Greg Laurie's March for Life Speech + Thoughts on the Experience

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast supported by Harvest Partners. For more ways to deepen and challenge your spiritual walk, enroll in Pastor Greg's free online courses.

Sign up at harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg, not so long ago, you took a trip to Washington, D.C. with your wife, and it was for a very special occasion. Maybe describe that for us. Yes, we went to the March for Life event in Washington, D.C. There were probably a hundred thousand people gathered outside as it was snowing, and the snow was actually coming sideways. But it was such a beautiful event. Not only did my wife and I go, but we took our daughter-in-law Brittany and three of our granddaughters, Riley, Lucy, and Allie, because we wanted them to march for life. So the March for Life is an event that is there to say we care about the unborn. And this is personal to me, because as our listeners know, I was conceived out of wedlock.

My mom was married and divorced seven times. I was not planned, but my life was planned by God. And I wanted to bring words of encouragement to the folks that were there on that cold, wintry day. But I also wanted to bring the gospel to them, because many of these folks that march are believers, but some are out there marching for the unborn.

They're marching for life, but maybe they don't know about eternal life. So here now are the remarks I gave, the things I said on the Washington Mall for the March for Life event of 2024. Hello, everybody. It's great to be here with you. This is my wife, Kathy. This year, we're celebrating 50 years of marriage, so we're very thankful.

I'm so proud of all of you coming out on this very cold, snowy day in our nation's capital to speak for those who have no voice. And this is personal to me, because my mother was a beautiful woman. Otherwise, why would I be so handsome? And that was not a joke, by the way. That offended me when you left. No, I'm kidding.

It was a joke. So my mother was married and divorced seven times, and she had a fling with some guy in Long Beach, and I was conceived. I was not planned. Thankfully, my mother carried me to term, and I was born. But it set me on a search very early in life, and I was wondering, what is the meaning of my life? Why do I have this big hole inside?

I never had a father growing up. And one day on my high school campus, I came across a group of people that we called the Jesus Freaks. That was not meant as a compliment, but they interested me. Why would these people have a smile on their face? Why would they have a spring in their step? Why would they have this joy in their life?

I had experimented with drugs and drinking and other things, and I thought, they seem to have something. And a young man got up and spoke, and he gave the message of the gospel. And what is the gospel? The gospel means good news. It's a simple message that we're all separated from God by our sin. But God loved us so much that 2,000 years ago, he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sin, and then he rose again from the dead. And if we will turn from our sin and invite Christ into our life, we can know with certainty that we have eternal life.

Right? And I know that many of you here are people of faith. I've seen your signs coming in. I've seen you praying. But I wanted to just pray with you for a moment, just in case there's someone within earshot, someone here that is not certain that if this were their last day on earth, that they would go to heaven. Because we don't just care about being born.

That's very important to us. But we want you, as Jesus said, to be born again and have eternal life. And if you're not sure if your sin is forgiven, if you're not sure if Christ is living in your heart, if you're not sure that you'll go to heaven when you die, I'd like to lead you in a prayer. A prayer very similar to the prayer I prayed 51 years ago.

And that's when my life changed. And I'm going to ask you, if you want Christ to come into your life, to pray this prayer out loud after me. In fact, to support those that are praying it for the first time, why don't we all pray this prayer together?

It's a prayer of asking Jesus to come into our lives and be our Savior and Lord. Let's pray. Pray this after me. 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. Jesus, come into my life.

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus' name I pray. Let me pray for you now, Lord. Thank you for every man and woman, every boy and girl here today. Many came from a great distance to our nation's capital to speak up for the unborn. We pray for our nation. We pray for young women who find themselves pregnant that they would carry these babies to term and raise them up or put them up for adoption. We pray that we as believers, the church, would be there to support these mothers. We pray that you would raise up godly people in our government, in the Congress, in the Senate, in the White House, as well as local government officials who would stand for the unborn. You tell us in your word when the righteous rule, the people rejoice. Lord, we pray for a great spiritual awakening to sweep the United States of America.

We need another revival. And now as we prepare to march for the unborn, bless us. And we remember the prayer that Jesus gave us 2,000 years ago. And we pray it together now. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

God bless you. Well that was Pastor Greg from the Washington Mall March for Life just a few weeks ago. And Pastor Greg, I know that's gonna be an event that you and your family won't soon forget.

That's true. You know, the greatest moment, we had a couple of prayers together. I led them in what I call a sinner's prayer. Now look, there's nothing magical about praying those words.

You have to believe what you're saying. But I can say this. This prayer is based on biblical principles where I tell people to pray, God forgive me. I know that I'm a sinner. Thank you for sending Christ to die on the cross for my sin. I turn from my sin and so forth. The Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So thousands of people prayed that prayer out loud and I believe that I'm gonna run into people in the days ahead who are gonna say I was one of those people and that was the day I asked Christ to come into my life. So it was my privilege and my joy to share this message of hope and speak up for those that have no voice, the unborn. You know, I told you it was an unusual sight to see you standing at a pulpit, standing at a podium, and snow coming down on top of you. That's an unusual sight. But it's also an unusual sight for you to be speaking to a hundred thousand people at a time and it's also unusual for you to be speaking to, you know, a mixture of faiths, a mixture of people that may not have faith.

How do you choose your words carefully in an environment like that? That's a good question. You know, I want to affirm them for what they're doing. There's folks out there, many of these folks are Catholic and I have to say kudos to the Catholic community for continuing to be a voice for the unborn and I was just thrilled to join with them and in something that we share in common. But regardless of if you're a Catholic or for that matter even a Protestant, that doesn't mean that you necessarily have a relationship with God. There has to be a moment when every person asks God to forgive them of their sins and invites Christ to come into their life. So I was thrilled to join forces, if you will, with people who are passionate about the unborn, with people who are motivated by their faith, but at the same time make sure if they didn't have a faith in Jesus that that might happen on that very day. That's why I brought a little gospel presentation and prayed that prayer with them.