Holy Spirit. And here is what Peter said in Acts 2 verse 15 from the New Living Translation. These people are not drunk as some of you are assuming. It is 9 o'clock in the morning. It is too early for that.
Hey man the bars aren't even open yet. He says what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel where he says in the last days God says I will pour my spirit out on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams.
Incredible. That was the day of Pentecost. You might say well we need another Pentecost. No we don't.
The last one was good. We don't need another Pentecost anymore than we need another Calvary. Because the same power that was poured out by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost is available for believers today.
You need to simply receive it. Again Acts 1 says you will receive power to be a witness. Power to share your faith. Power to speak up and be counted.
Power to turn your world upside down. And here is the promise that was given here in Acts 2 about that power that was poured out on Pentecost. This promise is unto you. It is to your children and all that are afar off and even as many as the Lord our God shall call. So God is still giving this power today.
What do you have to do to receive it? You just pray for this power. You know in Ephesians 5 it says be filled with the Holy Spirit speaking to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord. And in the original language that can be translated be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit.
And by the way in the original Greek it is also a command. God commands you to be filled with the Spirit each and every day. But I think we make too much out of this and we feel it has to be some emotional thing. We are going to pray for people to be filled with the Spirit so dim the lights and sing slow songs.
Well look you can do that if you want but the Holy Spirit can be poured out when the lights are on or off okay. And it doesn't have to be emotional. Talking about being filled. When you go and put gas in your car do you have an emotional experience?
Probably not. Until you see how much the gas costs. That is an emotional experience. Or if you have an electric car when you plug it in the wall do you have an emotional experience when you do that? Maybe if you are standing in water when you do it you might.
But generally it is not an emotional thing. It is just something you do. You put gas in your car. You do it again and again. Sometimes once a week. Others once every six months if you have a Prius right I guess.
Because your tires are the size of donuts. I don't know. But the thing is you fill your car and your life needs to be filled in the same way with the Holy Spirit.
So what do you do? You simply ask God. Jesus said that the Father would give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him.
And I think we ought to do that right now. How many of you feel that you need more power from the Holy Spirit in your life? Raise your hand up.
Alright. Well God wants to give you that power. And He wants to fill you. And He wants to refill you.
Then He wants to refill you again. So we are going to pray and here is what we are going to do. I am going to lead you in a prayer. And I would ask you to pray this prayer after me.
Out loud even. Very similar to what we would lead someone coming to Christ in. But this is a different kind of prayer. And if this is what you want in your life pray it. If you don't want this don't pray it.
No one is forcing you to do anything. But if you feel that you need more power to be a witness. If you feel that you want those gifts of the Spirit that God wants to give to you. And you pray this prayer with me right now. Let's bow our heads. Father we are asking that you will bless this moment as we ask you for something you have told us you want to give us.
And we want everything you have for us. So we are asking you to hear our prayer. And if you want God to fill you with the Holy Spirit I want you to pray this out loud after me. Pray these words. Lord Jesus I am weak.
But you are strong. And you have promised power to me. Power to be a witness.
Power to change the world. I need this power in my life Lord. So I am asking you now in the name that is above all names. The name of Jesus Christ. I am asking you to fill me with the Holy Spirit.
Give me all the gifts you want me to have. Give me all the power that I need. To serve you. To glorify you.
To be used by you. I receive this power in my life now. In Jesus name I pray.
Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody Greg Laurie here personally inviting you to join us for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a Bible study. It's a worship service. It's church in your home. Maybe you're not able to get out to your church right now. If so join us for Harvest at Home. People are listening in from around the world.
Listen to this. We have seen thousands of people make a commitment to follow Christ. So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well today Pastor Greg is helping us receive God's power to do God's work. And helping bring about a spiritual awakening in our culture.
He continues his study now in Acts chapter 2. So all those folks are gathered together on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is poured out. Non-believers are standing there watching this all happening.
And they don't know what's going on. Peter gets up and preaches to the people. Tells them the gospel. Tells them Jesus died on the cross for their sin.
And they didn't know what to do. And we read in Acts 2 37. Peter's words pierced their hearts. And they said to him and the other apostles, Brothers what should we do?
Peter replied, Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God. You know I think when you come into a setting like this as a non-believer or as a visitor. You wonder what does this mean? What is this all about? It's about Jesus.
It's about a relationship with Jesus. And you know it's a funny thing. When you're around people that have something they're enjoying you want it too. Have you ever gone out with folks to eat after church maybe? And maybe you don't want to eat. You're trying to lose weight. And you say, I'm just going to drink water. And so your friends order burgers and fries and onion rings and all that good stuff.
And you're watching. And then you say to our friend, Can I have one of your fries? Just one. And you eat one fry from someone else.
And it's like the greatest french fry you've ever had in your life. Then you order your own right? I think when a Christian is living as they ought to live it's contagious. Other people want it. They desire it. And maybe you've come here today.
You're watching on a screen right now at one of our campuses wherever you are. And you don't have this relationship with Jesus Christ. And your question is the same as the people on the day of Pentecost. What does this mean?
What should we do? Peter says, Repent of your sins and turn to God. That's it. What does it mean to repent of your sins? It means to turn from your sin. To stop living that way.
To change your direction in life. And then turn to God. Put your faith in Jesus. And He will come and take residence in your heart.
Folks listen. This is about a relationship with God. That's why we didn't call it the church revolution. Or the Bible revolution. It was the Jesus revolution. It was people having their lives turned around by Jesus. And Jesus is still in the revolution business today. He's still changing lives.
And He can change your life. I don't know what state you're in. I don't know what path you're on. But as I talked about hopeless people turning to drugs or alcohol trying to find answers. Maybe that describes you. Maybe there's somebody else here that's been so despondent you've contemplated suicide.
Maybe there's somebody else here that is just wondering. You know you've checked all the boxes. You've got all the things you thought you would want in life to make yourself happy. And there's just this big hole in your heart. Some of you are older and you're thinking a lot about the afterlife. And you're wondering what's going to happen to you. And you hope that God will let you in heaven. Listen we can get all of that resolved right now. He'll fill that void in your life where you will no longer need drugs or alcohol.
Or any other kind of substance to fill it. He can also forgive you of your sins so you can know with certainty that you will go to heaven when you die. You don't have to guess on that or worry about that. And also by having Jesus in your life you can know with confidence that if you were to come in our lifetime. Or if you were to come today you would be ready to meet Him. You would be ready to go to heaven.
And if you're not sure of that you need to respond to an invitation I'm going to extend in a moment. Listen Jesus died on the cross for your sin. He rose again from the dead and He will come into your life. This is personal.
Yeah true corporately we all believe this but it's personal. The way God works in a person's life it's as though you're the only person on earth He's doing it for. But in reality He's doing it for many many others. But He'll do it for you today because Jesus who died on the cross and rose from the dead stands at the door of your life and He knocks.
And says if you'll hear His voice and open the door He'll come in. So I'm going to extend an invitation for you to come to Christ. This is for everybody here. It's for everybody watching me on the screen right now.
Whatever Harvest Campus you're at. This is for you. And if you don't know Jesus right now respond to this invitation I'm going to now extend. Let's all bow our heads please. Everybody praying. Father now we pray that your Holy Spirit will convict and convince every person here. Every person watching wherever they are of their need for Jesus. And help them to come to you and help them believe in you right here right now. In Jesus name I pray.
Amen. If you missed any part of this study today here on A New Beginning or the first part of the presentation we heard last time. You can get a replay by going online to harvest.org. The title of today's message is The Holy Spirit in Revival. Or for a permanent copy on CD call 1-800-821-3300.
You can reach us any time 24 hours a day at that number 1-800-821-3300. You know Pastor Greg our listeners really love it when Kathy joins us here on the program. I think they enjoy hearing about the two of you. You've talked once or twice of how you met Kathy and began dating. But that's told in some detail in your book Jesus Revolution Against the Backdrop of the Jesus Movement.
Yes. You and Kathy really had a front row seat for that movement didn't you? Yeah that's true and you know we did not realize at the time that we had a front row seat to a genuine spiritual awakening.
But indeed we did. And I wanted to share my story not to live in the past. But hopefully to prepare for the future. You know if you get in a car you'll probably notice that the rear view mirror is a lot smaller than your windshield.
That's because you need to spend more time going forward than going backward. Okay so it's good to reflect back because we can learn from the past. And we can reflect back on the great works that God did. You know in the Psalms we read the phrase, Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and his wonderful works to the children of men. And we'll see the psalmist repeat the great things that God did for the nation Israel. It's good to remind yourself of what the Lord has done.
And then it's also a great thing to say Lord would you do it again. We've had revivals in the history of America in the past. And I would say we're overdue for one right now. In fact I don't know what else could change the course of our nation. We're so divided politically. We're divided racially. We're divided in every way imaginable. And only Christ can bring us together. We need a change of heart.
We need the Lord to pour his spirit out on our churches and on our country. But it starts with us. So I've written a book called Jesus Revolution. And I tell the story of how I came to faith. How I met my wife. How we came together. How we saw the Lord work.
How we started our church. There's a lot there. There's also some historical backdrop there to help you understand what we are facing at the times.
And I think as you read this book you'll say, Wow that sounds a lot like our nation right now. So it seems to me that we can learn from the past in this case. As I've said before the fame of revival spreads the flame of revival.
So let's talk about that fame. Let's look back a little bit and let's pray that God will do it again. I'll send you a copy of this book Jesus Revolution for your gift of any size. Whatever you send will be used to help us continue to teach God's word and call people to Jesus Christ. And I hope this book will be a blessing for you. Order your copy now of Jesus Revolution. Yeah that's right you can call 1-800-821-3300. And someone is here to take your call around the clock seven days a week. We'll be glad to send it to you to thank you for your investment. So that we can continue to bring these studies your way each day.
And share the gospel with hundreds of thousands of people each year. So once again call 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside California 92514.
Or order online at harvest.org. And by the way when we send you Jesus Revolution we'll also include the brand new study guide that goes with it. To help you get even more from the helpful insights and principles in the book.
So contact us today. Pastor Greg I know there are some in our audience today who felt God speaking to them through your message. And they want to make a change in their relationship with the Lord.
Could you help them with that? Yeah you know Dave the Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So I want to lead you in a prayer where you will be doing just that.
Calling on the name of the Lord. So listen if you want your sin forgiven. If you want to know that when you die you will go to heaven. If you want Jesus Christ to come into your life and take away your guilt and your shame. Then just stop what you're doing and pray this prayer with me right now.
Pray this after me if you would. Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner. I have broken your commandments.
I have fallen short of your standards. But 2000 years ago you died on that cross for me. Then you rose again from the dead. So Jesus come into my life and be my Savior and my Lord and my God and my friend.
I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Amen. And listen if you have just prayed those words with Pastor Greg and meant them sincerely. The Lord has heard you and forgiven you of your sin. And we want to welcome you into the family of God. And we'd like to send some follow-up materials your way to help you begin to live a life of faith. Let us send you our New Believers Growth Packet. Just ask for it when you write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or you can call us at our 24-7 phone number 1-800-821-3300.
That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to Harvest.org and click on Know God. Well next time as Pastor Greg continues his series called Jesus Revolution, he'll show us the direct connection between revival and prayer. Good insight coming next time on A New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins. A preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners. Helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.
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