America and Armageddon (With Greg Laurie)

america and armageddon i heard about an airplane that was having some severe engine trouble so the pilot contacted the nearest control tower and gave this message pilot to tower pilot to tower we're 400 miles from land and 800 feet above water please advise please advise a message came back from the control tower tower to pilot tower to pilot repeat the following our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name yeah there comes a moment in life when that is actually what you should do you should turn to god and here in revelation we're coming effectively to the end the grand finale when the final blows are going to come against planet earth it's literally time to say our father but by and large people will not say that they'll pretty much die as they have lived hardened against god this is why you never want to say i'll wait until i'm on my deathbed to accept jesus christ now if you called on god on your deathbed if you're off the luxury of a deathbed because not everyone does sometimes death comes quickly and unexpectedly but if you had the luxury of a deathbed why do you think if you lived a life opposed to god for years and years that you would suddenly want to call on him chances are you would be pretty hardened in your sin no don't wait until then because listen to this there is a point of no return i don't know when it is only god does but there can come a moment in a person's life where they've heard the gospel and rejected it heard the gospel and rejected it so many times their heart has become irreparably hardened you say you mean so hard where god wouldn't forgive them that's not the issue so hard where they don't want to be forgiven the bible says he who is often reproved hardens his heart and he will be cut off that without remedy so listen if i'm talking to somebody right now who has heard the gospel before and you have said no to it don't say no again at the end of my message i'll extend an invitation for you to believe in jesus and be forgiven of all of your sin but at this point historically which is in our future the earth is rejecting god it reminds me of a quote i read from a french chemist who said in 1869 his name was pierce bartholomew he wrote these what i think are prophetic words quote in a hundred years of science men will know what the adam is remember he wrote this in 1869 man will know what the atom is when science reaches that stage writes birth a lot god will come down to earth with this big ring of keys and say to mankind gentlemen it's closing time end quote wow how true is that so here's what we are chronologically we're looking at what the bible describes as the great tribulation period it lasts for seven years it begins with the emergence of a charismatic world leader that appears to be the greatest peacemaker of all time i'm sure they will award him the nobel peace prize but in reality he's not a peacemaker he's a troublemaker and the bible says through peace he will deceive many this coming leader identified in the bible as the beast the description of his character the antichrist which means not only instead of christ but against christ will help the jewish people rebuild their temple but then he will erect an image of himself in the temple and command people to worship him and that will be the abomination of desolation and it will mark the halfway point of the great tribulation period the last three and a half years of this time that is coming upon our planet will be like hell on earth when god's judgment will fall upon the world you think antichrist would turn to god the opposite antichrist is hunting down believers and is engaged in bloodshed on another level judgment is coming in full force but know this when god sends judgment it's never off of a whim or haphazard no there's always a reason for judgment and understand god takes no pleasure in judging people god says in ezekiel 33 11 i take no pleasure in the death of wicked people i only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live you see god is loving god is gracious god is forgiving but if you don't respond to his love if you don't receive his forgiveness then you are effectively bringing judgment on yourself because god is also just and god is also righteous and now judgment is coming on the earth described as bowls of judgment you've heard of the super bowl these are like the super bowls of judgment coming upon mankind jeremiah said of it in jeremiah 30 verse 7 this day is so great there is none like it understand god has given warning after warning for people on the earth to turn to him don't forget he raises up the 144 000 messianic believers combing the planet proclaiming the gospel i've described them as culture billy grahams telling people to believe and many do but not all do god sends an angel flying to the heavens preaching the everlasting gospel it's sort of like an angelic mop-up operation in case someone missed it because people ask the question what about the person who has never heard the gospel how could a god of love send them to hell everyone will hear the gospel the bible says the whole world will hear the gospel then will the end come if this isn't enough god raises up these two witnesses remember we looked at them in revelation 11 and they speak to the people but no there are so many that still do not believe so now judgment is finally coming the story is told of the great composer johann sebastian bach he was known to sleep a lot and his kids had a surefire way of waking their dad up they would go to a piano and play a composition i guess that's what you do when you're the son of a composer they would play the composition all the way through he would still be sleeping and they would get to the end and not play the last note every time buck would get up out of his bed walk over sit down at the keyboard and hit the final chord it just drove him crazy here in revelation in effect god is playing the final chord but something is missing from this prophetic puzzle let me restate it someone is missing who well the united states of america you know one of the more interesting things about bible prophecy is not who it mentions but also who it doesn't mention in the last days at this moment in time america is still the greatest superpower on the planet that of course could change in time is you are aware with the emergence of china and other shifts that are happening globally but right now we are still the reigning superpower but yet as we look at the end times events you really don't find america in them uh you see israel clearly you find iran there you find libya there you can make a pretty good case for finding russia and even china but i can't find any passage that clearly identifies the united states of america so where are we how could a nation of our stature and our size and our significance not be mentioned in the prophetic scheme well i'll talk about that in a few moments but first let's understand when we are here in revelation 15. we're in heaven and we're viewing what is coming to the earth from a heavenly perspective and we get a better handle on the why of judgment let's read revelation 15 starting in verse 1. john writes and i saw another sign great and marvelous seven angels having seven last plagues for in them the wrath of god is complete and i saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire and those who have the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name standing on the sea of glass plain harps of god they sing the song of moses the servant of god and the song of the lamb great and marvelous are your works lord god almighty just and true are your ways o king of the saints who shall not fear you o lord and glorify your name for you alone are holy and all nations shall come and worship before you for your judgments have been manifested we'll stop there so who are these people singing the song these are believers who have come through the tribulation period they've been martyred for their faith and their before a sea of glass mingled with fire now that either symbolizes the fiery trials they went through on the planet or the fact that they were martyred or this may be referencing the fact with uh this water and fire mingled together that judgment is about to come on the earth perhaps it's referring to both reminding us that god takes it personally when his followers are attacked remember saul of tarsus this was a religious dude who thought he was doing the will of god by hunting down followers of jesus he presided over the death of the first martyr of the church the courageous young man named stephen but the reality is as saul of tarsus was under the conviction of the holy spirit the lord was calling him and he was fighting with god and one day as he was on the damascus road on his way to arrest more christians the lord spoke to him and his statement was saul saul why are you persecuting me interesting why are you persecuting me the reality is saul was persecuting god's followers christians but jesus took it personally hey man you're persecuting me then the lord says it's hard for you to kick against the goats what does that even mean well a goad was a sharpened stick so back in those days uh before they had extra horsepower if you wanted your horse to move you poked them with a stick and they would move faster the idea god is saying is i'm trying to get your attention you're kicking against it why are you doing that and of course saul was converted that day and became the great apostle paul but god doesn't like it when his people are persecuted so here we have this fiery lake the sea of glass god's people will stand on a sea of glass and non-believers will stand in a lake of fire now i know when you mention the fact that there's a lake of fire or a place called hell or a final judgment that in the minds of some seems unfair but is it i love this statement from j.i packer who writes and i quote scripture sees hell as self-chosen hell appears as god's gesture of respect for human choice all receive what they actually choose either being with god forever worshipping him or without god forever worshiping themselves end quote c.s lewis made this statement along the same lines quote there are only two kinds of people in the end those who say to god thy will be done and those to whom god says thy will be done all who are in hell choose it without that self-choice there could be no help so if you end up in this lake of fire that's on you i'm sorry it's on you because you've rejected god's offer of forgiveness you've rejected his salvation and you've effectively sealed your own faith as i've often said god doesn't send people to hell they send themselves there don't be that person now as we come back to our account we find that these believers have prevailed over the antichrist verse two how by not taking his mark and holding on to the very end listen it is my firm conviction that christians will not go through the great tribulation period i don't think we'll go through any of it i think we'll be removed before the tribulation begins why the bible says god has not appointed us to wrath but to attain salvation to the lord jesus christ think about it well god sent judgment during the days of noah first he got noah and his family safe in the ark and the door was shut and as the water came down the ark went up but noah and his family were delivered from the judgment that came upon the earth take the story of lot and his wife god got lot and his family safely out of sodom before the judgment fell the tribulation period is god's judgment coming on the earth god does not pour his judgment on his people you see and so we will not be here for this tribulation period having said that christians will go through tribulation not the seven year period but we're going to go through hardship we're going to go through trials jesus said in this world you will have tribulation but be of good chair i have overcome the world and not only will we have tribulation we'll be persecuted just like these folks were maybe not to the extreme they were persecuted but we will face persecution uh second timothy 3 12 of course reminds us that all who live godly in christ jesus will suffer persecution and we too like these believers must press on and not be discouraged but instead be encouraged i love the statements of jesus and what we call the beatitudes this was the beginning of his message that we know as the sermon on the mount he starts with the word blessed and the word blessed can also be translated happy so he said blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake or to translate it differently happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven notice jesus says that they say all kinds of evil against you falsely just make sure you're being persecuted for righteousness sake let's be honest sometimes christians are persecuted for being jerks for being mean overly judgmental condemning harsh and that's not for righteousness sake now let that persecution come because you're a representative of jesus christ let it be because you're living a godly life in fact if people want to find something they don't like about you let it be because you live a godly life they have to attack you for that remember the story of daniel he had people that hated him he was very influential in his role advising the king and so they were looking for something to nail him on and the problem was there were no skeletons in daniel's closet in fact he prayed in his closet and opened the windows of his house and prayed and they said the only way we're going to nail this guy is if we find something regarding him and his god and of course they got the king to unwittingly sign a decree that no one could pray to any god but him and uh but you know that story he ended up in the lion's den he was delivered by the lord and so forth but he lived such a godly life that they had to make stuff up about him yes happy are those who are persecuted remember when paul and silas were arrested for preaching the gospel they were put into a roman dungeon and at midnight we pray acts 16 verse 25 paul and silas were praying and singing hymns to god and the other prisoners were listening listen to this when a believer can praise god during times of difficulty a lost world pays attention and what are we going to be singing in heaven revelation 15 3 gives the answer we have two hit songs in heaven we'll sing again and again they sing the song of moses the servant of god and the song of the lamb these are two songs the song of moses and the song of the lamb saying great and marvelous are your works lord god almighty just enjoy your ways o king of the saints the song of moses is basically declaring how the lord delivered israel from the pharaoh the song of moses as you may remember was sung at the red sea the song of the lamb is sung at the crystal sea the song of moses is a song of triumph over the pharaoh the song of the lamb is a song about triumph over antichrist the song of moses is about how god brought his people out of egypt the song of the lamb is about how god brought his people into heaven the song of moses is the first song in scripture the song of the lamb is the last these people have died for their faith but they're rejoicing in heaven you know sometimes people say when i get to heaven i have a lot of questions for god okay go for it i said jesse when you get to heaven and you're standing there and you see god in his glory and you see jesus at the right hand of the father and you see your loved ones that have died before you that you're reunited with and you're in this place of complete paradise that you're going to say praise you lord i think you'll just join the chorus of worshipers i don't think you're going to barrage god with a bunch of questions because i think when you see him in his glory everything's going to make sense to you and in the same way sometimes in life if we'll just get our eyes off of our problems and off of our circumstances and look at the lord everything can come into focus as we remind ourselves god is in control god has not forgotten about me even when hardship comes we can still rejoice you know the bible says in everything with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god the peace of god that passes all understanding will keep your heart and mind in christ jesus have you ever noticed ever it says in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving see we think thanksgiving comes after the prayer is answered after god hopefully says yes but no paul is saying offer thanksgiving before you have the answer thanksgiving for the fact that god is on the throne and he's paying attention look at job look at all the horrible things that happened to him it all started when god was bragging on job in heaven and the angels of the lord were there and lucifer a fallen angel was there as well god said have you considered my servant job a perfect and upright man one that fears god and shuns evil satan and i'll loosely paraphrase that don't give me a break job praises you because you bless him because you've given him so much cool stuff let me have some time with job and we'll see what he's really made of now when i look at what happened to job after that it makes me say lord if you're ever for a fleeting moment feeling a little proud of me please don't brag on me especially if lucifer is around poor job had never read the book of job he didn't know how the story ended he didn't know about some cosmic conversation between god and satan all he knew was one day things were going well and the next day everything fell apart but through all of this we read job worshipped the lord he worshiped the lord and that's what these believers are doing in heaven they're worshiping god and it's happening in heaven look at revelation 16 1. i heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of god on earth listen there's a temple in heaven heaven is a real place for real people and sometimes we forget that see there was a temple built in jerusalem but it was a copy of the genuine article in fact in hebrews 8 5 it says they serve in a place of worship that's only a copy a shadow of the real one in heaven i bring this up because we have these weird views of heaven that's been reinforced by hollywood and songs and even cartoons people laying around on clouds plucking harps little baby fat angels hovering around i don't know where those even came from and you think wow what a boring place heaven must be that is not biblical heaven that's imaginary heaven or a caricature if you will of heaven heaven is a real place for real people where we will do real things and the best stuff earth offers is a pale imitation of heaven it's a lesser version it's a shadow of things to come c.s lewis to quote him again made this statement and i love it all the things that ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of heaven tantalizing glimpses promises never quite fulfilled echoes that died away just as they caught your ear lewis concludes if i find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy the most probable explanation is that i was made for another world earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy but to arouse it to suggest the real thing end quote he just nailed it with that he's saying basically the best experiences of earth will be better in heaven what do you love about earth well maybe you love beautiful sunsets well you're going to see a lot of those in heaven i don't know sun sets but you're going to see god's glory on display maybe a fine meal with your friends oh you're going to have the finest meals you ever had because the bible promises the wedding feast and times that we will eat together with the great men and women of god oh well i like to be with my family well you will be reunited with your family who have believed in heaven you see the thing is is on earth things can fall apart families can have dysfunction and conflict and friends that you eat with can one day no longer be your friend sometimes even turn into your enemy and eating well that just produces weight gain it seems like all the food i like is fattening why could i not like kale more why could i not like these things that are healthier more oh eat some vegetables i don't want to eat vegetables i want to eat pizza i want to eat mexican food i want to eat italian food and pasta and meatballs and all that stuff well that's not good for you well in heaven whatever we're eating it's going to be awesome and i don't think we're going to get fat eating it and if we do and that is the new glorified body we'll all be fat together i don't think so but anyway the real thing is heaven this temple is in heaven and this is where the judgment is emanating from but now we come to revelation 16 verse 12. and we're looking at the final battles coming upon the planet the battles of armageddon i'm going to tell you where that word armageddon even came from by the way it's only mentioned one time in the bible so let's read revelation 16 verse 12. then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river euphrates and his water was dried up so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared i saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon now we know the dragon is satan and out of the mouth of the beast we know that's the antichrist and out of the mouth of the false prophet that's the religious leader guru type sidekick of the antichrist verse 14 they're the spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of god almighty now in the middle of all of this jesus gives us a personal word verse 15 behold i'm coming as a thief blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame and then verse 16 and he gathered them together in the place called in hebrew armageddon armageddon now actually armageddon is a place it's from the root word magetto and we get the word armageddon from it it's a location but we know this as a word that speaks of finality whenever someone invokes armageddon it means something big and epic and destructive uh signing the peace agreement with japan and bringing world war ii to a close general douglas mcarthur standing on the deck of the uss missouri in tokyo made this statement and i quote we've had our last chance if we do not now divide some greater inequitable system armageddon will be at our door end quote president ronald reagan the 40th president of the united states was astounded by the complexities of the middle east after he took office and on may 15 1981 uh president reagan scribbled in his diary these words sometimes i wonder if we're destined to witness armageddon end quote i wonder what general macarthur and president reagan would think of what's happening in the news today again armageddon is talking about the location of the final battles which will happen in the valley of megiddo i've stood at the valley of megiddo it's a massive plane many biblical battles were fought in that place such as gideon defeating the midianites and deborah and barack fighting their enemies but why is magetto the location of the final conflict well maybe we get a clue from one of the greatest military figures of all time you've probably heard of him his name was napoleon bonaparte and standing at megiddo in 1799 he made this statement and i quote all the armies of the world could maneuver their forces on this vast plane there is no place in the world more suited for war than this it is a natural battleground for the whole earth end quote so there you have it now there is demonic power behind this conflict verse 13 mentions unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon out of the mouth of the beast you know i was in a pet store the other day and they had a lot of lizards and and snakes and some amphibians some frogs they had a frog that was like this big it was like this big big and it's not an aggressive frog but it is so creepy looking you know so these are like spirits like frogs these demon spirits motivating them to go and fight this massive battle you know uh the devil is behind the war in our world today and now the church is going to be removed i mean think about how bad things will be when there's not the presence of christians speaking up for what is true this is how all hell is able to break loose so quickly look back historically at the atheistic communist governments and how many of their own people they have killed uh historians say at least a hundred million people have been murdered by atheistic communist regimes think about this if the atheistic joseph stalin believed that he would stand before a holy god do you think he would have done what he did do you think he would have been as cruel as he was as dostoevsky said quote if god is not everything is permitted end quote if there's no god if there's no afterlife if there's no final judgment why would a person not do whatever they wanted to do mal say tongue did it in china hitler did it with nazi germany stalin did it with russia and now the antichrist will do it on a level like no one has ever done it before so now we have two superpowers facing off in the battle of armageddon the forces of the antichrist that's ten nations confederated under him and another force identified as the kings of the east this is big this is bigger than godzilla versus king kong this is the biggest battle of all time and they come through the euphrates river we were first introduced to this last day superpower called the kings of the east in revelation 9 16 which says the number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million question what nation on earth could field an army of 200 million there's only one answer and that's china i'm not saying that china is certainly the kings of the east but they're the only nation that could field an army of 200 million people understand when john wrote this on the island of patmos 2 000 years ago there were not 200 million people on the face of the whole earth and yet he's speaking specifically about an army of 200 million the population of china is 1.98 billion and the population of america is around 318 million china announced in 1997 they could raise an army of 350 million soldiers so they could put 200 million on the battlefield and have 152 soldiers left to defend china we don't know we'll see well maybe we won't see i don't expect to be here if i'm seeing it i'm seeing it from heaven along with you but that brings us to the question i raised in the beginning where is the undisputed superpower the united states of america how could a nation of our stature and size not even be mentioned in the prophetic scheme okay so let me offer a few ideas number one and i don't like this idea but i have to put it out there the united states may not be mentioned because our country is decimated by a nuclear attack now we know there's just arsenals of nuclear weapons we know that there are rogue nations like iran and north korea who have threatened to use those nuclear weapons are somewhat around 1700 to 27 000 nuclear weapons no one really knows with certainty and if they do they're not really telling us but clearly there is enough firepower to blow our planet up multiple times is it possible one of these weapons was launched against the united states i hope not but if it was that would explain our absence from the last day's scenario another possibility this is far more likely america simply declines as a world power we know historically nations rise and fall every nation has a beginning middle and end the might of ancient babylon only lasted 86 years the powerful persian empire did better they went out for 208 years the glory of greece was eclipsed after 268 years mighty rome ruled for nine centuries and the united states well we're moving on in the years but we could be getting closer to the end than we may think isaiah 40 verse 15 says all the nations of the world are about to drop in the bucket so we might just decline as a world power it's possible we could be one of the nations uh united behind the antichrist i certainly hope not but i can't rule it out as a possibility here's a third option and i have to say this is my favorite choice america may not be mentioned in scripture because a great spiritual awakening happens a revival spreads across our country that's not to say a revival would eliminate us as a world power but if one were to sweep america we would have a godly influence in our time left right and if we were suddenly raptured if millions of americans were raptured and millions of americans suddenly were caught up to heaven certainly that would affect our country think about it people in the military uh people in the economy people in commerce just suddenly taken suddenly removed that would certainly cause a country to potentially collapse listen america has spiritual roots the only other nation in the world that we are like is the nation of israel that was established by god i believe god wanted america to exist imagine a world without the united states of america imagine what could have happened in world war ii when hitler with his military machine was marching across europe england and her sites other nations that they had already conquered like norway even france and it would have continued on who knows would have had would have happened to so many jewish people we already know six million of them were murdered by adolf hitler and the nazis but america stepped in um some would say we should have stepped in sooner but when the japanese attacked us at pearl harbor and we entered the war and declared war on the empire of japan and then germany declared war on us we went in with everything we had it changed the world what would the world have looked like of america had not stepped in at that critical moment in time god raised this nation up uh against all odds this nation came into being in 1776. what some people don't realize is our nation was built on the foundation of a spiritual revival a preacher from england named george whitefield came to our shores and proclaimed the gospel and thousands and thousands of colonists came to believe in jesus and it was in that soil of revival that the seeds of liberty were planted in the great american experiment began our first president george washington made this statement and i quote anyone who believes you can explain our victory and the american revolution without the hand of providence completely misunderstands what happened end quote that's right washington knew as he led our troops into battle against the mighty british empire that god was with us we had a flag that we would fly back in those days and it had the branches of a tree pointed up and the words on the flag were appeal to heaven because the soldiers uh in our military who were fighting the british knew they needed god's help the continental army yes our nation was born in revival and we need another revival you know we sing god bless america land that i love stand beside her and guide her to the night with a light from above we need that light from above we need god working in our nation again is there really any hope for america will our streets ever be safe again will we see good prevail over evil again is it going to end up that way what is going to happen it is my belief that america basically has two options before her revival or judgment revival or judgment so we need to choose revival you say i don't even know what you mean when you say revival it means to choose god it means that we say lord we need a spiritual awakening in our nation and we need it now and let that revival begin with me judgment is coming to the earth we know that that's what we see in the book of revelation it's not a matter of if it's only a question of when but my hope is before this judgment that we read about in the final book of the bible comes that we will have at least one maybe two maybe three spiritual awakenings we've had four great revivals in american history the last was called the jesus movement the jesus revolution it's been over 50 years since that awakening don't you think it's time for another one let's pray to that end let me close with the verse we already read it contains the words of jesus to you and me right now in the middle of all that scripture is saying about armageddon jesus says in revelation 16 15 behold i'm coming as a thief blessed is he that watches and keeps his garments lest he walk naked and see his shame so this is a word to us in the middle of all of this jesus is saying listen to this i'm coming as a thief blessed is he who watches what does it mean to watch it means to be awake this is a reference to the rapture in the rapture jesus comes as a thief in the night we don't know when the rapture is it could happen at any moment but in the second coming we know when that is it happens at the end of the tribulation period after the battles of armageddon and i'll get to this in the future so when he says i'm coming as a thief it means i'm coming to you unexpectedly if you're not ready so it really comes down to this he'll come like a thief to the unsuspecting he'll come like a friend to those who are watching and waiting if you're not ready he'll be like a thief a thief doesn't call you up and tell you when they're coming hey how's it going man my my name is joe thief and i'm coming to your house and this is a phone by the way i'm coming to your house at around 3 12 in the morning so be aware no thief is going to do that they're going to come when you're not ready they're going to kind of case your house and figure out the best time to hit and then come in well for those that are not ready jesus will come as a thief in the night but for those who are ready we'll welcome his return we'll look forward to his return then when we read we should keep our garments that simply means be ready to go at a moment's notice be ready you don't want to run out of the house in your pjs and your hello kitty slippers well i wear hello kitty slippers actually i don't but the idea is you want to be ready to go you have your clothes you ready you have your bags packed you've got your cell phone charged you're ready to dash out the door you've got your car keys or whatever it is you need let's say that somehow we knew that jesus was coming back at three o'clock in the morning tomorrow now i think all of us would have our sunday smiles and come quickly jesus attitude around 2 45 don't you but we don't know when he is going to come he could come tonight he could come tomorrow he could come in a week and a month and a decade we don't know but we know this we should live every day as though it were our last day because someday it will be either the day christ comes or the day when our time is up so we need to be awake have you ever noticed when someone wakes you up in the middle of the night you always deny it have you ever got a call late at night and i don't like those late night calls i think nine o'clock is a cutoff time don't call anyone after nine o'clock but you gotta call it you know 12 15. your heart jumps you think this can't be good no one calls it this time so you get that call or maybe it's like four in the morning you answer hello and they always ask you this did i wake you and we did not no no no no just say yeah you woke me up why are you calling me at this hour see this is the idea that we want to be awake we want to be alert listen i think these words of jesus are really relevant to all of us but i think they're especially relevant to older believers you see when you're a younger believer you're willing to take risks you're willing to leave your comfort zone you're willing to do bold and audacious things for jesus but when you get older you become more conservative you become more careful you become more cautious and i think the person that maybe really needs to listen to this word of jesus about waking up is the older believer in romans 13 the apostle paul says knowing the time it's time for us to awake out of our sleep for our salvation is nearer than when we first believe so let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light wake up and be ready coming back to my illustration about johann sebastian bach he woke up when the final chord had not yet been played god is playing the final chord we're listening to the last notes now is the time to believe in jesus christ don't put it off i mentioned this earlier let me come back to it and i close with this now every time you hear the gospel and say no your heart gets harder you say well what do you mean the gospel here's the gospel the gospel simply means good news here's the good news the good news is god loves you the good news is god has a plan for you the good news is you can spend all eternity in god's presence and find the meaning and purpose of life here on earth if you believe in jesus here's the bad news we're all sinners we've all fallen short of god's glory we've all broken his commandments so if we will churn from our sin and put our faith in christ we can be forgiven because jesus died on the cross for our sin because we could not save ourselves and as i've said the same jesus who died on the cross and rose from the dead is ready to come into your life and forgive you of all of your sins in a moment i'm going to pray a prayer i did this earlier in our service but i'm going to do it again because sometimes people tune in early and tune out and sometimes people tune in late so this is for you who are not sure if you're ready for the return of the lord this is for you who are not sure if christ is living inside of you this is for you who are empty and lonely and afraid this is for you who have had suicidal thoughts lately and you're even thinking of taking your own life this is for you that feel like you have a big hole inside of you this is for you who deal with a guilt that keeps you up at night this is for you who want a fresh start in life who want to begin again you can begin again if you're born again jesus said you must be born again which means born from above a spiritual rebirth a new beginning a fresh start and say how does that happen by simply asking christ to come into your life so i'm going to pray a prayer and i'm going to ask god if you need jesus in your life right now that you would pray this prayer as well so again if you want your sin forgiven if you want jesus come into your life if you want to be ready for the lord's return and you want to go to heaven one day just pray this prayer out loud after me let's pray pray these words lord jesus i know that i'm a sinner but i know that you are the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead now i invite you to come into my life i choose to follow you from this moment forward thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer in jesus name i pray amen did you just pray that prayer with me maybe you felt something very emotional very exciting sometimes people do maybe you felt nothing at all i can tell you when i asked christ to come into my life i didn't feel a single emotion and i concluded god must have said no to me i could not have been more wrong the bible says whoever will call upon the name of the lord will be saved if you just prayed that prayer in a minute god has heard your prayer and god has answered your prayer now this is a whole new life i'm talking about being a follower of jesus and god has given us a manual for living this life and it's called the bible i've been teaching from it in my message so i want to send you a special edition of the bible it looks like this one it's called the new believer's bible it's a very friendly easy to understand translation called the new living translation and it's filled with hundreds of notes that i wrote that will encourage you in this new commitment you've made to christ i'll send you a copy for free here it is you see that number on the screen you need to call it you see that little box there that you can click if you're watching this on a computer or a tablet or a phone you can click that with your finger or with your little cursor and uh don't curse out it just use your cursor and click it and we'll send you the same bible so i want you to respond right now if you would please we're going to have our worship group do a song and i have a closing word for you but while they're singing i want you to call that number i want you to click that box and i want you to let me know if you've accepted jesus christ if you prayed that prayer with me so i can send you the new believer's bible i'll be back with a special word for you in just a moment [Music] oh hit the ground oh god [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh i hear the changes i love those lyrics so god of revival poured out one of the greatest revivals of all time was a revival of the ancient city of nineveh and it started with one man and i might add a reluctant man his name was jonah god said to jonah go and preach to nineveh jonah said no way and he went in the opposite direction god said go jonah said no god said oh god will always have the last word jonah didn't want to go to nineveh he was the original chicken of the sea you see but he went and he gave a message that simply said 40 days and nineveh will be overthrown but there was hope in that message you have 40 days to get your act together and they did the king repented the people repented and god spared them listen revival starts with you it's easy to point my finger and say they need revival well if i point one finger three are pointing back at me right it starts with you what is revival let's demystify it revival is well it's restoration restoring to original condition let's say you see a super cool classic car cruising down the road you go man that's beautiful it looks like it just came off the showroom floor no that is a car that was meticulously restored by its owner it's getting back to the way it should be see we need to be restored we need to be revived brought back to life the first century church changed their world they weren't a perfect church but they were a powerful church and they trusted god and you need to do the same i need to do the same we need to do the same revival can be personal the nation needs an awakening the church needs in a a revival you need a revival so i want to close by praying for that revival in you and me then we're going to sing the chorus of that song one other time after we pray this together so you're saying lord empower me with your spirit fill me bring me back to life give me a zeal and excitement a passion and a vision to go make a difference god will hear this prayer let's pray together pray with me maybe just pray these words if you like lord jesus send revival to me fill me with your holy spirit give me a boldness like i've never had before

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 581,648

Rating: 4.826045 out of 5

Keywords: harvest, Harvest Christian Fellowship, Greg Laurie Sermons, bible study for me, bible study, youtube sermons, Greg Laurie, Greg Laurie Live, Revelation, America and Armageddon, End Times, armageddon and the end times, armageddon explained, battle of armageddon explained, armageddon war explained, who fights the battle of armageddon, armageddon scripture, armageddon sermon, where is america in bible prophecy, is america in bible prophecy, end times prophecy

Id: FDfxkg1-DgQ

Length: 53min 49sec (3229 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 26 2021