“I Don’t Want to Talk About It” | Classic SoCal Harvest Message

Hey there. Thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast. A ministry supported by Harvest Partners.

I am Greg Laurie encouraging you if you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner just go to harvest.org. Now we are going to say speak to our hearts. The words that we are going to be looking at are Your words. If people will respond in the right way to what we are about to see their eternal address can be changed from hell to heaven. Lord I pray that will be so. I pray that many will come to believe in Jesus Christ tonight. So bless now as Your word goes out.

May it not return void. We ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. I heard a story about a man who went to Israel on vacation with his wife and his very difficult to deal with ever nagging mother-in-law. Well sadly his mother-in-law died while they were in the Holy Land.

They were trying to figure out what to do with her body. So this man went to a local mortuary and was asking about shipping her body back to the United States and the undertaker said, well sir that will cost you $5,000. But I will tell you what we can bury your mother-in-law here in the Holy Land for $150. The man thought about it for a while and said, no I am going to ship her back to the United States. The undertaker said, sir I don't understand. This is the Holy Land. Why would you not want to bury her here in plus?

It is such a good deal. The man said, well sir a long time ago a man was buried here and three days later he rose from the dead. I can't take that chance. Apologies to all of you mothers-in-law out there.

You are all wonderful. You know we joke about things like that. I think it is because many people are very uncomfortable with the topic of death.

We try to not discuss it. You know an insurance agent who is selling you life insurance will say something like, well if you happen to die. If?

Why do you think I am buying this policy? It is not a matter of if. It is only a matter of when. Or we won't even use the D word. We will come up with other terms. We will say, well someone is passed on or they are no longer with us. Or we might use the medical terminology.

They expire. Or we might mask our discomfort with the topic by saying things like, well they bit the dust. Or they cashed in their chips.

Or they kicked the bucket. That is because there is a big discomfort in our culture today to talk about the reality of death. I want you to know in ancient times it wasn't that way.

They thought about it a lot. Maybe because the death rate was higher at that time. People would die at a younger age. I don't know if the death rate was higher. I think the death rate is the same in every generation.

One out of every one person will die. Right. But they didn't have the luxury of a long life like we might have today. So ancient merchants often wrote the words memento mori over their accounting books in large letters. Memento mori. Those words meant think of death. What it meant was keep things in perspective.

You are not going to live forever. But that is not the way it is in our culture. Someone raises the topic and will say, I don't want to talk about that. My mom was that way. You saw a little bit in this opening video a few images of my beautiful mother. She was raised in a Christian home. They went to church twice a week. But she was the classical prodigal daughter and ran from God. She became a full blown alcoholic. She was married in divorce seven times and had a lot of boyfriends in between. In fact one of those little flings that she had in Long Beach she conceived a child out of wedlock. His name was Greg.

That would be me. So she did not raise me in a Christian home. I lived in the opposite of a Christian home.

Our home could not have been more non-Christian than it was. So this got me searching at an early point in my life for the meaning of life you see. I had to grow up fast. So at the ripe old age of 17 I was asking questions like, what is the meaning of my life?

What is going to happen after I die? I heard the message of the gospel like you are going to hear tonight on the front lawn of my high school campus in Newport Beach California. I heard it in a way that I understood and an opportunity was given to put my faith in Christ and I did it.

I am going to give you that same opportunity tonight. Well I wanted to reach my mom so I began to share the gospel with her. She said, I don't want to talk about it.

As the years passed I would bring up the subject of the meaning of life and the afterlife. She always said, I don't want to talk about it. She said it over and over again. Now as the years have gone by and the life has taken its toll on my mom with her heart drinking and smoking and partying. Her body was giving out.

She was having to get dialysis every week. One day I felt really impressed by the Lord to go over to her house and have the conversation about her soul. I said to my wife, I feel really led by God. She said, go do it. So I went over to my mom's house and said, Mom I need to talk to you. We sat down at the kitchen table and said, I want to talk to you about your soul. She said, I don't want to talk about it. I said, Mom today we are going to talk about it. I am glad we had that conversation because that resulted in her making a recommitment to Jesus Christ. How was I to know that one month later she would die. But I know she is in heaven tonight and I know that I will see her again.

Here is the thing. I want to have that same conversation with you tonight that I had with my mom many years ago. I want to talk to you about eternity. My friend Frank Pastore is in heaven tonight. As you know he died late last year. Frank would lead us in prayer over the many years here on Friday nights. We miss him so.

I know his family even misses him more. But the good news is Frank was ready to go. He was ready to meet the Lord. Are you? What if this were your last night on planet earth? Are you confident that you would go to heaven? You say, well I am a good person so I think so. I will address that in a few moments.

But listen. Only those who are prepared to die are really ready to live. The Bible says prepare to meet your God.

I want to talk to you tonight about how to be prepared. I am not trying to be sensationalistic. I am not trying to freak you out. I am just dealing with the reality. Because someone's name is going to be in that obituary column tomorrow.

You say, well it won't be me. How would you know that? A lady posted on my Facebook page recently and told me the story of her young son Jonathan. They had a Harvest America event in the Bay Area where she lives in her church.

When I gave that invitation here at Angel Stadium it was being given in her church as well. Her boy Jonathan walked forward and recommitted his life to Christ. The next day he told his mom he had a headache. It got worse. He went to the doctor. By the following Wednesday Jonathan had died and left this life for the next one.

But he had made that commitment to Christ. So you see you may be old. You may be young.

You never know when that moment is going to come. This is serious stuff. There is a new movie out about Steve Jobs.

There is another one in production. It reminded me of a statement that Steve Jobs made in a commencement speech at Stanford University some years ago. To the graduating students Steve Jobs said, quote, no one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is a destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it.

End quote. Not even Steve Jobs. If anyone could have created an app to escape death Steve would have come up with it.

But even Steve as brilliant as he was couldn't do that. Bradley Cooper is a well-known movie star. Star of the Hangover movies. Nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal in Silver Linings Playbook.

Bradley Cooper was also voted the sexiest man alive by People magazine. They offered it to me. I said I can't.

I am a preacher. It would be weird. Oh no.

I dreamt that. That is not true. Right.

But he won that title. But even movie stars think about their own mortality. Bradley Cooper's father died two years ago and in an interview with USA Today Cooper said his father's death caused him to address his own mortality. He said in this interview and I quote, "'Oh right.

I am going to die too,' he says. It is not in a book. It is not in a movie. It is not in a story that was told to me. It is not driving by an accident or watching it on TV. It is someone you love dying in front of you. I was like ok this is death and this is going to happen to me one day." End quote.

That is right. Momento mori. Think of death. It will come to every person. That is why we want to get ready. As we get older we need to really be ready. It seems to me the older I get the faster time goes. When I was in elementary school it seemed like every day lasted two months. I would just stare at the clock in my classroom wondering why it didn't move. In fact I remember what was written in one of my report cards from my elementary school days. My teacher wrote to my mom, "'Greg spends too much time sitting in class staring at the window daydreaming and drawing cartoons.

If he continues this way he will never amount to anything.'" You know I did stare out the window a lot. I daydreamed a lot. Time seemed to move slow. But then all of a sudden life starts going faster. Now I remember entire decades going by. It is hard to believe.

I went into a movie theater the other day and the guy just charged me one senior. Come in. Wait. What? I mean listen I am a senior but could you card me at least? I mean you are just saying you are old. Come in.

I mean I want the discount but please. I read an interesting thing about what time it is in your life. Sort of like on a clock. If your age is 15 it is 10.25 in the morning in your life. If you are 20 it is 11.34 in the morning.

If you are 25 it is 12.42. If you are 30 the time of your life is 1.51 pm. If you are 35 it is 3 o'clock in the afternoon. If you are 40 it is 4.08 in the afternoon. If you are 45 it is 5.15 in the evening. If you are 50 it is 6.25.

55 is 7.34. If you are 60 the time is 8.40 pm. If you are 65 it is 9.55 pm. If you are 70 it is 11 o'clock at night. I don't know where that puts you but I am around 8.42 in the evening and the drag is I go to bed at 10. So wait.

What time is it in your life right now? Now I am part of a generation that is older. The baby boomers who are the architects of the youth culture. We are old now. I mean our bands are old. The Who is out there singing and talking about my generation. But they had to update it to talking about my medication. Ringo Starr is still singing I get by with a little help from my friends.

But he had to update it to I get by with a little help from depends. It is frustrating. These are the jokes people. The Rolling Stones are touring again. They are still singing that song. Time is still on my side.

Have you looked at Mick Jagger and Keith Richards lately? Timing on your sides boys. Come on. Wake up.

We have gone from acid rock to acid reflux. It is kind of frustrating. Nothing is worse than an old person trying to look young. It is not good when you shop at Forever 21 when you are 66. You can't go in that store. Stay out of the store. You get to shop at the store just a little three stores away. It is called Old and Lame.

That is where you go. All those lotions and potions are not going to turn the clock back one moment. You can eat all the tofu and the wheatgrass and the healthy foods you want but you are going to live as long as you were meant to live.

The Bible says to point it unto a man once to die and then comes the judgment. I read about a woman who lived to be 105 years old. She lives in Texas. She mothered seven children. She worked hard all of her life. They asked her the secret of her longevity.

You know what she said? Bacon. I eat bacon every day. I like that. All the vegetarians are like freaking out right now.

The meat eaters are like yes. But it is going to come. But then what? What happens after death? According to the Bible the only reliable book on the afterlife when we die we enter eternity. The Bible teaches there are actually two deaths. One is the physical death. The other is spiritual death. Jesus warned we are to fear the second death more than the first death. He said death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Here is the good news. If you are born once you will die twice. But if you are born twice you will die once. Let me explain that. Some of you get that.

Some of you don't. If you are born once you will die twice. Meaning you are born physically you are going to die physically and then you are going to have that second death you will die spiritually separated from God. But if you are born twice physically and then you are born again by believing in Jesus you will only die once.

Only physically. Because then you will go to heaven. That is why Jesus said you must be born again. You know medical science seeks to add years to your life but only Christ can add life to your years and give you a life that is worth living. A life that is full and meaningful and you don't need drugs.

You don't need alcohol. And then you have the hope of life beyond the grave as well. This is the hope of the Christians. And when we die we go to heaven. What is heaven? Heaven is where God dwells. The Bible describes heaven as a paradise. A city. A country. Heaven is a real place for real people that believe in a real God. Jesus said, I have gone to prepare a place for you.

And really heaven for the believer is home. I have a granddaughter. I have four granddaughters and one grandson.

One of my granddaughters is named Allie. She is two years old. She will come over to our house and play and we have lots of toys because we love the grandkids to come and play. She will be playing with the toys.

It is a funny thing. She will just stop right in the middle of playing and just open the door and walk out. We will go, Allie where are you going? She says, home. Just home. Have you ever felt that way?

Almost not home where you are at. There has to be something more. Maybe you have reached a lot of goals that you set in life. You are saying, man there has got to be more than this.

There is. Deep down inside you are longing for a place you have never been to before. Deep down inside you are longing for heaven. Like the little boy who was flying his kite and the kite was out of sight. Someone asked him where his kite was. The little guy pointed up to the sky. He said, but son you can't see your kite can you?

He said, no. But I can feel its tug. And you can feel the tug of heaven deep down inside. This is where you are meant to go someday. And when we get to heaven we will not only see the Lord there we will see our loved ones that have died and gone on before us who also believed in Jesus Christ. Heaven will be a time of great reunion and we will pick up where we last left off.

Isn't that great? You know I have friends going back to my high school days and I will run into them every now and then and maybe I haven't seen them for four years we will pick up where we last left off. Hey remember that time.

Because they are one of those friends you have had forever. And when we get to heaven we will see those loved ones we have missed and longed for and we will just pick right up again. You know when my son Christopher was a little boy I would carry him around on my shoulders. And he was a curious little guy. He would point at things. He would point at a bird and he would say, sat. That meant what is that. But he couldn't say what is that. He just said sat.

And said Topher that was his nickname Topher. That is a bird. Sat. Well that is a car. Sat. That is another bird. Sat. Well that is a tree.

Always the little sat. It is very cute. One day when I get to heaven he has been there for a while now. Five years. I will be blown away.

I will be looking around. I will say sat. He will say dad that is a sea of glass over there.

The sat. That is the throne of God dad. When is dinner? Soon dad.

Be patient. He will catch me up. This is only the hope of the Christian. Heaven is not the default destination of every person.

So what happens after we die? Jesus gives us a behind the scenes look at life after the grave in Luke chapter 16. He tells the story of two men who died on the same day. One man was wealthy. The other man was poor.

One man was famous. The other was unknown. One was a believer. The other was a non-believer. Death knocks at every door.

It is no respect for a person. And the men who believed who was named Lazarus was carried by God or carried by the angels straight into the presence of God. I find that to be a very comforting thing to know that when our loved ones leave this world that they are carried by the angels into the presence of the Lord. But the other man was separated from God.

So we have this hope of reunion one day. I heard the story of a Christian father who was terminally ill. He called his three sons to his bedside. And two of them were believers. And he said to them, goodbye my sons. I will see you in the morning. Well the third son who was not a Christian was very concerned because the father turned to him and just said, goodbye son. And that boy said, dad why did you say just goodbye to me. You said to my brothers I will see you in the morning. To me you just said goodbye son.

Why? He said, son because you haven't believed in Jesus Christ and I will never see you again. The boy said, well dad I want to see you again. The father said, son you need to believe in Jesus Christ and if you do our family will be reunited in eternity. And that boy did believe right on the spot.

And you can believe right on the spot tonight. Be reunited with loved ones who have died in the Lord. So that is what happens to a believer. The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Let me tell you something else. What could happen even before death is the Lord could come back and call us all to heaven. That is a promise the Bible has for Christians that will be caught up to meet the Lord in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. It could happen tonight.

That would be fantastic. But what happens to the nonbeliever. This is quite scary. Revelation chapter 20 deals with it. In Revelation 20 we read, "'I saw a great white throne, Him that sat on it, and Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and it was found no place for them.'"

Speaking of the nonbelievers. "'I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to their works by the things that were written in the books.

The sea gave up the dead that were in them. Death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them, and they were judged, each one according to his works. Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.'" This is the second death. Anyone not found written into the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Now this is an ominous scene. It is one of the most sobering and serious and tragic passages in all of Scripture. Dante's poem known as Inferno are the words, quote, "'Abandon hope all who enter here that are written above the gates of hell.'"

John sees a great white throne. And now judgments are going to come from it. There is going to be no debate over guilt or innocence. There will be a prosecutor but no defender. An accuser but no advocate. There will be an indictment but no defense mounted by the accused. And the judgment is binding through all eternity.

There is no appealing the verdict. Well who will be there? The answer is everyone who has rejected God's offer of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. The Bible says how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation. So sinners will be there. What is a sinner? Well you are looking at one.

And I am looking at a lot more. We are all sinners. Two definitions in the Bible are given of sin. One definition of sin is to cross a line. The Bible talks about trespassing sin. To cross a line.

Sort of like when you are in the park and you see a little sign that says, no trespassing. If you step over that line you have crossed it. So sin is to cross that line. It is to break God's commandments.

It is to do what you know is wrong. But another definition of sin is to miss a mark. God has set a high mark for all of humanity.

It is a mark of absolute perfection. Jesus said, be perfect because my Father in heaven is perfect. We all fall short of that. So sinners are there. But what kind of sinners? Well there are different kinds of sinners. There are just out and out sinners. People that sin and they are proud of it.

We might call them garden variety sinners. They just hate God. They hate church. They hate Christians. They go out of their way to mock God and oppose Christians whenever they can. They shake their fist at God. They will be there.

But listen to this. Self-righteous people will be there too. They think they are too good to face judgment.

Maybe they are kind and considerate and they volunteer. They don't think they need God's forgiveness. But the Bible says, it is not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He has saved us. See. So these are people that think they will get to heaven because they are good people.

Now listen. I am not denying the fact that there are good people. I have met some people that are not believers and in some ways are better people than some Christians I know. And by that I mean they are nicer. They are more kind. The only comfort I find is they think of the Christian that is not so nice.

Well think how much worse they would be if they didn't believe in Jesus. I mean you know there are good people. We know that. But the point is you are not good enough. You are not perfect. You fall short.

That is the problem. So those self-righteous people will be there. Procrastinators will be there.

Procrastinators. Those are the people that say, never do today what you could put off until tomorrow. These are the people that say, well I think what you are saying is true. In one of these days maybe I will believe.

Maybe one of these days I will come to faith but they never do. And they will be unsaved church members. People that went to church every Sunday. They may even have Bibles. They may occasionally pray. They know all about God but they never knew God.

Did you know that is possible? You can know all about God and never know Him. I am not talking to you tonight about becoming a religious person. You can be a very religious person and not know God at all. I want to talk to you about a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. That is the difference.

That is what we all need. Let's listen to this statement of Jesus. He says, "'Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Some will say in that day, Lord, would we not prophesy in Your name and cast out demons in Your name and in Your name do many miracles?' Jesus says, and I will say, Away from Me, you evildoers." Wow. They did all those good things but it wasn't enough.

Even religion won't save you. So you see here you are at the great white throne and everybody is there. It doesn't matter if you were a billionaire or a president or a prime minister or a king or a queen or a movie star or even a rock star. Steven Tyler the lead singer of Aerosmith was interviewed by Rolling Stone a while back. Tyler is 65 years old.

He hates it when journalists point that out. He doesn't like to think about mortality according to this article. Steven Tyler says, quote, "'I am going to get up to heaven and the gates are going to open and God is going to go, you know what? I threw Beelzebub out while listening to your songs.'" Tyler goes on to say, "'I think you have been lucky in this life.

I will die in my sleep. Thank you Lord Jesus.'" End quote. To Steven Tyler I would say, dream on.

And then I would say, you have got to walk this way. I am quoting Aerosmith's songs. See here is my point. I am not making a judgment on him as to whether or not he believes or doesn't believe. I am just saying the only way anyone will get into heaven is if we put our faith in Jesus Christ. Our fame won't get us in. Our possessions won't get us in. Our religiosity won't get us in. You have to believe in Jesus and turn from your sin.

But then these books are open. If your name is not written in that book you are separated from God for all eternity. But we hate that word. Maybe the only word we hate more than death is hell. It is funny how people will say, I don't believe in hell. But yes we punctuate our sentences with it so often. I actually had someone come up to me on a Sunday morning and say, that was a hell of a good sermon pastor.

I am like, really? Thank you. I knew what he meant. If you are mad at someone you say, I am going to give them a piece of my mind or I am going to give them hell. Or if you had a lot of fun you might say, we had a hell of a good time. Or if you are really mad at someone you say, go to hell. Why do we say that? Well I don't believe in hell but I tell people to go to hell.

Why? Why don't you just say, go to a place that I do not believe exists. There is no punch in that you see. The reason we say go to hell is deep down inside I think we know there is a place called hell. It is the same reason that we use the name of Jesus Christ in our profanity. Why do you use the name of Jesus when you don't even believe in Jesus? Because deep down inside even if you are a nonbeliever I think you recognize there is power in that name. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that He is the Lord. But I know what you are thinking. You are probably saying, well Greg how could a God of love send someone to hell.

Here is the answer. God doesn't send people to hell. The last place God wants any man or woman made in His image to go to is this place called hell. That is why He sent His son Jesus to die on the cross in our place and bear all of our sins. He died so we don't have to go to this place. He put the judgment on Jesus so it doesn't have to be on you you see.

Jesus Christ came to pay a debt He did not owe because you owed a debt you could not pay. He doesn't want you to go to hell. If you go to hell it is only because you effectively chose to. C. S. Lewis said, quote, there are only two kinds of people in the end.

Those who say to God, thy will be done and those to whom God says in the end, thy will be done. All that are in hell choose it. Without the self-choice there could be no hell.

End quote. The gates of hell are locked from the inside. God doesn't want you to go there. If you end up there on that final day He will have no one to blame but yourself. You will have to practically climb over Jesus to get there. This is the last thing God wants for you.

But listen. One day we are going to stand before this judgment. And every man and every woman is going to meet Jesus Christ if they believe in Him or not. But unfortunately when some meet them they won't be ready. And the Bible says, one day every knee will bow or every tongue will confess but for some it will be too late.

Do it now. God has a much better plan for you. It is called heaven. You can change your eternal address tonight by turning from your sin and putting your faith in Jesus Christ.

And I am going to give you an opportunity to do that in just a moment. Heard about a man who died and went to heaven. Peter met him at the pearly gates and said, ok this is how it works. You need a thousand points to get into heaven.

Tell me all the good things you have done and I will give you points for each item. The man was very excited. He said, well I have been married to the same woman for 50 years.

I never cheated on her even in my heart. Peter said, that is good. That is worth three points. Three points. And it is a thousand. Yeah it is a thousand. That is worth three. Ok.

I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless people. Peter said, that is good. That is worth two points.

Exasperated the man says, the only way I can get into heaven is by the grace of God. Peter said, you have got it. That is worth a thousand points.

Come on in. Ok. Now. You all know that is not a true story right. That is just a joke. But it makes a point.

It is not a point system. It is by the grace of God. Heaven is not for good people. Heaven is for forgiven people. No matter what you have done God will forgive you.

Have you committed a horrible sin or a horrible crime in addition? Think about that man that was crucified next to Jesus. We call him the thief on the cross. There were two of them. But one of them believed in Jesus.

And the word that is used there for thief in the original language speaks of a criminal of a greater sort even. So he probably was a murderer. Probably was an insurrectionist against Rome. We might call him a terrorist today.

A terrorist against Rome. There he was hanging on the cross next to Jesus. He turned to Jesus and he said, Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said, truly truly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise. He forgave that man right on the spot. He will forgive you right on the spot if you will turn from your sin.

Say, well what do I do? How do I believe in Jesus? I don't know what that means. Let me break it down for you as it was broken down for me.

Number one. You need to admit you are a sinner. The Bible says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We have all broken God's commandments. We have all fallen short of His standards.

You say, well no. I am a good person. I have never broken commandments.

Oh please. You have never taken the Lord's name in vain. You have never stolen. You have never lied. Of course you have. We have broken them. Ok.

I have broken a few. Maybe one. The Bible says if you offend in one point of the law you are guilty of all of it. So we have all sinned. Let's just establish that.

Number two. Recognize Jesus Christ died in the cross for your sin. He died in your place. He voluntarily went to the cross.

Jesus said, for God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son and whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Earlier we showed a video of a man named Earl who heard the gospel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Earl was suicidal. Earl was running from God. Earl wanted to die that night. But he heard that God loved him.

No one had ever told that to Earl. Can I tell you that tonight? God loves you. He loves you. Despite all I have done He loves you. And He loves you enough to change you. He showed that love to you by sending His Son to die in your place. Listen. Males did not hold Jesus to that cross 2,000 years ago. Love did. Love for you.

Number three. You need to turn from your sin. The Bible says repent and be converted.

What does that even mean? To repent means to hang a U-turn in the road of life. So you have been running from God.

Now it is time to run toward God. It is to change your mind and it is to change your ways. To let go of your sin and take hold of the hand of Jesus Christ. The Bible says God has commanded people everywhere to repent.

Then number four. You must receive Jesus Christ into your life. Jesus who died on the cross and rose again from the dead says, I stand at the door of your life and I knock and if you will hear my voice and open the door I will come in. See there has to be a moment when you say, Jesus come into my life. It is not about being religious. It is not about good works.

It is about saying, Jesus come and live inside of me. Have you done that yet? I can't do that for you. Your parents can't do that for you. There has to be a moment in your own life when you ask Christ to come inside. Then you need to do it publicly. That is why in a moment I am going to ask you to do what over 300,000 people have done here at Angel Stadium over the last 24 years. I am going to ask you in a moment to make a public stand for Jesus Christ. I am going to ask you in a moment to get up out of your seat and come down on this field behind me and stand there saying, I want my sin forgiven.

I want Jesus Christ to come into my life. Now why do I ask you to come publicly? Because everyone Jesus calls He calls openly and publicly. Jesus said, if you will acknowledge me before people I will acknowledge you before my Father and the angels in heaven. But He added, if you deny me before people I will deny you before my Father and the angels in heaven. This is a way to publicly say I want to follow Jesus.

I don't care who sees. I am serious about this. Lastly you must do it now. Don't be a procrastinator. Don't say, well I will do it tomorrow night. I will do it Sunday night.

Ok. There may not be a Sunday night for you. Or me for that matter. When we talk about the end of the world. I don't know when the end of the world is but I know the end of your world could come before. So don't put it off. Don't say another day.

The Bible says now is the time. Today is the day of salvation. There is no good reason to keep you from coming to Christ tonight. Just excuses.

Let go of those excuses. When I heard that invitation to my high school campus and I bowed my head and prayed I was thinking this won't work for me. I thought I am not the religious type.

I am too cynical. But Christ changed me and that is why I am here talking to you tonight. Because I want Him to change you. And I want you to have the hope of heaven when you die.

And that can happen if you will come to Jesus. In a moment we are going to pray. And I am going to give you an opportunity to make a decision. One last thing I want to say to you. Every one of us will make a decision tonight.

This is a yes or no proposition. Jesus did not say admire me or think good thoughts about me. He said follow me. I am going to ask you to follow Christ. To believe in Christ. To not say yes.

As to by default say no. Jesus said you are for me or against me. You are with me or you are opposed to me.

So what side are you on? If you say no to Him now He will say no to you then. If you say yes to Him now He will say yes to you then. If you say come into my life Lord now He will say enter into the joy of the Lord then. But if you say no to Him now He will sadly but firmly say depart from me.

I never knew you. It is your choice. The ball is in your court. Now it is time to decide. And I pray that you will make the right decision to follow Jesus Christ. Eternity is hanging in the balance.

Let's all pray. Now Father we have heard your Word. It is not an easy message to deliver.

But it is true. I know you love every person here. Every person listening and watching. And I pray for these that do not yet know You Lord that they would see their need for Jesus that Your Holy Spirit would convict them. Convince them of their sin and that they would come to You. Bring them to Yourself Lord. I pray for people that have fallen away from You that they would come back to You tonight. So bring those folks Lord. We commit them to You now. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. Amen.