Share This Episode
Our American Stories Lee Habeeb Logo

The Story of a Bathroom Drug Deal Interrupted by Jesus

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb
The Truth Network Radio
August 14, 2024 3:02 am

The Story of a Bathroom Drug Deal Interrupted by Jesus

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb

00:00 / 00:00
On-Demand Podcasts NEW!

This broadcaster has 4367 podcast archives available on-demand.

Broadcaster's Links

Keep up-to-date with this broadcaster on social media and their website.


August 14, 2024 3:02 am

Greg Laurie, the founder and senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, shares two stories about his faith adventures, one in a bathroom and the other with Billy Graham, highlighting the importance of being open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and giving glory to God.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
Living in the Light Podcast Logo
Living in the Light
Anne Graham Lotz
Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast Logo
Connect with Skip Heitzig
Skip Heitzig
Moody Church Hour Podcast Logo
Moody Church Hour
Pastor Philip Miller
Renewing Your Mind Podcast Logo
Renewing Your Mind
R.C. Sproul
Baptist Bible Hour Podcast Logo
Baptist Bible Hour
Lasserre Bradley, Jr.
Truth Talk Podcast Logo
Truth Talk
Stu Epperson

The following is a high-five moment from highfivecasino.com. Most deals are barely worth mentioning. But then there's AT&T's best deal on the new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6. You can get it on them when you trade in your eligible smartphone in a year, any condition.

It's a deal so good, you'll be shouting from the rooftops. So grab a ladder and learn how to get that new phone on AT&T. AT&T.

Connecting changes everything. Requires trade-in of Galaxy S, Note, or Z series smartphone. Limited time offer. 256GB for $0. Additional fees, terms, and restriction supply.

See att.com or visit an AT&T store for details. Finding the right news podcast can feel like dating. It seems promising until you start listening. When you hit play on Post Reports, you'll get fascinating conversations and sometimes a little fun too. I'm Martine Powers.

And I'm Elahe Azadi. Martine and I are the hosts of Post Reports. The show comes out every weekday from the Washington Post. You can follow and listen to Post Reports wherever you get your podcasts.

It'll be a match, I promise. Are you spending a fortune while shopping on Amazon? What if I said you can earn cash back while you shop? Introducing Drop, the ultimate rewards app. Whether it's fashion, electronics, or groceries, you can earn free gift cards just by shopping online or in store at tons of your favorite brands. Download the Drop app now and start earning while you shop. Plus, for a limited time, use code DROP11 to get $5 in points instantly. Hi, Icons. It's Paris Hilton. Check out my new single, Chasen, featuring Meghan Trainor.

Out today. I feel so lucky to collaborate with Meghan and how perfectly she put my experience into words. Listen to Chasen from my new album, Infinite Icon, on iHeartRadio or wherever you stream music.

Don't forget to visit infiniteicon.com to pre-save my album. Sponsored by 1111 Media. And we continue with our American stories. Greg Laurie is the founder and senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, one of the largest and most influential churches in America. He's also authored two memoirs, one called Lost Boy and the other, which was turned into a wildly successful movie, Jesus Revolution. Here he is to share two stories, one that took place in a bathroom and the other with a man who counseled 11 American presidents, the Pope, and dozens of world leaders. Here's Greg Laurie. Well, the Bible says go into all the world and preach the gospel, and I guess that includes bathrooms.

Let me explain. So one day I'm in a department store and I need to go to the restroom. So I go into this restroom. I take my seat in a little stall and I hear someone clear their throat in the stall next to me. And then suddenly I hear a voice say, hi.

I'm thinking, hi. I don't talk to people in bathrooms. When I go into a restroom, I want to do what I'm there to do and get out of there. I've never understood why women all go to a bathroom together. You know, you'd be in a restaurant and one will say, I'm going to the restroom.

Who wants to go with me? And they all go together. Guys would never do that. You know, we see another guy in the restroom and we know, hey, how's it going? Whatever. Let's just get out of here.

Right. So I'm in this stall. The guy says hi to me. And I, my hi back was not friendly. I said, hi.

Like, what are you talking to me for? A moment goes by and he says, are you supposed to meet me here? I'm thinking, what on earth is going on here?

This is not good. I said, no, I'm not. And he went, oh, he sounded disappointment. And I said, well, now I'm curious, like what's going on? Like, well, who are you supposed to, what's going on here? And he goes, oh, I was going to buy some drugs.

Oh. And then the thought occurs to me, should I share the gospel with him? Will God even bless it if I talk about Jesus in a bathroom stall?

Is this even a good idea? And I thought, why not? And I said, hey man, I have something better than drugs for you.

He goes, really? What? I said, a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He says, oh, I already tried that. You already tried that.

Really? Well, did you pray and ask Christ to come into your life? Yes, I did. Did you find a church to go to?

Yes, I did. If you don't mind me asking, where did you go to church? Again, remember, we're in two stalls next to each other. We haven't seen each other yet.

We're having this conversation. Where did you go to church? I asked. He said, Harvest Christian Fellowship. Well, that's a church I pastor. I said, really?

Do you know who I am? He said, no. I said, I'm Greg Laurie, the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship. A moment goes by and he says, oh my God. I said, buddy, God must really love you to send your pastor to you when you're trying to make a drug buy. I said, you need to get right with God. And I said, I want to talk to you, but I'm tired of doing it in this bathroom stall.

I'll be waiting for you outside. Well, he was the easy guy to spot. He had a guilty look in his face. He came out of the bathroom and we prayed, as I recall, next to where they sold socks. And he made a recommitment to follow the Lord. So, you know, you never know when an opportunity will come to talk about your faith. And so I always tried to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. You know, the Bible says be on duty at all times, which takes on a whole new meaning when you apply it to a bathroom, right?

But be on duty at all times. Always be ready to share your faith, giving an answer to the person who asks you. So this is one of those unusual experiences when God used me in a bathroom. In Revelation 3 20, the scripture says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me.

Knocking at the door of the church, knocking at the door of your family, knocking at your door. Why doesn't he just push the door open and come in and save me? He never interferes with your will. You have a will of your own. That's the way he made you. He made you in his image. You can reject him. You can go to your grave rejecting Christ and there's nothing God can do about it. He'll do everything in his power to warn you. He'll do everything in his power to bring incidents across your path to stop you.

But he won't trespass on your will. So one night we were in Portland, Oregon and the place was packed and it was almost revival like what was happening that night. I also remember it really rained hard that night and so we're leaving the platform. I'm walking with Billy. We're headed to the car and there's a crowd of people and the ushers are kind of holding them back and people are just in awe. This is Billy Graham walking by. It's like Moses was walking among them and and they're calling out Billy, Billy and I'm walking right behind him and so we get in the car and we're driving out. His longtime associate T.W. Wilson is driving.

I'm sitting shotgun in the front. Franklin and his father are in the back seat and so I decided to compliment Billy and I turned around and said Billy that was a great sermon you gave tonight and he just looked back at me and said well it's just gospel and I thought well okay I knew that but I just wanted to compliment him and so I thought about it for a moment and I turned back around and I said well Billy I love the point where you said Christ can resensitize your conscience and Billy said well he can. I thought okay fine so I guess he doesn't want to be complimented but I was learning something about ministry which is you do your job you deliver your message you commit it to the Lord and you move on. Sometimes people want to talk about oh what a great night oh it was great when I said this or that happened or whatever. Billy just had already moved on and so we went back to our hotel and he disappeared in the back room and came back out wearing his pajamas and dress shoes. I think he left his little bedroom slippers at home and all around them were just guys he had known for years. They were telling old stories laughing and someone had given us these roast beef sandwiches at the crusade which were hot when we originally got them but now they're cold cold and we're sitting around eating cold roast beef sandwiches and I discovered okay this is really important you know you don't take yourself too seriously you take your message very seriously but this is about giving glory to God and I learned that from my own ministry when we did ministry it's like after I'm done preaching I'm done preaching and I'll just hang out with my family or maybe my grandkids and I return to normalcy a new tradition we've had for the last few years after crusaders we go to In-N-Out Burger which is a popular burger place here in California because I just well first of all the food's really good but it's just kind of like hey thank God for what he did but you know it's it's the Lord that's doing it and the more time I spent with Billy the more I realized what a genuinely humble man he was and when you would ask Billy to tell you stories about the famous people he had met he told you something but he didn't tell you very much in fact when you were with Billy he would always ask you about yourself tell me about yourself you know I want to know more about you and I so I learned a lot just watching him you know some things are caught other things are taught and I caught a lot of things hanging around Billy and a terrific job as always by our own Greg Hengler on the production and production and editing and a special thanks to Greg Lurie who's the founder and senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship and two terrific stories one about just having opportunities handed to you if you're a believer handed to you in a bathroom of all places and my goodness what a thing to hear as a pastor of your own church it's somebody going to your church who's trying to score drugs and he took this opportunity to bring them back home to God and then that story about Billy Graham and Graham just not looking for the compliments not wanting the compliments in the end giving the glory to God as Greg Lurie said some things are taught other things are caught I learned a lot hanging with Billy Graham.

Pastor Greg Lurie with two stories about his faith adventures in his faith here on Our American Stories. Come back to get free coins every four hours only at Hi5Casino.com. Hi5Casino is a social casino. No purchase necessary. Void prohibited.

Play responsibly. Terms and conditions apply. See website for details at Hi5Casino.com.

Hi5Casino. Hi Icons, it's Paris Hilton. Check out my new single Chasin featuring Meghan Trainor out today. I feel so lucky to collaborate with Meghan and how perfectly she put my experience into words.

Listen to Chasin from my new album Infinite Icon on iHeartRadio or wherever you stream music. Don't forget to visit InfiniteIcon.com to pre-save my album. Sponsored by 11-11 Media. Tired of wandering the aisles at Walgreens trying to find the best deals? Well we've got something that'll make your shopping experience a whole lot sweeter. Introducing Drop. The app that rewards you with free gift cards just for doing your everyday shopping.

Whether it's groceries, toiletries or your favorite snacks. With Drop every purchase earns you points towards fantastic rewards. Download the Drop app now. Use code Drop55 when you sign up to get $5 in points. Modo.us Visit Modo.us for the best free place social casino experience wherever you are. Modo offers a huge selection of Vegas style games and now introducing live blackjack, roulette and casino hold'em.

These are so much fun. Modo always has generous jackpots, free spins and exciting promotions. Register today at Modo.us for your free welcome bonus. Modo is a social casino, no purchase necessary, void where prohibited play responsibly, conditions apply, see website for details.

This is Malcolm Gladwell from Revisionist History. eBay Motors is here for the ride. With some elbow grease, fresh installs and a whole lot of love, you transformed 100,000 miles and a body full of rust into a drive that's all your own. Brake kits, LED headlights, whatever you need, eBay Motors has it. And with eBay Guaranteed Fit, it's guaranteed to fit your ride the first time, every time, or your money back. Plus at these prices, you're burning rubber, not cash. Keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.

Get The Truth Mobile App and Listen to your Favorite Station Anytime