Beauty and the Beast with Pastor Greg Laurie

[Music] amen good morning let's pray together and lord that is our prayer this morning great are you lord and we know one day we'll be in heaven singing that chorus and many more reunited with loved ones who have preceded us in the presence of saints from over the centuries and we look forward to that day and now as we open your word and take a glimpse into heaven and also a look at what's going to happen in our world we ask you to give us wisdom and insight and we pray that what we're about to look at will affect us in the way that we live because the scripture says that he that has this hope that is of your return they purify themselves even as you are pure so lord we pray there will be a purifying effect on us spiritually as we look at the events of the end times as presented in the book of revelation speak to us now we pray in jesus name amen you can all be seated well good morning again yeah i wanted to remind you all talking to men now about our men's conference that's coming up we have an epic men's conference that you will not want to miss we have uh four speakers starting with levi lesko and he's going to speak on the topic of the importance of a father's influence you know patterns of sin can start in an individual and in a family and that can be passed on to the next generation and to the next one and to the next one the bible talks about the sins of the fathers being visited on the children uh there's the expression the apple doesn't fall far from the tree right well levi's going to point out we look to we need to look to another tree that is the cross and change that course in your family if it's going the wrong direction how to be a godly father michael franzis he's going to be speaking on how to eliminate enemies and rivals he's going to be talking to us about starting with wrapping fish and newspaper no these are jokes people get it how many of you understood the joke how many of you thought that's what michael was really speaking on it frightened you okay so michael michael used to be in the mob right uh he was part of the uh columbo crime family and he came to christ in prison and michael was on the quest to be a man's man that was a big thing to him and all the people he knew and he said as he began to read the bible he re he realized the greatest man's men of all time was jesus christ and so he wants to talk about he's going to be speaking on accountability why it's important to be accountable to god and to the right people and that will help you become a man's man then we have daryl strawberry he's going to talk to us about how to hit home runs no i would like to hear that talk but maybe in another way he will because daryl's specifically going to be speaking on overcoming temptation and i'm going to be speaking on things that just tick me off so it's going to be kind of a rant no not really i won't but uh so this conference as you may know as may 14 to 15 you can sign up online we're gonna have some fun stuff too we're gonna have some great food from in and out burger chick-fil-a miguel's and uh slices pizza there's gonna be a batting cage you have to throw in all this extra stuff to get guys to show up right like girls girls we're meeting together and praying and reading the bible women everywhere guys come to this great event i don't know about that i'm kind of busy mowing the lawn so girls girls i need your help i need you to sign up your husband sign up your dad sign up your son uh this is for young and old men men of all ages and so you can sign up after the service at the connect booth outside both here at harvest riverside and also harvest orange county so the title of my message today is beauty and the beast and i want you to turn now to revelation chapter 17 a special hello to harvest orange county and harvest kumalani beauty and the beast some of you are thinking what is this about like when greg met cathy uh is that because we all know who the beast is and that story right now that's not what it's about nor is this message about the disney film by the same name nor is it about christians versus hollywood or liberals versus conservatives now this is a story of good versus evil of god versus satan of antichrist versus jesus christ of babylon versus the new jerusalem it's a story of the real beauty and the beast let's start with the beast i think you know who he is i'm talking about the antichrist he is called the beast in the bible that's a description of his character not of his appearance i don't know this for certain but i suspect he'll be a very handsome man a very charismatic individual someone that will be able to build bridges bridges he'll probably have a slogan along the lines of i'm a uniter not a divider right because people are going to rally together under this man the beast the antichrist but underneath that attractive exterior is the most wicked man who ever lived if satan never had a son this is him the antichrist and as i've told you before the prefix anti does not just mean against it also means instead of and many will herald him as the messiah i told you before about a conversation i had with a jewish man in israel some years ago and of course we believe that jesus is the messiah and he did not believe that most jewish people don't believe that either and i said well tell me who do you think the messiah will be and his response to me was we believe when our messiah comes he will be a man he will come and bring peace to the world and rebuild our temple i said excuse me but you just described the antichrist so you could see how he could deceive some people and that's exactly what he's going to do so that's the beast now let's talk about the beauty that's you that's us that's the church the church that jesus bought with his own blood now when i say church i don't mean a brick and mortar building i mean god's people gathered together the bible calls us the bride of christ and sometimes guys may not like that i don't want to be a bride you're a bride deal with it guys we're all the bride of christ and there's a conflict between the beauty and the beast there's a conflict between god and satan and it goes all the way back to the garden of eden when adam and eve eat of the forbidden fruit god said to satan there's going to be a conflict between your seed and her seed and he will crush your head but you will bruise his heel in effect the lord will say a messiah is coming and so the war began and that war will continue on until it's finally resolved and that brings us now to revelation chapter 17. we're halfway into the tribulation period which lasts for seven years let me give you a flyover of the end times events again and there's a graphic on the screen so the next event on the prophetic calendar in my understanding is the rapture of the church of course that's a moment when the lord comes for us calls us up to heaven in a moment in the twinkling of an eye after the rapture of the church antichrist emerges and for the first half of the tribulation period he's a man of peace he's a man with economic solutions he's a man with a message and he's also a man with a number because no one can buy or sell unless they take this mark of the beast at the halfway point of the tribulation period after the temple has been rebuilt the antichrist erects an image of himself and commands people to worship it and that is called the abomination of desolation that jesus spoke about and then uh then that marks the second half of the tribulation period while you're looking at the graph i'm going to put an eye drop in don't look at me look at the graph don't look at me don't look at me look there look no don't stop you're looking all right fine ah much better i have contact lenses in and it was like i was looking through a dirty window there for a minute that has nothing to do with the end times okay here we go so halfway point of the tribulation period now the judgment of god is poured out for the last three and a half years it all culminates now i have to hit the other eye it just had to happen thank you thank you i really appreciate that okay it all culminates in the battle of armageddon but everything's so clear now it's awesome that leads us to the battle of armageddon and then christ comes back in the second coming then comes the millennial reign of christ the word millennium means one thousand jesus rules and reigns on earth for a thousand years that's when satan is chained up in the bottom bottomless pit satan is released for one final fling and he's judged by god and then heaven and earth become one so that's the big picture so here's something i've touched on but i want to go into just a little bit for a few moments i do not believe that the church will go to the great tribulation period i don't think we're going to be here for this and let me tell you what number one the church is not on earth because we are in heaven remember revelations open with the seven letters of jesus to the seven churches there's so much said about the church and revelation chapter two to three and then once we leave uh from chapter four where it says after these things we don't read of the church again until chapter 19. the word for church is ecclesia that word occurs 20 times in the book of revelation but that word does not appear again nor does the church until chapter 19 because we have been raptured number two the rapture happens before the tribulation the second coming at the end we could call this all the return of the lord in two stages if you will first there's the rapture where he comes for his church then there's his second coming where he returns with his church in the second coming every eye will see him and there's very distinct signs that will precede it as outlined by jesus in matthew 24 sometimes called the olivet discourse but the rapture that's when he comes like a thief in the night unexpectedly and that could happen at any moment the rapture is imminent which means it could happen at any moment now when i say imminent it doesn't necessarily mean soon it just means imminent and by that i mean it will happen according to god's timing the rapture may happen in 30 years 20 years 10 years two months one week tonight that's what i mean by imminent we have to be very careful to not set dates and i know there are times when it looks like this is it and one day it will be it but no one knows when that's going to be jesus said no man knows the day of the hour that's why we should always watch and be ready thirdly god will not judge christians with non-christians god will not judge christians with non-christians now in the great tribulation the second half god is judging the world we will not be here to face that judgment why first thessalonians 1 9 says you turn from idols to god to serve the living and true god and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even jesus listen who rescues us from the wrath to come now some might say well that's a reference to hell no i don't think so because contextually he's talking about the return of jesus we're waiting for his son from heaven to reinforce that paul says in first thessalonians 5 9 god has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation to the lord jesus christ it comes down to this everyone on earth has an appointment the christian's appointment if you will is to be caught up to be with christ the appointment of the world is for the day of the lord and for judgment you can't keep both of these appointments okay and that brings us to another passage revelation 3 where jesus speaks to the last days church of philadelphia and he says because you have kept my command to persevere i will keep you from the hour of trial that will come upon the whole earth someone might say well that's just a reference to trials in general no the hour of trial that will come upon the whole earth that's distinct and that is a description in my opinion of the tribulation period to test those that dwell on the earth and then to remind us he's talking about his return he says behold i am coming quickly so because we persevere christ is saying to us as believers he'll keep us from this hour of trial so let's come back now to what the scripture says let's pick up where we last left off with the beast in our story at this particular time a powerful religious deception is sweeping the earth described as babylon she is described as a prostitute writing a beast dressed in red so we'll call her the scarlet harlot and we all love a good mystery and she is described as mystery babylon revelation 17 so he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and i saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which is full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication on her forehead a name was written mystery babylon the great the mother of harlots in the abominations of the earth and i saw the woman for six drunk with the blood of saints and with the blood of the martyrs of jesus and when i saw her i marveled with great amazement and the angel said why do you marvel i will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her who has seven heads and ten horns i'll stop there so i have one word uh to describe what we just read uh what it sounds very mysterious very complex again this is mystery babylon but actually it's not as mysterious as you may think remember it is not god's desire to conceal but to reveal remember also the word revelation means the unveiling so god is unveiling our future in a nutshell babylon is a picture of man's kingdom without god we might say that babylon is sort of like a code word for something else for instance when we say madison avenue we're not referring to the literal place we're referring to the industry of promotion and advertisement madison avenue when we say hollywood we're not referring specifically to the city of hollywood we're referring to the entertainment industry when we say wall street we're not referring to wall street in particular we're referring to commerce and economics and uh and the stock market and things of that nature so when we talk about babylon we're basically referring to evil to illustrate when peter was writing to the believers in rome he addressed them as the church in babylon now they weren't in babylon technically they were in rome but he used that word because babylon or excuse me rome was a very wicked place at that time rome was the babylon of its day so babylon is a point of reference for evil contextually in light of what we're reading babylon here refers to the entire worldwide political economic and religious kingdom of antichrist but babylon can be personal as well the traits of babylon can be seen in a lifestyle of pride and sensuality and idolatry basically anything that takes the place of god in your life could be babylon and there are two cities that are mentioned more than any other in the bible they are babylon and norco california which surprised me the first time i is there anyone from nerco here raise your hand see you live in a famous city no it's not norco it's babylon because norco was the babylon of today no it isn't so there's other cities that would fit that description better but um so it's babylon and jerusalem the two most mentioned cities now going back historically babylon began on the plains of shinar that's where the world's first dictator emerges and the world's first religious center this dictator's name was nimrod and nimrod means a hunter of men's souls and defiance of the lord so don't name your sons nimrod you can name your dog nimrod if you like but uh definitely not your son he was a wicked man and nimrod i had the people erect a giant tower known as the tower of babel uh whose top would reach to the heavens and so secondly babylon was the beginning of human religion and astrology it wasn't really all that high but they thought it was pretty high in the day and it was the first time that man was effectively looking to the stars for direction and many centuries later when god pronounced judgment on babylon he said of them in isaiah 47 12 she labored with her sorceries and astrologies from her youth so this is a good reminder to us that a christian should not look to astrology for direction you should not be reading your astrology column and asking people what's your sign it doesn't matter right because actually scripture condemns this and it amazes me that so many people are influenced by uh reading their astrology column many newspapers and magazines carry them can you imagine if instead of an astrology column a magazine had scriptures to think about you know that would be so controversial but people read these columns in fact 70 million americans read them every day that's pretty much 23 of the population but this is something we should not look to and in fact if a person is a true seeker of truth god will bring them to himself remember those wise men we always reflect on during the christmas season they're called the magi well that's the root word of magician these were men who were into astronomy and astrology and were sort of advisors to the king these were men of great importance and so how did god reach them he sent them a star he sent them a star and where did the star lead them the star led them to jesus right so god will always bring us to himself if we really want truth and really this is the beginning of human religion sometimes people say well greg you're a very a very religious person aren't you and i say no i am not and i don't want to be a religious person religion effectively is man's attempt to reach god christianity is god's attempt to reach man religion in one word we're very clappy today i like that but just some some are clappy others are like i don't know anyway so religion can be summed up in one word do do this and you will reach nirvana do that and you may find inner peace do this other thing and you may get to heaven it's a lot of do's do do do religion can be a lot of doo-doo actually but christine yeah you heard me right christianity could be summed up in one word done done not do done god has done it for you already you know basically god has done the heavy lifting at the cross literally jesus bore his cross and he died on it and when he hung on that cross he cried out one single word to telesty which means it is finished it is completed it is done so i don't have to do a bunch of stuff to earn the approval of god god has done everything through christ to say to you i love you i accept you and i forgive you it's done [Applause] but man is a religious creature you know we sometimes we just make stuff up we pick and choose what we like about different faith traditions and we like the idea of forgiveness we just don't like the idea of repentance we like the idea of heaven but we don't like the idea of hell and so we sort of just make it up as we go so the erect this tower to heaven that is so small god practically has to get down on his hands and knees to see it it's kind of a funny little description there in genesis where they build this tower and the lord says i will come down now to see it and actually what it's saying it's so tiny it's so minuscule the lord's saying oh it's so cute look at the that's what it looks like to god it's so little so they're sort of making it up as they go and a lot of people do that today don't they gandhi once said quote i consider myself a hindu a christian a muslim a jew a buddhist and confusion end quote perhaps instead of confusion he should have said confusion when someone says all the religions of the world teach the same thing that is their way of saying i don't know much about all the religions of the world because if you really look at them honestly they do not teach the same thing and in effect they cancel each other out i read an interview with beatle paul mccartney where he talked about his views on god now i'm going to give you two options on this i'll do it in my regular voice or i'll do it in paul's voice what do you want okay here we go here we go here's what he said direct quote not you feel under pressure here we go i believe in this spirit it's the best i can put it i think there's something greater to than us and i i love it i'm grateful to it and just like everyone else on the planet i can't pin it down and i'm happy about that so i i pick bits of all the religions i like things the buddha said i like things the muslims said i like things that jesus said so just be cool you'll be all right it's rock and roll religion you know john lennon might have said have you lost your mind paul ringo what is it yeah peace and love peace and love right okay well look i i love the beatles music i love many of the songs that paul did with the beatles i like some of the things paul did as a solo artist but i think this is a good moment to just let it be because you can't just pick and choose what you want from different different religions and call it rock and roll religion that's confusion god has made it very clear how to know him and jesus put it best when he said i am the way the truth and the life and no man comes of the father but by me that's the way [Applause] back to babylon she looks good in the outside but she's dead on the inside look at verse 4 of revelation 17. she has in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication so a golden cup would speak of luxury she's living luxuriously this reminds me of a story that happened back in 2013 of a cruise ship that lost power and was adrift off the coast of mexico so everything was coming apart and there was uh the toilets were overflowing there was excrement in the hallways one person described it as a floating petri dish so it started out well you know we're going in a cruise the love boat and then it turned into the dung boat you know that's what up so you say greg why are you talking about that because it was luxurious at first and then it turned out to be a horrible thing and that's how this starts it looks so good on the outside so shiny so exciting so appealing so deadly so wicked that is who this scarlet harlot is and uh so this is how it's all going to play out and god is going to ultimately judge it sin looks good on the outside but it's deadly on the inside coming back to adam and eve when they're in the garden they were tempted what do we read the woman saw the fruit was pleasant to look at and desirable to make one wise so she ate of it and the bible says sin is pleasurable for a time but afterwards it brings death i don't know why it is that something you're not supposed to have is more appealing uh someone says don't do that you immediately want to do that or there's a warning warning what you're about to see oh now i want to see it right what is it in us that wants to see those things or experience those things as called a sinful nature that's what it is i don't know why but stolen food is always better now understand what i'm saying uh if i'm in a restaurant and with some friends and everybody's ordering i don't know what to order and i'll change my mind four times and what are you kidding what are you getting and then the meals come that one person got the big juicy hamburger somebody else maybe got the lasagna somebody else got the fresh fish and i got kale with dirt on it i don't know what you know and i and then i say can i have a bite could i have a bite of your fish can i have a little bite of that burger i want that and then when i eat their food it's more appealing than my food and by the way you know there's a big difference between the way men and women order have you noticed that women like to share don't they let's say oh do you want to share with me we'll share split it guys don't like to share we don't like to share in fact we don't like it when you take food off our plates am i right guys it's true so my wife will say can i have a bite of what you're eating i'll say sure and our little fork comes in and it takes forever she'll take a little bite then she dips it here dips there gets another color i'm just waiting because i can't come in with my fork because there's interference from her fork you see so she's finally done and she eats i'll give her all right so i eat my meal and i'm looking forward to that last bite that's the best one i saved it just as i'm about to eat it kathy will say can i have that last bite love your wife as christ loves the church yes please she'll take that we don't like it you say greg you're wrong my husband shares his food with me i didn't say he wouldn't share with you i said he doesn't like it am i right guys if i'm right raise your hand okay all right now how many of you guys you love to share your food with your wife raise your hand okay you need to come to the men's conference cause come on man i gotta get you in that batting cage or something that's right i admire you you're more christian than i am i was in a restaurant and this is for you in hawaii who are watching right now because these are two people from the church there their names were dave and steve so we're in a restaurant and uh so steve orders a sandwich and i don't remember what dave ordered so i'm sitting next to dave steve's across the table dave says to steve can i have a bite of your sandwich kind of an unusual request for a man to a man uh now someone asked me for a bite of my sandwich i'd say sure i'd cut off a little piece where i'd not taken a bite i would give it to him on a plate he says can i have a bite of your sandwich steve says sure he holds out his sandwich where he had taken a bite and dave takes a bite there i had to go into therapy after that so dave you're probably watching right now that was you buddy i don't know what's going on stolen food the forbidden seems more appealing and that's what's happening here this is all wickedness and god will ultimately judge this system now we come to revelation 18 after these things i saw another angel coming down from glory having great authority and the earth was illuminated with his glory and he cried mightily with a loud voice saying babylon the great is fallen. and has become a dwelling place of demons a prism for every foul spirit in a cage for every unclean and hated bird every heated bird you know there are some birds i hate one in particular seagulls seagulls i hate you if there's any seagulls watching i hate all of you you know i'm not commanded in the bible to love you and i don't okay because seagulls are thieves they rip stuff off they take things from you and they also target our cars and sometimes even us depending but it's interesting in the bible that birds are often a symbol of evil not always but sometimes for instance there's the parable of the sower remember the seed that went on the rocky ground or excuse me the roadside and and the birds came and ate it quickly and jesus said these are they they hear the word of god and satan comes immediately and snatches it away so satan is likened to a bird there jesus also told a parable saying the kingdom of god is basically like a bush that turned into a tree and all the birds were in it so we think well that's good it's the growth of the church no because bushes are not supposed to grow into trees so it's an abnormal growth and all the birds being in it basically is saying in the last days we're going to have believers and non-believers in churches together or the sheep and the goats and we don't necessarily know who is who but listen to this bigger is not always better in every church you're going to have true believers and you're going to have posers i think i know the poser knows who they are but sometimes a true believer does not know who the poser is for instance if you uh want to be a harley rider or a biker you need a bike right now you can be dressed head to toe in black leather jacket you have your wallet on a chain big black boots and then you write a little pink vespa [Music] not working not working at all you need a proper loud motorcycle to be a surfer you need to surf you can wear surf apparel have surf racks on your car just the right surf stickers on your back window you can use surf lingo like awesome and dude you know and all that but if you're really a surfer you need to surf and you can be in church and have a bible and have the lingo and talk the talk but in reality you might be a poser so this is a warning about people that are pretending to be something they aren't so make no mistake about it babylon is going down and it happens quickly listen satan sails a sinking ship sin cannot win and faith cannot fail and if you are a lover of babylon you're following a lost cause it would appear that a babylon is not only a mentality not only a religious system but it's an actual super city it would appear that babylon will be rebuilt one day some metropolis and revelation 18 9 says that she's destroyed in one hour and the kings of the earth are lamenting and weeping for her and i think for people some days their babylon just collapses i read an article in the paper this week about a man who was a wall street investor his company was worth 20 billion dollars and overnight it dropped in value to 863m and he was so despondent he jumped out of the window and took his own life i don't know 853 million it's a lot of money right i mean i know 20 billions a lot more but that happens your babylon may collapse your savings may not be worth as much as it was worth before fortunes come and go possessions gain and lose value long lives come to an end your babylon may fall and the only answer is put your faith in christ he will never let you down ever because there'll come a day when god's going to say the party's over and the judgment of god will come so we've talked about the beast what's the beauty doing while the beast and the scarlet harlot are wrecking havoc on earth well we're basically in heaven singing the hallelujah chorus look at revelation 19 after these things i heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying hallelujah salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the lord our god for true and righteous are his judgments because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fortification and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her so basically babylon is destroyed you remember the first uh star wars films there was that massive space station called the death star that terrorized the galaxy so luke skywalker and his x-wing fighter was able to drop a weapon a bomb inside of it and he blew up the death star which was gone in an instant and everybody was rejoicing that's what happens to babylon it's destroyed and we're singing praises to god hallelujahs to the lord you know there's one word that means the same thing in every language on the face of the earth and it's the word hallelujah it always means praise the lord you know i've written this book called billy graham the man i knew and in it i put a story that i an experience i had with billy and ruth graham and dennis egagenians in this story as well so we were in their home and ruth was very ill at this point and not long for this world and uh so they asked dennis to play a song so he pulled out his guitar and he did an instrumental version of the hallelujah chorus from handel's messiah and they were both listening and and i as i was watching them i saw how much they loved each other looking into each other's eyes it was really a sweet moment actually and uh after it was done billy turned to ruth and he said that's the song they played on our first date and so uh so when billy and ruth were both going to um college in chicago and they're at wheaton he asked her out on a date and he took her to see a performance of handel's messiah so we'll all be singing the hallelujah chorus together why are we celebrating if you're taking notes number one we celebrate because the power of god is finally vanquished evil the power of god has finally vanquished evil you know when christians speak of the end of the world we're speaking of the end of this unrighteous world system driven by satan and steered by wicked people so the end of that has finally come secondly we're rejoicing because the lord is reigning he's in control he's ruling and thirdly we're celebrating and rejoicing because the marriage supper of the lamb has come look in revelation 19 7 let us be glad and rejoice and give glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen clean and bright and that fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints and the angels said to me write this blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb and he said to me these are the true words of god i love that one of my favorite things to hear is dinner's ready right because if you follow me on instagram you know my wife's an amazing chef right she cooked me all these incredible things and i post them all the time and i love those words dinner's ready now in the south they'll say supper uh those hey you want to come to our home for supper and i love this uh verbage here in the new king james translation the wedding supper of the land think about this you're going to sit down and have a meal with the great men and women of the bible matthew 8 11 says i tell you jesus said many will come from the east and west take their places at the feast with abraham isaac and jacob in the kingdom of heaven imagine having a meal with abraham isaac and jacob and moses and elijah and elisha you can ask noah what it was like to live in the ark you could ask moses what it was like to part the red sea you can ask mary what it was like to carry the son of god in her womb and you can ask jesus anything you like that's what heaven is going to be take the greatest experiences on earth the greatest moments you've had multiply them a thousand times and that's just a glimpse of what is coming on the other side in heaven [Applause] so in conclusion we have two cities to choose from the city of god and the city of man the new jerusalem or babylon jesus christ or anti-christ it's your choice because this world we're living in now is not our permanent home it's our location at present but our ultimate home will be in the presence of the lord in heaven and then ultimately when heaven comes to earth first chronicles 29 15 says the uh our lives on earth are here for a moment where visitors and strangers in this land as our ancestors were before us our life our days on earth are like a shadow gone so soon without a trace it's so true life just comes and goes so quickly doesn't it and as you get older doesn't life seem to go faster right and so one day we'll be on the other side we'll be in the after life and you decide where you will spend eternity and it all comes down to this is your name written in the book not in this book this is the bible it's another book the book of life and that's talked about in the bible i kind of went over this verse quickly let me come back to it for a moment revelation 17 8 those who dwell on the earth will marvel whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world this phrase the book of life is used many times in scriptures there was one occasion when the disciples were getting really excited because they were casting demons out of people so to give them perspective jesus said in luke 10 guys don't rejoice that spirit submit to you rejoice that your names are written in heaven written in heaven [Applause] so look i i don't know what you're going through right now i don't know what hardship you're experiencing i don't know what trial you're facing i don't know what great things have happened to you something that's wonderful whatever it is no matter how great no matter how hard put it in perspective here's what you should ultimately rejoice in if you're a christian your name is written in the book of life that's it that's it let me close by asking is your name written in the book of life when does that happen i don't know is it written the day i believe in jesus possibly is it written before i believe in jesus because god knew i would put my faith in christ that's possible because the scripture does say that your name is written from the foundation of the world i don't know when it's written i just know it's written and i know once it's written it's not going to be blotted out or erased or removed okay so that's the good news but i want my name in that book i have my name in the book i should say i want your name in the book too and i think you do as well when you put your faith in christ your name will be entered into this book because one day god is going to return with his bride the beauty and the beast will be judged i mentioned earlier that we all have an appointment with god i get choked up thinking about it now i've done eye drops it's time for a sip of water i'm getting old people what else can i say so i mentioned this appointment with god there's a woman in the bible that's mentioned who had an appointment with jesus i don't think she knew about it she just went to the well like she did every other day in the heat of the afternoon to draw water and there's this mysterious visitor a man and not just a man but a jewish man in samaria of all places jews did not generally go to samaria and here's this man sitting there waiting for her who engages her in a conversation that man of course was jesus the woman we simply call her the woman at the well we don't know her name and she had that appointment with god and it changed her life and as a result she became a believer some of you have an appointment with god right now you say i don't know what you're talking about what i'm saying is this is your moment to get right with god i mentioned earlier i don't know when the end will come but i know one day the end will come for every person and we'll come to the end of this life and we'll enter into the afterlife if your name is written in the book of life you will be ready to go to heaven if it is not you will be separated from god for all eternity this is what the bible teaches it says the last thing god wants he wants everyone to believe that's why he sent his son jesus to come to this earth and die on the cross in our place and absorb god's judgment in our place so we would not have to face the consequences of our sin and jesus rose again from the dead and now he stands at the door of every life and he knocks and says if you hear his voice and open the door he will come in so my question for you is have you asked jesus to come into your life what are you putting your faith in right now are you putting it in things are you putting it in possessions are you putting it in relationships are you putting it in religion now religion won't save you in that final day only jesus will and you can ask him to come into your life and you can be forgiven of your sin and then walk out of here knowing your name is written in the book so in a moment we're going to pray and i'm going to extend an invitation for you to come to christ today so you can know your name is written in the book if you need to do this respond right now as we all pray let's all bow our heads and everyone pray please father we pray now for every person wherever they are if they don't know jesus if they don't have the confidence their name is written in the book let this be the moment they believe let this be the day they come to you let this be the time where everything changes for them i pray that your holy spirit will speak to people's hearts right here right now now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying if you want jesus christ to forgive you of your sin if you want to know that when you die you will go to heaven if you want your name written in the book of life if you want to be ready for the lord's return wherever you are i want you to lift your hand up and i'm going to pray for you lift your hand up and i'll pray for you today and you're saying i need jesus today wherever you are raise your hand up god bless you anybody else raise your hand up higher i can see it let me pray for you today you want jesus in your life you want to go to heaven you want this relationship with god let me pray for you raise your hand up god bless you wherever you are there at harvest orange county harvest kumalani raise your hand up let me pray for you right now god bless you god bless you god bless you now you that have raised your hand i want you to pray this prayer after me in fact i'd like you to pray it out loud this is a prayer where you're asking christ to come into your life again as i pray pray this after me out loud even pray these words 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 turn from my sin now and i choose to follow you lord from this moment forward in jesus name i pray amen god bless each one of you that prayed that prayer [Applause] amen amen what a great message from pastor greg this morning yeah

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Length: 50min 21sec (3021 seconds)

Published: Sun May 02 2021