What Is God Like? | 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. Alright, well let's grab our Bibles and turn to 2 Samuel chapter 9. We're in our House of David series, and the title of my message is, What is God Like?

2 Samuel chapter 9. What is God like? I heard the story of a little girl who grabbed her crayons and a piece of paper, and she said to her mom, I'm going to draw a picture of God. Mother said, honey, nobody knows what God looks like.

The little girl said, they will when I'm done. What does God look like? What is God like? Is He a smiling God? Is He a frowning God?

Is He approachable or not approachable? Does He approve or disapprove of us? You know, it's interesting that the Bible refers to the Almighty as Father on more than one occasion. So we might immediately pivot to our earthly dads and use them as a point of reference. Let's say that you had a very warm, loving, affectionate, fun dad, and so you sort of think of God that way. But then someone else might have a father who was rather distant, aloof, not very communicative.

Even worse, you might have a father who was abusive or altogether absent. So you apply that to God as well. But when we look at God, we should not compare Him to our earthly fathers.

We should look at how He is presented in Scripture. So Jesus gives this picture of God, this selfie of God, if you will, in the story of the prodigal son. God is like a father who had two sons.

One of his sons went astray, drug the family name to the mud, was a disgrace, made all the wrong decisions. One day came to his senses and decided to return home, and here's a picture Jesus gives us of the father. When the son returns, the father runs to him, throws his arms around him, and beats the son for 20 minutes, right? No, that's not in the Bible. No, he throws his arms around the son, he hugs him, he kisses him, and he says to everyone, this my son who was dead is alive again. He who was lost is found, and they had a party, and then they had barbecue.

So it was amazing. That's the picture of God according to Jesus. He's a father that longs for fellowship with us and misses us when we are gone and will forgive us of our sin. Now we go to the Old Testament, because sometimes people say, well, the God of the New Testament is loving and gracious, but the God of the Old Testament is judgmental and harsh.

That's not true. It's the same God of both the Old and the New Testaments. And we have a beautiful picture of God in the Old Testament in the story of David and Mephibosheth. How many of you have ever heard of Mephibosheth? Raise your hand. OK, let's try saying that name together. Mephibosheth, go. Pretty good.

OK? So we're going to talk about him a little bit in the message, but a little recap before we dive into his story. So how did this all start? So Israel wanted a king. All the other nations had kings, and they wanted a king too.

Despite the fact that God had led them through prophets and judges, they said, no, we don't want that anymore. All the other nations have a king. We want a king too, right? So the Lord gives them exactly what they wanted. He gives them a king after their own heart. And his name was Saul.

Careful what you wish for, you might get it. And they got what they wanted. Saul on paper looked good. He had all the credentials to be a successful politician. He was tall. He was good looking. He was charismatic.

He also was paranoid, jealous, and murderous. And he disobeyed the Lord. So the Lord rejected Saul from being the king and then came to the prophet Samuel and said, I want you to go to the little town of Bethlehem. And there in that town there's a man named Jesse. And out of his household, I'm going to select the next king of Israel. So Samuel shows up in town.

It's a tiny little place, Bethlehem. Kind of a big deal when a prophet shows up. And they're all wondering what's going on. And the seven sons of Jesse are paraded before the visiting prophet. And the Lord says, none of them are my choice. And then Jesse reluctantly acknowledges he has one more son out in the field watching the sheep. That of course is David. David comes in.

He is anointed by the prophet because the Lord says, that's the one. David's first test was facing Goliath and the valley of Elah. And of course he brought down the nine foot six inch Philistine with one stone. And overnight David became a rock star. There was even a hit song on Israeli radio all about him. The lyrics were Saul has slain his thousands, but David has slain his tens of thousands. So he's a folk hero.

He's a legend in his own time. Saul doesn't like this one bit. And he decides he's going to murder David and spends the next portion of the story chasing after David. But as we enter the story now, we're going to see Saul coming to an end. He's going to finally reap what he sows.

He is on a collision course in his date with destiny. Because David was the one that God called. You know you could say that once David was selected by God, all of his troubles began. Things are kind of good for David prior to that. He's just watching this flock of sheep. Write songs to God. Fight off any predators.

Nice life. And then the Lord calls them and the trouble begins. And you could say the same thing about us. Once you become a Christian, all your troubles begin. Not that you didn't have troubles before. But a new set of troubles take their place because you have entered now into a spiritual battle. I remember when I first became a Christian and the believer told me, Greg, now be careful. The devil's going to tempt you.

I'm like, wait, what? Devil? I just heard come to Jesus. No one told me about a devil.

I found out about him really quickly. And you know what I'm talking about exactly. It's been said, quote, conversion has made our hearts a battlefield, end quote. So we know what it is to fight this battle.

Having said that, it's worth it, right? Oh, sure, we're hassled, we're tempted, we're attacked, we're maligned and sometimes worse. But what has God given to us? He's given us the forgiveness of all of our sins. He's filled the void in our life. He's unfolding a plan that he has for each and every one of us.

And best of all, we know that one day we will see him in glory in heaven. But there's a battle. Just as surely as there is a God who loves you, there is a devil who hates you. And because David was loved by God, he was hated by Saul. On more than one occasion, Saul threw a javelin at David and tried to take him out. And so David is now on the run for his life. So one day, David and his men go into a cave and they're just getting out of the sun and waiting. And who shows up in the cave but King Saul, not realizing that David's in the same cave. Saul's in the cave to answer the call of nature, right?

And David sneaks up behind him and cuts off a little bit of his robe. He could have cut off Saul's head, but he didn't. After Saul leaves the cave from a safe distance, David yells out, King Saul, feel a little draft right now? I could have cut your head off, but I spared you, King Saul. Oh, David, my son, I'm so sorry for all that I've done.

And I know that you're the rightful heir to the throne. But Saul was a liar and he continued to pursue David. Ultimately, he reads what he sows and Saul and sadly, his son Jonathan die on the battlefield. Saul is wounded and he falls on his own sword committing suicide.

But the house of Saul and the house of David continued in war. Is this boring, by the way? I gotta tell you this stuff, okay?

This is the backdrop. We all want the application from the sermon. Yeah, but what does it mean to me?

Okay, we'll get there. Context is everything. So this is the big picture. So the house of Saul and the house of David are at war with each other. Saul had a son left. His name was Ish-bosheth. So we've got Mephibosheth and Ish-bosheth.

What's with these names? And now Abner, who was the general working under Saul who had been pursuing David, knew that David was the rightful heir to the throne but because it served his purposes politically, he anointed Ish-bosheth to be the king of Israel. But then he had an argument with Ish-bosheth and he came over to David and said, hey, I'll tell you what, I'll come and join your team if you want me to. David could have said, you know, I'm gonna kill you.

That's what I'm gonna do first. But David didn't do any of that. You know why? David was tired of fighting. You know, some people just like to fight, don't they? They love to argue.

You'll find them on Twitter. They'll counterpoint whatever you say. And some people love to have arguments and they love to be in conflict and they feed that conflict constantly. And sometimes you just say, I'm tired of arguing, I'm tired of fighting.

That was David. He says, I'm just so done. I'm over all of this. Abner, you wanna make a special deal?

Great, let's do it. Hey, I don't wanna hunt you down. I don't wanna kill anybody else. In fact, I wanna show love and forgiveness to those who have hurt me. David had a very close friendship with Jonathan, who was the prince. And Jonathan, knowing that he would probably come to an untimely death, made David make a promise to him. He said, David, when you ascend to your throne, and you will, will you remember my family?

Will you remember my descendants and treat them with kindness? David said, buddy, you got it. Well, that's not exactly in the Bible, but it's implied, right?

It's done. And this is why David was a man after God's own heart. He made a promise and he kept it. He forgave the ones who had hurt him. And maybe I'm talking to somebody here who has been persecuted or attacked wrongfully by someone. Maybe you have an enemy who has tried to do you harm. Or you've been hurt or offended by the way you were treated. Now, in light of all of this, imagine how you would feel about that person who had bothered you for all of these years, especially if that harm done was completely undeserved and your enemy was finally dealt with and you were on the other side of the tunnel.

Would your first thought be to show kindness to that person? I don't think so. But David did. He said, you know, I remember making a promise. So he calls on this guy named Ziba, who turns out to be a real creep, by the way. Ziba worked for Saul. He goes, Ziba, question. Are there any descendants of Saul and Jonathan alive still? And here's what happened in their conversation. 2 Samuel chapter nine, starting at verse two.

And I'm reading from the New Living Translation. Are you Ziba? The king asked. Yes, I am, Ziba replied. Then the king asked him, is anyone still alive from Saul's family?

If so, I want to show kindness to them in a way or any way I can. Ziba replied, yes, one of Jonathan's sons is still alive, but he's crippled. Where is he? The king asked. And low to bar, Ziba says, at the home of Makar, the son of Amiel. So David sent for him and brought him from that home. And his name was Mephibosheth.

He was Jonathan's son and Saul's grandson. When he came to David, he bowed low in great fear. It said, I am your servant.

David said, don't be afraid. I've asked you to come so I can be kind to you because of my vow to your father, Jonathan. I will give you all the land that once belonged to your grandfather, Saul, and you may come and live here with me in the palace. Mephibosheth fell to the ground before the king. And he said, should the king show such kindness to a dead dog like me? But Mephibosheth ate regularly with David as though he were one of his own sons. We'll stop there. Isn't that a great story?

Beautiful story of grace and forgiveness. Here is David, the crowned king of Israel. Normally one would eliminate any potential rivals to the throne. And in fact, Mephibosheth was next in line. First there was the king. Then there was the prince, Jonathan. Now Jonathan's son, another prince, he could have ascended to the throne but God had called David to this position.

David could have said, I'm gonna kill him because he's a threat to me but that is not what happened at all. Mephibosheth was only five years old when his father and grandfather were killed on the field of battle. Up until then, he had had a pretty great life. He was a prince. You know, people are so obsessed with royalty today. People follow the royal family in England and they know the names of all of the grandchildren and all of the descendants.

I'm not fascinated by this but some people are. We love royalty. Oh, they're royal. She's a princess. He's a prince. Well, imagine the life that Mephibosheth lived, pampered in the lap of luxury, living in the palace. Everything was going his way and then the news was announced, Saul and Jonathan are killed and there was a nurse holding Mephibosheth and she's running, probably wanting to hide him knowing that his life would be in danger and she dropped him and he was permanently disabled from that point on. He no longer had the use of his feet. He'd been dropped and there are people who've been dropped in life.

Are you one of them? Through no fault of your own. Bad things happened in your childhood. Things happened in your family.

Maybe they broke up. Maybe events took place that didn't seem fair, especially when you compared your life to the lives of others. So you were dropped in life.

Maybe you were mistreated, neglected, abused, forgotten and you haven't been given much hope but God specializes in taking people who have been dropped in life and picking them up again. So Friday at our church, you already saw a little video, of all these families that came, over 5,000 families showed up and many of these children are in the foster care system. Some of them are from homeless families and so we were there to help them and show God's love to them. As we mentioned, we gave over 3,000 backpacks and little gospel presentations in each backpack. 2,500 pairs of shoes were given out, 1,200 haircuts, 475 medical exams, 250 dental exams and cleanings, 160 pairs of glasses given, 360 eye examinations, thousands of food boxes given out and over 50 people stopped for prayer, getting a Bible and we had many make a profession of faith and in and out, burger was there in force, hooking everybody up with a burger. Doesn't that sound good right now?

According to my watch, it's almost 12. But of course, we can't do that right now. But hey, that was showing these people who've been dropped in life, these children, through no fault of their own, end up in this situation and we want to say to you there is a God in heaven who loves you, who cares about you, who has a plan for your life and we want to show that love to you.

So. The fibiscus was clearly dropped in life in so many ways. Maybe he was angry at David. Maybe he blamed it all on David. Maybe he thought it's all the fault of David and I would be on the throne right now if it wasn't for him and maybe he wondered if someday there would be a knock at the door and the soldiers of David would show up and he would be summarily executed. So he might have even hated David.

Why? Because he didn't know David. He knew about him.

He had heard things but he didn't know David personally. Imagine this shock when we read here in verse three that King says, is there anyone still alive from Saul's family? I want to show kindness to them in any way that I can. This word kindness can be translated grace. David is saying who can I show grace to? What is grace? Grace is the unmerited favor of God.

The Bible says for by grace you have been saved through faith not of works lest any man should boast. Let me contrast grace to mercy and justice. Justice is getting what you deserve. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. So never pray God give me justice.

Really? Why don't you just say God send me to hell? Because you're a sinner just like I am separated from him. No never pray for justice. You can pray for mercy better yet say Lord extend grace to me. Let's say that a friend borrowed my Harley and went and totaled it. Okay and justice I would say you need to replace my bike. If I dealt with him in mercy I'd say forget about it you don't have to replace my bike. If I dealt with him in grace I'd say hey no problem in fact I'm gonna buy you your own bike right. This is what God has extended toward us not giving us what we deserve.

Not merely holding back the judgment that we deserve but instead giving his unmerited favor to us. Now Ziba he had an alternative motive here because the king says is anyone left of the household of Saul? Yeah there's this Mephibosheth but you know you don't want to do anything for him. Now the reason Ziba said this is because he was in control of the land that Saul owned. He knew that Saul had a descendant in Mephibosheth.

He had not lifted a finger to help him. He wanted to keep it for himself. And the way he describes Mephibosheth he says well he lives in Lodobar. That doesn't mean a lot to us but Lodobar was not a great place to live. Basically it's an obscure spot on the east side of Jordan. So basically the prince of Israel is living in an obscure barren field in the middle of nowhere. In fact the very word Lodobar means a place of no pasture. That's a picture of each of us before we were Christians hanging out in Lodobar living like low-lifes eating low-fat food and listening to J-Lo. No not really but you know. There's nothing about J-Lo.

She just says Lo in the name so I had to use it. But that was us. We were low. We were unloved, unwanted, undeserving.

We felt unneeded. But David reaches out to Mephibosheth just as surely as God reached out to us. Look at 2 Samuel 9 five. David sent for him and brought him from Makers home. Brought him.

David was persistent. Jesus told us to go out into the highways and the byways and compel people to come. Remember the story of the four guys that brought their disabled friend to Jesus? The house was filled.

They couldn't get in. So they climb up on the roof and they open it up and they lower this guy down right in front of the Lord and the Lord touches them and heals them and forgives them of his sin. That's working together. That's not accepting no for an answer. So when I share the gospel with someone I don't just back off because you're a little bit resistant.

No I press in. I want to bring you to Christ and as this crusade approaches and we've said this so many times. 85% of the people that walk forward and make a profession of faith to follow Jesus were brought by a friend.

So you need to bring someone with you and that's what we have happening here. He was brought to David. Brought to his home and how did Mephibosheth react? 2 Samuel 9 six. He was afraid. He was afraid.

But I love what it says. David said don't be afraid. I've asked you to come so I can show kindness to you. Why are you a Christian? Why am I a Christian? The Bible says it's the goodness or kindness of God that brought us to repentance. Someone showed God's love to us in a tangible way. Maybe it was through an action.

Maybe it was through a word. Maybe it was in some other way but they conveyed the love of God to us and this is why we chose to believe. Now Mephibosheth, if he had known David, he would not have been afraid.

He would have understood that David was the man after God's own heart. But this is how many people view God. They're afraid of God because they don't know God. They have a warped concept of God.

A.W. Tozer said quote, nothing twists or deforms the soul more than a low or unworthy conception of God, end quote. I think a lot of people have a low or unworthy conception of God. This is why it's so important that we raise our children in balanced, godly Christian homes. You know, I think sometimes in Christian homes we sort of major on minors and we raise children in this really weird legalistic kind of environment almost like a little Christian bubble. You know, you have kids who've been homeschooled. I'm not against homeschooling. I homeschool both of our kids. Or I should say my wife did.

I was the principal. But you know, maybe they're homeschooled. They're not allowed to watch cartoons. All they can watch is VeggieTales, right? They can't watch TV. They can't watch movies. Only God's Not Dead Part 8 or whatever.

Nothing against God's Not Dead. You know, they can't listen to pop music. They can only listen to Christian music and to the point really bad Christian music. And there is bad Christian music and good Christian music too.

Don't clap for that. But there is. You know, lots of rules. No sugar. No fun. No anything. So then the kid rebels one day and you find him strung out on sugar watching The Simpsons and listening to ACDC.

Wait. What went wrong? Maybe you were overprotective. Maybe you gave them a few too many rules. You know, those one hour devotions and the book of Leviticus every night before bed.

Was that the best way to do it? And sometimes kids rebel and then they have this wrong concept of God. I'm not saying I raised my sons perfectly, though I did.

But I did it. We did homeschool them for some years. We did devotions with them. But we wanted to raise them in a relationship with God.

We wanted them to love life, appreciate things that were around them and prepare them for the real world. Sort of like wearing floaties. I see a few people are wearing floaties here at church today. Why?

No, you're not. But, you know, floaties have their place. You know what a floatie is? We know the little things, inflatable things on the arms of the kids. So, you know, we have the little ones near the water.

We want them to be safe. We'll put floaties on them. But if your kid is still wearing floaties in their 20s, we have a problem. See, the child needs to learn how to swim. The child needs, if they fall in the water, they need to learn how to get to the side. You have to teach them to swim. And I think sometimes we want to put our children in floaties and keep them in bubbles and keep them protected. In reality, we're not preparing them for the real world. We need to lead them to Christ and get them to think and live biblically. See, it's so important. This is why Moses said, and he said this to me personally. He was a great guy, by the way. He said, teach these truths to your children.

Talk about them when you're at home, when you're on the road, when you're going to bed, and when you're getting up. So we want people to know that there's a loving God who calls people to himself, not an angry, vengeful God. You don't have to be afraid of God. And Mephibosheth did not have to be afraid of David. I love verse 11, it says, Mephibosheth ate regularly with David as though he were one of his own sons.

And by the way, that's mentioned four times in 13 verses. You eat with people you wanna be with, am I right? Someone that you don't really get along with or is argumentative or whatever says, you wanna go eat lunch? Oh, that's okay, I'm not hungry. Then your friend that you love to hang out with says, wanna get a bite? Let's go. I just hope I don't run into that other person.

I just blew off, right? Because some people give you indigestion, right? Or it's a sales pitch. Or they're argumentative or there's some drama with them and you wanna just enjoy your meal because a meal isn't just about the consumption of food.

It's about hanging out and talking and enjoying the time together. And the Bible uses this very picture to describe our relationship with the Lord. Mephibosheth ate at the king's table as though he were now a member of the royal household because he was, because he was. So here's a few takeaway truths as we bring this message to an end. Number one, don't let another person form your view of God. Don't let another person form your view of God. Maybe Mephibosheth allowed the prejudice and bias of others to keep him from David. But once he met David, everything changed. And I think the same thing is true of many people who don't know God.

They form their views based on what others have said to them. Look, if someone has misrepresented Jesus Christ to you, I am sorry. I apologize, but just because one person messed up doesn't mean what we're saying to you is not true. Well, I think the church is full of hypocrites. Hey, join us.

There's always room for one more. I'm not excusing hypocrisy. I'm not justifying it. I'm simply saying whenever humans are involved, there will be moments of hypocrisy, right? But don't form your view of God based on someone who misrepresented God or did something that was dishonoring to God. Oh, it's all false and fake. No, it's just that person messed up, okay? But the Lord is still loving.

He's still good. And you need to have your own relationship with Him. And by the way, that whole there's too many hypocrites in the church excuse will not hold water on judgment day because Jesus did not say follow my people.

He said follow me. Christ will never disappoint you. People will disappoint you. I will disappoint you.

You will disappoint others, but Jesus will never disappoint you. Number two, forgive your enemies if they deserve it or not. Forgive your enemies if they deserve it or not. David could have engaged in payback big time. He had been hurt. He could have killed Abner. He could have killed Mephibosheth, the threat to the throne. He could have killed a lot of people.

But not only did he forgive, but he extended kindness. Reminds me of a story I heard about Abraham Lincoln. Of course, we had this civil war. And after the war was over, Lincoln wanted to reunite the nation. And he extended mercy to his enemies. And someone asked President Lincoln, why do you always make friends of your enemies? You should destroy them. And Lincoln responded, am I not destroying my enemies when I make them my friends? I like that. If an enemy becomes a friend, they are no longer an enemy.

So instead of destroying your enemies, is there a way you could befriend them and disarm them? Last point. Well, almost last point. Never believe a preacher when he says last point.

They always have more stuff to say. Leave the past in the past. Leave the past in the past. David could have very easily felt as though life was unfair. He could have said, you know, my father didn't even acknowledge me when the prophet Samuel came to town to anoint the next king of Israel. I got married to Saul's daughter, and she betrayed me.

And speaking of her family, her father wanted to kill me. And I had to live in exile, running from this lunatic for all this time. It isn't fair, God. He could have shaken a fist in the face of God and said, my life isn't fair.

It was great when I was tending the sheep. Then you called me, and all this drama began. No, David knew God had a plan. And as time passed, David could look back in his life and say, ah, some of these things are starting to make sense to me. And that's something that happens as you get older.

You that are younger, let me say a word to you. You might be going through something right now that makes no sense to you. You've been very disappointed. That door is shut in your face. Something hasn't worked out the way you wanted it to work out. A relationship didn't happen you were hoping for, or this career opportunity, or this ministry opportunity, or whatever dream you had, and you say, it's not right.

I'm so disappointed, I know. But hang in there, because God is still at work. And everything you go through in life is preparation for something else. God is preparing you and getting you ready for what is yet to come. And he's made a promise in scripture.

And the last time I checked, it's still there. It's called Romans 8, 28. It says, we know that all things are working together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. So right now, you might be looking at something that seems to be very bad, and in its way, it is. But with the passing of time, that thing may ultimately turn into what you could call a good thing, or if it does not turn into a good thing, something very good will come despite the bad thing.

Does this make sense? As we're told in Ecclesiastes 3.11, God makes everything beautiful for his own time. People cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. So David had that focus on life.

Now I'm really gonna close with three final points, and I mean it this time. David is a beautiful picture of Jesus and the way he deals with Mephibosheth. David, out of sheer love for Jonathan, his friend, demonstrated grace to his handicapped son.

In the same way, God in his love for us shows his love. There's nothing we do to merit or deserve it, but he seeks us out, calling us to his table. Mephibosheth had nothing. He deserved nothing.

He could repay nothing, and in fact, he was hiding from the king. That was us. We don't deserve this. We don't merit forgiveness. We were hiding from God.

Maybe we had a false concept of God. What does he do? He seeks us out. Finally, Mephibosheth was adopted as a son and invited to eat at the king's table. You like royalty? You are royalty. You are a member of God's royal family with a seat reserved at his table.

Jesus used this very picture when he said, behold, I stand at the door and I knock, and if you'll hear my voice and open the door, I will come in. This is the kind of relationship God wants with you. Listen, don't let other people form your opinion of God. Get to know him for yourself.

Some people know about God, but they don't know God. He loves you. He has a plan for your life better than your plan for yourself.

But you need to come to him. See, Mephibosheth could have refused. He could have said, I'm not going to that palace. I'm not gonna sit at his table. I don't want any of it.

I want to stay here and load a bar and watch the tumbleweeds blow by. No, he made a good decision. He said, all right, I'll go.

And how delighted he was when he was invited to sit at that table. You don't have to say yes to Jesus Christ. You can live the way you want to live and face the consequences of it, or you can come to this God who loves you so much he sent his own son to die on the cross for your sin, and you can come into this relationship with the Lord right now if you haven't done it yet. So I want to close with an invitation for any person who does not know the Lord in a personal way. Oh, you know about God, or you think you do. I used to think I knew something about God.

I really knew nothing. And then I met him. And as they say in the song, to know him is to love him because you realize how much he loves you. No matter what sin you've committed, God will forgive you. No matter what mess you've made of your life, God can turn it around. He can bring beauty out of ashes, the Bible says. He can bring the oil of joy for the spirit of mourning. He can turn your mess into a message, but you must come to him and ask for his forgiveness. Let's all pray. Father, I pray for every person here, every person watching, wherever they are. If they don't have a relationship with you, help them to come to you and believe right here, right now. And while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying, maybe there's somebody here that doesn't have this relationship with the Lord.

You don't know him in a personal way. You want to be forgiven of your sins. You want the Lord to enter into your life. Listen, if you want your sin forgiven, if you wanna know that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want to fill that big hole in your heart, if you wanna begin this relationship with Christ, would you just lift your hand up wherever you're sitting and I'd like to pray for you. Raise your hand up wherever you are, saying I want Jesus today. I want him to forgive me of my sin.

I want to know him in a personal way. I wanna go to heaven when I die. Just raise your hand up if you want Christ to come into your life. And let me pray for you. God bless you. Maybe you're watching this screen right now. I can't see you, but you see me.

That doesn't really matter. It says between you and the Lord, if you want Christ to come into your life, I want you to pray this prayer after me. Just pray it out loud. In fact, we can all pray it out loud. Just pray this prayer with me right now. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I invite you to come into my life now. I choose to follow you from this moment forward.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God.