How to Reach Our Culture with the Gospel | Sunday Message

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. If you want to learn more about Harvest Ministries, just go to harvest.org. If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries, just go to harvest.org. If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about Harvest Ministries, just go to harvest.org. If you want to learn more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about Harvest Ministries, just go to harvest.org.

If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about Harvest Ministries, just go to harvest.org. So I want to look now at the first century because there are some first century principles that are very relevant to help us reach people in the 21st century. You might say this was the secret sauce of the early church. They knew how to do what they did very well.

They turned their world upside down as we have pointed out many times. We want to learn how to pray like they prayed. To love like they loved and share the gospel like they shared the gospel. So we are going to take a master class from one of the best communicators around. A master communicator. The Apostle Paul.

Let's tear a page out of his playbook. And by the way the principles I am going to share with you. And there is going to be six principles I will share on how to better communicate your faith. These six principles I have been using for over 50 years of preaching. And I have seen that they work because they are biblical.

So let's see what we can learn together. Acts 17 is basically the story of the Apostle Paul bringing the gospel to the city of Athens. Normally we find Paul preaching in synagogues or out on the open air to Jewish people. But in this case he is not speaking to Jewish people. He is speaking to Gentiles.

And he is telling them about Jesus. In this time in particular Athens was still in its glory but fading a bit. But it had been up to this point the intellectual capital of the world. This is the base of the great philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.

Men that brought philosophies that are still in many ways influencing people to this very day. So Paul is there in Athens and he does what any tourist would do. He went sightseeing. By the way I have been to Athens, Greece.

I preached on this very spot where Paul is preaching. You can still see the Parthenon and the ruins of ancient Greece. So he is looking around.

He is taking things in. And one thing that was unique to Athens was how many idols there were. Alters erected to various gods.

One commentator said there were over 30,000 altars in Athens erected to the various deities. And they had all kinds of gods that they worshipped. First of all there was Zeus. Effectively the king of the Grecian gods. Then there was Athena the goddess of heroic behavior. There was Epaphrodit the goddess of love and lust. There was Morpheus the god of dreams. There was Poseidon the god of sinking ships.

No that's not true. There was a movie about the sinking of the Poseidon. Actually Poseidon was the god of the sea and storms and earthquakes. And finally there was the goddess Nike which of course is the goddess of shoes.

Actually the goddess Nike was the goddess of speed. But here is all these gods that these people worship. And Paul is kind of taking it all in. And his heart is getting really stirred and now he delivers his message. So read with me now from Acts 17. I am reading by the way from the New Living Translation.

And I am starting in verse 16. While Paul was waiting for them in Athens he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. He went to the synagogue to debate with the Jews and the God fearing Gentiles and he spoke daily in the public square to all that happened to be there. And he had a debate with the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.

You might underline the word Epicurean and Stoic. I will come back to that in a few moments. Then he told them about Jesus and His resurrection and they said, this babbler has picked up some strange ideas. Others said, he is pushing some foreign religion. Then they took him to the Council of Philosophers.

That is also known as the Areopagus. Come and tell us more about this new religion. They said, you are saying some rather startling things and we want to know what it is all about.

Here is a very insightful statement. Verse 21. It should be explained that the Athenians and the foreigners there spent all their time discussing the latest ideas. So Paul standing before the Council addressed them as follows. Men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious. For I was walking among your many altars and one of them had this inscription on it to an unknown God. You have been worshiping Him without knowing who He is.

Now I wish to tell you about Him. We will stop there. Ok. So we are living in a unique time in American history. I would say that the days of cultural Christianity are over. And by that I mean there was a time in America when most Americans would say they were Christian even if they were not. Far more people would go to church.

And if they didn't really want to they would still go. That is over with. Cultural Christianity is effectively dead. We are living in an increasingly secular society with little to no knowledge of Scripture. As I mentioned I have been preaching for 50 years and the biblical illiteracy among people today is mind blowing. People know very little about the Bible. I mean there was a time when at least the Bible was taught as literature in our schools.

But today oh my you won't find any classes teaching the Bible in any way. And so so many people are completely ignorant about God and about Scripture. So I bring this up to point out that our audience today or America today or the culture today would be very similar to the crowd that was gathered at this place called Mars Hill. They knew their Greek philosophers but they knew nothing about this as they put it new religion that Paul was proclaiming. So there were two primary groups that Paul was addressing here in Athens. They were the Epicureans and the Stoics. The Epicureans and the Stoics.

And people still in effect believe in these philosophies today though they would not necessarily call them that. Let's start with the Epicureans. The Epicurean philosophy was the pursuit of pleasure.

Basically hedonism on steroids. The Epicureans did not believe that there was any order to the universe. There was no God. There was no absolutes.

No judgment. So their philosophy was, hey man, live for the moment. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. Our modern equivalent of the Epicureans might be the playboy philosophy, which is the pursuit of hedonism.

Just kind of abandon all absolutes. Pursue whatever pleasure you want. And people still live this way today.

And here is the problem. When you live a life pursuing pleasure you are going to be a very empty person. Pursuing pleasure is one of the least pleasurable things a person can do.

Joy Davidman who was the wife of C.S. Lewis made this insightful statement and I quote, living for your own pleasure is the least pleasurable thing a man can do. You know the Bible says that there is pleasure in sin for a season but then death will come. It is sort of like going to an amusement park and you are waiting in line and you are waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting off into the hot sun. You get on the ride and it is here shaking upside down all the fun and then you are off the ride.

Now go get into another line. That is sort of like the person that pursues pleasure. They live for the weekend. They live for the buzz. They live for the moment.

They have the experience. Then they get back in line and effectively waste their life. You don't want to live this way because the Bible says she that lives for pleasure is dead while she is living. Listen to this.

Living a life for pleasure is in reality a pleasure free life. Ok. So in contrast to the Epicureans we have the Stoics. They were more disciplined. More intellectual. They believed that God was in all things. You know He was in nature and He was in people and He was in everything basically.

Sort of a new age belief before we call it new age. Billionaire Elon Musk was asked the question, do you believe in God? And his response was, quote, as Einstein would say, I believe in the God of Spinoza. And so Spinoza's God so called was a God who reveals Himself in the orderly harmony of what exists. But He is not a God according to Spinoza who concerns Himself with the fates and actions of human beings.

That is very close to the Stoics. It is just sort of disengaged God. It doesn't really bother Himself with what we are going through. Of course that is so unlike the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible who knows all things. The God of the Bible who loves humanity. The God of the Bible who longs for a relationship with Him.

But the God of Spinoza or the Stoic view of life was completely different. So here now is Paul addressing people who are effectively party animals and another group who are sort of like new agers and intellectuals. And he is going to now bring the gospel to them. So question. How do you reach a culture like that? Answer. With the message of Jesus Christ. How do you reach a culture like ours with cutting edge technology?

Same answer. With the message of the gospel. Paul writes in Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone who believes. That word that Paul uses there for power. It is the power of God.

It comes from the Greek word dunamis where we get our English word dynamite from. Paul is saying there is explosive power in the message of the gospel. So let's look now at six principles on how to bring the gospel to our culture. Principle number one. Effective communication of the gospel begins with a burden. It begins with a burden. Let me put it another way. You have to care because caring will result in sharing.

Ok. So look at verse 16 of Acts 17. While Paul was waiting for them in Athens he was greatly distressed to see the city was full of idols. This word that is used here for distressed can be translated seizure, spasm, or outburst. He was upset. You know sometimes when someone gets irritated or overly upset someone will say, hey I don't have a seizure man. Paul was having a spiritual seizure if you will.

Not physically but there was something deeply stirred inside of him. He was grieved to see the absolute absence of the living God. It was as though the people of Athens had an ABC religion.

ABC. Anything but Christ. And we have the same in our culture today. Oh people will be in to all kinds of philosophies sometimes sort of interweaving them and coming up with a do it yourself religion. But it is anything but Christ. You bring the message of Jesus to them and they don't even want to hear it.

So this is what Paul was dealing with. And as we look at our culture. I mean when I read the newspaper or I read the newsfeed there are so many distressing, heartbreaking things happening in our world today. The conflict over in Ukraine where innocent people are losing their lives.

But then you come to our own nation and the horrible things that happen in homes and the murders on the streets and the things that happen to young children and it breaks your heart. And you see all these crazy things that we give our attention to. All of these celebrities that live in my view such empty lives and people idolize them and put them on pedestals. They are modern day idols. And this really bothered Paul to see this.

But I want to remind you about something. Sinners are not the enemy. Sin is.

People are not the enemy. Satan is. Because sometimes we get mad at the sinner. Why does this sinner say this? Why does this rock star do that? Why does this TV talk show host say this other thing? Oh they are so bad I can't stand them.

Why is this politician such a horrible person when we get out there on social media and insult them? They are not the enemy. The enemy is the devil.

Listen to this. 2 Timothy 2.26 says, "'Pray that nonbelievers come to their senses and escape from the devil's trap for they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.'" You see they are caught alive by the devil. They are a spiritual POW. A prisoner of war. And then it is interesting because the phrase that Paul uses there that they are caught alive is the idea that they are under bondage. They can't free themselves. And the only other time this particular phrase is used is when Jesus said, follow me and I will make you a fisher of men or literally you will catch men alive.

So here is our choice. Either the devil is going to have them or Christ is going to get them. And that is where we come in with our message of the gospel. Don't be mad at sinners. Be mad at sin. The enemy is the devil. So Paul was unhappy with this.

And he wanted to reach these people. And I think we need to come out of our bubbles and out of our comfort zone and enter the real world with the message of Jesus Christ. The problem is we are sometimes as believers very disconnected from culture. Oh I don't want to watch any television. I don't want to go to any movie.

I don't want to listen to any music because it is all evil. Well there may be some truth in that but how am I going to reach a culture I know nothing about? Because my objective is to bridge the gap. Paul the apostle went into their world. He checked out their views and philosophies and their false ideas and understood them and now he can bring an appropriate message to the people that was desperately needed. You know we can be in our Christian subculture and we listen to Christian radio and then we get home and watch Christian television and we sleep on Christian pillows and we have Christian slippers and things like that. And sometimes I have seen some Christians find themselves more passionate about politics than they are about Jesus. And so when we come walking down the road people say, hit me again.

I can still hear them. Don't be that person. Be a friend of sinners. Jesus was called that.

Not as a compliment I might add. Sinners knew they could approach Jesus. Sinners knew that Jesus cared about them. The same should be said of every follower of Jesus.

But listen. Whatever you do it needs to start with a burden from God. Let me ask you a question. When is the last time you personally shared the gospel with someone? Where you went out of your way to engage in what I would call an evangelistic conversation. Let it start there with your heart being moved by people that don't know the Lord. Paul's spirit was stirred.

Point number two. To reach our culture we must be culturally relevant. Another way to put it is read the room. Adapt yourself to the person you are speaking to. Paul says, I become all things to all men. To the Jew I became like a Jew.

To the non-Jew or the Gentile I become like a Gentile but not doing the things that the Gentiles do. I become all things to all men, writes Paul, and I might reach them for Christ. So Paul begins by quoting a secular philosopher.

Did you notice that? He doesn't start with the Bible. He starts by quoting one of their own philosophers. And I think one of the problems that Christians face is we try to bring the gospel to people but we don't even speak in their language.

We speak in a cryptic Christianese dialect that only Christians understand. Let me illustrate. You go up to a non-believer and say, Hey you heathen. Let me talk to you for a second. Question. Are you washed in the blood? Are you sanctified? Are you justified? And are you part of the body?

Now that may sound good to us. We know what all those terms mean. But do you realize how bizarre that sounds when you walk up to someone and ask them if they are washed in blood? And if they are part of a body? I mean you have to define your terms. I am not suggesting we not use biblical terms but please do not assume your listener understands them. As I said earlier we become an increasingly secular culture. People don't know what these words mean anymore. So we have to meet them where they are. Point number three. Paul's message arrested the interest of his listener.

Paul's message arrested the interest of his listener. It is called chumming. You know when you go to fish and maybe no fish are biting so you chum the waters. You put a little fish into the water and things to get the fish coming your way.

So chumming is finding a way to start a conversation that would arouse the interest of your listener. Jesus did this perfectly. Remember Him with the woman at the well? This is a woman that has been ostracized by her own community. She has been married and divorced five times and she is living with some dude. And so she comes to the well to draw water in the heat of the day because she went when everybody else was done.

No one wanted to hang out with her. And there sitting at the well was Jesus. What does He say to her? Hey you immoral woman living in sin.

No. He starts by saying, could I have a drink of water? She says, why would you a Jew? Ask for a drink of water from me a Samaritan.

Don't you know that Jews have no involvement with Samaritans? And Jesus said, if you knew who it was who it was speaking to you would ask Him and He would give you living water. Water that is alive. And on the conversation went. He started by effectively chumming the water if you will.

He started with arresting her attention. Paul does the same. Look at verse 22 of Acts 17. Standing before the council He addressed them as follows. Men of Athens I perceive that you are very religious.

That is very interesting. He could have said you are pagans. Which would have been true. You are idol worshippers.

Also true. You are very religious. If we were to say this today we might say men of Athens or how about people of America. I can see you are really into spirituality. Men of Athens I perceive you are very religious for I was walking along and I saw your many altars and one of them had this inscription on it to an unknown God. You have been worshipping Him without knowing who He is.

I want to talk to you about Him. Brilliant beginning. It is diplomatic.

It is building the bridge instead of burning the bridge. This is something that I often do in our crusades. I will often start with humor or I might start with a story or a quote from someone that people know and I will sort of find common ground with them and then I bring the message of the gospel. I have a new book coming out soon and the title of it is, Lennon, Dylan, Alice, and Jesus. And basically it is a spiritual journey of rock stars.

My co-author Marshall Terrell and I unearthed some really interesting information about some rock icons that I don't think a lot of people know about. Exploring the story of Lennon himself who of course famously said the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. But there was a change in John Lennon later in his life and even a profession of faith.

Granted it didn't last very long but there are some things there you didn't know probably about him. Bob Dylan. People have said, oh he became a Christian and then renounced it. Actually as you will see when you read this book or if you read this book Dylan has never renounced it. I would call him a work in progress. And we have the story of Alice Cooper who came to Christ years ago and has been walking with the Lord and other people in the rock world. Some are in process.

Some are growing. Some have rejected this outright. But why did I write a book like this? Because these are people that are known by people.

These are icons. These for some are the idols of our day. So I am using this as a bridge to communicate with an audience. And ultimately this book says this. No one is beyond the reach of God. So you may have a husband or a wife or a son or a daughter or a mom or a dad or someone you know that you cannot imagine ever becoming a Christian. And as you will see if you read this book God has reached some pretty unexpected people in unexpected ways.

Again no one is beyond the reach of God. We have done movies like Steve McQueen The Salvation of an American Icon. Another film we did called A Rush of Hope.

One we are working on now called Fame. All of them take cultural situations, people that others know and use it as a bridge to tell our world Jesus is the answer. And we are now going to be filming the feature film Jesus Revolution.

When it is done and it is released next year it will be the biggest thing Harvest has ever been a part of. It will have a global reach and the message of the Jesus Revolution movie is God did this once and He can do it again. And we are hoping this movie will inspire another generation to pray for their own revival because stories of revival spark revival. The fame of revival sparks the flame of revival.

We are praying this will not just be a movie but something that will inspire young people today to say, oh Lord we need another Jesus movement. Let me ask you a question. Do you think Jesus still wants to move today? I do.

Do you? And then if the answer is yes then understand God says in James 4.8, draw near to God and He will draw near to you. So Paul built a bridge to his listeners. And having built that bridge and made that connection he then brings them the message of the Gospel.

Here is what happens sometimes. People say, well I don't really believe in preaching. The word preaching is negative. Don't preach to me man. I don't need a sermon.

Ok. So but we are called to preach. Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the Gospel. But understand preaching does not mean yelling.

Right. You can preach quietly. You can say it conversationally. Preaching is effectively communication. It is just communicating truth to a person in the right way. And so we have to understand that God has called us to reach people in this way. The Bible says it is the foolishness of preaching or literally the preached thing that people will believe. What is the preached thing? It is the message of the death resurrection of Jesus Christ you see.

That is our primary message that we need to communicate. But some will say, well you know I don't really like to preach to people. I like to be a good example. Ok. Cool.

I am good with that. It is better than being a bad example. But having said that Jesus did not say, go into all the world and be a good example. He said go into all the world and preach the Gospel. So you want to be a good example but don't create a false dichotomy of saying that is better than preaching. No the idea is be a good example as a follower of Christ which will then earn you the right to share the Gospel. As we saw in our last message as Paul and Silas gave glory to God in the middle of a prison cell it opened up the heart of the jailer who ultimately said to them, what must I do to be saved?

Point number four. We must proclaim a biblical message. We must proclaim a biblical message. Listen. We have got to make the cultural connection.

We have got to read the room. We have to speak in a language they understand. But having established all that we have got to bring them the message of the Bible.

The Bible. This is where the authority is. This is where the power is. God says in Isaiah 55, 11, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth.

It will not return to Me void. It will accomplish what I please. Paul reminds us in 2 Timothy 3, 15, all Scripture is inspired by God and it is profitable to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.

It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. That is the Bible. So this is the book we want to bring into the conversation. Coming over to the church for a moment. I read an interesting article in Christianity Today that pointed out people in church want to hear messages from the Bible.

Imagine that. This article said, quote, People who show up on Sundays are looking for the same thing. They want preaching centered on the Bible.

The article concludes sermons that teach about Scripture are the number one reason Americans go to church. I read recently that people were polled and what they thought and they were asked what they thought about the length of sermons. And more people said, We want longer sermons.

Imagine that. Huh? So the church sometimes are trying to be so cool and so culturally relevant and entertaining and have all of our topical messages on every topic under the sun. Here is what our people are saying. Teach us the Bible. By all means address the cultural issues of the day. By all means answer the questions people are actually asking. But by all means answer them with the Word of God.

Point number five. Our message must focus on Jesus Christ crucified and risen. Paul closes the deal here in verse 31 of Acts 17.

He says, He is appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man He has ordained and He has given assurance of all of this by raising Him from the dead. Jesus. That is our answer to the culture. Not morality per se. Not politics or a political solution. Not some new philosophy. It is Jesus. It is a relationship with Jesus. And that is what Paul did. And that is what Paul said. One last point. After preaching this message Paul trusted God for the results.

He trusted God for the results. Ok so on the day of Pentecost after Peter preached 3,000 people believed right? That is a lot of people. On the Mars Hill at the Areopagus the apostle Paul preaches and only a handful respond.

Look. My job is not to convert people. That is God's job. Jesus said no man comes unless the Father draws him.

So ultimately this is the work of God. But sometimes you will have a lot of response. Sometimes you will have no response. Sometimes you will share the gospel with someone and they will respond and ask Jesus to come into their life.

And other times they will laugh in your face and walk away. But you know Jesus said the harvest is great but the laborers are few. Pray that the Lord would send more laborers into His harvest. Notice it is His harvest. It is not my harvest. It is not your harvest. It is His harvest. So my job, your job, our job together is to proclaim the gospel and lead the results in the hands of God.

Now look at what happened. This is the great apostle Paul preaching. But it was an arousing response. Acts 17 verse 32. When they heard of the resurrection of the dead some mocked while others said, We will hear you again on the matter. So Paul departed from among them.

However some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysus the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. So now we see the response of the people. Number one some mocked. They mocked Paul.

A better translation would be they laughed in his face or burst out laughing. Are you serious? You actually believe the story about Jesus dying and rising again from the dead.

This is absurdity. Are you one of those people? You know before my conversion I was quite the mocker. I was in North Carolina some years ago driving along the road and I saw a city called Mocksville.

I thought I should have been born in Mocksville because I was always mocking people. And I mocked Christians and I laughed at Christians. But one day I just took the time to hear what they were actually saying.

God's Holy Spirit got a hold on my heart and that is the day I believed in Jesus. But the Bible says the preaching of the gospel is to those who are perishing foolishness. But to us who believe it is the power of God. So as you are listening to me right now and this is a joke to you, this makes you laugh, that is an indication you are perishing. Not a good thing.

It means you are far from God. Don't be a mocker. Some mocked. Others delayed. They said, well talk to you about this another time. They kicked the can down the road.

Not now. That was the situation with my mother who reminds me a bit of the woman at the well. Except my mom was married and divorced seven times so.

She had two more marriages on the woman at the well. And whenever I would talk to my mom about Jesus she would say, I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about it. One day I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit when my mom was 70 to go see her and have the conversation she didn't want to have. And I said, Mom I want to talk to you about your relationship with God. She said, I don't want to talk about it. I said, today we are going to talk about it.

And thankfully that conversation resulted in my mom coming to Christ. But some people don't want to talk about it. So some mocked.

Some delayed. But some believed. They repented.

They changed their minds. One is called Dionysius the Areopagite. So he was one of the judges of Athens. An intellectual. A ruler of his day who became a Christian. And there was a woman named Damaris.

And she like many of the Greeks was disillusioned with their empty gods and she put her trust in Christ. So this is a powerful example of how to reach our culture. Let me sum it up with an acronym. SHARE.

S-H-A-R-E. These are the principles Paul applied to reach his culture. These are the same principles that we can apply to reach our culture.

SHARE. S stands for be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. You never know when the Lord is going to prompt you to share the gospel with someone. That is why the Bible says, be instant in season and out of season. Or as another translation puts it, be on duty at all times.

Just hey Lord I am open. Be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. H. Honor and respect others. Don't come off as holier than thou when you speak to people. Don't be a know it all. Be humble and be approachable. Be sensitive to them. Honor and respect others. A. Arouse the interest of your listener. Of course Paul did this. Jesus did this.

You can do this. Say something to get them interested. So many things we could talk about today. R. Reveal sin. So when you have that conversation you need to point out to the person that they are a sinner who needs a Savior. Because you could very easily talk about Jesus as though He were the greatest additive to one's life. Oh Jesus came into my life and I am so much happier and my marriage is better and I have more spring on my step.

My goodness my teeth are even a little bit wider. No they aren't. But here is the thing. Jesus is not an additive. He doesn't just help you live a better life. He saves you from your sin.

So you have to tell a person. The Bible says you have sinned. You are separated from God by your sin and Christ died for your sin. And then finally E. Explain the way of salvation. Break it down for them. Tell them how to come to Jesus. Don't just tell them they should come to Jesus. Show them how. Paul did this.

We can do this. This is where it breaks down for a lot of people. Sometimes preachers and pulpits.

Sometimes just Christians sharing their faith each and every day. Close the deal. Pop the question. What's the question?

Would you like to accept Jesus Christ into your life right now? So share. Be sensitive. H. Honor and respect others. A. Arouse the interest of your listener. R. Reveal sin. E. Explain the way of salvation.

So let me close with that. I want to explain the way of salvation to you right now. How can a person know their sin is forgiven? How can a person be certain that they will go to heaven when they die?

Here is the answer. You need to admit you are a sinner. You have broken God's commandments. You have fallen short of God's standards. You need to recognize Jesus Christ the Son of God died on the cross for your sin. It wasn't nails that held Him 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 whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. You need to believe in Jesus. You say, but how do you do that? You put your faith in Him. You ask Him to come into your life. You see being a Christian isn't just reading the Bible and going to church or listening to Bible studies and praying.

Those are all great things. But being a Christian simplified is having a relationship with Jesus who lives inside of you. Jesus says, Behold I stand at the door and I knock and if you hear My voice and open the door I will come in. Would you like to open the door of your life right now and ask Jesus Christ to come in? Would you like to know you will go to heaven when you die?

Would you like to fill that big hole in your heart? It can happen for you right here right now. So I am going to pray a simple prayer. And I would ask if you want Christ to come into your life to pray this prayer with me.

And it is a prayer where you are asking Jesus to come into your heart and life. Just pray this prayer. You can even pray it out loud after me right now. Pray these words. Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner. And I know that You are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow You from this moment forward. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.