How to Overcome the Devil | Sunday Message

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, I have a message for you with the title, How to Overcome the Devil. So I'd like you to grab your Bible, because we're gonna have a Bible study, and the book of Revelation. Turn to Revelation chapter 11.

Again, my title is, How to Overcome the Devil. Well, spring is here, and that means summer is right around the corner. Some of you may be planning summer. Hopefully it'll be a better summer than last summer, and we'll be able to do some of the things we were wanting to do before. But wouldn't it be nice if the devil took a vacation?

You know, maybe take summer off, go someplace really hot like hell. Well, the devil never takes a day off. By the way, I heard a story about a man living in Chicago. It was very cold, and he decided to go on vacation with his wife down to Florida. So he went ahead, and she was gonna join him the next day. After his plane landed, he got to his hotel room, and he sent a text to his wife.

Here's the problem. She had just changed her phone number, so he got one number wrong in his text. The text did not go to his wife. It went instead to an elderly pastor's wife whose husband had just died. She read the text on her phone, let out a huge shriek, and fainted. Her family came running in to see what was wrong, and they looked at her phone, and here was the text she received. Dearest wife, just arrived.

Looking forward to your arrival tomorrow. P.S. It sure is hot down here. Well, I wish the devil took some time off, but he never does. He doesn't take a month off. He doesn't take a week off. He doesn't take a day off.

He doesn't even take an hour off. The Bible says he's restless, roaming about like a lion, looking for someone to devour. So here's my question for you. Have you ever been overcome by the devil? In other words, do you find yourself being held captive to a sin, and it gets you again and again and again, and you wonder, can I ever get free from this? Do I have to always be under the thumb of Satan?

The answer is no. And I want to talk to you about that in this message, how to overcome the devil, because we are in a war, but it's an invisible war. It's a spiritual battle, and Ephesians chapter six says that we're not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this age, a spiritual host of wickedness in heavenly places.

It's a very real battle. So we'll talk about that in a few moments, but in our series on the book of Revelation, we are now officially at the halfway point here in chapter 11. And by the way, there is a shift in the narrative that takes place in the book now.

Let's compare it to a movie. It's sort of like John has been watching a movie, if you will. He is there on the island of Patmos where he's banished for his faithful proclamation of the gospel. The Lord comes to him and gives him the revelation, the unveiling of the future, the unveiling of heaven and the supernatural world where he's sort of catapulted into the future. And up to this point, John's been an observer. He just tells us what he sees, what he observes, but all of a sudden, he goes from an observer to a participant. So coming back to the movie analogy, maybe you have a favorite film and you've wished you could be that person. The main character that you connect to and you ask yourself, what would I do if I was facing the circumstances that they're facing? So here's John watching the scene unfold before him and all of a sudden, he's in the story.

He's right there as a participant in it. As we come to Revelation chapter 10, a powerful angel appears to John and gives him a little scroll. We could call it a little book. And the angel says, I want you to eat the book. Eat the scroll.

Interesting request. And so he eats the little book or the scroll and it's sweet going down and then it's bitter. It gives him a stomach ache. It's sort of like when you go to Krispy Kreme donuts. They're great going down.

You know, I think my record is six of them. By the way, they're a little smaller, so don't judge me. And I've eaten six, watched them down with some cold milk, and they're great going down, but a little bit later, oh, what was I thinking? So here's John. He eats a scroll or a little book, so to speak.

It's sweet at first and then it's bitter. And this scroll most likely was the message that was to be delivered, and it was a message of judgment to the people. So let's pick the story up now in Revelation chapter 11, verse 1. John writes, Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. This is John's name.

It was given to me. And the angel that stood there said, Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there, but leave out the court which is outside the temple. Don't measure it, for that's been given to the Gentiles. And they'll tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months, and I will give power to my two witnesses, and they'll prophesy 1,260 days closed in sackcloth.

By the way, that's three and a half years. They are the two olive trees and the two lamb stands that stand before the God of the earth, and if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemy, and if anyone wants to harm them, they must be killed in this manner. They have power to shut heaven so no rain falls, and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and they strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire. Interesting, chapter 11 of the book of Revelation opens with a mention of the city of Jerusalem.

Think about this. This was written some 2,000 years ago, and John is telling us that the end times events are gonna revolve around the city of Jerusalem. So here we are now in 2021, and as usual, the Middle East, Israel, and specifically Jerusalem is in the news. Jerusalem, ironically, means the city of peace, yet more wars have been fought at her doorstep in any other city in the entire world. I was on a phone call recently with a consul general for the nation of Israel.

His office is based in Los Angeles, and I was talking with him with a couple of other pastors, and he was giving us an update on what is going on there in Israel and in Jerusalem in particular. He pointed out to us something we already knew, of course, which is that the number one sponsor of terrorism in the world today is Iran. And previously, Iran would work through proxy organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas. In other words, they would fund these terrorist groups to do their dirty work, but the consul general told us something I was not aware of. He says for the first time, Israeli forces are engaging with Iranian forces in Syria. Now you say, so why does that matter to me? Well, the Bible tells us in the last days, a large force from the north of Israel will attack her, identified as Magog.

We'll talk about this in a future message. And one of the allies marching with Magog will be none other than Iran. So the Bible has told us that Iran would ultimately attack Israel. So when we learn about the hostilities between Iran and Israel, the Bible student should be careful attention. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, made this statement, and I quote, there is no moderation in Iran. It is unrepentant, unreformed, and it calls for Israel's eradication.

It promotes international terrorism, end quote. And so this is a nation that has set itself to the destruction of Israel. I saw a little video about how Iran has now set up something they call Missile City. And they have all of these missiles in a high-tech underground base, and they threaten to use them against Israel.

And this is why any attempts to build some kind of bridge to Iran or have some kind of an agreement with Iran is something that should be entered with great caution. Because they've shown themselves to be a very hostile power, and they will in fact play a role in the end times events. But Jerusalem, Jerusalem would be at the center of the end times events in Zechariah 12 three. It says on that day when all the nations of the earth are gathered together against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations, and all who try to move it will injure themselves. But for this prophecy that we're reading about now to be fulfilled, some things have to take place. One has taken place, the others haven't. Number one, Jerusalem has to be in Jewish hands, and it is.

But that didn't happen until quite recently. In fact, it was the Six Day War in June of 1967 that Jerusalem came once again under the control of the Jewish people living in their homeland of Israel. Secondly, the third temple must be rebuilt because John is describing a temple. There is no Jewish temple in Jerusalem today. The first and second temples are gone.

They have not rebuilt the third one. And so here this is something that still has to happen in the future. But what does the Bible tell us? It tells us that this coming world leader, known as the Antichrist, will help the Jews rebuild their temple, and then he will desecrate it. And this is called the abomination of desolation, which happens at the halfway point of the seven year tribulation. Remember, the great tribulation period starts peacefully as Antichrist, or the beast emerges on the scene with overtures of peace and treaties that are signed and actually are followed for a certain period of time.

A new economic system, no man can buy or sell without his mark. I'll get into that when we come to Revelation chapter 13. So he rebuilds the temple, but here's what Jesus said about it in Matthew 24 verse 15. When you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains. Pray that your flight would not be on Sabbath day, for then great tribulation will come upon the world that has not seen it since the beginning of time, nor ever shall be. So what is the abomination of desolation?

Here's what it is. Antichrist rebuilds a temple, but then he erects an image of himself and commands people to worship it, so he desecrates the temple, showing his true colors. Commenting on this in 2 Thessalonians 2, 4, we read these words, Antichrist opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshiped, so he is as God, sitting in the temple of God, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and pretended miracles.

All of them are line wonders. So any movement toward rebuilding the third temple should be observed and noted by the Bible student. And it would seem to me that this event of the rebuilding of the temple would happen in the early part of the tribulation period. And before that can happen, the church must be caught up to meet the Lord. Yes, it's through peace that Antichrist is going to deceive people. There's a great cry in our world today, peace at any cost. People don't want any more wars. We want globalism. No walls, no borders.

This is a cry of so many. Even if tyranny reigns or people are oppressed or freedom is taken away, we want to have peace. People say, well, Antichrist will give them what they want. In 1 Thessalonians 5, 3, it says, when they shall say peace and safety, sudden destruction shall come upon them as a woman ready to give birth. Okay, so these are dark times coming in the tribulation period.

But in the midst of this darkness, God is going to raise up two bright lights. We call them the two witnesses, two men that will be raised up by the Lord to minister truth to people for three and a half years. Now, who are they?

They're not identified by name, but I think we might be able to figure out who they might be. Look at verse six here of Revelation. It says they have power to shut heaven so no rain falls in the day of their prophecy.

So they can shut heaven up so it won't rain. They have power over waters to turn them to blood and they can strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire. By the way, that would be kind of a cool superpower to strike with plagues when you desire. You know, someone cuts you off on the freeway. It's like, okay, I'm sending you a plague. Your car will be filled with frogs.

That would be a bad thing to do. They won't do anything like that, of course, but they can stop rain, turn water into blood, strike the earth with plagues, and bring fire from heaven. Well, two guys come to my attention and that would be Moses and Elijah. Of course, Moses was the one that touched his staff to the Nile River and it turned to blood. Moses was the one that brought plagues upon Egypt through the power of God. Elijah was the one that said it would not rain, but according to his word. Elijah was the one who called fire down on Mount Carmel in his contest with the prophets of Baal.

So needless to say, you wouldn't want to mess with these people. There's a story in 2 Kings about Elijah. There was a new king who took the place of King Ahab and he fell out of his bed effectively and was injured. And so he sent his servants to go to the prophet of the false gods to get some direction and they encountered the prophet Elijah. And he said, what are you guys doing? Why are you going to some false temple?

Is there not a God in Israel that can speak to you? So they go back to the king. They said, King, we were running your errand.

We ran into this guy that said this. And the king said, what did he say? He said, wasn't there not a God in Israel that you can call him? The king said, what did he look like?

They said, well, King, he was sort of hairy. Ah, the king says, it's Elijah. And so he says, go get Elijah. So a captain with 50 soldiers goes and finds Elijah sitting up on a little hill. And he says, the king says, come down immediately, O man of God. Elijah says, if I'm a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50. You and your 50. Hmm.

Guess what? Elijah was a man of God. They're torched. Now a second captain of 50 comes and says, O man of God, the king wants you to come down right now. Elijah says, if I'm a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 soldiers. And again, the fire fell. Third guy comes along, also with 50 soldiers, says, O man of God, I'm a family man. Here's some pictures of my family.

Pretty, please come down. The Lord says, go down with him. But my point is, you didn't want to mess with a prophet like this. So the Lord has brought Elijah back. By the way, Elijah never died.

Elijah was caught into a chariot of fire. As you will recall, some think one of the witnesses might be Enoch, who also did not die. We don't know with certainty, but my opinion is it's probably Moses and Elijah.

One other detail on that. Remember when Jesus was transfigured, two prophets appeared with him. Who were they? Moses and Elijah. Moses representing the law and Elijah representing the prophets. Well, we read that in verse six they have the day of their prophecy. Now, prophecy in the New Testament does not always refer exclusively to predicting the future. Its primary meaning is to speak forth or to proclaim or to preach. So effectively, these two witnesses are going to preach the gospel and bring God's truth to people for three and a half years and they're under divine protection.

No one can stop them. Enter the antichrist. Look at Revelation 11, verse seven. When they finish their testimony, you might underline that phrase. When they finish their testimony, the beast, by the way, this is the first time he's referred to as the beast. The beast that is sent out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where our Lord was crucified. Well, we know the city is Jerusalem.

That's where Jesus was crucified. The beast, or the antichrist, strikes out at these two prophets and he succeeds. But notice it's not until they have finished their testimony. It looks like these two witnesses have been in God's witness protection program up to this point.

And by the way, you are too. You will not die a day before the appointed day that God has selected. And we're indestructible, as I've said to you before, until we're finished with what God has called us to do. So antichrist kills the two witnesses and lays their bodies in the streets of Jerusalem for the whole world to see. Look at verse 9, Revelation 11. Those from the tribes and peoples and tongues see the dead bodies for three and a half days, and he will not allow their bodies to be put into graves.

So antichrist is so angry at these two prophets who have spoken up fearlessly for the truth. He lays their bodies out on display, effectively desecrating them, and the whole world is watching. I read a book, a commentary from a hundred years ago, and the commentator was wondering how this could ever happen. He said, how could all of the world see something at the same time? Well, we know the answer today because we have something called a cell phone, and we carry them around in our pockets. 80%, excuse me, 96% of Americans have cell phones, and I read that 17 billion mobile devices will be in use by 2024. So you can pretty safely say most people either have a cell phone or they have access to a cell phone. So it seems to me like these prophets are laying there in the streets and everyone can watch them.

They can observe them. Maybe everybody will have free internet at that time. Maybe the antichrist will bring free Wi-Fi for everyone. Who knows? But listen, this gets even stranger. Verse 10, the people take the tragic death of these two men of God and turn it into this twisted celebration.

Look at what it says. Those that dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and send gifts to one another because the two prophets had tormented them who dwelled on the earth. Tormented them?

How did the two prophets torment them? They just told them the truth. Well, the truth is tormenting to people who don't want to hear it.

Just try speaking up for what is right. Try quoting the Bible to a group of people that don't believe it. They'll say, stop, we don't even want to hear it. Who are you to say this to us?

Why are you judging us? And they don't want to hear it at all going back to that little scroll or book that John was told to eat. It was sweet and then it turned bitter. You know, the word of God is sweet to the Christian, but it's bitter to the non-Christian. But it's interesting that the people accused the prophets of tormenting them. That is what King Ahab said to Elijah when he approached him. He says, oh, here's the one who troubles Israel. Elijah didn't trouble Israel, the king did. And they reaped the consequences of their sins.

The ironic thing is people will break God's commandments, face the consequences that come with breaking those commandments, and they get angry at God about it. And so this gets even stranger, they're giving gifts to one another. It's like an upside down Christmas. It's sort of an anti-Christmas, you know. You have Christmas and it's anti-Christmas.

It's like a sales thing, we wish you an anti-Christmas, we wish you an anti-Christmas. Or maybe they say, happy dead prophets day, I got you this gift. And they're celebrating it, it's like a party.

Everyone just having a great time, you know, partying away. All the prophets are dead, we don't have to listen to them anymore. Then God interrupts their party.

Look at verse 11. After the three and a half days, the breath of life from God enters them and they stand on their feet. So everyone's watching, it's on screens, it's in the bars, it's in the homes.

Everyone's laughing, having a great time. Look at them laying there dead. And all of a sudden they stand up again and everybody freaks out. In fact we read that the people were afraid. They were afraid. Great fear fell upon them. And then there's a loud voice from heaven saying, come up here and they ascend to heaven in a cloud and their enemies saw them.

In the same hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell in the earthquake. 7,000 people were afraid and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. This reminds me a lot of the story of Belshazzar in the Old Testament book of Daniel. Belshazzar was a young man who ascended to the throne.

He had no interest in following the God that had humbled his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar. And in fact Nebuchadnezzar came to faith and believed in God and proclaimed it to his whole kingdom. But Belshazzar, the boy king, he just wanted to party. So one day he had the bright idea of taking those special instruments and cups and plates and such that were used by the Jews in their worship of God. He said, hey let's fill them with wine and let's worship our false gods.

So he had all these people gathered together. They're having a big party mocking God. They were going out of their way to mock God.

Listen to me. The Bible says don't be deceived. God is not mocked.

Whatsoever a man sows that will he also reap. Are you mocking God? That is a really bad idea because as Belshazzar is mocking the Lord and having a great old time, all of a sudden the Bible says suddenly a hand appeared riding on the plaster of the wall.

And it wrote these words, many, many, tecl, you farce, which means you've been weighed and the balance is and you've been found lacking. And I love the verse that describes the king's reaction. Daniel 5, 6 says when he saw that, his face turned pale with fright and his knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him.

So imagine he was just terrified. See, so the party was over and one day the party's gonna be over for a lot of people who have rejected Jesus Christ. So rejoicing breaks out in heaven in the aftermath of this but now there's a war in the heavens. Look at Revelation chapter 12, verse seven. And war broke out in heaven. Michael, who you remember as the archangel, and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought and they did not prevail. No was a place found for them in heaven any longer and that great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, he was cast to the earth and his angels were cast with him.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of the brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore, rejoice, oh heavens and you that dwell in them woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea for the devil has come down to you having great anger because he knows he has but a short time. Now in these powerful verses from the book of Revelation we learn a lot about our adversary, the devil and his fallen angels that we now call demons today. In fact, I would add, I think this is a chapter of the Bible the devil does not want you to read.

Here's some points if you're taking notes. Point number one, the devil knows his days are numbered. Let me say that again, the devil knows his days are numbered. He's working through his network of demon powers and here we find this battle in heaven. Now remember the angels are referred to as stars, right? And Satan himself is a fallen star so this is the first instance of star wars.

In history, no Luke Skywalker, no Han Solo or Princess Leia. This is a heavenly battle between the angels of God under the direction of Michael the archangel and Lucifer the son of the morning the powerful fallen angel and his demon forces and they did not prevail verse eight says. So Satan used to have this all access pass to heaven sort of a I'm on my way I'm with the band pass. But now he doesn't have that access into God's presence any longer and now basically Satan is dumped in Revelation chapter 12. You know the grammatical construction of the phrase in the Greek indicates Satan started this.

It could better be translated Michael and his angels had to fight the dragon. This is crazy because Michael's powerful. It's not Satan.

There's no match there. God doesn't need to fight with Satan. God is all powerful. Satan is limited in his power. So this is a more even match of Michael and Lucifer but Michael is more powerful than Lucifer. So he's losing this battle yet he effectively chooses off Michael if you will. Come on, let's go. Michael's like you want some of this?

You sure? And boom, Lucifer is losing and he is being dealt with quickly and in a powerful way. So the devil and his angels cannot defeat these powerful angels from God. So I mentioned in the beginning that the title of my message was how to overcome the devil.

So let me return to that and answer the question. Number two, the devil does not want you to be through. The devil does not want you to know that his primary attack comes through accusation. The devil does not want you to know that he primarily attacks you through accusation.

Paul wrote we're not ignorant of his devices in 2 Corinthians 2.11. Victor Hugo, the author of Les Miserables, made this statement and I quote, a good general must penetrate the brain of his enemy, end quote. So our enemy is the devil.

Let's try to penetrate his brain for a moment. Verse 10, the accuser of the brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. One of the primary ways that Satan attacks us is through accusation.

This is the way it works. He tempts you. And by the way, it's not a sin to be tempted because temptation is like maybe you're listening to a message like right now and all of a sudden an evil thought comes into your mind and then the devil condemns you for having an evil thought. It's not a sin to be tempted. It's only a sin if you give in to the temptation. It's not the bait that constitutes sin. It's the bite. And so maybe the devil comes and says why don't you think about this?

Or why don't you go look at that? Or another thing. And then he'll say no one will ever know. No one will ever be aware of what you've done. Go for it.

You'll have fun. And so you go for it. And then the devil comes back to you and says you miserable hypocrite. You call yourself a Christian. You say you're a child of God. No believer in Jesus Christ would do what you've done. Don't even pray. No hypocrisy. Don't you dare show your ugly face in church.

You see how this works? First he tempts you and then he condemns you for giving in to the temptation. We need to learn to know the difference between Satan's accusations and the Holy Spirit's conviction. See when a Christian sins, and yes we will sin, the Holy Spirit will convict or convince you of your sin. To drive you into shame. No, to bring you back to Jesus.

Jesus said of the Holy Spirit in John 16 eight when he comes he'll convince the world of its sin and of God's righteousness and of the coming judgment. So if you've sinned and you feel guilt and then you turn to the Lord and you ask him to forgive you that's a good thing, right? Sort of like that smoke alarm that goes off. It's made you aware of a bigger problem.

You hear the alarm. You respond to the conviction but if you feel guilt and shame and you walk away from God you're listening to the wrong voice. Satan will accuse you and use your own sins in a hateful way to destroy you.

So how do we overcome the devil? The answer is found right here in Revelation 12 11. They overcame him by the blood of the lamb by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to the death.

So first they overcame him by the blood of the lamb. So let's say you sinned. The devil says you're a hypocrite.

You're a failure. You don't deserve to approach God and my response is that's true. I don't deserve to approach God. I am not worthy and I never will be worthy. You see sometimes as Christians we get into this weird little works righteousness thing where we think if I do X amount of good things God will be happy with me and he'll hear my prayers.

I read 10 chapters out of the Bible and I actually talked to somebody about Jesus. Well look God doesn't hear your prayers based on what you've done. He hears your prayers based on what he's done and the cross in your place. So there's nothing I need to do to earn the favor of God.

You see sometimes people think God is mad at them when in reality God is mad about them. Know this you're loved by God. You're cherished by God and your prayers are welcomed by God. You say but Greg I'm not worthy. You'll never be worthy.

Forget about being worthy. I approach God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10 19 says dear friends we can boldly enter heaven's most holy place because of the blood of Jesus.

This is the new life giving way Christ has opened up for us. It's the blood of Jesus. At the cross of Calvary Jesus dealt a decisive blow against Satan and his minions. Colossians 2 14 says Christ obliterated the hand written document of ordinances against us and nailed it to the cross having stripped off and away from himself the principalities and authorities he boldly made an example of them.

So here's the point. It's through the blood of the lamb. It's through the blood of Jesus I can approach God. Ephesians 2 13 says you who are sometimes far off have been made near the blood of Jesus. John says if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Years ago I was having a meal with Billy Graham in his home and I was a young man at that point in my late 30s and so I asked Billy Billy if an older Billy could speak to a younger Billy what would you say to a younger Billy that he should be preaching on more than he is now and without missing a beat Billy said I would preach more on the cross and the blood of Christ because that's where the power is and I never forgot that. There's power in the blood as the old song says but you need to apply the blood.

You say I have no idea what you're talking about. We have the Israelites that were to slay the lamb and put the blood over their doorposts. In other words at the top of their door and on the right and left and when God's judgment came upon them on the Egyptians it would pass over the house where the blood had been applied so you've got to apply the blood.

You say what does that mean? It means that you come to God and say I'm sorry for my sin thank you for sending Jesus to shed his blood for my sin and I apply the blood to this situation and I believe that I am forgiven. I take you Lord at your word. You promised that you would forgive me of all of my sin. These folks overcame the devil by the power of the blood. By the blood of the lamb and also by the word of their testimony it says. By the word of their testimony. You know when a believer is walking closely with God in fellowship and friendship they want to tell others sort of like when we make a recommendation right. Go to Yelp. People give their opinions on everything.

Who are these people? We don't know but they give their recommendation or their endorsement and maybe before we walk into that restaurant we check it out and we go oh wow they didn't get a good Yelp review but if you really like something you're gonna tell others we're gonna talk about a burger on earth in this place or this is the greatest movie I've ever seen or hey man you gotta listen to this song or read this book. We give our endorsement. If we're really walking with Jesus should we not do the same for him? What are we just gonna talk about burgers and movies and books? Talk about Jesus. Give your testimony. Tell people what Christ has done for you.

Listen to this. Every Christian has a testimony. Some came from a life of crime or addiction or had all kinds of issues and others never got into those things but here's what we can all say when we tell our story of how we came to Jesus like that blind man who was healed by the Lord we can say once I was blind but now I see. Listen I know your testimony.

Here's what it was. You were a sinner separated from God. You heard the gospel. You put your faith in Jesus and Christ came inside of your life and he's changed you.

Is that pretty accurate? They overcame him, these people by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and finally they loved not their lives to the death. What does that mean? It means that these believers recognize that their lives belong to God.

I gotta tell you something. When you became a Christian you became God's possession. He owns you and that's a good thing. I mean I wanna be owned by God, right? The Bible says you're not your own.

You've been bought with a price therefore glorify God with your body. Because I belong to the Lord I have his ID tag on me. He's my child and I'm also called in the Bible the bride of Christ so I'm owned by him. I'm his bride and I'm also called a friend of God so there's many pictures the Bible gives of this new relationship but these folks recognize their lives belong to God and listen God has given you your life as a gift. He's given you the beat of your heart as a gift. He's given you the breath in your lungs. That's all a gift from him so these folks recognize God is in control of our lives. We belong to the Lord and he loves each and every one of us. Isn't that a great thing to know?

So let me close by asking you this question. Are you overcoming the devil or are you being overcome by the devil? Maybe you're under the power of some addiction. Maybe it's alcohol. Maybe it's drugs. Maybe it's pornography.

Maybe it's something else. It just has a grip on you and it seems like when you pray God isn't listening and Satan whispers in your ear and he says God will not hear your prayers. Why don't you just end it all and why don't you just take your own life? Don't listen to Satan.

He's a liar and the father of lies. Listen God hears your prayers. God loves you and if you've sinned against him I want you to know that there is forgiveness through Jesus Christ but here's what God says. If you will confess your sin he's faithful and just and forgive you your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. What does it mean to confess? It means to agree with God. So you say Lord I see things the way you see them.

I'm tired of making excuses and saying it. I admit Lord I've sinned and I'm sorry for that sin and I ask you to forgive me. Maybe you're watching me right now and you've never known this relationship with God I've been talking about. This is not a religion thing.

This is a relationship with God. Jesus died on the cross 2,000 years ago for your sin and mine and then he rose from the dead and now he stands at the door of your life and he knocks and he says if you'll hear his voice and open the door he will come in. Would you like your sin forgiven? Would you like to know with certainty that when you die you will go to heaven? I'm telling you right now if you will pray with me and ask Jesus to come into your life everything can change for you.

You can change your eternal address from death to heaven and the course of your life can be changed from death to life from a hopeless life to a hopeful life. He's just a prayer away. In a moment I'm gonna pray a prayer and I'm gonna ask you to pray this prayer with me if you would like Jesus to come into your life and in this prayer I'm also gonna ask some of you who maybe have sinned against God like a prodigal son or a prodigal daughter it can happen for you right now. So if you want your sin forgiven if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die if you want your guilt taken away or you want to come back to Jesus Christ again and make a recommitment pray this prayer with me right now. Pray these words Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner but I know that you're the savior who died on the cross on my place I'm sorry for my sin I confess my sin I turn from my sin and I choose to follow you now from this moment forward thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer 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 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