How to Start All over Again | 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. Well, the title of my message tonight is How to Start All Over Again. Let's start with a word of prayer. Now Lord help us to settle our hearts down and listen. Because the words we are going to look at are from Scripture.

They are true. Our response to what we will hear will impact us for time and eternity. So let us listen very carefully. And I pray that many people will come to believe in Jesus Christ tonight. For we ask it in His name.

Amen. Years ago when my son Christopher was a bit younger he came home one day with a rat. He bought it down at a pet shop.

Had it on his shoulder. He hadn't bought a cage. He didn't have rat food.

He didn't think about things like that. He just thought this rat was cool. Brought it home. So we are like we have to get a cage for this rat. So we got a cage and then Christopher built this very cool little house for the rat.

As I recall it was out of balsa wood. He even put a name for the rat over the door of the house. I think we named him Nicodemus.

We thought it was so cute. We will go to bed tonight. The little rat will go to sleep in his little house. So we went to bed. Came back the next morning. The house was gone and the rat was just a little bit fatter.

Apparently Nicodemus the rat ate his house. Now why is that? Because a rat is a rat. They don't think like we do. And dogs don't think like us either.

This will come as a revelation to some people today. You know they treat their pets like they are people. You have pet psychiatrists. You have pet hotels. You have dog yoga. Can you believe that? How would a dog even get into a lotus position?

I don't know. You have these little outfits you can put your dog in. And now we have people pushing dogs around in strollers. People this has to stop tonight.

No dogs in strollers. Come on. I mean the dog is just kicking back. Yeah I am living the good life. Why people push me around.

It is insane. I read a recent survey that said if given the choice 40 percent of Americans would save their pet over a foreign tourist. Ok. So let's get the picture.

There is a house on fire. Your dog is in there. A tourist is in there. You are going to save the dog before the tourist. Right?

And then it even gets worse. 37 percent would save their dog's life over an American. They don't know. No. If I knew you I might save you before the dog. But since we haven't been introduced sorry you are going to have to die today.

I have to save little Sparky you know. Things are out of whack. We treat dogs as though they are people. But a dog is a dog. And a rat is a rat. And they are never going to really change.

But here is the question. Do people change? Is it possible for you to change or for me to change? I think we like the idea of change in general. Becoming different than we already are. Maybe you thought if you could move to a new place you would change.

I know that Southern California is the destination for many people from around the world. Maybe you thought if I moved to Southern California all my problems would go away. And your problems followed you here. Maybe you are single and you thought if I were married I know I would be happy because I am not happy as a single person. Then you got married and you thought well man if I were single again I would be happy. And then you said no I need to be married again. You got married again. Then you thought well if I just had kids I know I would be happy.

And then you had kids and you are thinking if we could just get rid of these kids I know I would be. You see those changes didn't work. Or maybe you think a change in your appearance. A new wardrobe. Or maybe some cosmetic surgery. Botox is very popular today. The problem is some people put so much Botox in their face you don't even know what they are thinking anymore. You know you look at them and say are you surprised to see me or is that the Botox talking?

You know. They are just like this the whole time. They might say to you I am really mad right now but I can't move my face.

But trust me when I say I am really mad. See that doesn't change you on the inside. So can you change?

Here is the simple answer. Not really. When I say not really I mean you can't change yourself anymore than a drowning person can save themselves. The Bible says can a leopard take away its spots. Neither can you start doing good.

You always do evil. You know some people say you know the answer is within. The Bible teaches the opposite. The Bible teaches the problem is within.

You see the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. The Bible says the human heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Ok. You can't change yourself but I have good news for you tonight. God can change you. He can make you a different person on the inside.

He can. The Bible says if any man be in Christ he is an altogether different kind of person. Old things have passed away. Behold everything becomes fresh and new.

That can happen for you tonight just like it happened for some 2,500 people last night. I want to tell you the story of a really messed up woman. She got caught having sex with some guy. The people who found her wanted her put to death. And they drug her and threw her down on the ground in front of Jesus. And what could have been the worst day of her life turned out to be the best.

And she was transformed. And I want to tell you the same could be true for you. Maybe this has been a tough night so far.

Maybe things didn't go well getting here. But I am telling you this can be the best night of your life if you listen very carefully to what I am going to share with you. Because you tonight can change your eternal address from a place called hell to a much better place called heaven by your response to the message I will share with you in just a moment. If you are messed up God can intervene in your life. He did it for this girl.

And He can do it for you. So as I already said here is this girl caught having sex with some guy. The religious leaders grab her. Throw her down in front of Jesus.

A crowd quickly gathers to watch this drama. And here is what the Bible says in John chapter 8. They said to Jesus, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her.

What do you say? They were trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger. They kept demanding an answer so He stood up again and said, Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.

Then He stooped down and wrote in the dust. The accusers heard this. They slipped away one by one beginning with the oldest only until Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, Woman where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you? She said, No Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.

That is a great story isn't it? Here is a woman who committed the sin of adultery. What is adultery? I heard about a little boy. He was in Sunday school. He heard a talk from a Sunday school teacher on the Ten Commandments. The teacher focused in on the seventh commandment.

A little guy. He didn't quite understand it. Driving home with his dad he said, Dad what does it mean when the Bible says, Thou shall not commit agriculture? He got a little confused. It was, Thou shall not commit adultery. But he thought it was, Thou shall not commit agriculture. It is hardly a beat between the father's response to the boy's question. He said, Son that means you are not supposed to plow the other man's field. A little guy was happy with that answer.

Pretty good. What is adultery? Adultery is being unfaithful to your wife or your husband. It is called extramarital sex. Then there is another word the Bible uses. Fornication. That speaks of premarital sex. By the way both extramarital sex and premarital sex are classified as a sin before God. So much so they made God's top ten. In fact the Bible tells us that God will surely judge those who are immoral or commit adultery. I know what you are thinking.

You will say, Greg please give me a break. Sex doesn't hurt anyone. Really? Have you ever heard of something called AIDS? Did you know that AIDS is the leading killer of people globally between the ages of 25 to 44? 25 percent of all HIV infections are found in people under the age of 22. And then there are all these other sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis, herpes, gonorrhea.

They have reached epidemic proportions. Sex doesn't hurt anyone. What about teenage pregnancies? Each year more than one million teens become pregnant. Many of these babies never make it to term because they are aborted.

One out of every five abortions is performed on a woman under the age of 20 and four out of every ten teenage pregnancies ends in abortion. You don't think that hurts someone? I will tell you what hurts. The unborn child made in the image of God. That is what hurts. You don't want to go there.

And I will tell you what. It hurts the woman that gets the abortion. According to a 13 year study the suicide rate among women who had abortions was six times higher than those who had given birth in the year prior. I have talked to these girls who carry the guilt for a lifetime for taking the life of that unborn child. I will say to you if you end up getting pregnant outside of wedlock outside of being married carry the child to term. Have the baby. If you don't want to raise that child put it up for adoption. There are a lot of wonderful people who want to adopt babies today. Now listen.

I am not speaking from an ivory tower here. I was conceived out of wedlock. I was not planned. My mom could have gotten an abortion.

But I am glad she carried me to term. It is a strange thing to discover you were not planned. Maybe I wasn't planned by my mom. But I was planned by God you see. Psalm 139 the psalmist says, You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me oh God. They are innumerable. You know we call children born out of wedlock illegitimate.

Listen to me tonight. There are no illegitimate children. Everyone is legitimate in the eyes of God and everyone is loved by God. He loves you.

And He has a plan for your life. Well here is this girl caught in the act of immorality. The Pharisees didn't care about her. They were trying to trap Jesus. So they throw her down on the ground. Now in a way Jesus was in sort of a dilemma.

Because if He said stoner that may have been an accurate thing to say. But that would have been so harsh and heartless. But if He said, Oh let her go.

It is no big deal. Then some would have thought, Well He is disregarding what the Mosaic law says. So Jesus was sort of on the horns of a dilemma. And the way He handled this is quite interesting.

You see He used it as an opportunity to show God's forgiveness and God's mercy. Now I don't know what kind of girl this was. She was probably a pretty loose girl. Maybe she had a reputation for being easy and sleazy you know. And so here she was now facing the consequences of that. It reminds me of another woman that Jesus talked to also was immoral. We call her the woman at the well.

She had been married and divorced five times and was living with a guy at that moment. And Jesus came to her. She was drawing water from the well. And He said, If you drink of this water you will thirst again. But if you drink of the water I give you will never thirst again. See He was using that well and her water pot as a metaphor for life.

He was saying in effect, Girl let me tell you something. You are never going to find satisfaction in relationships with men. You are never going to find fulfillment in sex.

You could broaden that statement. You are never going to find the fulfillment you are seeking in accomplishments. Or in a career. Or in possessions.

Or in anything else. If you drink of this water you will thirst again. See this poor girl. The woman at the well. Was always looking for that right guy.

And all of her princes turned into frogs. Heard about an old guy that was out fishing through his line in the water. He was waiting for a bite. And he heard a voice say, Hey you.

Pick me up. Looked around. Didn't see anyone.

Who said that? Just went back to fishing. Heard the voice again.

Hey you. Pick me up. The man looks down and there floating in the water was a little frog. And the frog said for the third time, Hey you. Pick me up and kiss me and I will turn into a beautiful woman.

And all your friends will envy you. So the old guy reached down. This is a true story by the way. So the old guy reached down. Picked up the little frog and started to put it in his pocket. And the frog said, Are you crazy? I just told you if you kiss me I will turn into a beautiful woman.

You will be the envy of all of your friends. The old guy said, You know at my age I would rather have a talking frog. So that woman at the well would fall in love with a guy. He would get what he wanted from her. Probably sex. And he would dump her.

Listen to this. Men give love to get sex. Women give sex to get love. If a guy says to you, If you love me you will have sex with me. That guy is a loser. Don't go any further.

I like what the guys in King & Country were saying about that. But she was used and abused by men. And back to this woman here caught in the act of adultery. She was probably feeling the same way.

She wasn't happy. I heard about a Brooklyn couple that host a self-help radio program called The Pursuit of Happiness. On the show this husband and wife team would offer callers advice on how to lead happier lives.

Encouraging them to think positively and trust their intuition. But apparently this couple they were the ones who needed help because they both committed suicide. I guess they didn't find that happiness they were pursuing. Have you ever contemplated suicide? Paris Jackson. The daughter of Michael Jackson attempted suicide in June of this year.

She swallowed an entire bottle of motion and also cut her wrist. Thankfully she failed. Before her suicide attempt Paris Jackson reached out to her 1.1 million Twitter followers with a series of desperate messages. And one of them quoted the Beatles song yesterday. And she wrote in her tweet, yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away.

Now it looks as though they are here to stay. And then she did that suicide attempt. Listen. Paris Jackson lost her earthly father. She needs to know there is a Father in Heaven who loves her. And you need to know there is a Father in Heaven who loves you too. Maybe your father walked out on you. He abandoned you. I never had a father.

I never had a dad in my life for the most part. I read an interesting story in the newspaper about a rich heiress who was raised in the very lap of luxury. She hung out with other heiresses like Paris and Nikki Hilton. While other girls are playing with Ken and Barbie dolls she was dressing up for real. She got her first Chanel bag at age 10. At 11 she was wearing snakeskin pumps. And at 16 she had her own luxury car. At 18 she got breast implants. She once boasted, I got whatever I wanted.

That is except a stable family and a loving father. See all this rich heiress wanted was the love of her father. And she never got it. Now her life began to unravel. She got into drinking.

She got into drugs. She was looking for purpose and meaning in her life. She loved dogs and thought of them as her babies.

Carrying them around in her 12,000 Hermes Birkin bag. She partied hard and drank and took drugs to ease her pain. She thought having a baby would satisfy her. So she went out and adopted the baby. One day she decided to take that baby to her father's home and introduce him to his grandchild. And she pulled in the driveway. She was met by her father's new girlfriend who turned her away.

And the rich young heiress said, but this is my father's house. And the girlfriend said, no you get out of here now. And the girlfriend called the police and they showed up. And at that time the father pulled up into the driveway. He saw his daughter. He saw the granddaughter.

And he turned them away and he said, I never want you to come back again. This poor girl just sunk deeper into despair. She would write love letters. Send them to her dad.

Send voice mails. But there was no response in this part. In addition to her drinking and drug use she had diabetes and needed to take her insulin. But instead she was eating junk food and swigging NyQuil in order to sleep one night.

And she sent a tweet out to her followers and Facebook friends. And what would be her last message? She said, sweet dreams everyone.

I am getting a new car. Any ideas? She fell asleep and she never woke up. The young heiress who had been both living a Cinderella fantasy and a living hell was pronounced dead on the scene. All she wanted was to be loved by her father. Maybe you feel that way but I want you to know you have a father in heaven who will never turn you away from his house. There is always room for you. Jesus said, there are many rooms in my father's house and I am going to prepare a place for you.

If it were not so I would tell you when everything is ready I will come and get you so you will always be with me and where I am. So maybe this girl caught in the act of adultery. Didn't have a dad.

I don't know. But here she is. And she is before Jesus. But he was going to rescue her from her accusers and from her fate and from her sin.

Do you need to be rescued? Phil Robertson will be with us tomorrow night and mention that. I have been reading this book appropriately titled, Happy, Happy, Happy. Because Phil says that all the time. Now we look at the Robertson family there on the A&E channel and we think, oh this is just a fun family.

They love each other. But you know it wasn't always that way. Phil and his wife who he calls Miss Kay went through some very rough times. Phil was a hardcore drug user, drinker, partier. He almost had his marriage fall apart and his family with it. But God intervened in Phil's life.

And I am going to talk to him about that tomorrow night. About how he came to faith in Jesus Christ. So now Phil is a Christian.

And along with his wife he is raising his four sons in the way of the Lord. But their youngest son, Jeff, fell into getting drunk using drugs and he was going downhill fast. Jeff would show up at church with whiskey on his breath. It was just going from bad to worse. And so Willie, Jeff's older brother, decided to do a family intervention.

They got all the Robertson family and unbeknownst to Jeff who came home one night there was the entire family who confronted him about his lifestyle. He began to weep and he confessed all of his sins before his family. And he said to his father, Dad, all I want to ask is what took you so long to rescue me? That touched my heart.

Maybe you feel that way. I need to be rescued. I need help.

Listen. Jesus is here to rescue you tonight from your sin. From your addictions. From your past. He will do that for you.

He sure did for this girl. I love how the story unfolds. Here is all the accusers.

The law says to stone her. What do you say? Jesus stoops down and writes something in the sand. Now what was He writing in the sand?

Do you think He was doing like graffiti or something? Squiggles. You know. Tic Tac Toe. Anybody?

No. He wrote something very significant because the story tells us they left from the oldest to the youngest. Maybe He wrote down the Ten Commandments. Commandment number one. You shall have no other gods before me. Maybe you looked up there at Jacob and nodded to him. Commandment number two. You shall have no graven images.

Looked over there at Levi and nodded to him. Maybe you got to the seventh commandment. You shall not commit adultery. Kind of looked at three or four of them because he knew everything about them.

I don't know. Maybe he wrote their secret sins down that they thought no one knew about. Some people have secret sins. But the Bible says God will judge the secret sins of men by Jesus Christ. And the story says they left from the oldest to the youngest.

That is probably because the oldest guys had more to confess than the younger guys. So He cleared the room. Everyone is gone.

What do you think this girl was thinking? Oh man. I am so dead right now. If these religious men could not stand before Jesus how could I ever stand before her?

But I love what happens now. Because she looks at Him and He says, Where are your accusers? She says, I have none Lord. See she had been so mistreated by men. She had been so used and abused by men. She was cynical. She was hard. But she never met a man like Jesus. He was holy and yet he was compassionate. And she could see it in his eyes. And right there on the spot she believed.

She came predisposed to find something wrong with Jesus and ended up believing in Him. Maybe that is how you came here tonight. Maybe your Christian friend drug you here.

Maybe they bribed you with dinner. I don't know. But here you are. You are sitting there with your arms folded. Is this almost over?

Is this bald guy ever going to shut up? Maybe something else has happened. Maybe as you are looking around you are thinking these people are such losers. They are such idiots. They are such jerks. You know they are pretty happy for idiots though I have to admit.

Yeah. See before I was a Christian I thought I was the coolest guy around. I went to this little Bible study on the front lawn of my campus in Newport Beach Harbor High School because I saw a cute girl I wanted to check out.

No one invited me to the meeting. I was kind of looking at that girl. I sat close enough where I could eavesdrop on their conversation but far enough away where no one would think I was joining up with the Jesus freaks. I was watching them sing their songs and I thought these people are so crazy.

It is so lame. But the problem was there were a few of them that I knew from the old days. There were a few of them I used to party with and I knew how their life had changed. So it kind of messed up my theory a little bit. Then just for a moment I tried on a new thought. I thought this couldn't be true but what if the Christians are right? What if God is real? And what if Jesus is alive?

And what if He is really come in their life? And if that is true and I am not a Christian what does that mean? Oh but that can't be true. It couldn't be true. But what if it is? And maybe that has been happening to you. You have been looking around and you are thinking you know what maybe this is true.

Maybe this is right. Well I am going to just tell you. It is. And He is real. And He is true. And He will prove it to you if you will ask Him into your life tonight.

I guarantee that. See it dawns on this girl that Jesus is God. How long does it take to become a believer? Let me ask you a question. How long does it take to snap your fingers?

Can you snap your fingers? Let's do it. On the count of three. One. Two. Three.

Hey that sounded cool. Let's do that one more time. Kind of a delay there. That is how long it takes to believe. Just like that. In a flash. In a moment.

In an instant. Now I am going to call people forward to make a profession of faith to follow Christ tonight. But you might already be believing before you have even left your seat. You are just saying, all of a sudden I get this. This is true. This is real. This is what I have been searching for. That is the Holy Spirit working on your heart and making these things clear to you.

That is an answer to prayer. He says, woman where are your accusers? Now that is an interesting phrase because He used the word woman. That is not the normal word you would use for a girl like this.

She had been called a lot of things. Hooker. Whore. Slut. Never woman.

Because the term that Jesus uses is a term of respect. Sort of like saying ma'am. Lady. Woman.

It is the same term He used to address His own mother as He hung on the cross. So He says to her, woman. Lady. Ma'am.

Where are your accusers? Why did He say that? She wasn't acting like you lady.

No. But He didn't just see her for what she was. He saw her for what she would become.

He knew her life was going to change and God sees the same in you right now. What you can be. Not what you are.

Not what you were. What you can be when you put your faith in Him. And He says, I say to you go and sin no more. You say well that is kind of a tall order isn't it Greg?

Yeah. He knew she would still sin. No one will ever be sin free.

Oh man. I wish I could be sin free. If you knew as much about me as I know about me you would not sit there and listen to me preach to you tonight. Because I am a sinner. But if I knew as much about you as you know about you I wouldn't even be talking to you.

Get it? I am not making excuses for sin. I am just saying we are all going to mess up. We are all going to fall short. The Bible even says if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Yeah. We are going to sin. But here is what Jesus is saying. Lady I don't want you to go in this lifestyle anymore. I want you to make a break with the past. Go and sin no more. Make a change.

You can do this. You know sometimes people will say, you know God loves me just like I am. That is true. God does love you.

Just like you are. But He doesn't want to leave you that way. He wants to change you. And He was going to change this woman as well. So the accusers are gone. Now Jesus promises four things to her and He makes these same four promises to you.

Number one. Her sins have been forgiven. Did you know that God can forgive your sins? How long does it take to be forgiven of your sins? About as long as it takes again to believe in Jesus or to snap your finger.

It can happen immediately. Listen. Our God has a big eraser and He wants to use it in your life tonight. He will forgive you. But the Bible says we have to confess our sins. The Bible says that we will confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And the word confess means to agree with God. See a lot of times we rationalize sin. We justify it. We say, well you know what? Everybody is doing it.

It is not that bad. I am still a good person. No.

Wait a second. To confess your sin means you agree with God. You know God you are right about that. Stop making excuses for it.

It is so easy to blame others. Even gorillas blame others. I read a newspaper article about a gorilla named Coco. A sign language speaking gorilla.

Can you imagine that? A gorilla that did sign language. And Coco tore the sink off the wall. And when her keepers came in and demanded an explanation she signed out the cat did it. She had a cat. They gave a pet cat to Coco. She blames the cat. You know cats really do deserve all the blame though.

Don't you think really. Why even have a cat. Seriously. How many cat lovers do we have out there? Are you a cat lover? Get out now. No. I am kidding. No. I am just joking. How many dog lovers do we have?

Dog lovers. Yeah. That is what I am talking about. But listen. God can forgive you of your sin.

Number two. He promised her sins could be forgotten. Forgotten. God not only forgives. He forgets. God says I will forgive your iniquity and I will no longer remember your sin.

Listen. We should not choose to remember what God has chosen to forget. God takes your sin. He throws him into the sea of forgetfulness. And He posts a sign that says, no fishing allowed. Your sins can be forgiven and your sins can be forgotten tonight no matter what they are if you will put your faith in Jesus Christ like this woman did. Number three. He said you don't have to fear the judgment day.

Yes. There is a judgment day. The Bible says one day everyone who does not believe will stand before God. But Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you. So she didn't have to fear that. It is so great to know when you put your faith in Jesus and you are forgiven you don't have to be afraid of the judgment day because God already put His judgment on Jesus who died in your place on the cross 2000 years ago. Christ paid the price for your sin so you will not be held responsible for it. That is what He did for this woman.

That is what He will do for you. Number four. And lastly. She had a new power to face her problems. New power. So He says go and sin no more. You can be a different person. I heard about a painter that was not getting much business so he went down to a local church and said, pastor can I paint the church.

I will give you a killer deal. And the pastor agreed. So this painter thought this pastor will never know and he started pointing paint thinner in the paint. So he is putting a very thin coat on the church. He was almost done. He was going to overcharge them. He was just painting the top of the steeple.

He was up there in his scaffolding putting the final strokes on and a bolt of lightning hit him and the scaffolding came loose and he heard a voice from heaven saying, repent and thin no more. That is just a joke. It is a joke.

Not a very funny joke. Now let's get back to that opening question and close. Can a person really change? No. Not by themselves. But God can change you.

And He can do it tonight just like that. Maybe you have been caught in your sin. This woman was busted. Maybe you have been busted lately. Maybe you were found out. Maybe you got pregnant. Maybe you got a DUI.

Maybe you were caught cheating. You were caught stealing. You were caught doing something wrong. And you were just busted.

Well this woman was busted. But she turned to God. Sometimes those things can happen in our life to get our attention. Maybe something that has happened that has been a little bit of a wake up call for you. You had a close brush with death and it got you thinking about your own mortality. It got you thinking about the meaning of your life.

That is a good thing. You have come to the right place. Now you can believe in the same Jesus this woman believed in and you can be forgiven of all of your sin. You say, well Greg ok what do I need to do?

How can I have this change in my life? How can I know that I will go to heaven when I die? Listen. Number one you need to admit you are a sinner. I already said that. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

You say, well Greg give me a break. I mean some people are really sinful. I haven't sinned as much as some people have.

That may be true. But listen to this. God does not grade on the curve. One sin is enough to keep you out of heaven. The Bible says if you offended one point of the law you are guilty of all of it. Every one of us has sinned so let's stop excusing it or blaming it on others.

Number two. You need to realize that Jesus Christ the Son of God died on the cross for your sin. The Bible says God demonstrated His love toward us while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. 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. Christ died for you because He loves you and no one has ever loved you like Jesus loves you.

You say, well that is a nice thing. Well it is not enough to know that Jesus died for you. You need to respond to it. You need to believe in Him.

Number three. You need to repent of your sin. What does that mean? The word repent means to change your direction. Turn around in life. The Bible says God has commanded people everywhere to repent. Stop rationalizing your sin.

Turn from it and be forgiven. And then you need to receive Jesus Christ into your life. See being a Christian is not just knowing about God. It is knowing God. It is having Christ live in you so you will never be alone again. Jesus says, behold I stand at the door and I knock and if you will hear My voice and open the door I will come in. Jesus wants to come into your life right now and be your Savior and be your Lord and be your friend. But you have to ask Him in.

He will not force His way into your life. Now listen. If someone came over to your home and was knocking at your door and you didn't answer it do you think after a while they would sort of get the hint? To make it even more awkward let's say you have sort of a glass pane in your door so they can see you and you can see them. So they are knocking. They see you. Hey. You are just like going about your business.

You don't wave back. Let's just ignore them. Maybe he will go away. Do you think after a while that person would get the hint and leave?

I think they would. See really by not opening the door in effect you are leaving it closed in their face. It is really rude. So here is Jesus. He is knocking. You say, well you will just keep knocking. I will get around to Jesus. I will believe in God later in life when I am really old like 40 or something.

But I want to have fun first. But here is the problem. Every time you hear the gospel like you have heard it tonight and you say no to it your heart gets a little bit harder. It gets a little more calloused. The Bible says, he who is often reproved hardens his heart and he will be cut off and that without remedy. That means every time you don't respond appropriately you can be a little more removed.

A little more calloused. Harden not your heart. If you can hear his voice the Bible says it is time to open the door. It is time for you to say, alright Jesus come into my life. Be my Savior. Be my Lord. I don't understand it all.

I don't get it all. But I believe in you. Will you do that tonight? Then you must do it publicly. 2,500 people came down on this field last night and make it a public stand for Jesus Christ. Why do I call you publicly?

Because it is a way of saying I mean business. See I have been married almost 40 years now. I have been married 39 years. So my wife is here tonight.

My wife doesn't look any different than she did on the day I married her. I look like one of the brothers from Duck Dynasty when we got married. I had hair down to here. I had a big long beard. I wore the ugliest tuxedo you have ever seen in your life.

But thank God we have made it all these years. But we had a public ceremony. I stated my vows publicly. I wanted everyone to know I was marrying Kathy. I am going to ask you to make a public stand to follow Jesus Christ. You are saying to everyone here I am going to follow Jesus Christ. I don't care who sees.

I don't care who knows. Because I mean it. I am going to call you publicly. Jesus said, "'If you will acknowledge Me before people, I will acknowledge you before My Father and the angels in heaven. But if you deny Me before people, I will deny you before the Father and the angels.'"

That is why I am going to ask you in just a moment if you want Christ to come into your life to get up out of your seat and walk down and stand behind this platform and I will lead you in a prayer. One last thing. You need to do it now. You need to do it now. Don't say, well I will come back tomorrow night and do it.

Well that is fine. But what if there is not a tomorrow night for you? What if this were your last opportunity to come to Jesus? Somebody said in a post on our Facebook page the reason they came was when they heard me say, give up your excuses and follow Jesus tonight. That is all we hide behind are excuses. They are not reasons.

They are excuses. Let go of your excuses. Do it now. The Bible says now is the time. Today is the day of salvation. Tonight is your night to believe in Jesus and have your life changed for time and eternity. You have got to do it.

You won't regret it. So we are going to pray. I am going to ask you to make a decision. In the next few moments you are going to make a decision either for or against Jesus Christ. Going back to that day when I asked the Lord to come into my life and my high school campus there was one statement that really resonated with me. The guy who was speaking said, Jesus you are for me or against me. I looked around at those crazy Christians and I thought well they are definitely for Him.

I am not one of them. Does that mean I am against Jesus? Hey I didn't want to be against Jesus. So I took a little step of faith. There were a lot of questions I had. There were problems I had. But I took that little step of faith and I said, alright God here I am.

And He came into my life and He changed me and He is changing me and He will do the same for you. But to not say yes is to say no. So say yes tonight. So let's all bow our heads and let's pray together. Let's pray. Father I pray for every person here. Every person watching.

Every person listening. I pray Lord that they will see their need for Jesus Christ and come to You now and be forgiven of all of their sin. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will move powerfully now in every heart.

Help them to come to You we pray. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. Amen. Alright.