Better Together - Message by Pastor Greg Laurie

[Music] that i just can't get is [Music] [Music] is [Music] this is my testimony [Music] this is my testimony come together sons and daughters [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh my god [Music] this is my testimony [Music] [Applause] this is [Music] if i'm not dead you're not done greater things are still to come [Music] and greater things [Music] this is my testimony from death to light cause grace rewrote my story [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you unravel me with a melody you surround me with a song of deliverance [Music] i'm no longer [Music] i'm no longer slave to fear i am a child of god [Music] [Music] you have chosen me [Music] i've been born again into your family [Music] and your blood flows through my face [Music] i am a child of god [Applause] [Music] i am [Music] yes community looks a little different these days doesn't it hi morning april hi ashley but community is as important if not more important than ever before in a small group you are noticed you know sometimes you can slip in and out of church unnoticed but in a harvest group people will know your name and welcome your participation [Music] in our homes on our phones with our families and with each other you're cared for you're appreciated and you're both wanted and needed in a harvest group so i want to personally encourage you as your pastor to be involved in a harvest group it's studying the bible more deeply in a community with other believers hey i'm so confident you're gonna love the harvest groups you'll stick with it even after that first month but try it out i think you're really gonna like it [Music] this month greg laurie released his latest book revelation a book of promises why study revelation the word revelation means unveiling god's desire is to reveal not conceal and this book unveils pictures of the spirit world great cataclysmic events in store for the planet and the coming antichrist but as greg laurie explains the primary objective of this book isn't to reveal the antichrist it's revealed jesus christ and his soon coming revelation a book of promises is designed to help you see jesus as the centerpiece the star and the focus of revelation with this eminently practical guide you can experience the blessing promised to those who read hear and keep the words of this prophetic book after all bible prophecy is not given to inflate our brains but to enlarge our hearts request revelation by greg laurie when you give today hey southern california greg laurie here you know there's nothing like gathering together in person to worship the lord and hear the word of god and i want to personally invite you to live worship at our church campuses there's two you can choose from our service times are nine in the morning and eleven in the morning so join us as we meet both inside and outside every sunday morning there's so much noise all around us and just feel like there's so many voices who do i believe what's with these smiles no one can be that happy i've never believed in god i like to listen to something what happens when i die find the answers to all your tough questions this is your invitation to attend the harvest crusade angels stadium for all the information go to harvest.org forward socal [Music] i am not a religious person and i don't ever want to become a religious person [Music] this is not about religion here tonight this is about a relationship with god through jesus christ only one road leads to heaven and that's the road through jesus christ who died on the cross for your sin hey i'm greg laurie and you're watching harvest at home are you feeling isolated alone uncared for i have good news god cares for you and we care for you and i have a message for you that i think will encourage you and the title of it is better together but before i share that message with you here's some worship from the harvest worship man [Music] there is a mountain [Music] deep inside it's overflowing from the heart of god the flood of heaven is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] there is a current stirring deep inside it's overflowing from the heart of god of [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we river we come alive [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh god nothing can stop this joy we're dancing in the [Music] streets us [Music] wow we come alive in the river [Music] river [Music] bring them up [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] i in heaven hallowed be on me your kingdom come quickly you will be done on earth as it is [Music] as it is [Music] oh father [Music] your kingdom come quickly [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] let her [Music] is [Music] is is the power and yours is the glory forever amen and yours is the kingdom and yours [Music] forever [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's all yours [Music] is [Music] it's all yours [Music] hey thanks for joining us at harvest at home i'm greg laurie this is my son jonathan laurie and we have a big event coming up the so-called harvest yes we do it's october 3rd jonathan yeah that's just basically a couple weeks away and we're going to be at angel stadium do you remember the first time you went to one of these events well the first one was an 89 at pacific amphitheater at the orange county fairgrounds correct i think it was 90. was it 90 was the first one yeah i think so okay so i i was born at that time yes but i don't remember that one i definitely have a you know a highlight reel in my head of different things that i remember as a kid i remember um one of the bands audio adrenaline singing their hit songs big big house and they they were throwing uh football in the outfield angel stadium um i remember the guys in the super tones i'm really aging myself here uh running around up and down the stands doing all kinds of stuff i remember when the lead singer of skillet jumped off the stage and face planted on the ground there's there's maybe not a highlight for that moment highlight for me personally maybe no just kidding but just there's all kinds of stuff i remember and i'm so basically all you remember is music and never remember anything i ever said and i'm joking you know phil wickham who's going to be playing at the crusade this year actually first attended as a little boy and his uh parents john and lisa brought him and so he has early recollections as well where you can form your own memories and be a part of the crusade this year october 3rd angel stadium it's a one-night event normally it's three nights right but it's one night this year we kind of put it together sort of at the last minute we didn't even know if we would be able to hold an event like this this year but everything kind of worked out and so i hope that you'll either come and be a part of it in person or that you'll tune in because it will be at harvest.org right yeah it's going to be uh 7 p.m pacific standard time that's over here on the west coast and it'll be airing live on harvest.org and yeah it's going to be great we're looking forward to it so we're all about you know teaching the word of god which we'll do in the uh service today and we're also about preaching the gospel you have a pretty cool letter here about a man who had his life changed uh by the gospel i do yeah this is from a gentleman named luke he says dear pastor greg my name is luke and i've been a searcher for as long as i can remember sort of a misfit i grew up without god in the home my father was an alcoholic but i had a wonderful hard-working mother i've always felt different sort of disconnected and even unwanted even with my own family and the couple of friends that i did have i've read so many religious books and i tried a few paths but nothing seemed true interesting yes positive yes but call out to god with faith no this past year has been something completely different last october i was married for a second time i've had three procedures to remove a massive kidney stone which almost shut down my right kidney and i got tested for autism he continues after hours of tests my thoughts were confirmed i do have asd i'm so very lucky because of i have as much function as i do and things can be so much worse but somehow always searching i started listening to podcasts by pastor greg they spoke to me in a way that many others had not i audiobooked hope for hurting hearts and i recently watched lost boy that's a documentary that we made a few years back almost 10 years ago about really the story of your life and you recently watched lost boy i openly cried many times luke says during that movie i felt aligned with pastor greg's pain and sincerity in in many of the situations a tough childhood searching and uncertainty and the deep loneliness he spoke of at the end of lost boy i prayed teary-eyed with pastor greg on screen to accept jesus into my life and right away it felt right and it felt wonderful i pray that this will stay in my heart truly for the rest of my days to help push out my sin and welcome the love of god i jumped on the harvest website and requested the starter kit i signed up for the beginner class and donated as much as i could at the time thank you so much to all the hard-working folks at harvest your time effort caring mission is very inviting and heartwarming all the best always luke well luke thank you for that beautiful letter and you know it's sort of like he responded to so many of the hooks we have in the water you know jesus said follow me and i'll make you a fisher of men so this is why we do what we do to reach people like luke with the gospel people that are hopeless people that are searching and when you support us financially you enable us to do that and of course we're doing the socal harvest that we've already talked about we have harvest at home that you're watching right now uh we have other films we've done like steve mcqueen the salvation of an american icon and then hope for hurting hearts for her she also mentioned yeah hope for hernia hearts i missed that one that's another movie that we did and that's on audio and that's a book as well then we have another film called a rush of hope and we're working on a new one right now so it's it's so great and we love to be productive and find creative ways to reach people in unexpected ways with the gospel and here's a new product we have here at harvest it's called revelation a book of promises you can see this is a thick book and this is a commentary on the book of revelation that i'm teaching through in our radio broadcast right now that we call a new beginning check this out this is brand new and i want to send you this book for your gift of any size whatever you send to your our ministry will be used to reach more people like luke with the gospel and you can read this and understand revelation perhaps in a way you've never understood it before or if that doesn't work out it could be a nice little step to reach something a little higher it'll hold the door open perfect a lot of things you can do with it but best of all read it enjoy it and i hope that you'll be blessed by it so there's information on the screen jonathan tell people how they can support harvest ministries financially yeah well you said there's that link on the screen that you can visit right now and if you're watching on harvest.org uh there's a little banner you can click below as well but it's uh yeah basically you go to this website and it helps you get set up with either a one-time gift or you can click a little box that says recurring giving if you would like to give every month every week every two weeks whatever you like to do and it makes it really simple i this is the way i choose to give i never have my checkbook with me anymore i never have uh anything but my wallet on me or rather my phone anymore and so this is a really simple way to just streamline the process and yeah if you want to do the one-time gift or the recurring gift either way you're helping us further our mission here let me jump in on that reoccurring gift so be a harvest partner that's what we call people that stand with us every month they give to us on a regular basis would some of you prayerfully consider that maybe harvest at home is a part of your weekly schedule maybe you listen to our radio broadcast or our podcast or maybe you watch our tv program or some of the other things that we do help us continue to do what god has called us to do be a part of our team so prayerfully consider giving a regular gift and you can set that up electronically so thank you in advance for whatever you can do and we'll send you your copy of revelation a book of promises why don't you pray for this time of giving now jonathan yes let's do that lord we commit the rest of this service to you now we ask that you would uh minister to us for the time of worship and also through the message we're going to hear in a few moments and lord as we enter into this time of giving uh this time of generosity lord we want to give back to you you have given so much to us we're thankful for this church we're thankful for the church the global church that you established which you said jesus the gates of hell would not prevail against it will always be here it'll always be accomplishing your work and so we want to continue that work that you have called us to bless the time we pray in jesus name we ask it amen amen thank you lord for being so good to us god is so good we just worship you lord we thank you that no matter what is going on no matter what is going on in the world he remains faithful so we just acknowledge you oh god we thank you that you are perfect you are perfect you do all things well because you are perfect in all of your ways you are perfect in all of your ways you are perfect in all of your ways [Music] you are perfect in all of your ways you are perfect in all of your ways [Music] [Music] whispers [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] far and wide but i know we're all searching for answers [Music] good father [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] who you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you are perfectly [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] i can hardly speak and please so [Music] unexplainable i i can hardly think as you call me deeper [Music] [Applause] [Music] deeper still into love [Music] who i am [Music] [Music] who i am you're perfectly [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] good is to who you are it's who you are it's who you are [Music] it's who i am you're a good good father it's who you are [Music] it's who you are and [Music] is [Music] i love that song from my friend chris tomlin good good father he is a good good father and he loves you in fact he loves the world and that's what we want to talk about on october 3rd at angel stadium for our one night socal harvest it's around two weeks away we're going to be joined by musicians for king and country phil wickham and let me tell you this crusade is not going to be like any crusade you've ever attended or seen before we're going to the next level and beyond i sound like buzz lightyear to infinity and beyond but it's going to be super cool we're going to bring some new features into it it's going to be sort of an immersive event so no matter where you are you can be a part of the socal harvest of course you can attend at angel stadium on october 3rd in person or you can watch online we'll put it on every media platform possible starting with harvest.org so market on your calendar and think about people that you know that do not yet know christ and invite them to be a part of the socal harvest looking forward to it hey we're going to have a bible study now so i want you to grab your bibles and turn to acts chapter 2 this is a part of our new series in the book of acts but let's start with prayer father as we open your word we know it is alive we know it's powerful we know it does not return to you void it accomplishes the purposes you have for it i pray that as the seed of the word of god goes out to people literally all around our planet that people would find hope they would find purpose they would find perspective and most of all that they would find jesus if they don't know him we commit this time of bible study to you now in jesus name we pray amen okay so a genie appears to a woman and he says i will grant to you as many wishes as you want well she was very excited she said well genie let me say that my wish is that my husband's eyes should only be on me during all waking hours the genie said okay i can do that what else do you want she said i don't want him to be concerned with anyone except me what else she says i don't want him to sleep without me by his side okay wow this is growing anything else yes she says when he wakes up in the morning i want him to see my face first the genie said all right anything else you want to add yes he should not go anywhere without me all right are you done now one other thing if i get a single scratch on me genie i want him to go crazy with grief genie said all right is that it she said yes and poof the genie meter into a smartphone ah smartphones man have they ever changed our life you know instead of making us smarter i think smartphones have made us more stupid would you agree uh there was a article in ink magazine that had this headline we lost the gadgets one they pointed out that the average smartphone user unlocks their phones 150 times a day 85 of smartphone users check their phones while speaking to family and friends have you ever had someone do that you're telling them something important you're pouring your heart out to them and they're just you know scrolling or checking their text or whenever their phone chirps or vibrates they have to look at it it's sort of interrupting life in general and i think in many ways smartphones are making us relationally dumb take some of the social media platforms like facebook which of course also owns instagram on an average month 2.8 billion people are using facebook and there's a new story out right now you might have heard it that facebook did some internal research among the people that use their platform and ask them some questions and these answers came back but they never published it but i believe someone leaked it and here's what they found out 32 percent of girls who use instagram say it made them feel worse about their bodies if they were already having insecurities and also this research revealed that teenagers blame instagram for increases in their anxiety and depression uh 13 of british users and 6 of american users trace their suicidal feelings to instagram those are fascinating and alarming uh statistics i think we've never been more disconnected and connected at the same time i think you could say pretty accurately americans have never felt more alone a gallup poll taken 30 years ago described american culture with these words americans are the loneliest people in the world now that was 30 years ago and what would it be today with social media and throw covid on top of it with the lockdowns and other things that we're facing today there's an organization called cigna it's a global health service and they recently interviewed 20 000 people and came up with these conclusions number one half of americans report sometimes are always feeling alone number two only half of americans have meaningful in-person social interactions on a daily basis and thirdly generation z is the loneliest generation of all generations and is in the worst health of any generation so what is the solution to all of this i think number one it reveals that we need god and we need each other you see you were not meant to do life alone as it has been said no man is an island well we need interaction we were built for community god wired us that way in fact the first thing that god said is not good in the bible is the aloneness of man he said not good is the aloneness of man we need each other proverbs 27 verse 17 says as iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another ecclesiastes 4 9 reminds us two are better than one and if either of them falls down the other can help them up in a harvard's women's health watch i recently reported this and i quote dozens of studies have shown that people who have satisfying relationships with family friends and their community are happier and they have fewer health problems and they live longer so again we're built for a relationship with god and with other people and this is where the church comes in the church is not a building it's people it's god's people gathering together and the church is like an oasis of hope in a desert of hopelessness the church is a place where you will find interaction encouragement and it's a place where you will find yourself mentally and spiritually and even physically healthier than you have ever been before time magazine actually ran an interesting article uh titled the benefits of faith in the church and here are some of their observations they said number one heart surgery patients who draw comfort from their faith have significa a significantly higher survival rate than those who do not secondly the blood pressure of people who attend church is lower than those who don't thirdly people who have faith and attend church on a regular basis experience less depression than people who don't attend church and finally suicide is four times higher among non-church goers than church goers so going to church is not only good for you spiritually apparently it's good for you physically and even mentally remember jesus himself started the church of the church which means by the way called out once of the church jesus says this is my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it i bring this up because here in the book of acts we're looking now at the birth of the early church this is the original template for the church this is the church that jesus started this is the church that turned their world upside down and i've titled this message better together because together this church prayed together this church worshiped together this church studied the word of god and together this church shared the gospel and again together this church it changed the world listen every believer should be a part of the church why well it's a place to be spiritually fed it's in the church that we hear the word of god taught to us secondly it's a place to develop a consistent theology and to be accountable to other mature christians the church is a place to find your spiritual gifts and cultivate them and use them and so much more now it's not just being in a building it's being with god's people that's really what the church is now i know that we're living in the days of covet and i know that we all felt like it was over and then we have a new wave the delta variant and there'll probably be other variants that will come along and i know there are some people because they have pre-existing medical conditions that makes it difficult for them to go out and gather with people in public spaces like a congregation of believers and i understand that and tragically i even know some people who have died from covet as many of you do probably as well so we're very aware of this and this is one of the reasons why harvest at home is here for you this is just for the people who are watching and i know some of you use this as a supplemental ministry you have a church that you go to but you watch harvest at home as well i know others of you can't get out because of covet or because you're sick or there's some other reason and so this is your main source of spiritual input or teaching or one of your main sources i should say i know that many of you have become a part of our extended congregation and we're happy for that and we're glad to be here and we want you to be blessed by what we do but i want to add something that doesn't mean you should not be interacting now let me point a couple of things out if you're watching this at harvest.org there's a little place for you to chat and people come on right now if you look at it you'll see people are here from all over the country even the world talking to each other bringing prayer needs up so this is a place for you to engage also if you watch harvest at home on our youtube page uh there's ongoing communication between people but now we want to tell you about something else you may not be aware of we have harvest groups now we have these at our church and our uh primary congregation is in riverside we have a church in orange county and we have a church on the beautiful island of maui so if you ever visit in any of those places come and join us but we have small groups we call them harvest groups meeting among those churches but we also have online groups and we're developing more on your screen right now there's information on how you can join a harvest online group please do that because you need interaction and you need community you need people to talk with and pray with and help you as you deal with the challenges of life so here now is the early church and we want to see how they live their lives and how they impacted their world so let's look at acts 242 i'm going to read down to verse 47 and by the way i'm reading from the new king james version and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship the breaking of bread and in prayers then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done to the apostles now all who believe were together you might underline that they were together they had all things in common they sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need continuing daily you might underline that phrase continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart praising god and having favor with all the people and the lord added to the church daily those who are being saved now remember in our last message we pointed out that peter preached the gospel on the day of pentecost he was filled with the holy spirit after he was done preaching 3 000 people believed in the lord so here now is the introduction to the church that's going to be on this planet following up on these people and being the representative of christ on this planet there are some very important takeaway truths about this first century church that should be true of any church today and for that matter they should be true of us as individuals if you're taking notes here's point number one they were a learning church they were a learning church listen if you want to be a strong christian and if you want to be in a strong church it has to be a church that focuses on the word of god to those of us who are called to preach and teach the word of god second timothy 4 reminds us preach the word of god be persistent whether the time is favorable or not patiently correct rebuke and encourage your people with good teaching for a time is coming paul warns when people will no longer listen to right teaching they'll follow their own desires and look for teachers who will tell them whatever they want to hear the bible says one of the signs of the last days is people will have an itch for novelty oh boy is that true right now it seems like people get on these websites that have conspiracy type theories and sometimes they're sort of wrapped in bible prophecy so it makes them seem like they're something we should be aware of as christians and people will pass this information around and it seems like they have a greater interest in all of these theories than they do in the word of god look my job is to teach you the word of god i'm not a political pundit i am not an entertainer i am not a motivational speaker i'm called to be a preacher of the word of god and i'm thankful he's called me to do this and that's what a church should focus on focus on the word of god what did they concentrate on we read it was the apostles doctrine here at harvest we offer a theology without apology our mission statement is as follows knowing him and making him known it's right there on the screen knowing him and making him known we come to know god through the study of scripture through prayer through devotion walking with him and then we make him known through evangelism so this was a church that was learning the word of god you know i think we need strong preaching in the church today but i think we also need strong listening look at verse 42 they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine fellowship the breaking of bread and prayer it says phrase continued steadfastly speaks of a passion see they had a passion let me ask you what are you passionate about everybody is passionate about something some people are passionate about sports not me i could care less about sports i know i probably have to turn my man card in but i'm just telling you i never cared that much about sports but boy some people that is what really fires them up other people are passionate about movies have you seen this movie oh this is the greatest movie other people are passionate about music their favorite band their favorite artist other people are passionate about food other people it's politics oh get on the subject of politics and they light up okay listen here's my question are you passionate about jesus because your passion for jesus should be greater than your passion for anyone or anything else and when this verse says that they continued steadfastly it means they had a passion so there's anointed preaching and there's anointed listening on more than one occasion jesus said he that has ears to hear let him hear so i think when we watch harvest at home or we attend church we should come with an open bible in an open heart to hear what god's word has to say i always encourage christians to take notes some people do it by hand in a little notebook isn't that a novel idea writing something down other people put it into their cell phone notes i don't care how you do it but you don't retain as much information as you think you do and it's a good thing to write it down and crave the word of god so this was a learning church if you want to be a growing christian you need to be a learning christian you don't know as much as you think you probably know there's always more to learn always more to grow the apostle paul after years of walking with the lord said hey man it's we didn't say he-man he just said hey it's not as though i've already attained or i'm perfect but i'm pressing on for more and and i think that the growing christian knows there's always so much to learn and relearn because sometimes we forget things we know but they are not fresh in our memory so it's good to be reminded of these things again and again so they were a learning church number two they were a loving church they were a loving church verse 42 of acts 2 says they continued in fellowship see the more we get to know god in his word the more we will want to share it with others listen to this god really likes it when we talk about him to other people he likes it when we have what the bible calls fellowship together this is a unique word that is used here for fellowship it's the word koinonia it's not the easiest word to translate it can translate fellowship communion but but it's a word that speaks about a special kind of communication that happens among followers of jesus christ i'm amazed how i can travel around the world and meet someone i've never met before but they're a fellow christian and immediately there's a connection immediately there is so much we have in common because we have fellowship one with another and when we talk about the lord he pays careful attention there's a fascinating passage in malachi 3 16 it says those that feared the lord talked with each other listen and the lord listened and heard this phrase here in malachi for listen and heard can be translated prick the air to bend down so as not to miss a single word uh for instance when my grandchildren come up to me and say papa i might be talking to a bunch of people papa i'm gonna stop the conversation i'm having with you yes i'm directing my attention to them in the same way when we talk about jesus with each other the lord's sort of eavesdropping on our conversation oh what is it you're saying about me oh i love to hear that that's fellowship that's why we need each other fellowship is praying together and that early church prayed they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine the breaking of bread and prayers acts 2 tells us they prayed constantly they prayed about everything and we'll explore that more as we go through the book of acts together they served together at times they suffered together they were blessed together they aged together these are the fibers of fellowship listen to this when you're walking with god you'll be walking with god's people and when you're not walking with god you probably won't have much to do with god's people really your reaction to being around christians says a lot about you spiritually i found that when you're in tight fellowship with the lord you love together with other christians listen the stronger your vertical fellowship the stronger your horizontal fellowship will be so vertical fellowship your relationship with god that affects your horizontal fellowship also makes it cross doesn't it now some people say well i i don't know about the church i i don't really like the church i don't want to be a part of the church there are so many hypocrites in the church hey there's always room for one more now come on let's be honest these are excuses that we often use uh some people will say when i go to church i feel like people are judging me let me say something some of you may not like maybe you need to be judged a little you're going to do it meme and the bible says judge none lest you be judged everyone knows that verse very few people understand that verse when jesus said judge not let you be judged he was not saying we should not make evaluations or judgments if you will the better translation would be condemn not lest you be condemned if you went to a church and you were condemned or rejected i apologize that is not a representative of jesus christ a good representation of jesus christ but having said that if you went to a church and you were living outside of the will of god or you were engaged in some sinful activity and some christian had the courage and the love to confront you that's a good thing not a bad thing because the bible says faithful are the wounds of a friend but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful you see when you love someone you'll tell them the truth because the bible also says open rebuke is better than secret love a true friend will tell you the truth you know if you're wearing the worst outfit of all time and you ask your friend for their uh opinion and they tell you the truth don't wear that or he man he got a stew a stain in the middle of your shirt that's the true friend that's a good thing you see and a true christian friend will say you shouldn't be living that way you shouldn't be doing that thing you're doing you shouldn't be saying those things you're saying because i love you see we could use a little judgment of that kind and the bible says judgment begins at the house of god see the church is a place to be accountable maybe that's why we don't want to be in a church we don't want someone to hold us accountable but it's good to be held accountable this is one reason why people church hop oh i don't go to that church anymore i you know i don't like what people said to me now i go to this church but i'm leaving this church in in a week and i'm going to another church always changing never getting stabilized i heard about a guy he was stranded on a island in the middle of the ocean for months he was there and finally people were made aware of him being on that island and they came to rescue him and they saw that this man had built actually three buildings and so they said wow these are very impressive buildings tell us about them he says well the first building that's my home that's where i live oh what's this building right behind you oh that's my church well there's another building behind that what is the third building oh that's a church i used to go to see that's how some people are that they won't get stabilized in one place with one group of believers but it's so important to do that another thing i would point out about the first century church to change the world is they looked out for each other they looked out for each other look at verse 44 the believers met together in one place and they shared everything you see they pulled their resources now understand they were under persecution some people had lost our livelihood because of their faith so other believers helped out this was never forced on anybody it was voluntary it was not something they continued to do but they did it at this particular time but certainly there's a takeaway principle here of caring for each other you know if i know a fellow christian who's in need maybe they need food maybe they need clothing maybe they need employment or they need encouragement or they need something else if i have the ability to help them should i not help them see it's very easy to critique all the time i think some people think that they have the gift of criticism there is no such gift what you need is a willingness to pitch in and help and these believers took care of one another they cared for each other and ministered to each other and this is a mark of spiritual maturity where we grow and realize that church is not just a place to come and receive it's a place to come and serve sometimes people say i don't i don't get fed at that church i'm going to this church well it's very important that you're fed you're fed the word of god but can i be honest with you there has become a moment where you kind of grow up and you learn to feed yourself i mean the pastor's job is yes to preach the gospel and teach the word of god and it's a little bit like when my sons were young i would cut up their food in small bites and sometimes if they weren't eating it i would make airplane noises and and i would bribe them if you take three more monster bites i'll give you ice cream or something like that so i understand that's my job when a child is small but as a child mature should they not be able to cut up their own food should they not be able to cook their own food should they not be able to feed themselves that's not saying there will not always be a place for those who are called to teach and expose the word but it is to say we need to feed ourself and we need to realize church is not just about me having my needs met it's a place where i can go and meet other people's needs because i've discovered my spiritual gifts and now i'm using them to help others grow spiritually listen you've been blessed to be a blessing jesus put it this way whoever of you that desires to be first shall be slave of all for even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many so this church ministered to one another they served one another and it also tells us they met house to house look at verse 46. they meant house to house breaking bread they didn't have mega buildings like we have today we have very large building in riverside we have a good-sized building in orange county uh so actually on the island of maui we just meet like in a little shed that's on a golf course where they used to keep golf carts and that's where we have our morning services it's actually very cool but the church is the church when god's people gather when we gather together at angel stadium on october 3rd that is a church service if you will it doesn't matter that we're in a stadium we don't need a spire we don't need a steeple we don't need a cross to say it's a church we're god's people and when two or more gather together in his name he's there in the midst of them so the church is when god's people gather so this church met in the temple but they also meant house to hell so you might say this was the first century equivalent of small groups at harvest we've been really focusing on getting our folks into small groups which we're doing in person as i mentioned and we're doing online for all of you who watch as well but why is a small group important a small group is a way to make a big church a small church it's a way to get to know other people it's a way to go more in depth into the word of god we've even developed a curriculum for the series we're in in the book of acts we have summaries of what each chapter is teaching we have questions that can be asked and it's a great way to dig in deeper to what we're studying together but you know another great thing about a small group is it's a place to to give and receive support we have found that people who are in small groups need less counseling they have less problems because they have a place to deal with these things already they have a network they have a family they have friends there for them so this first century church they were a learning church they were a loving church here's point number three they were a worshipping church a worshipping church look at verse 47 praising god and having favor with all the people the lord added to the church daily those that were being saved now in the beginning of harvest at home we have a time of worship we put the lyrics on the screen i hope you sing along it really is meaningful when we do that together i hope when you're watching it that you find a quiet place and try to reduce uh distractions and engage as much as possible with your family and your friends but when we gather together in person something wonderful something supernatural happens when god's people worship together the bible says that god inhabits the praises of his people and listen when we're worshiping god we're doing what god created us to do you're wired to worship everyone worships something or someone you bow at some altar the real question is who do you worship democrats worship republicans worship independence worship christians worship even atheists worship but what do they worship well the christian worships the lord and we understand one of the greatest ways to do that is lifting our voice in song the christian church is a singing church and you find the worship of god expressed in song from genesis to revelation in fact when we get to heaven according to revelation 15 we're going to be worshipping the lord we read in revelation 15 they sang the song of moses the servant of god in the song of the lamb and they cried out great and marvelous are your deeds lord god almighty now let's be honest there are times we don't feel like worshipping hebrews 13 16 excuse me 15 says by him let us offer the sacrifice of praise to god continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name sometimes our praise will be a sacrifice sometimes we praise god even when we don't feel like it do you think job felt like praising god when he lost his family and he lost his livelihood and he lost his health but yet we read that job worshiped god and said naked came i into this world naked go eye out blessed be the name of the lord that's called a sacrifice of praise the bible says give thanks to the lord for he is good and his mercy endures forever it does not say give thanks to the lord when you feel good but listen to this did you know your worship is a witness look at verse 47 of acts 2 again praising god and having favor with all the people and the lord added to the church daily those that were being saved listen there's a direct connection between worship of god and our witness to the world consider this of all of your bible study and fellowship and worship does not make you want to share your faith something is wrong evangelism is the natural overflow of the spirit-filled life because when we worship god as christians it's a witness to a lost world example apollo and silas were whipped for preaching the gospel they were thrown into a roman dungeon and yet we read in the book of acts at midnight paul and silas began to sing praises to god and then we read and the other prisoners were listening a great earthquake came the walls collapsed paul and silas were released and they could have run but the jailer who would imprison them was ready to take his life because to lose your prisoners would have been a death penalty paul said don't hurt yourself we're still here and that roman jailer said what must i do to be saved see you're being watched by a lost world you're being watched by people that don't know the lord and they want to see what you do when adversity comes your way when hardship comes your way maybe when you're laid off that job maybe when you get sick maybe when you face some other kind of challenge how do you react to it and if you give glory to god and don't lose your faith through it that's a powerful witness to those people here's a question for you to think about if a non-believer were to watch your everyday life whether they want to know more about jesus or less let me ask that again if a non-believer were to watch your everyday life would they want to know more or less about jesus christ here's another advantage of worship especially with god's people when i worship god i put my problems in their proper perspective because sometimes my problems can seem so big and so overwhelming maybe i have big problems but a small god but when i realize how big my god is then i see how small my problems are in comparison jesus taught us what we call the lord's prayer to pray as follows our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven and then he tells us to pray give us this day our daily bread see before i get to my petition before i get to my need i'm instructed by jesus to say my father who art in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done in other words god you're so powerful you're so awesome you're so much bigger than any problem i'm facing any need that i have so it's a good way to sort of set the stage before you start to pray c.h spurgeon the great british preacher made this statement and i quote the sovereignty of god is the pillow upon which the child of god rests his head at night giving perfect peace and quote let me explain that the sovereignty of god is the biblical teaching that god is in control god is sovereign and so when i lay my head down on the pillow at night i lay it on the sovereignty of god lord you're in control whatever i'm facing you're bigger than my problem and that gives me peace but you see when i isolate myself from other christians and i'm alone my problems can be magnified and that's why david said magnify the lord with me and let us exalt his name together so when i worship i see god in his glory thus i see my problems in a different way asaph in the book of psalms was grappling with the age-old question why did the wicked prosper and then it dawned on him he got perspective while he was worshiping with god's people and he writes in psalms 73 16 when i tried to understand all of this it was oppressive to me listen until i entered the sanctuary of god then i understood their final destiny speaking of wicked people surely you place them on a slippery slope and you cast them down to ruin basically uh he's saying i don't get why bad people get away with bad things i don't understand why good people go through hardship uh what does this all mean because i worship god as i saw god in his glory and his sovereignty he says i got the proper perspective so they were a learning church they were a loving church they were a worshipping church and one final point they were an evangelistic church an evangelistic church which means they shared their faith look at verse 47 the lord added people daily to the church who were being saved listen the early church's evangelism was not sporadic or an occasional activity just as their worship was daily so was their witness and the result was a constant flow of new believers in the church you show me a church that does not have a constant flow of new believers and i'll show you a church that is stagnating sometimes churches grow through church transfer growth in other words people leave one church to join this church and they leave that church to join another church it's just people moving around that's not the kind of church growth i want to see the greatest church growth is people coming to christ i actually love it when i meet a brand new believer that doesn't know anything they're like a blank slate and i can just say well let me explain what the bible says about that and when you see them hear these things for the first time it's a joy to you here's why new believers are important in a church new believers energize older believers and older believers stabilize younger believers you see we need each other the younger believer needs someone who's older and mature in their faith who can mentor them disciple them and the older believer needs someone full of zeal and faith to remind them of how awesome it is to have this relationship with jesus christ so we all have a part to play we all have a role to fill i was in a small group last night my son jonathan has a small group that he leads and it was such an interesting collection of guys one guy runs a jujitsu studio and he uses his platform to tell people about jesus another guy uh is a realtor and he uses his platform to talk about his faith and another one of the guys is a barber and i told him a joke i'd heard of a barber who was going to church and the pastor said you should talk about your faith more and so this barber decided to do that and uh he had a guy sit down in his chair and he put the little apron around his neck and he got out that straight razor and held it up to the guy's neck and then he said to him are you ready to meet god and the guy got up and ran out apron and all so maybe don't do that but the idea is you use the opportunities that are in front of you listen as i've said before the hardest parts of evangelism are take off and landing by the way the most dangerous times of a plane flight are takeoff and landing too so the hardest part about evangelism is getting started and the next hardest part of evangelism is finishing what you started by asking the person if they want to accept christ so you start with a question and by the way we give you a great tool in the so-called harvest that's a nice little catalytic moment where you can see if you heard about this thing called the socal harvested angels stadium and they'll say no or yes or i saw a harvest crusade sticker speaking of the bumper sticker here's what our harvest crusade sticker looks like this year but i heard a story from a few years ago of of a man who had a neighbor and the man noticed that his neighbor had a harvest crusade sticker on his car so the man knocked on his neighbor's door and said what is that sticker about what is this thing and his friend told him that it was a harvest crusade and this man said i want to go and that man ended up going and getting saved and all of his family came to the lord so a little reminder is a good thing but anyway we have those opportunities to start the conversation so here's one hey have you heard about what's happening on october 3rd at angel stadium it's called the socal harvest what's that oh it's an event that is amazing music and then there's this bald guy who's kind of lame but he gets up and he gives a message about how to know god i would love you to go to that with me in person or i would love you to watch that with me in my home we'll have a meal before or i would love you to go to this link and watch it and then i want to talk to you about a great way to start the conversation but you know another way to start a conversation is just talking about your faith coming back to the christian barber uh we were asking him how he shares his faith oh you know when you're in a barber shop or in a beauty salon people just talk away don't they and so whether cutting your hair he'll just talk a little bit about his faith they'll say well you know the other day i was facing this problem and i prayed about it that's called chummy that's called putting the bait in the water some people don't respond to that some people change the subject some people will say well what do you mean god answered your prayer boom that's your open door so you're trying to find creative ways to get a conversation started that's take off if you will and then there's landing lending is when you say have you ever asked christ to come into your life and would you like to do that right now the other day i have a friend who invited me to go to coffee with someone that he knows and my friend is a strong christian and he says i have this buddy that i think is really ready to accept christ will you come and lead him to christ i said well only the lord can bring him to faith but i'll come so we met there for coffee and my friend just did a perfect job of sharing his testimony talking about how christ had changed his life i couldn't have written it better myself and then the man was asking questions i just listened a lot and i asked a few questions and listened some more and then i realized that my friends sort of like were playing volleyball he got the ball up there for me to spike all i had to do was just close the deal so i turned to this man and i said let me tell you what the gospel is explain the gospel the gospel tells us that we're sinners separated from god and you've sinned and i've sinned and we've all sinned but god loved us so much he sent his son jesus christ to die on the cross for our sin and to rise again from the dead three days later now jesus is ready to come into your life and then my friend said say that thing you always say before you pray with people i said what thing you know the thing you always say and i realized i guess there is a thing i always say i said oh okay if you want to fill that void in your life if you want your sin forgiven if you want to know that when you die you will go to heaven if you want to find the meaning and purpose of life then pray this prayer with me so i said it then i said to this man do you want to pray and ask jesus to come into your life he said i do i said pray this prayer after me and uh we prayed right there right in front of this coffee place i i we didn't get on our knees i wasn't standing behind a pulpit like this just sitting there with him having coffee he prayed the prayer he started to choke up toward the end of the prayer and i told him let me tell you after we're done praying i said let me tell you what god just did for you i said god just forgave you of all of your sins your sins are forgiven and your sins are forgotten because god has said as far as the east is from the west is as far as he has put your sin from you and he said wow that's a big thing it sure is isn't it so let me close this message in the same way there's someone watching me right now that is lonely you're feeling isolated maybe you've turned to drugs maybe you've turned alcohol you just feel like nobody cares about you i want to tell you that god loves you and god cares deeply about you and he wants a relationship with you and i want to tell you that there is a family waiting for you it's not a perfect family but it's god's forever family it's called the church and we're saving the seat for you to join us be a part of the family of god so let me say but i already said one more time if you want your sin forgiven if you want to fill that hole in your heart if you want your guilt taken away if you want to know that when you die you will go to heaven will you pray this prayer after me just like that man pray in that coffee place you can pray it after me right here right now if you want jesus to come into your life i want you to pray these words lord jesus come into my life i know that i am a sinner but i know that you are the savior who died on a cross and rose again from the dead i choose to follow you lord from this moment forward thank you for hearing this prayer in answering this prayer in jesus name i pray amen did you just pray that prayer did you feel something inside maybe an emotion maybe great joy maybe sorrow over your sin or maybe you felt nothing by the way when i prayed that prayer i felt nothing i thought oh it figures god said no don't waste your time on him no he that was the moment christ came into my life and you if you prayed that prayer in a minute this is the moment christ has come into your life and i have a gift for you it's called the new believer's bible looks just like this by the way i gave one of these new believer's bible to that man who prayed that prayer and i told him start reading it start in the beginning it explains what you do it tells you how to go from page to page and subject to subject and scripture to scripture i wrote this in a way that someone who knows nothing about christianity or faith in general and the bible can start learning it's really understandable it's in a very friendly translation called the new living translation i have a copy waiting for you it looks just like this now on your screen right now there's a phone number you can call that number give us your contact info and we'll send you your own new believer's bible if you're watching on a computer or a tablet or on a phone there's a little box you can click and if you click that box you can send us your information and we will rush you your copy of the new believer's bible so look i want you to contact us right now call this number on the screen tap that little box and let us know that you've asked jesus to come into your life here's a short song from our worship team and then i'm going to have a final word for you perfect to know [Music] you're perfect in all of your ways you are perfect in all of your ways you are perfect in all of your ways [Music] the perfect [Applause] [Music] too [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello [Music] thanks for taking the time to contact us let me say a final word i've already said it a couple of times but in case you joined us a little bit later let me reinforce it mark this date on your calendar october 3rd it's called the so-cal harvest you say what is that well for 31 years we've been meeting in stadiums here in california and around the nation and even the world proclaiming the gospel over the last 31 years we have seen over 500 000 people make a profession of faith to follow jesus christ and we give god the glory for that but last year because of covid we did not meet in the stadium but this year we're meeting one night october 3rd at angel stadium is not appropriate angel stadium because the bible says there's joy in heaven among the angels over one sinner that comes to repentance and our prayer is that thousands of people will come to put their faith in jesus at this event but guess how those people are going to get there they're going to get there because you told them about the event so there's three things we ask people to do as a crusade approaches number one we ask them to pray just pray for the crusade in general pray for god's blessing on it pray about people that you know that aren't christians pray for them by name then number two we ask you to invite extend a personal invitation say i am asking you to come to this event that brings us to point number three bring and this is maybe the most important thing you bring them the bible tells us that andrew brought his brother peter to jesus it's that simple you say come with me i'll pick you up i'll drive you there or you say join me in my front room we'll watch it on the big screen because there's a harvest app you can download for uh apple and the roku box you can watch it on your tv or you can watch it on your ipad or computer or whatever or you can send them a link you could be in california they could be in new york and you could say let's watch this live event at the same time we can text back and forth as we're watching it and afterwards let's talk on the phone so many ways you can use this event mark the date on your calendar october 3rd the socal harvest until next time god bless you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] i personally am so excited to be back with you guys i got to experience recently the miracle of watching my son enter into the world i got to welcome my little boy his name is riverkai jackson into the world it is it's magical to see this little boy in all his beauty i've never been a dad so we were rehearsing this next song we're gonna sing which is called reckless love and the first lyric says before i spoke a word you are singing over me and it's gonna be hard not to lose it as we've seen this because i've been doing that every day where i just sing over my son and it's so beautiful and i just want you to know that that god's been singing over you since before you could speak he's singing over you now in the same way i'm wildly passionate about my son god is wildly passionate about you he's saying that's my boy that's my girl he adores you and he was running after you so as we sing this song just know that you're surrounded in love and god adores you so let's sing this together before i spoke a word you were singing over me [Music] you have been so so good to me before i took a breath you breathed your life in me [Music] you have been so so kind to me all the overwhelming never ending reckless [Music] i don't deserve [Music] start [Music] for me [Music] for me [Music] never oh [Music] [Music] [Music] yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] me [Music] there's no shadow oh [Music]

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 7,075

Rating: 4.9411764 out of 5

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Id: h_5_bBrGuLg

Length: 99min 49sec (5989 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021