Home Before Dark | Classic SoCal Harvest

Hey there. Thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm 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. I need to hear that no matter what I go through, that God's still going to chase after me. You've come to the right place. What you've been looking for is right here for you tonight in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Stop running from Him and instead start running to Him. He has what you're looking for. The Harvest Crusade on a New Beginning. It felt like it was time to accept the Lord Jesus Christ, my Savior and my life, and it's amazing. I feel incredible. I feel really great. I feel uplifted. God is in control. You know, He has His hand in all things. I feel good.

I'm so excited. It all started with this harvest. More than 186,000 people joined us in the stadiums, more than a million connected online from all 50 states and 63 different countries. The Harvest Crusades with Greg Laurie brought the Gospel to scores of people, and today we're bringing one of those messages to you here on the New Beginning. As you listen, if you have questions about where you stand with the Lord, log on to knowgod.org, K-N-O-W, knowgod.org. Let's pray together. Father, this is a big stadium full of a lot of people. There are people listening on radio.

There are people watching on the Internet. And we're going to talk about the most important issues of life. So I pray, Lord, that we'll all just tune in and pay attention.

Because our life literally depends on it. We're talking about issues about time and eternity. So speak to us as we look at Your Word and we ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

The title of my message tonight is Home Before Dark. From the moment that you were born, you've been on a quest. What you were after wasn't completely clear, but you knew you wanted your life to have some kind of purpose and meaning.

It's been said that there are two things that are true of every person. We all want to be happy and we're all going to die. Everyone deep down inside is searching for meaning in their life. A philosopher named Hugh Moorhead from a major university wrote to 250 of the best-known philosophers, scientists, writers, and intellectuals in the world and asked them this question.

What is the meaning of life? Some offered their best guesses. Some admitted they just made up a purpose for life. Others were honest to admit they were clueless. In fact, a number of them wrote Moorhead back and asked if he had discovered the purpose of life. Well, we better get this figured out.

You know, it's been said if you aim at nothing, you're bound to hit it. Every day the clock is ticking. Every day life is moving forward. What is the meaning of your life? That's why it's really good to decide when you're young because you will decide the evening of your life by the morning of your life or the end of your life by the beginning. We talked to Louis Zamperini, 94 years old.

But he's been walking with the Lord for many, many years because he made the right decision as a young man to follow Jesus Christ. And I hope that many of you who are young will make that same decision. By the way, how many of you are under the age of 25 tonight? Raise up your hand if you're under 25. Oh yeah. Sorry, my hand is up.

I'm over 25 for sure. A poll was taken on the Oprah Winfrey Show and the question was asked, what is your life's passion? Seventy percent had no idea. You know, a lot of people are just enduring instead of enjoying their life. Their favorite day of the week is some day. You know, some day their ship will come in. Some day they'll get that promotion or that dream house or some day they'll retire. Some day they'll find that perfect relationship or so they think. In a study, 94 percent of people who responded to a survey said they were simply enduring the present while waiting for something better to happen.

But life moves on. Someone described the four stages of life this way. Number one, you believe in Santa Claus. Number two, you don't believe in Santa Claus. Number three, you become Santa Claus. And number four, you look like Santa Claus.

That's where I am right now, yeah. You know, you're getting older. There are the telltale signs you're getting older. You know you're getting older when someone compliments you on your new alligator shoes.

But you're barefoot. You know you're getting older when you don't care where your spouse goes out as long as you don't have to go along. You know you're getting older when your idea of a night out is just sitting on the patio. You know you're getting older when someone calls you at nine o'clock and says, did I wake you? You know you're getting older when it takes twice as long to look half as good. You know you're getting older when you're sitting on a park bench and a boy scout comes along to help you cross your legs. You know you're getting older when you're on a game show and you decide to risk it all and go for the rocker. You know you're getting older when your knees buckle and your belt won't.

You know you're getting older when your teeth and you don't sleep together anymore. Yeah. So how's it going? How's life going for you right now? Have you reached your goals? Have you realized those dreams?

Is it working out for you? The story is told of an artist who sculpted a beautiful angel. And he wanted to ask the opinion of the master artist Michelangelo. And so he brought in this brilliant artist and asked him to look at it. Michelangelo looked at it for a few moments, walked around it a few times and said, well, it lacks only one thing.

And then he walked out. But he never told the artist what it lacked. Well the guy didn't want to actually go to Michelangelo and ask himself. So he asked a friend, go to Michelangelo and find out what my statue lacked. So they went to the great artist and they said, what was it that the statue lacked?

And the artist responded, it lacks only life. And that's how it is for a lot of us. Maybe you have the ultimate house or the coolest car or the trophy wife or the successful husband.

You are firing on all cylinders. But something is missing. What is it? It lacks only life. And then you don't plan on death. You plan on living a long life. You don't even like to think about the idea of dying.

You won't even use the dreaded D word. You just pretend it is not a reality. But listen friend. The statistics on death are quite impressive. One out of every one person will die.

There is no escaping it. The Bible says it is appointed unto a man once to die. Now you would have thought that Louis' day would have come a long time ago after all that he went through. But God had many years ahead for him. But there is no guarantee that we will live to the age of Louis Amparini. A life could come to an end sooner than that. We have to think about our own mortality.

Actor William Shatner who played Captain Kirk in the Star Trek TV series is now 80 years old. And he made this statement in an interview quote, I am so not ready to die. It petrifies me. I go alone.

I go to a place I don't know. It might be painful. It might be the end. My thought is that it is the end. I become nameless when I spend a lifetime being known. End quote.

Yeah. We search for meaning in life. Trying to find it through the things that this culture says we need to be happy. Oh you will get it through sex or you will get it through possessions or you will get it through accomplishments or some other thing. But we fall short.

None of these things meet the deepest need of our lives. You know I grew up in a broken home. My mom was a beautiful woman. Sort of a Marilyn Monroe lookalike. She was married and divorced seven times. Had a lot of boyfriends in between there.

And was a raging alcoholic. So in many ways I had to sort of take care of my mom. I didn't understand that wasn't normal. But sometimes she would be out all night drinking and she wouldn't come home at all.

And when she did come home she would usually collapse and I would need to put her to bed. That was my life. That was normal for me. And yet ironically as I got older I ended up in the party lifestyle. I was drinking. I was smoking. I was hanging out with all the kids. And I thought well this isn't where the answer is. I don't want to live like my mom lives.

And here I am doing the same thing. So around that time the whole drug culture was coming on strong. People told us that drugs would expand our consciousness. So I got into drugs. And they certainly didn't make things any better.

In fact they made things a whole lot worse. And so in my life I knew where the answer wasn't. I knew it wasn't in the affluent lifestyle of my mother. I knew it wasn't in the party lifestyle that she lived in. I had lived. I knew it wasn't in the drug culture. So where was it?

Process of elimination. Well on my high school campus in Newport Beach Harbor High we had some very outspoken Christians that actually walked around and carried their Bible in public and we called them Jesus Freaks. Are there any Jesus Freaks here tonight?

You are the atheist's worst nightmare. Yeah. So my friends actually warned me. Hey Greg be careful. There's a lot of Jesus Freaks on this campus. I said yeah. Like Greg Laurie is going to become a Jesus Freak. Hello.

That's never going to happen. One day I went to one of their meetings. Now I have to admit to you no one even invited me.

I went because I saw this cute girl and I wanted to get to know her better. And she was sitting there with the Jesus Freaks in there singing these weird little songs that all had like four chords to them on the guitar you know. And I thought look at these deranged people.

They are nuts. I thought all the Jesus Freaks were a few clowns short of a circus you know. Something wasn't right.

But then for the first time I listened and I opened my heart up. And a guy spoke and made a statement which was Jesus said you are either for me or against me. And I looked around at the Jesus Freaks and I said well they are definitely for them but I am not one of them.

Does that mean that I am against them? Well I didn't want to be in that category. And that was the day I put my faith in Jesus Christ. That was the day that I found the meaning and purpose of my life. And this can be your night.

We will return to Pastor Greg Laurie and our visit to the Harvest Crusades in just a moment. There was six of us. I had six brothers and sisters and I was the middle child. My mom told me if I could get rid of one of my kids I would get rid of you. There was nothing else I needed to hear.

I went to my room and I just thought to myself how many pills do I have to take to die? You come to Him with your problems. You come to Him with your sins. You come to Him with your struggles. You come to Him with your questions.

You come. God has what you are looking for. You are not going to find it in relationships. You are not going to find it in parties or drinking.

You are going to find it in a relationship with a God who loves you and will forgive you of your sins tonight. He just said He loves you. Come to Him today. And when He said that I was like wait who loves me? I didn't grow up hearing I love you very often you know.

So when He said that somebody loved me I definitely want to know who it was. I'm going to call you publicly and as you come down you'll be saying Lord I want your forgiveness. Lord I want to follow you.

Some people were even running down the field and I'm just like well I'm going to. You come to Him with your struggles. You come. I was just seriously surrendering it to the Lord. Everything that I've been through. My family, my friends, my mom, my dad, everything. I just really, I felt like I really gave it to Him.

I've never felt so loved in my life. I want to tell you a story now. A story that Jesus Himself told about God. I mean if you ever wonder what God is like. People have a lot of weird ideas about God. You know they think God is sort of perpetually uptight. Just angry.

Just waiting to ruin your life or make it miserable. I heard a story about a man was married to a woman for over 50 years. That was quite an accomplishment. So a newspaper was sent out to their anniversary party and the reporter said, Sir tell us what is the secret of being married to the same person for 50 years?

The man said, Well sir let me tell you. It goes back to our honeymoon. We went to the Grand Canyon. And I didn't know my wife all that well at that point. But we are riding along on those little donkeys on a very narrow little path. And she was in front of me and I could see her there. And her little donkey stumbled a little bit on the path. And she leaned forward and said very firmly in the donkey's ear, That's once. He thought, Whoa.

What is that all about? So he said, So we went a little bit further and her donkey stumbled once again. And she leaned forward and said in the donkey's ear, That's twice.

Wow. What is this all about? Finally they go a few more feet and the donkey stumbles for a third time. She reaches into her purse. Pulls out a pistol. Holds it up to the donkey.

Said, Fires. Donkey drops dead right on the spot. Husband says, What are you doing? That's horrible. That's cruel. Why would you do that to the donkey? She turned to him and said, That's once.

That's the secret to a long marriage there. But that is how some people see God. Oh man if I slip up. If I do something wrong God is going to say, That's once.

Man I am going to mess your life up. Nothing can be further from the truth. What is God like? Well according to Jesus.

God. He is like a Father that loves us deeply. He is like a Father who when we leave Him misses us and longs for our return. The story that Jesus told is often referred to as the parable of the prodigal son.

Here is the story from Christ Himself. A man had two sons. The younger son said to his father, I want my share of your estate now instead of waiting until you die. So the father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. A few days later his younger son packed all of his belongings and took a trip to a distant land and wasted all of his money on wild living. About that time his money ran out. A great famine swept over the land and he began to starve. He persuaded the local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs.

The man became so hungry that even the food that the pigs were eating began to look good to him but no one gave him anything. So as the story begins we have a boy who is tired of living at home. It was an affluent home. As we will find out later they had servants there. It seems to be a loving home when we see that the father welcomed his son home and kissed him.

So I don't really think there was anything wrong with this home. This boy just was tired of rules and regulations. The bright lights of the big city were calling and he wanted to experience everything that this world had to offer. There was a restlessness.

I want to go out and try this stuff. And that is what he did. And he went out and found for himself how empty life can be.

This is a story that Jesus tells that shows us being like this boy running from God. But notice how the father didn't say, You are not going anywhere son because I know you are going to mess it up. I know you are going to waste your money. I know you are going to ruin your life. I am not going to let you go. No. He said, Okay son.

Go ahead. Guess what? God has given you something called a free will. He loves you so much He will not force you to believe in Him. He will not force you to love Him.

If you want to go you can go. And many people do. And they run from God. And this boy wasted all of his money on wild living. And I bet he was popular when he hit town. Can you imagine how many friends he had with all that money? But as soon as the money ran out the friends ran out with it. I heard a story of two buddies who went camping in the woods.

As they were getting up for their first cup of coffee they heard rustling in the bushes. And coming at them at full speed was a very large bear. And one of the friends started to pull on his running shoes. And his buddy said, You don't think you can outrun that bear do you? His friend said, I don't need to outrun the bear.

I need to outrun you. That is how a lot of so-called friends are. They will run out when times get hard. This boy hit bottom. Maybe you have hit bottom. Maybe you have been reaping the results of stupid things that you have done. You got a DUI. You got arrested. Your girlfriend got pregnant. Your marriage fell apart. Things have been so bad you have even thought about suicide. God wants you to live. And more than just exist He has a life worth living for you. A life with purpose and meaning. And I hope you will put your faith in Jesus Christ tonight. So this prodigal son started out high on the hog and he ended up hanging out with the hogs.

Pretty lame. But that is sin for you. It promises freedom. But it brings slavery. It promises success. But it brings failure. It promises life. But ultimately it brings death. It promises pleasure.

But ultimately it brings misery. Have you figured that out yet? Have you seen how empty life is without God?

This boy did. He came to a census. He finally came to a census.

He said to himself, Hey even the hired men have food enough to spare back at home. And here I am dying of hunger. I am going to go to my father. I am going to say, Father I have sinned against heaven and you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Just take me on as a hired hand. That boy woke up and he smelled the coffee. He said, Man this is ridiculous.

I am going to go back home again. At least the guys that work for my dad have it better than I have it right now. He realized that what he was experiencing was his own fault. You know a lot of times in life we want to blame everyone. If we have trouble at home it is the fault of your parents. Trouble at school it is the fault of the teachers. Trouble at work it is the fault of your boss. Do you ever stop and think you are the problem? Deep down inside it is you. You say, Greg the reason I do the things that I do is because I come from a dysfunctional family.

Oh please. Who doesn't come from a dysfunctional family? You know. I came from a dysfunctional family and now I am the head of a dysfunctional family. We are all dysfunctional. We are all messed up.

We are all sinners. When are you going to just take responsibility and say it is my fault. This is why it has happened. The Bible says the heart is wicked and deceitful.

Who can really know how bad it is. He came to his senses. Maybe you have come to your senses tonight. When I went to that meeting with the Christians I started off looking at them. What a bunch of losers. What a bunch of idiots. What a bunch of fools. But I have to admit they are happy fools. Too bad they can't be cynical, angry, and mad like me.

And then I tried to thought I am for size. What if the Christians are right. Now they aren't of course.

We know that. There is no way they could be right. But what if they are right. And what if I am wrong. And what if Jesus Christ is real.

And what if He can really change a life. And maybe that is happening to you right now. C.S. Lewis said, Even atheists have their moments of doubt. You came in.

You are so firm in your so-called beliefs or non-belief. But suddenly it is dawning on you. This is it.

This is what I have been looking for. It is Jesus Christ. I have looked everywhere else but to Jesus Christ.

And that is what the boy realized. I need to get back to my father's house again. So he decided to go home and return. Why don't you come back to your father's house tonight.

Your father in heaven who loves you and will welcome you. A survey was recently done. And kids age 13 to 24 were asked what made them happy. I think you will be surprised by what they said. They did not choose sex.

Here is what they said. The number one thing that makes kids happy ages 13 to 24 is spending time with family. Next. Next was spending time with friends and then a significant other. You see deep down inside we all want to belong. We all want to be loved. We want to love. We want to connect. That is why we are constantly updating our Facebook page and adding new friends. That is why we are tweeting all the time. That is why we are constantly communicating.

I mean texting. I went out to a restaurant with some friends the other day. We sat down. Everybody was texting. It is like I thought we came to get together. I actually texted everyone.

And I texted the words, be here now. But you know we are always communicating. We want to be a part of something.

It is deep down inside of us. And we all have cell phones. My goodness. I think they give cell phones out to babies now when they are born you know.

Welcome to the world. Here is your cell phone. Push this button and it goes straight through to mommy.

You are covered. I mean pretty soon they are going to be giving cell phones out to dogs. I actually read. I am not making this up that there is a cell phone for dogs now. It is in the shape of a bone. It hangs around their collar where you can call your dog. Now your dog can't talk to you obviously but you can call him.

There is a little speaker on it. It just cracks me up. You are going to traumatize the dog you know. He is just hanging out. Come home now. Come home. Sit. Roll over.

Who is saying this? Interesting they didn't make a cell phone for cats. They wouldn't have ever listened. You would call your cat. Come home now. The cat would be like. Sit.

That is choking on a furball there. Yeah. We want to communicate. We want to belong.

We want to be a part of something. I do have one criticism though. Are you one of those people that has a thing in your ear all the time? I mean always. Could you stop doing that please.

I don't know. Whatever. We all want to be loved. You say well Greg it is nice you stand up there talking about this but I don't have a family to return to. You see I don't have a dad. And I don't have a mom. They are divorced.

They don't talk to each other. They don't want to talk to me. I understand that.

Listen to this. You have a father in heaven who wants to hear from you right now. And you have a family. It is called God's family. The church. And you are surrounded by them right now. Come home to your father and join the family of God. I encourage you to do that. So meanwhile back home.

I almost think of it as a ranch. You know dad is sitting back there on the front porch missing his boy. He would probably get up and walk into his son's room and look around at all those things and just miss that kid.

Will he ever come home? And one day dad is sitting on the porch looking down that road and all of a sudden he sees a silhouette moving toward him. He recognizes him. Oh he doesn't have this spring in his step like he used to have when he was leaving. But that is his boy all right.

His head is hanging down. But he is coming home. The father bolts up from the chair and goes toward his son. But the way Jesus tells it is he doesn't just walk to his son. He runs.

Here is what Jesus says. While the boy was a long way off his father saw him. His heart pounding. He ran out and praised him and kissed him. And the boy said, Father I have sinned against God. I have sinned against you. I don't deserve to be called your son.

The father wasn't listening. He called to the servants quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress them.

Put the family ring in his finger. And sandals on his feet. We are going to have a feast.

We are going to have a wonderful time. My son who was given up for dead is alive again. He who was lost is found. That is how God feels toward you right now. This is a pretty easy story to understand isn't it? Jesus broke things down. God is like that father.

You are like the son. You mess up. You come to your senses. You come home. God will run to you.

Hey you know what? Back in this culture it was considered undignified for an older man to run. Not to mention the fact it is harder for an older man to run. You know I have a lot of friends that go out and jog and I walk. But I hate to run.

I don't know what it is. When I walk I am ok. The moment I start to run it is just like I am not happy. I have had my runner friend say, Greg hang in there man. Just press on.

Keep going. The endorphins will be released and you will get the runner's high. I have never met a single endorphin. If there is an endorphin here please say hello to me afterwards. I have never felt a runner's high.

All I felt is pain and more pain. But the father was willing to lose his dignity if you will and run to get to his son. Not just as God will run to you and throw His arms around you. I want you to know that the father didn't stop about ten feet away and say, Boy where have you been man? You stink.

You smell like a pig. The father accepted him as he was. And if you will come to Christ tonight He will accept you as you are and throw His arms around you. God doesn't say clean up your life and come to me.

In effect He says come to me and I will clean your life up. That is why I am going to ask you to do in a few moments what over 6,000 people have already done. I am going to ask you to come to Jesus Christ tonight. To come with your problems. To come with your addictions. To come with your questions. To come with your doubts.

To come with your sin and receive His forgiveness. I am going to give you an opportunity to do that in just a moment. Come to the Lord. But here is what I want to say to you. Get home before dark. Why did I call my message this? Because when I was a kid and I would be up playing my mom would say to me, Come home before dark.

I hope you will do that too. Speaking of my mom. You know she was raised in a Christian home. She was raised going to church. She had sisters that were Christians. In fact her sister Willie runs a mission in Los Angeles.

Willie Jordan. So my mom knew better. But she rebelled for her whole life against God. And what was my mom looking for? She wanted to have fun. She wanted to have pleasure.

She wanted to have a good time. But sadly she wasted a lot of her life. But I am happy to tell you that at the very end of her life my mom came back to the Lord again. The prodigal daughter returned. And she is in heaven tonight. And in heaven my mom has found everything that she wanted in life. What did she want?

Pleasure. Joy. Happiness. Fulfillment. She has found it all. The Bible says in His presence there is fullness of joy and in His right hand there are pleasures forevermore. She has found what she wanted.

She got home before dark. My oldest son Christopher was also a prodigal for a time. We raised him as a believer. Took him to church all the time. We prayed for him.

I told him Bible stories. And he believed in Jesus. He never stopped believing in Jesus. But there was a time when he went astray. And he tried to live in two worlds. And he was miserable.

And he came to his senses and he came back to the Lord. Married a beautiful girl named Brittany. Then they had a little daughter named Stella my granddaughter. And another little daughter was on the way. Little Lucy. But unexpectedly my son was called to heaven.

No one ever thought that would happen. But he got home before dark. And he is in heaven with my mom right now in fullness of joy with pleasures forevermore.

Get home before dark. Louis Zamperini transformed by Jesus Christ. Wanted to kill Mutsuhiro Watanabe. But he was transformed by Jesus and decided to forgive the bird.

The nickname for this cruel prison guard. After Louis wrote that letter that he read earlier he discovered that Watanabe was still alive. So a meeting was arranged for Louis to meet Watanabe so he could share the gospel with him.

Watanabe agreed. The meeting was set. And shortly before the bird cancelled the meeting. He didn't want to do it. He didn't get home before dark.

It is too bad he didn't meet a man like Louis who wanted to just tell him Jesus Christ loved him and would forgive him of every sin he had ever committed. Don't put this off people. Don't say, hey you know what I will tell you what Greg I will come out a month later and I will see you at Dodger Stadium and I will get right with God there or I will wait until next year. How do you know there is going to be a next year? How do you know there is going to be a next month? You don't even know there will be a tomorrow. The Bible says don't boast about tomorrow. You don't know what a day will bring. Tonight is your night to get right with God or to come back to Christ. You know it.

Say well what do I need to do? You talk about getting right with God and coming to Christ. What does that even mean? Ok. Let me explain it. First you have to admit you are a sinner. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Every one of us have broken God's commandments.

All of us fall short of his standards. The prodigal son came to his senses and said I have sinned. He knew it. You have to admit it.

Number two. Know that Jesus Christ the Son of God died on the cross for your sin. Have you ever wondered why Christ was crucified on a cross?

He went there voluntarily. It wasn't nails that held Jesus to that cross 2,000 years ago. It was love for you. Jesus said, For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, and whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. God loves you and He will forgive you.

That is why He died for you. God poured His anger if you will. His wrath on Jesus. Jesus in our place absorbed the wrath of God so we don't have to.

He was forsaken for a time so we can be forgiven forever. And three days later Jesus Christ the Son of God rose again from the dead and now He stands at the door of your life and He knocks and says, If you will hear My voice and open the door I will come in. Do you want Jesus Christ to come into your life?

He will tonight. You must receive Him. The Bible says, For as many as received Him, He gave them the power to become sons of God. There has to be a moment where you say, All right Lord I believe. I believe.

But let me add this. We have some prodigal sons and daughters here tonight. I am going to ask you to come home.

To return home to your father and to your family. You have been running away from God. It is time to start running toward God. That is what the word repent means.

It means to change your direction. The Bible says we are to repent and be converted. You have been going away from God. Hang a U-turn in the road of life and go to God. Come back to the Lord. I will return you backsliding children and I will heal you. God will forgive you.

You say, But I am so embarrassed. What will God say to me? God will say, I have missed you.

I love you. Welcome home. Will you come? We are going to pray. We are going to pray for all of you listening on the radio wherever you are. We are going to pray that you see your need for Jesus and come to Him now.

So let's pray. Father I pray for every person hearing this. Help them to see how much you love them. Help them Lord to come to you or to come back to you.

Help them receive the forgiveness that you alone offer. We ask you to work in the hearts of men and women and boys and girls right now as they make the most important decision of their life and find the meaning of life itself and then the hope of life beyond the grave in heaven. We ask all of this in Jesus' name.

Amen. In a moment I want to lead you in a prayer and I am going to ask that you would pray this prayer out loud after me and this is where you are asking Jesus Christ to come into your life. Or if you are prodigal son or daughter you are saying Lord I am coming home again. So mean this prayer from your heart and pray it out loud after me okay.

Let's all bow our heads if you would and pray this prayer out loud. Lord Jesus I know I am a sinner. I have broken your commandments.

I have fallen short of your standards. But you died on the cross for me and paid the price for my sin. I turn from that sin now.

I am sorry for it. I want to follow you. Be my Savior. Be my Lord. Be my God.

Be my friend. Fill me with the Holy Spirit. I choose to follow you Jesus. From this night forward thank you for loving me and accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Amen. God bless each one of you. God bless. Praise the Lord.

That's fantastic. It was the final night of our Anaheim Harvest Crusade and Pastor Greg Laurie prayed with thousands gathered to give their hearts to the Lord. And if you have just prayed that prayer as well first we want to say welcome to the family. And we also want to help you get started in your walk with the Lord. So we'd like to send you our New Believers Growth Packet to help answer your questions and get you started off right. You can get it by just clicking over to knowgod.org. That's K-N-O-W, knowgod.org. Hey everybody, this is Greg Laurie and you've just been listening to a classic message from Harvest Ministries. This podcast is supported by Harvest Partners. To learn more and to find out how you can become a Harvest Partner just go to harvest.org.