Only Jesus

only Jesus question have you ever experienced one of those special moments where you felt the presence of God maybe it was in a personal time of Bible study of verse just jumped off the page and trying to grabbed you and shook you and that was like the word of the Lord to you you sensed his presence are with you or maybe it was in a worship service like we just were engaged in and as you were maybe lifting your hands or raising your voice to God and praise it's almost as though you and Jesus were alone in a room and you were just sensing the glory of God he could feel it in fact so much so then when you come to church you want to sit in that same place every Sunday and if someone is in your blessing spot you're throwing him out well we've all had those moments where we've sensed the presence of God can you imagine how Peter James and John felt when they had the privilege of seeing Jesus transfigured or Christ shine like the Sun itself with Moses on one side and Elijah on the other this was such an amazing event they never wanted to leave that place but they had to go back to the more mundane things in life for waiting for them at the foot of this mountain where Christ was transfigured was cold reality the disciples learned that you can't always live on mountaintops and when you do they prepare you for the valleys and when I say a mountaintop I'm using that as a metaphor for times of blessing times of emotional experiences mountaintops are great but we live in the valleys of life so now let's look at what happened on the day that Jesus was transfigured Matthew 17 starting in verse 1 now after six days Jesus took Peter James and John his brother he led them to a high mountain by themselves and he was transfigured before them his face shone like the Sun and his clothes became as white as the light and behold Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him and jesus answered seized me Peter answered and said to Jesus Lord it's good for us to be here if you wish let us build three Tabernacles one for you one for Moses and one for Elijah while he was yet speaking a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him then the disciples heard it and fell in their faces and were greatly afraid but Jesus came and touched them and said arise and do not be afraid and when they had lifted up their eyes they saw no one but Jesus only we'll stop there the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ was a significant point in our Lord's life in ministry it was a halfway point on a very difficult journey from this point Jesus could look backward to the cradle and forward to the cross you remember at that place called Caesarea Philippi a place known for the worship of false gods Christ asked this essential question who do men say that I am frankly none of the disciples seemed to really get who he was at that point and then Simon Peter under the inspiration of the father said I believe that you're the Christ the Son of the Living God Jesus affirmed that statement told Peter the father gave it to him and then Christ went on this saying he was going to die we read from that time Jesus began to show his disciples he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and priests and scribes and be killed and raised again on the third day old Simon Peter probably thinking he was on a roll thought that was a really bad idea and he began to rebuke Jesus as saying be that far from your Lord no way you can't do this and Jesus spoke to the spirit that inspired that statement and said get behind me Satan for you are an offense to me now Jesus feels the time is right to give his disciples a glimpse of his glory so they can see who he really is okay guys you say I'm the Son of the Living God I'm gonna reveal something to you I've never shown you before and this would fulfill the words of the Lord that he said to them earlier in Matthew 16:28 assuredly I say to you there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the Son of man coming in this kingdom so this transfiguration was going to be a preview of coming attractions and what was the coming attraction it was a second coming of Christ in his glory to Planet Earth sort of like when you go to the theatre and you'll watch the previews or the trailers as they're called and you know there have been many trailers I've seen that I thought I'll never go see that film but then there have been others I thought oh I want to see that film I mean that looks oh did you see that little Star Wars trailer they put together another long ago oh I want to see that that looks good but then there are other trailers that I have found have all the best parts of the movie in them in fact the trailers better than the movie well that's not going to be the case in this scenario though this preview is awesome what's gonna follow is even greater so now here is Jesus shining like the Sun and then to make it even more amazing we have Elijah and Moses on each side of him who had the privilege of seeing this it was Peter James and John now why were they singled out is it because they were more spiritual than the other disciples or they were sort of like the elite of the group of that could be there may be another possibility you know when I was in school I got into trouble a lot I was always mouthing off to teachers and disrupting the class and making jokes being obnoxious pretty much like I am still and but I got in trouble and so I remember times when the teacher would say Greg bring your desk right up next to mom which I did not want to do so you move your desk up and you're sitting right next to the teacher she said so I can keep my eye on you I wonder if Jesus took Peter James and John with him on special occasions just so he could keep his eye on them you know we take the disciples and we put them on pedestals but the Bible gives them to us warts and all don't forget that James and John had the nickname sons of thunder you don't get a nickname like that for nothing they're around today they're probably being an outlaw motorcycle gang I mean these guys were pretty rough around the edges on one occasion they went to a city and the people were not receptive to their message and James and John the sons of thunder said shall we call fire down on them as Elijah did Jesus is looking I'm like what is wrong with you guys he actually said you don't know what manner of spiritual of spiritual of in other words that's a little overkill okay that people weren't hospitable to us Lord how about we torch him now you know no no boys Thunder boys no no Peter well Peters foe pause were legendary Peter James and John there are three instances in scripture where they were called by the Lord to go be with him number one in the home of gyruss after gyruss his twelve-year-old daughter had died Jesus dispatched the mockers and non-believers out of the room and although remain with the parents the child our Lord and Peter James and John and then he said little girl arise and her little eyelashes began to flutter and the color returned to her face and she sat up Peter James and John saw that then he also called Peter James and John to go with them to the Garden of Gethsemane he asked of them that they would just stay with him he didn't ask for a sermon he didn't ask for an explanation he asked for some companionship and what I find amazing about that is the Lord thought enough of them to want to be with them at a time of difficulty in his own life Christ was struggling as he templated the horrors of the cross and dr. Luke tells us he sweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground stay with me he said ironically they fell asleep and then the third occasion is right before us now in the Mount of Transfiguration the point of all these stories is every one of them related in some way to death every one and it's worth noting that each of these apostles had a unique experience with death two of them were martyred and one was exiled to an island after an attempt on his life Simon Peter was the first disciple to be told how he would die Jesus said to Peter they're gonna stretch out your hands and take you where you don't want to go and many believe that was alluding to the fact that Peter would be crucified we don't know this historically but tradition tells us Peter was crucified and as the story goes he has to be crucified upside down because he was not worthy to die in the same way his Lord did so Peter was martyred we know that then there is James he was the first martyr of the church or excuse me the first of the Apostles that were martyred Stephen was the first martyr of the church but James was arrested by King Herod and quit to death that story's told in acts 12 finally there's John and he was not martyred though they tried in fact the Romans arrested him and the roman emperor Domitian commanded john be boiled to death in oil but the story says he continued to preach from the pot of oil and would not cook so they despatched the old geezer to an island never expecting to hear from him again talk about having the last word while banished to the island of Patmos Jesus Christ came to John and gave him what we call today the revelation the book of Revelation and there in the book of Revelation we read these words in Chapter 1 the Lord said to John don't be afraid I'm the first and the last the living one who died and look I'm alive forevermore I hold the keys of death and the grave so Jesus - John don't fear death I'll be with you whether it comes sooner or later you don't have to be afraid and now with trying circumstances that come our way in life we don't understand why they're happening but God is preparing us for what is I had listened everything you go through in life is preparation for something else so here we are now Peter James and John gathered together for this great event first - he was transfigured before them and his face shone like the Sun and his clothes became as white as life can you imagine that have you ever just looked up at the Sun I hope not for very long could damage your eyes but even with very dark sunglasses it's very hard to do it's so radiant that's how Jesus was at this moment who would not be dazzled by such a display of glory and then having Moses and Elijah on each side of them as added attractions nothing could touch this so we think that was a miracle Jesus shine like the Sun actually that was not the miracle that he shined the real miracle was what happened on the other days when he did not shine like this the Transfiguration was less a new miracle than the temporary sea scene of a habitual one does that make sense jesus said I am the light of the world he could do this at will and if I were Jesus I'd have done that all the time just to mess with people's minds just turn it on you know off but he he shredded it he never voided his deity but he did veil it as the old Christmas song says veiled in flesh the Godhead see hail incarnate deity Jesus was God walking among them so he just gave them a sneak peak just sort of like you know over there closed can't take any more that's who he really is you know when he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane he could have blown those people away just shined his light they would have all just melted like those Nazis and Raiders of the Lost Ark when they opened it up memory okay he could have done that but he didn't so this is an amazing thing and who is talking with them Moses and Elijah yeah I would like to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation and it's interesting it's these two in particular because we associate Moses with well the giving of the law God gave him the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai we associate Elijah with his miracles he was a prophet of prophets in the Old Testament refers to the law and the prophets so here really are the best reps if you will of the law and the prophets here's Moses representing the law here's Elijah representing the prophets and they're having this amazing conversation here's a little footnote though how did everyone know it was Moses and Elijah did they have props was Moses still carrying Commandments around you know then Elijah you know called fire down every now and then just so you knew it was him maybe they had nametags hi my name is Moses I don't think so I think it just shows that though this this is a sneak preview of things to come that when we get to heaven we will recognize one another sometimes wonder when we're in heaven well we know each other what do you think you'll be a bigger fool up there than you were down here you're gonna know more in heaven not less of course you'll recognize one another because the Bible teaches there will be a bodily resurrection our body our personality that which makes us us will live again you will see your loved ones again who have gone before you into glory but they'll be in a perfect state and you will still be you in heaven now some of you are saying well that's disappointing because I don't really like me okay let me restate it you will be a perfect you in heaven you'll be the radically upgraded version of you but it will be you job said in job 1926 after my body has decayed yet in my body I will see God after Jesus rose again from the dead and appeared to his disciples he said in Luke 24 it is I myself you will not be a different you you will be a perfected you because heaven is the earthly life of the believer glorified and perfected so here our Moses Elijah and Jesus amazing by the way Moses didn't make it into the Promised Land remember how he was kept out well he just made it in took a while but he's here I mean Moses has been dead at this point for 1400 years Elijah for about 900 they're having this conversation we actually know what they were talking about because Luke fills in a gap here in his version of the story and that's why we're doing this God came near series because it's a chronological look at the life of Christ so we fill in all the gaps looking at all four Gospels simultaneously Luke's version of the story says they spoke of his decease which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem they talked about his death by the way the word that is used here for decease is the root word Exodus Moses knew a little bit about the exodus of Israel out of Egypt now he was speaking with Jesus in the New Testament about a new kind of Exodus and Exodus that would take place through the death resurrection and ascension of Christ in Exodus where God's people would be free from bondage and Satan and sin and be let into the gates of heaven so even if the disciples did not understand why Jesus would suffer and die apparently Moses and Elijah did and they were probably thanking him for it Lord thank you on behalf of all humanity we want to thank you for what you're about to do so they're having this amazing conversation and what were the disciples doing while they were sleeping that's what we're told over in Luke 9:30 to Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep and when they were fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with them they fell asleep what a bad to fall asleep and they fell asleep in the garden of gethsemane - and these guys were pathetic but we've fallen asleep at inappropriate times heard about a robber this is a true story from the news who is robbing a house and a cop car went by and so he took cover on the floor he had the stuff he was gonna run out with then he fell asleep so the next morning the homeowners coming down the stairs and sees this robber with his stuff in his hand sleeping so the guy calls the police and police show up and they arrest the guy who wakes up and the officer said to him sir this is your wake-up call true story was taken off to jail but we fall asleep sometimes we fall asleep in church and by the way I know when you're falling asleep I know I don't know if you know this but you know you can see me here I can see you too I see you I see you when you yawn you don't even come here my just yawn and I think wow is it that boring that's like a dagger in my heart you got oh I see you when you're falling asleep and I know you're not praying I'm not buying it because I've done it myself sitting in church I'm just gonna close my eyes and I'll just sort of look like I'm in prayer like this and but here's that telltale sign you're like and then you know so they fell asleep and then you know when you are asleep and you are woken up suddenly sometimes you'll say strange things because you're still sort of in dreamland and I don't know why when people call us at 3:00 in the morning it's never a good thing to be called at 3:00 in the morning is it you know what he wants to hear their phone ring at that hour and the phone rings and a person asks did I wake you and we always deny it like it's wrong that we're sleeping at 3:00 in the morning oh no no so here's Peter he's asleep suddenly he wakes up and he sees this amazing sign so we read that Peter said it's good we are here I don't know why he said that Mark's Gospel tells us he said it because he was afraid and didn't know what to say just a thought when you don't know what to say don't say anything there's an old proverb that says better to be silent and be thought of fool than to open your mouth and dispel all doubt so Peter says it's good we are here have you ever said something you wish he had not said the moment the words left your lips she thought I wish I hadn't said that have you ever sent an email you wished you had not sent maybe someone said something to you and you're writing back and you're running and hitting the keys you know and then when you send it's a sin yeah and then the eternal wears off and they're like what have they done now you're googling how do I get my email back Google responds you don't comma idiot oh it's out there talking to a couple of cops the other day and I said what does the most commonly used excuse when people are pulled over for speeding they said all the one we hear more than any others they knows somebody all I know so-and-so he's a good friend of mine usually another police officer and one officer said one person in particular who was pulled over was throwing this guy's name down I'm good friends of that guy and the guy the person was referring to was the guy he would pull them over and he did not know them and they did not know him another officer told me he pulled over someone was a lady for speeding she said officer I thought you didn't give speeding tickets to pretty girls he said I don't any row to the ticket pretty good we've all said things we regret imagine how Peter felt but let's understand what Peters actually saying it's good we are here let's build three Tabernacles one for Jesus one for Moses excuse me M one for Elijah here's what Peter saying the operative word is here Lord let's stay here this is where you belong in glory shining like the Sun this is where you belong with Moses and Elijah on the mountaintop Jesus forget this idea of going to Jerusalem and suffering and dying this is a really bad idea let's stay here forever but God never lets us stay in mountain tops because mountain tops are just preparing us for valleys as one commentator put it God never allows his people to build their Tabernacles in the place of glory when the world is still in flames end quote see sometimes as Christians we would like to just remain in a Christian bubble and have no contact with the outside world but Jesus sends us out into the world he says go into all the world and preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations our objective as Christians is not to isolate it's to infiltrate and it's to permeate our culture with the message of Jesus Christ and with good works and bringing glory to God but weakness we don't necessarily want to leave those mountaintops but here's what we need to know it's not necessarily more mountaintop experiences we need in the Christian life it's more day-to-day obedience we need walking by faith and by feeling Oswald Chambers is the author of the well-known devotional my utmost for his highest how many of you have read that it's really very good probably the most widely read devotional ever written and he made this statement and I quote from it we are not built for the mountains and the Dawn's and aesthetic infinities those are for moments of inspiration that's all we're built for the valley for the ordinary stuff we are in and that is where we have to prove our mettle end quote yeah so here is this glorious moment Peters blurted out this crazy statement and now the ultimate rebuke ever given as stated when God the Father steps into the story verse 5 while Peter was still speaking a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him tell Moses of the Father was st. Peter listen if my son says he must go to Jerusalem to suffer and die you believe him if my son says you should take up your cross and follow him you should do that do what he says and by the way Peter James and John remembered this day to the very end of their lives Peter wrote about it in 2nd Peter 1:16 he said we were eyewitnesses of his majesty for he receive honor and glory from God the Father and when the boys came to him from the majestic glory saying this is my beloved son whom I loved and with whom I am well pleased we ourselves heard his voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain but now Moses and Elijah disappear from the picture and it's just Jesus why because Jesus came to fulfill all that the law and the prophets pointed to you see the law as wonderful as it was effectively showed us that we were sinners in need of a savior the law opened our eyes to truth but it also shut our mouths with self-righteous claims the law drives us into the arms of the Lord and then those Old Testament sacrifices they were just pointing to the ultimate fulfillment in Christ himself who would be the Lamb of God that would take away the sin of the world sin Tom Moses and Elijah there got their gun and there's just Jesus because when it's all said and done he's the one that resolves everything only Jesus that's why I called this message that Jesus only or only Jesus rather because now he stands alone it's not Jesus and sacraments it's not Jesus and good works it's Jesus and nothing or no one else he is the one who can save and keep you that's not only true of salvation but it's true of life in general when you go through difficulties in life here's the answer it's Jesus only well sure friends will help as well family but frankly sometimes friends will deeply disappoint and family will let you down but Jesus will never disappoint it says in Proverbs 18:24 there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother only Jesus can meet the deepest needs of your life only Jesus can heal your broken heart only Jesus can give you the strength to go on now we shift gears and bring the story to a close they descend from the mountain of glory into the real world look at verse 14 of Matthew 17 when they came down to the multitude a man came to him kneeling down to him and saying lord have mercy on my son he's in epileptic and suffered severely and falls often into the fire and into the water so I brought him into your disciples they could not hear him and he answered and said o faithless and perverse generation how long shall I be with you how long shall I bear with you bring him to me and when Jesus saw the man he rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the child was cured from that very hour listen we're all gonna have mountaintop experiences in life but then at the bottom of the mountain there's gonna be a valley or a test here's the bad news mountaintops don't last forever here's the good news valleys don't last forever either I mean maybe you're on a mountaintop right now by that I mean man everything's going great for you your health is good the family is blessed everything's going your way in life ain't enjoy it thank God for it don't feel guilty you're in a mountaintop trust me Valley's coming now maybe you're in a valley it's a valley so deep and so dark you wonder if you're ever going to get out of it well yes you are valleys don't last forever that's why the psalmist said David in particular yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil he didn't say yea though I collapse and give up in the valley of the shadow of death or yea though I lay down and die in the valley of the shadow of death yea though I walk keep walking keep moving put one foot in front of the other and get through this you're gonna come through in these disciples now we're gonna face a valley for waiting at for them at the base of this mountain was a man with a child that was demon-possessed so here they've seen the glory of God they've heard the voice of the father himself they've seen Jesus transfigured and now they must come to see the devil's work and that's so true of us as well after Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan the devil comes immediately and tests him in the wilderness for our Lord after the Dove coming upon him came the devil for Elijah and his great victory up and Mount Carmel that was followed quickly by the death threats of Jezebel often the blessing comes after the trial you might say well Greg I don't I don't go through trials and I don't go through valleys and I can't remember the last time I was even tempted oh then you must be dead or worthless it was purging they said you don't kick a dead horse if you're not a threat to the kingdom of darkness the devil won't waste his time on you but if you are a threat he will do everything he can to try and stop you so don't feel bad if you go through trials don't feel bad if you go through times of testing don't feel bad if you're even tempted it could be an indication you're going in the right direction the Devil attacks those that are a threat to his domain and here's what we need to be careful because sometimes what we think were the strongest we could be the most vulnerable the Bible says let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall I heard an interview in a Christian radio station with that man who had fallen into a adultery and he was telling this story and he said to the host you know I used to tell my friends if there's one sin I would never fall into it would be adultery I would say you guys there could be some things that get fall - never adultery of course he fell into adultery because the Bible says that we should keep our guard up and this man then made a statement that I remembered he said an unguarded strength as a double weakness does that make sense an unguarded strength is a double weakness see if I'm going to your life and I say well I'm weaker I'm vulnerable here so I gotta be careful here all this area I have this wired I'd never fall here never and the devil says oh is that so oh you're thought so ok let's test that and then I find out because I was not careful in that area and I end up falling so you have to keep your guard up but these attacks will come in life and this father who brings his son is a representative of all those Christian parents out there that want to see their kids set free from the power of the devil the kids may be held by Satan through immorality or drugs or alcohol or peer pressure the parent has tried everything and nothing has apparently worked that's what happened with this guy he took his boy to the disciples they couldn't do anything forms and now he brings them to Jesus so here's my question for you with your kids have you brought them to Jesus you might say well how do I bring them to Jesus well you can start by bringing them to church not dropping them at church not sending them to church not saying husband's to your wife and your kids have a good time at church I'm gonna stay home and watch the game and I'll meet you for lunch after no no dad you go studies have been done and they have revealed that when a mother takes her children to church a certain percentage of them will continue to go to church later but it's fairly small percentage if a father only takes his children to church believe it or not a higher percentage of them will continue to go to church which shows the impact of the father sorry mom's but if the father and mother both take their kids to church a much higher possibility of those kids remaining in their faith and going to church Billy Graham had a brother so has one but his brothers in heaven his name was Melvin Graham great guy got to know him he was a friend and he had a son also named Melvin and when we would go to the Billy Graham Crusades years ago I would hang out with Mel and Mel and we had so much fun because Mel's senior had more stories he was a farmer very successful had a lot of charisma and a very different from his brother in in many ways he was just real down-to-earth kind of guy and he said to me once Greg when I was a young boy my parents used to let me get a ride I want to tell it right he says when I was young boy I had a drug problem and I said no you had a drug problem I would have never thought you of all people had a drug from yeah my parents drove me to church on Sunday and they drugged me to church on Wednesday and they drugged me too just the way he said it good ol Mel so that's my point you see kids were going to church they say mom I don't want to go interesting get in the car they're coming it's a good thing this poor daddy's in Paris okay so he gets his point at Jesus and now the boy starts having one of his episodes that was actually done by a demon Luke 942 says the boy came forward the demon knocked him to the ground and threw him into a violent convulsion the father's thinking son not now don't do this in front of Jesus oh jesus knew what was going on he knew this was the devil just being the devil here's something to remember whenever a person takes a step toward God the devil is gonna try and stop him these things we're doing this year the Angel Stadium and later at AT&T Stadium you can be sure Satan doesn't want these things to happen you can be sure he will oppose these things that's why we need to really be praying at a time like this and your attempts to reach your neighbor or your friend or your family member and bring them to church it's the same thing Satan is gonna try to oppose it that's all we need to put our spiritual armor on when we're in gates and sharing our faith now the disciples could do nothing for this man but Jesus could here they'd been on the mountaintop they'd seen Jesus transfigured they had nothing to offer him because the real lessons of life are learned and the valleys of experience this is shown by our attitude sometimes when we leave church I think the holiest moment of the church service is when God's people go out the doors preferably not early when we go out into the world an impact you know and sometimes we wonder how much did we really learn you know you you walk out all praise the Lord wasn't that glorious wasn't that great fantastic Andy get in your car and all the Lord so good and someone pulls in front of you and you're laying on there god bless you then one what you get in your car here start complaining Oh sermon was too long music was too loud it was too cold in there I didn't like that did you see the outfit that one person that's ridicu you know or you're gossiping about someone you know I think so and you know someone's listening to your conversation I saw a plaque hanging on a wall of a Christian home once it said Christ is the head of this house the unseen guests at every meal the silent listener to every conversation Jesus is listening in on your dialogue and I'll tell you who else is probably listening your kids that you drug to church think about that it's not doing us a lot of good if we just get in some holy high and then we go out there and it doesn't impact us and the way that we live listen it's not a high you can jump it's how straight you walk when he hit the ground again and we need Christians that live consistent lives following Jesus Christ here's a good news one day we're gonna stay on that mountaintop so to speak there'll be no more temptation no more sin waiting for us no more physical limitations as I said this was a sneak preview of things to come one day Jesus is going to come for us all and looking at this world and all that's happening right now that maybe sooner rather than later so we want to be ready to meet the Lord let me ask you this in closing I talked a little bit about death but what if this were your last day on this earth would you be ready to meet God you say well how can I be ready you have to admit you're a sinner and you need to ask God to forgive you of your sins that's why Christ died on the cross because there was no other way to satisfy the righteous demands of God I mentioned how Moses and Elijah left the scene because when it's all said and done the only one that's gonna get you into heaven is Jesus you think your good works are gonna get you into heaven even if that were true you would never do enough good works to overpower your bad sins but that's not the way that it works God doesn't let us in on the basis of good works heaven is not a place for good people it's a place for forgiving people and if God forgives you you are you of your sin you can know that you will go to heaven when you die it's not based on what you do it's based on what he's done have you asked Jesus to forgive you is he living inside of you if not I'd like to close on prayer and give you an opportunity to get right with God let's all bow our heads right now and father I think you for your word to us and we thank you that there is hope beyond the grave there is a heaven but yes there's also a hell and Lord we don't want to see anybody go to that place called hell and lord I pray you help them to see their need for Jesus find that devil's power that would distract a person right now from responding to this well their heads are still bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying how many of you would say Gregg I want to go to heaven when I die I want to know for certain my sin is forgiven I want Jesus Christ to come and live inside of my heart pray for me if that's your desire if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life if you want to go to heaven when you die would you raise your hand up wherever you are and I'd like to pray for you raise your Canada / I can see it please god bless you lift it up however I can see it thank you god bless God bless even if I can't see your hand the Lord sees wherever you are wherever you're watching this just raise your hand a little step of faith yes I want Jesus Christ I want to be forgiven maybe you've fallen away from the Lord and you want to come back to him again raise your hand up let me pray for you today wherever you are god bless you god bless you god bless all of you and now I'm going to ask that every one of you that is raise your hand if you would please I want you to stand to your feet and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer of committing your life to Jesus just stand up if you raise your hands stand to your feet right now even if you did not raise your hand but you want Jesus Christ to come into your life stand up we're gonna pray together wherever you are you're in the ground level up in the balcony outside in the overflow stand to your feet you're watching on the screen stand to your feet doesn't matter we're gonna pray together because God will hear your prayer one final moment if you want to make this commitment others are standing by the way so you won't be the only one anybody I'll stand now bless you one final moment you want Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin stand up and we'll pray together god bless you all right god bless you all right I'm gonna pray a prayer and I want you to pray this out loud right where you stand after me again as I pray pray this out loud right where you are okay pray this after me now Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you're a savior who died in the cross for my sin I turn now from my sin and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as Savior and Lord as God and friend in Jesus name I pray amen you

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 18,283

Rating: 4.9137468 out of 5

Keywords: harvest, church, greg laurie, God Came Near, Matthew 17, Only Jesus, Bible

Id: nldbXdnLP6s

Length: 42min 35sec (2555 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 17 2015