SoCal Harvest Gospel Extravaganza (With Greg Laurie)

going on and topics that are directly from god's word and it's an amazing way to start your day i want to share this with you it's a message on from twitter about this it says someone wrote in saying hi pastor lori i really enjoy the daily devotion whenever i'm so caught up with work and life and stuff your email is one of those things that connects me back to the lord even if it's only five minutes but that is the most precious five minutes of my day thank you again you can get these sent directly to you every single day by going to harvest.org forward slash devote also harvest small groups are another way that you can connect with us you can connect with us wherever you are we have small groups that meet online we have small groups that meet in person here in southern california we even have a campus on maui and so there's lots of ways for you to join in on a small group you can go to harvest.org forward slash live to do that and so go ahead and uh and join in on a small group and get connected with other believers another way that you can connect with us is through our podcast you can pastor greg has a podcast that you can listen to he puts out all of our our t all of his teachings on a weekly basis and you can search that on any major podcast platform and then uh listen we want to hear from you if the harvest crusades has impacted your life in any significant way we would love to hear your story what you can do right now and even after the crusade is over tonight you can go to harvest.org forward slash your story and this is a great way for you to share the way in which god has blessed you and ministered to you and we would love to hear your story well hey this has been really great i'm glad that we could connect together right now but we're gonna get started in just a little bit and so we have a countdown that's going up and i'm gonna turn it over and so in this in this time as we close here today right now just at this uh this pre-service time i would i want to challenge you once again to send an invite to somebody that you know listen someone you know needs to hear the message that's going to happen tonight so take a take a moment write them a text message or or link them or uh connect them on our facebook or youtube or harvest.or excuse me harvest.org forward slash live and then again in just a little bit this is going to get started we're glad that you guys are here and can't wait to see what god is gonna do all right god bless you guys [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hey california if you're excited to be back together let me hear you give a cheers [Music] is [Music] instead [Music] we will come together together my friends [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] we will [Applause] together [Music] we will rise together together [Applause] if you got your cell phones let me see you in the sky show it to me take it away [Music] i can promise [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we will rise together [Music] together [Music] [Applause] [Music] together with our differences together we are bolder braver hey everybody welcome to socal harvest yeah i'm a little closer than normal how are you guys doing right out there well welcome back it's great to finally be back in this stadium last year of course we weren't here because of covid but now we're back again with a vengeance to see what the lord will do right so this is kind of the theme of tonight it's back together again all in person in one big place and we have a great we have a great event planned for you tonight trust me when i tell you this is not like any socal harvest you've been to before we have some pretty big surprises for you but most of all more than anything else this is about jesus christ that's why we're here i was asked by a reporter the other day like who is this event for i said well for sure it's for christians because we come we celebrate we sing we have a great time but the fact of the matter is my message is going to be for folks that are not christians yet because there are some folks here that are going to come to the lord tonight and so get ready some of you have an appointment with god oh i know you didn't see it on your calendar but it's there this is going to be a significant night i want to welcome all the folks that are streaming watching us at harvest.org watching this on television listening to this on radio literally all around the world right now so let's welcome those folks to our event right now as well you know it really doesn't matter where you are in the world we're all basically the same i read an interesting uh statement by an expert who pointed out that germans are lonely the french are lonely even the scandinavians are lonely and i thought they were supposed to be the happiest people on earth all around the world people are lonely it's so bad in the united kingdom that the british prime minister has appointed a minister of loneliness and studies show that the loneliest people in the world are americans and the loneliest americans are generation z they're also the least healthy and covetous only made things worse all the wrong things have been going up in the last months of course self-harm is up 334 percent overdoses are up 119 anxiety is up 94 depression is up 84 alcohol use is up divorce is up and it's because people are down but jesus said look up because your redemption draws near it's time to look up people we need god and we need each other you see we weren't meant to do life alone we were built for friendship built for community the first thing that god said was not good was the aloneness of man so just like for king and country just saying we are better together so that's what we're here to do to be together and to point people to god tonight our theme is the subject of faith and we're sort of taking a look behind the curtain is it all that it's cracked up to be we're going to explore that together and i have a message i'm going to give a little bit later that's titled what you're really looking for you're going to hear music again from for king and country you're going to hear from phil wickham as well so it's going to be a great night [Applause] but i would like to start the night with prayer let's all bow our heads let's not talk let's pray for a moment father you've told us in the bible with two or more are gathered together in the name of jesus you're there in the midst of them well lord we're here gathered together again we know you're here we sent your presence here and i pray for every person that is present that does not know you i pray for every person that is watching or listening wherever they are i pray that this is the night they believe this is the night i pray they turn from darkness to light i pray that this is the night that they change their eternal address from hell to heaven i pray that this is the night they believe in jesus we commit this night to you now in jesus name we pray amen [Applause] what do you want more than anything in this world is it money power happiness when usa today asked young people this very question the thing they wish they had more than anything was to be rich and famous deep down inside we all have a desire to be seen and known and thanks to social media everyone can have some kind of fame is fame really all that it's cracked up to be join me on this journey as we unpack the stories of those who have tasted faith and what they discovered on the other side wow this is a pretty cool life but at the same time i knew it was crazy like it becomes a drudgery and you begin to realize there's got to be something more your life is no longer having all the partying all the money the room gets empty and it's going to be there must be something better than this [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] hey harvest it's good to be back and come on let's all get up [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you see [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] come on every voice [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] for jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] nothing can stand [Music] nothing can stand against the power [Applause] [Music] you shiny [Applause] [Music] you [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] to you [Music] [Applause] do you believe it today don't believe me can i hear you come on [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] there's always hoping [Music] deep inside [Music] knees on the floor i finally found everything i needed [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] won't last [Music] with my knees on the floor i finally found everything i need [Music] you gave me [Music] [Applause] [Music] but i never dreamed anything [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] anything could be better [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] i had been awake for about four or five days [Music] and i was up on top of beverly hills in my big mansion i had a pipe my cocaine and a pistol whoa you can have anything you want it's the most unfulfilling thing there is and i and i'm sitting there going this is it and yet satan uses it alice at one point you were the number one rock star in the world the band accidentally took off we were the band that wasn't supposed to ever have a hit yeah we were not peace and love we were the other side and i grew up church friday night wednesday night sunday all day sunday yeah i went as far away as you could get and we partied harder than anybody any drug addict will tell you that drug becomes like oxygen if you don't have it you'll sell everything in your house to get it you're always going to be trying to fill that hole with something it's either gonna be drugs or it's gonna be ferraris or it's gonna be houses or wives or fame and you're never going to achieve it but there comes that point in your life where where you go what is this about [Applause] you know is is this really it because it can't be and i think that's when you start hearing the lord knocking [Music] amazing story i've gotten to know alice cooper pretty well and boy i tell you what he's the real deal and his life has been transformed let me tell you a story a true story a genie appeared to a woman it's a joke okay right and then genie said i will give you anything you want i'll give you as many wishes as you want the woman said really wow okay okay genie she said my first wish is that my husband's eyes would be only on me and on no one else said jeannie said okay i can do that what else she said well i want my husband to not care about anything else in life but me i want him to be obsessed with me the genie said uh all right anything else he said yes i don't want him to go anywhere else or anywhere at all without me he said okay and then she'd say there's another one when he wakes in the morning i want to be the first thing he sees and if i get scratched i want him to freak out and be filled with greed okay are you done she said i'm done and poof the genie turned her into a smartphone yeah i read a headline from ink magazine that made this statement we lost the gadgets one you know smartphone use has gone up dramatically since this pandemic started i read that the average smartphone user unlocks their phones 150 times a day we spend around two hours a day on social media and honestly i think some people spend a whole lot more than that eighty-five percent of smartphone users check their phones while speaking with friends and family why what what is it we're doing we we're looking at other people on instagram tick tock maybe facebook looking at their lives and many times they're thinking i wish i had their life look at them they're happy their teeth are really white they have all that money they have everything that i dream of that has to be the answer or is it andy warhol once said quote in the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes end quote and that's pretty much come true primarily because of social media what is everyone's favorite form of photography today selfies selfies right and so many want to be rich and famous and social media now is a platform where to some degree you can have your own version of fame as you grow your followers the more people are aware of what you're doing but then there are other effects as well uh take twitter i don't even know what twitter is good for i think twitter is the place that people go to basically rant and insult right i read that nicki minaj says i'll never go on twitter again it's a place where people say many so many horrific things i read about one social media influencer who was on instagram and had millions of followers and she said i've had enough the negatives of being an influencer influencer outweigh the positive this role has done an immense amount of damage to me and my relationships facebook did an internal study among their folks who use their platform and they discovered that many of the people that use it have higher suicide and depression rates what is going on people want to be known people want to have significance people want to have their lives matter we want to belong we want to love and we want to be loved now listen there's all kinds of clubs you can join you can join chess clubs you can join country clubs and in my case you can join the mickey mouse club i was a member of that but i want to tell you there's one club you never want to join and that's called the 27 club the 27 club this is made up of people who are well known rock stars who died at the age of 27. jimi hendrix he's in the 27 club brian jones of the rolling stones he's there too jim morrison of the doors he's in the 27 club as is janice joplin others joined the club a little bit later like kurt cobain and amy winehouse and sadly speaking of amy winehouse she made this statement fame is like terminal cancer i wouldn't wish it on anyone end quote and then there are so many that have destroyed their lives through drugs and alcohol the licious goes on and on whitney houston heath ledger actor philip seymour hoffman michael jackson prince anna nicole smith river phoenix scott weiland corey monteith elvis presley john belushi chris farley chris farley was on saturday night live and he was an incredibly funny guy but he had serious drug problems chris went to rehab 17 times and chris's hero was john belushi another saturday night live comedian who died of a drug overdose and one of chris's friends said to him once chris you don't want to die like belushi do you and chris farley said in response oh yeah that'd be really cool and his friend said i started crying and i wept for him tragically both belushi and chris farley died from a lethal overdose of heroin and cocaine yeah drugs alcohol success fame if it really was the answer why are there so many miserable empty people who have all this stuff that many dream of and they've either overdosed or they've taken their own lives uh edm superstar tim bergling better known as avicii he made it to the age of 28 he was at the top of his game making millions of dollars he had fame and money but he took his own life and think of all of the celebrities that have taken their own lives of late uh anthony bourdain chester bennington chris cornell ernest hemingway designer alexander mcqueen michael hutchins of nxs writer hunter s thompson designer kate spade if fate and money were the answers why do these people make such heartbreaking choices according to his family avicii struggled with thoughts about meaning life and happiness he felt like he couldn't go on any longer he just wanted to find peace does that describe someone that's here right now does that describe you are you just looking for peace have you tried to find it in a bottle have you tried to find it in a drug have you tried to find it in a relationship have you tried to find it in success or a career or possessions listen have you even tried to find it in religion if so you're going to come up empty you might say greg what are you talking about this is religious right no this event has nothing to do with religion this is about a relationship with god through jesus christ big difference and that's what i'm going to talk to you about in just a few moments you know my wife likes puzzles you're going to meet my wife in a few moments too but i don't know why she likes puzzles i i could care less about puzzles and if we're walking by a table that is a puzzle on it she'll stop and start putting it together and i'll just keep walking well the other day she was putting a puzzle together downstairs i was upstairs and after a couple of hours she yells craig craig help me i've almost finished the puzzle but there's one missing piece and i can't find it so i came downstairs and got on my hands and knees and we searched and finally under the chair i found the missing piece life can be that way we do all the things we think we should do we have all of our ducks in a row we have all the boxes checked but we're still empty we're still lonely we're still filled with fear and anxiety so what is missing it's not as something it's just someone you need god in your life you need jesus in your life and we're going to talk a little bit more about that in just a moment [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] to um [Music] are you with us [Music] [Music] run away [Music] [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] my eyes [Music] [Music] up [Music] [Music] we're fixing my [Music] foreign [Music] fix my [Applause] [Music] socal we've missed you my goodness hey mike my uh my wife is a socal girl and it's her it's her it was her birthday yesterday so can we give a cheer for mariah say happy birthday mariah and also our very own vince de carlo five years ago we played this event as we have many times it was his first ever show with us and tonight is his last so on the count of three can we yell we love you vince cara and kids one two three give him a cheer would you hey speaking of cheers can we give a massive round of applause for craig and sarah the harvest team the the angel stadium staff this is monumental i have to say this i know that every single one of us here over the last year and a half have faced loss loss of hope loss of a job a loved one confidence that we're all trying to piece our lives back together in different ways my friends for the first time in our lifetime we have a universal common suffering where almost 8 billion of us have felt this sting no matter the country or color or creed and i want to charge us with this as we spread out over one of the most influential cities in the world in just a few short hours let's show compassion let's show empathy let's show the world that we can relate to one another in an incredible way can we play a new song for you [Applause] his life hit you so hard that you've been not done have you gone too far to find the middle ground did they raise you so hard just to put you back down have you been so lost you can never be [Music] [Music] a found i've been right i've been so so wrong yeah i've made my mistakes and i don't know what it's like to be let me put those hands together you don't know what it's like to be what if we're all the same in different kinds of ways can you can you relate we both know what it's like to be [Music] have you ever been [Music] i've been riding so [Music] you don't know what it's like to be [Music] we both know what it's like to be won't know what it is [Music] i don't know what it's like to be you don't know what it's like to be but by the grace of god we'll see each other this fall can you [Music] for king and country great job guys and now here's another video [Applause] [Music] more and more these days young people are turning away from dangerous drugs and turning onto christ instead the jesus movement we just heard there's this place in costa mesa and there's this hippie preacher there this wasn't just a good idea this was darkness light hippies started accepting jesus [Music] god is blowing everybody's mind [Music] because he's davin the hippie and nobody thought hippie could be saved [Music] [Applause] this is a christian happening it's a demonstration of the love of god by tens of thousands of young people to the world that are saying to the world god loves you it's the jesus revolution that is going on in this country [Music] isn't that great so listen we're planning for the future we're planning for the future we're wanting to reach more people than we have ever reached in the history of harvest ministries and so this is our plan for next year we're calling it jesus revolution don't you think it's time for another jesus movement in america right now i do too you know everybody likes to put california down i was born in california i live in california obviously and i jokingly tweeted the other day everyone's leaving california but i'm staying because someone has to turn the lights off but you know what i'm staying because i want to turn the light on and i want to see another jesus movement in california that's where it happened so we wouldn't even be here doing this crusade if it was not for pastor chuck smith who had the original vision over 30 years ago pastor chuck came to me and said greg i i think we ought to do a big of outreach like sort of billy graham style i said okay chuck where would you like to do it he said let's go to the pacific amphitheater was about a 15 000 seat venue in costa mesa so we went and it was filled like for seven nights it was amazing this is 1990 and then the next year chuck said greg i think we should go to angel stadium next year i said chuck that's a pretty big stadium and chuck said well greg we serve a pretty big god so he was right he was right so i think pastor chuck smith for his vision i want to thank somebody else tonight pastor john collins who worked tirelessly to get us moving forward with the crusades that we've been able to do all around the country and even abroad and it's been very exciting we have seen we have seen over 500 000 make a profession of faith to follow christ at harvest crusade so so here's the big announcement the big announcement is next year we're going to go to sofie stadium in los angeles you want to jonathan to my son jonathan you want to talk about a big place so far stadium that place seats upwards of a hundred thousand state-of-the-art stadium so we're gonna go there and we're going to do a one-night event called jesus revolution and not only that but my friend john irwin who directed i can only imagine i still believe and the soon-to-be-released american underdog coming out this christmas is going to direct a feature film about the jesus movement called jesus revolution it starts filming in january of next year and it will be released also nationwide worldwide it's a feature film uh late next year so two big jesus revolution events we're very excited about it absolutely right so jonathan just think of the thousands of people that have come down on this field and it seems like every time i turn around someone not only says well i came to the lord but they'll say my son came to the lord my parents came to the lord and our whole family has come to the lord and we think of all the people we've been able to reach over the years and this is an opportunity now for all the folks that are here to invest in what we're doing at harvest crusades that's right we'll be the first ones to say we couldn't do this without your prayers without your volunteering and by the way can we give a big round of applause to all the thousands of volunteers who help make this event happen seriously thank you thank you so much to all the volunteers all the churches who helped participate and faithfully sent people to serve for the last 30 years yeah so we couldn't do without your prayers we couldn't do it without your service and we couldn't do it without your financial contribution i mean you look around this amazing stadium and all these lights and all this staging these amazing bands people might be surprised it costs money to put these things on but we do it for free because we don't want to charge anybody to hear the message of the gospel so that's where you guys come in yeah here's it comes down to this if you believe in this work if you want to invest in people coming to christ if you want to see more people come to the christ to come to the lord in the future this is a moment for you to give and our ushers are going to come forward in a moment we're going to receive uh our offering but before that i'm going to ask my beautiful wife kathy laurie to come out let's welcome kathy you're all so dark out there i can't see anybody but i trust that you can see me and hear my voice it's my pleasure to pray for the offering and um can i just say thank you to everyone who has given because we could as jonathan said we couldn't do this without all of you and it's you know there may be a few of you that have given a lot but most of us give just a little bit and give faithfully and because we do this together we've seen this stadium filled year after year um all except for last year but year after year for over 30 years and what a blessing that is so would you bow your heads with me as we pray father thank you so much for your faithfulness to us that you are a god who loves people and you want to reach people with the good news of the gospel that jesus came and died on a cross for our sins and that if we would put our faith and trust in him that we could have eternal life and a life worth living thank you for each and everyone who is about to give and participate in this offering and lord we pray that you would multiply these funds and this would not be the last crusade we don't want to take anything for granted but we are looking forward to next summer and we do pray that you would take these gifts and use them to reach even more people with the gospel we ask this now in your son's precious name amen amen amen thank you mom thanks dad and so the information's up on the screen there's a qr code you can scan with your phone if you want to zoom in there's a link that you can visit as well that you can help get set up and give your one-time gift a recurring gift whatever you want to do however you want to give tonight we just want to say thank you so much and now let's welcome our friend phil wickham come on [Music] you saw me first [Music] it's the first time [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and you are the light that shines in every tunnel there in the past you'll be there tomorrow all my life your love was breaking through it's always been [Music] [Applause] [Music] right where you are [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] it's always been [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's [Music] always always [Applause] [Music] with me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] i know [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you'll be there tomorrow [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it's always [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] at every turn is hope at every turn his grace had ever turned his love [Music] when i turned to jesus the chains broke and the darkness lifted every time i turned to jesus [Music] i see again his love his hope how he changed his life how he walks beside me how he never leaves me and never forsakes me that he's working out things good for me and for you and he sees you he knows you he loves you he wants you he's got a plan for you so we can sing about it we're gonna sing this chorus he says hallelujah praise the one who set me free we're gonna sing about the living hope we have in jesus and if you have found that hope in jesus tonight would you sing it with us preach to the people around you what god has done in your heart hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] jesus christ oh come on [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] come on [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus christ [Music] god [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] and he hit it there it is base hit left field here comes heap around second there will be no throw to the plate and strawberry has his first major league base here it's a great ride when you're in the midst of it because everything is handed to you [Applause] you buy a beautiful home you live behind community gates drive the nice car [Music] [Applause] but at the end of the day when i take that uniform off who am i well you you know you were living the dream you know it's like there's the expression i've been there done that bought the t-shirt you were the t-shirt it was a lot to deal with uh because you really don't have the identity of who you are because of what everybody else wants you to be there's a lot of people that come along and say they have your back but they're really there for the ride you never know who's pulling at you for the right reason i didn't have a father you know my father rejected me and the pain of that led me into my greatness and then eventually my greatness would lead me into this destructive behavior when you end up falling short and that lifestyle gets ugly like my lifestyle he got real ugly the drugs the alcohol the women the lifestyle i was shooting dope and smoking cracking i was three million dollars in debt i didn't even have a driver's when you reach that point deep down inside of ourselves we know that's not who we are but why am i doing this and i mean i was just i went into tears and just cried and god says when are you going to spend time with me and that's when i realized that when i had everything everybody was there but when i had nothing he was there [Applause] [Music] you got your cell phone flashlight on you would you raise it in the sky all across this stadium i want to see [Music] too afraid [Music] all the memories [Music] [Music] is [Music] you keep a [Music] somebody somebody will never leave [Music] [Music] there's a child [Music] [Music] [Music] the misunderstood [Music] is [Music] [Music] know [Music] [Music] there's [Music] god only knows where to find you god only knows how to break god only knows the real you there's a kind of love that god only knows about nobody from tonight onward in your life that you feel seen that you feel known that you can trust that there's a superhuman kind of love that god only knows wave those lights come up [Music] [Applause] john [Applause] [Music] gallery blows for king and country yes why don't y'all grab a seat right now the title of my message is what you're really looking for what you're really looking for you know sooner or later everybody gets around to asking the big questions of life such as what is the meaning of my life why am i here on this earth why do i exist and what should my purpose in life be and that's because as human beings we all have a desire to make a mark to achieve something we want our lives to count for something greater than ourselves and that's because god wired us that way we're pre-wired for something more it goes back to your childhood you're always wanting that something more when you're a little kid it's maybe a toy then you get a little older and it changes what does that express then the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys right oh this relationship will do what we think oh this degree might do it or maybe this house will do it or this experience or whatever it is and we seek and we search and that's why people seek after fame they're saying i want to be noticed listen you are noticed you're noticed by god you're loved by god and your life can have significance the bible says god has put eternity in our hearts i'll tell you what that is deep down inside of you you're yearning for god that's really what you want you may not have known that it's god that you're really looking for we found where you shouldn't look we heard from rock star alice cooper my friend daryl strawberry they talked about how empty those things were so where do you find it the answer is 2 000 years old and guess where you find the answer you find it in this book called the bible the bible b-i-b-l-e basic instructions before leaving earth this is the user's manual of life you've been looking for people are searching everywhere probably somewhere in their house there's a dust-colored bible dust covered bible waiting to be opened with the answers i want to tell you a bible story who wants to hear a bible story raise your hand hey you know what's really cool for the first time in a harvest crusade i can actually see the people i'm talking to because i'm a little bit closer than normal this is a story of a wealthy affluent man he's often referred to as the rich young ruler so to be a ruler back in biblical times you have to be at least 30 so he's young so he's in his young 30s he's affluent probably has a bmw chariot he comes to jesus he's holding a lavender low-fat oat milk latte what is with the lavender lot where did that come from lavender latte seriously i was with a god the other day i won't say his name ben and we're ordering lattes i said i'll have a cappuccino someone else says i'll have a black coffee and ben says i'll have a lavender low-fat oat milk latte i'm like seriously dude he he drank it he enjoyed it so jesus and this affluent young man have a conversation what jesus says to this young man still applies to young men and young women today applies to all people today it's found in matthew 19. we read these words someone came to jesus with this question teacher what good thing must i do to have eternal life jesus said why do you ask me what is good only god is good but to answer your question if you want to receive eternal life keep the commandments and the young man said which ones jesus said you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not testify falsely or lie honor your father and mother love your neighbor as yourself the young man said i've obeyed all of these commandments what else must i do all right jesus said i want you to sell everything that you have give the money to the poor you know have treasure in heaven and then you can come and follow me listen to this when that young man heard that he went away sad because he had many possessions so i'll stop there so something was missing in this life he says where can i find eternal life what do i need to do to get eternal life jesus says keep the commandments now why did jesus point this young man to the ten commandments because by keeping the commandments you can get closer to god no i'll contrair that's french for snails with garland no that's escargot excuse me no that's not it at all actually to find eternal life you have to believe in jesus but jesus said check out the commandments because the ten commandments weren't given to make me righteous they were given to show me how messed up i am they were given to show me i need god the ten commandments what are they have no other gods before them don't make any graven images honor your father and mother don't lie don't steal don't commit adultery the list goes on and every one of us in this place right now and everyone watching and listening has broken the commandments there are some listening that may have broken all of the commandments even murder don't say you're one of those people that'll freak out people around you okay but i want to tell you this even if you killed someone god would forgive you see there was a thief on the cross remember when jesus was crucified there was a man on each side of him we call them the thieves the word in the greek speaks of a serious criminal so he was probably a murderer guilty of a capital crime so here's jesus hanging on the cross and christ says father forgive them for they know not what they do his first statement from the cross of calvary this man turns to jesus is criminal probably what the romans would consider a terrorist says lord remember me when you come into your kingdom and jesus says truly truly i say to you today you will be with me in paradise listen to me no matter what sin you have committed god will forgive you tonight if you'll ask for his forgiveness notice jesus said today you will be of being paradise how long does it take to become a christian you know sometimes people say i'm in the process of converting in the process you're either a believer or you're not a believer it doesn't take years to become a christian it doesn't take months to become a christian it doesn't take days it doesn't even take hours you can believe in jesus just like that it's happened for some of you already you just have started to believe [Applause] and this young man said to jesus i've kept all of these comments ever since i've been a young boy and i love what the bible says it says jesus looked at him and loved him it would have made more sense that we read jesus looked at him and smacked him said what you talking about willis you have not and there might be somebody here that says i've kept all the commandments i live by the ten commandments oh yeah what are they uh i'm not sure but i do keep them i read recently that a survey was done and more people knew the names of the four beatles and the commandments given by god from mount sinai john paul george ringo they know that but they don't know these commandments we've all broken the commandments but god loved this young man and god loves you i want you to know that there is a god in heaven who loves you a god in heaven who has a plan for your life a god in heaven who longs for a relationship with you what is god like jesus told a story that's often called the parable of the prodigal son it's a story of a father who had two sons i'm a father i have two sons and one of his sons ran away from home lose paraphrase he said dad i'm tired of all your rules and regulations i want to just live my life and he left and he had a lot of money and when he hit town he had a lot of new friends too but as soon as the money ran out the friends ran out with it and one day that boy had an epiphany and he realized this sucks this life is miserable i had it better back home with dad so the boy said i'm going to go home to my father and i'm going to say father i'm no longer worthy to be called your son just give me a job like one of the hired hands and the father seeing that boy a great way off got up and ran to the boy and threw his arms around him and kissed him again and again and said let's have a party break out the barbecue this my son who was dead is alive again he who was lost is found and they rejoice so what is this about this is a picture of god we're like the prodigal son or a prodigal daughter we walk away from god we don't want to live by what the bible says we realize how empty life is without him so you say how would god react if i came to him tonight he would welcome you with open arms and say welcome home daughter welcome home son well this kid you know he he didn't he didn't want to give up anything now by the way jesus never told any other person to get rid of all their stuff he just said it to this guy and i think it's because this young man was possessed by possessions that was in effect his god that's what jesus said to him but sometimes people ask the question if i become a christian will i have to give anything up i'm going to be honest with you the answer is yes yes give up your emptiness and replace it with fulfillment give up your misery and replace it with forgiveness give up hell and trade it for heaven that's god's trade in deal and it's here for you yes there is an afterlife and according to the bible there are two destinations in the afterlife heaven or hell some of you are saying you know i i kind of liked everything until you said hell how could a god of love send someone to hell listen to me god doesn't send anyone to hell that's why he sent jesus christ to die on the cross and absorb god's judgment in your place so you don't have to go there you see if you end up in hell you'll have no one to blame but yourself on that final day you'll have to practically climb over jesus to get there c.s lewis the great writer once said and i quote the gates of hell are locked from the inside see we have to make a choice you choose in this life where you will spend the afterlife you choose in this life if you want to find meaning and purpose in life or if you don't you choose in this life if you want to go to heaven or if you want to go to hell i know some of you have come here with skepticism and i'm glad you came quite frankly and i'll tell you when i first was exposed to the gospel that's what i'm sharing with you this is called the gospel which means good news the first time i heard it i thought it can't be true i was 17 years old this is 10 years ago plus 40 more it's literally over 50 years ago i'm 17 years old i'm in high school i'm using drugs i'm throwing my life away i'm making a lot of bad decisions and the jesus movement was happening we talked about that a few moments ago and all these young people were talking about jesus and and carrying bibles around and i thought these christians these jesus freaks are crazy they're like one taco short of a combination plate there's something not right in their heads and one day i went to one of their meetings it was on the front lawn of my high school campus where they're having a little bible study they're singing their little songs about god and i'm sitting at a distance i'm thinking look how pathetic they are look how deranged they are look at how happy they are and then i just try to thought on for size and the thought was this what if they're right what if jesus is real what if i could have all of my sin forgiven and i quickly dismissed it and i thought no that can't be true but then i thought about my own life though i was only 17. i was raised in the home of an alcoholic woman my mother who was married and divorced seven times i'd seen the alcoholic fueled affluent lifestyle that she lived i knew that wasn't the answer i had already dabbled in drugs myself i knew that wasn't the answer where was the answer could it be this jesus and a guy got up to speak his name was lonnie and i don't remember most of what he said but he made one statement he said jesus said you're for me or you're against me i looked around at the christians i thought well i'm not one of them does that mean i'm against jesus i mean i've always believed jesus was out there somewhere he was my god of choice in times of crisis i'd seen all of his movies but know jesus and then he said if you want to believe in jesus get up right now and walk forward and some kids got up and walked forward and i thought there's no way i could do it i had my hair hanging in my eyes use your imagination i thought no way couldn't do it never next thing i knew i'm standing up there praying with these other kids and that was the day that christ came into my life and that was the greatest day of my life and this can be your night when you come to christ so you might ask well what is the meaning of life you raise that question the meaning of life is to know the god who created you and start a friendship with him and discover the plan that he has for you why are you here on this earth you're here to walk with the lord and it will give you purpose and hope in this life and hope for the afterlife so maybe you would ask well what do i need to do how can i believe in jesus okay if you haven't listened to anything else i've said listen to this number one to have your sin forgiven you need to realize you're a sinner yes you're a sinner i'm a sinner we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of god the bible says what does the word sin mean it means to cross a line so i've got a little line right here this is the edge of this little stage if i cross this line that's not going to be good and so when you cross the line you break a commandment we talked about the ten commandments you've sinned have you ever told a lie never told a lie you're lying right now sucker right you've told lies we've all told lies have you ever hated someone have you ever had lust in your heart have you ever stolen anything everyone has broken these commandments and the bible says if you offend in one point of the law you're guilty of all of it so just own it accept it stop excusing it you're a sinner i'm a sinner we're all sinners but then realize this jesus christ the son of god died on the cross for you he died on the cross for you the bible says why were we yet sinners christ died for us jesus said for god so loved the world he gave his only begotten son look at the front of that stage behind me right there john 14 6 jesus said i am the way the truth and the life and no man comes of the father but by me he is the way to the father that's how it works [Applause] coming back to that young man that rich young ruler his question what good thing must i do to have eternal life listen there is no good thing you can do to have eternal life you'll always fall short sometimes people think of i live a good life maybe i'll get to heaven no matter how good of a life you live you'll never be good enough to get to heaven but listen to this heaven is not for good people heaven is for forgiven people and you can be forgiven of all of your sin right here right now eternal life is a gift from god so if someone gets you a gift and you really want the gift what do you do you open the gift i love the way women open gifts and men open gifts it's very different when you give a gift to a woman because they're civilized they'll actually read the card you give them first the reading they might even be touched by what you wrote i we gave a little birthday gift to someone the other day and say oh thank you so much you're welcome then they'll carefully undo the ribbon they might even say i'm going to save this ribbon for later oh great they'll undo the wrapping paper and be delighted by the gift that's a woman opening a gift give a gift to a man he opens the card he's not reading it he just opened it to see if there's money or a gift card in there wrapping paper a mere obstacle to a man plow through it right i don't care how you open the gift god's offering you a gift and i just reach out take it open it enjoy it it's the gift of eternal life through jesus christ there's nothing you can do to get it you don't deserve it but it's a gift to you then you must repent of your sin see this is what the rich young ruler was unwilling to do he would not turn from his sin but the bible says god has commanded people everywhere to repent what does that even mean to repent means to change your direction it's sort of like a military term where it means like an about face right so i've been going away from god now i'm going toward god repent of your sin then you receive christ into your life that's what it's all about being a christian is having jesus himself come and live inside of you you don't have to be alone anymore you can leave here with christ in your life tonight knowing that you'll go to heaven when you die you folks that are watching christ can come into your life you that are listening on radio you can do the same the bible says for as many as received him he gave them the power to become sons of god and daughters of god jesus said behold i stand at the door and knock if any men will hear my voice and open the door i will come in and then finally you must do it publicly that is why in a moment i'm going to ask you to do what some 500 000 people have done half a million people over the last 31 years i'm going to ask you in a moment to get up out of your seat and come down to this field behind the stage and by doing so you're publicly saying i want jesus in my life i want to be forgiven of my sin i want this relationship with god you're talking about you need to do it tonight back in 2016 a young man named kareem nakuy came to our crusade his father brought him and other members of his family and his dad was so excited that his son other members of the family came to christ that night again 2016. kareem went on to become a marine and he was serving our nation over in afghanistan tragically he was one of the 13 service members that died in that terrorist attack kareem spent the last few moments of his life getting people to safety and his last gesture was to reach out to a small child to get her safely away and then he died but kareem went to heaven because he put his faith in christ and that's the hope that the christian has he's a true american here the motto of the marine corps is semper fi always faithful he was faithful to the end he had faith in christ do you have faith in christ what if you died tonight where would you go that can be settled right here right now so you need to do it publicly one last thing and i'm done you need to do it now now the bible says today is a day of salvation tonight is your night earlier this evening i said you have an appointment with god now it's up to you to keep the appointment with god so in a moment i'm going to pray and i'm going to extend this invitation for you to have your life changed i love it when it rains don't you because after it rains even people that don't wash their cars get a car wash everything's clean maybe a rainbow comes out i love rainbows that's what happens when you believe in jesus it's like the rain it just washes all your sin away washes all your guilt away washes all of your despair away the bible says if any man is in christ he is an altogether different kind of person old things that passed away everything becomes fresh and new that can happen for you tonight so i'm going to pray and then i'm going to invite you to believe in jesus let's all pray father i pray for every person in the stadium i pray for every person watching this every person listening wherever they are if they don't know you yet i pray that your holy spirit will convict them and convince them of their sin and their need for jesus and help them to come to you now and believe we ask us now in jesus name amen amen please listen very carefully if you want your sin forgiven if you want to know that when you die you will go to heaven if you want to fill that hole in your life if you want your guilt taken away if you want to go to heaven when you die if you're ready to say yes to jesus wherever you're sitting i want you to get up out of your seat make your way to the nearest aisle and i want you to come down to this field behind this stage behind me and in doing so you're making your public stand for christ get up right now and start coming down to this field whoever you are wherever you are listen to this you're not too young to come to jesus christ tonight if you've understood me if you've understood what i'm saying you can come you're not too old to come to christ tonight no matter what you've done god can forgive you you're not too bad to come to christ the bible says jesus speaking he that would come to me i would in no way turn away but you're not too good to come to christ everybody needs jesus you might say well greg i have a lot of sin you come with your sin you come with your problems you come just as you are to jesus christ tonight there might be some of you who are like prodigal sons and daughters hey let's not talk for a second let's not talk don't talk i want you all to be praying you're about to see a holy moment you're going to see people come down on this field to be transformed by christ i want you to pray for the person in front of you i want you to pray for the person behind you i want you to pray for the person to your left and right as they're making the most important decision of their life i'm going to ask my christian friends to not leave early i know it's tempting to be trafficked because we have a full house here tonight but please out of respect for those that are filling those aisles right now and coming down to make this commitment to christ let's keep these isles open and by the way after they're down there and we pray we have an epic firework show for you too so you don't want to miss that but you come now wherever you are whoever you are you come to jesus and we'll wait till you all get here as phil wickham sings [Music] jesus is called [Music] jesus is [Music] the precious [Music] [Music] jesus christ [Music] [Music] jesus is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] you know we may never have another moment like this right now who would have ever thought that last year after 30 years of meeting we wouldn't be in this stadium but we weren't here but we're here again what if this were our last crusade i don't know what if this were your last opportunity to come to jesus and you said well maybe next time maybe you're thinking hey i don't know what would my friends think if i became a christian check this out you want to find out who your really real friends are believe in jesus and you'll know quickly right and if if your friends don't support you believing in jesus time to get some new friends right don't be held back that young man that rich young willer was held back by stuff somebody else might be held back by relationships oh man my girlfriend would break up with me my boyfriend would dump me oh my friends wouldn't want to be around me anymore oh whatever who cares don't worry so much about what people think think about what god thinks right because one day listen one day you will stand before god almighty you'll be all by yourself you won't be with your buddies you won't be with anybody and god will have one question for you it will be what did you do with my son jesus christ it won't be a sin question it will be a sun question s-o-n what did you do with the son of god listen god has dropped one lifeline from heaven for us to be forgiven of our sins and it's jesus and only jesus he's here to forgive you now but you must come and i see many people are coming into these aisles still and this is why we're here and we're gonna wait till all y'all get down here okay so you keep coming it's not too late to get into the aisle and make your way down and pray and if there's somebody that can't make it down here i'll lead you in a prayer that you can pray in your seed as well so wherever you are and you that are watching [Music] you can pray the same prayer with me and you that are listening on radio around the nation you can pray this same prayer too but i'll wait a few more moments anybody else you get up and come make your public stand for jesus christ as phil wickham sings [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] was [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise the lord look at this people are still coming down these aisles god bless every one of them look at all these folks down here can you see them these are answered prayers the prayers of grandparents parents the prayers of sons and daughters and friends there's an answered prayer and we'll wait to every one of these people get down on this field then we'll all pray together there's still time to come you know maybe you're a prodigal son or daughter i talked about that a little bit you were raised in the church you ran away from it i mentioned i have two sons one was up here with me tonight jonathan jonathan's a pastor now can you believe it serving the lord but he was a prodigal son he he went away from the lord for a time i have another son christopher sadly he's not with me here tonight he's been in heaven for 14 years but he had a little prodigal time and he returned to the lord and i know i'll see my son again one day in heaven and that is my hope but i'm so thankful christopher was right with god when he went into the afterlife because i know he's in heaven and maybe there are some of you that need to come back to the lord the bible says return you backsliding children and i'll heal you says the lord the bible says we need to return to our god who will abundantly pardon us and seek the lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to our god the lord's near right now i'm not saying he's not out there when you leave tomorrow but i'm saying jesus is here and he's calling people you see others have responded do you need to be one of those people there's still time for you if you're a prodigal or making a first-time commitment i can promise you you will not regret putting your faith in jesus you won't so if there's anybody else you get up quickly you come down on the field as phil sings one final song [Music] the king is in the room come see the scars [Music] we'll watch the darkness who is this king who is this king his name is jesus [Music] forever [Music] miracles break out across this place [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this big [Music] in the name of jesus he says [Music] and i will give you rest he says [Music] this is our jesus oh this is our jesus there's never been a love so great he died so we could [Music] another live like [Music] [Music] [Applause] key this this [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] his name is jesus [Music] the salvation is he's the light of this world [Music] wow phil they're still coming phil do you know any more songs got as many as you need i feel you're doing a great job god bless you just a few more people coming down but i sure want to wait until they all get here so maybe phil um do one more song for us and then we'll pray with all the folks okay [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] your grace changes everything thank you for your mercy let's sing it together amazing grace [Music] [Applause] [Music] i was my [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] yes [Applause] [Music] thousand years [Music] [Laughter] god's grace [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] wow hello everybody god bless all of you you're making the most important decision of your entire life the decision to follow jesus christ that's right so i'm going to lead you in a prayer and i'm going to ask you to pray this prayer out loud after me and this is where you're asking jesus christ to come into your life to be your savior and your lord so listen if you're out on the stands you didn't make it down on the field you can pray this same prayer okay so you guys up there in the seats you pray this prayer too you that are watching by television or online or you're listening on radio you pray this prayer as well god and heaven will hear this prayer all right so pray this after me let's all bower here heads pray these words lord jesus i know that i'm a sinner but i know that you're the savior who died on the cross and rose from the dead i turn from my sin tonight i choose to follow you now as my savior and my lord as my god and my friend thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer in jesus name i pray amen god bless you whoa nice that is not the firework show that's just kind of getting you ready but listen there's fireworks in heaven right now because the angels are rejoicing the angels are rejoicing the bible says all right hey those of you who just prayed with pastor greg again we want to say you just made the best decision that you could ever make and listen behind me there are countless numbers of people thousands of people down on that field and every single one of those people is a person that's a that has a story that represents a a story of a person coming to jesus and listen i don't know where you're at right now but maybe you feel alone maybe you are alone i want you to know this you are now part of the family of god and every one of those people that's down on that field is just as much as your family as as as your real members of your family and so we want to encourage you we want to bless you we want to help you in this new decision to walk with jesus and listen those of you who didn't pray with prayer stick around with us we do have a fireworks show that's going to be happening in just a little bit but before we do we want to give a gift to every person that just prayed with pastor greg this is the new believer's bible it is the new testament in a really easy to read translation with some really helpful notes from pastor greg on what it looks like and what it means to be a follower of jesus christ and and so this is going to be the best way for you to take a first step in this new life with jesus and the way that you get this into your hands if you're watching us at harvest.org forward slash live there should be a a button that you can push that says uh did you pray to receive jesus if you click on that button we it'll send you a link so that you can register to get this sent directly to you uh if you're watching us on any of our other streaming services you can just go to harvest.org forward slash bible there's gonna be a form that you can fill out there and you can have this sent to you for free because we believe that this is the best way for you to walk with jesus and listen i want to give you a couple of steps that you can take even now to walk with jesus if you just gave your life to him number one is this start reading the bible so get this into your hands or you can go to any uh website you can go to a bible dot or you can go to any or get the bible app on your phone and start reading the bible today it's a it's god's love letter to us it's the way that god has revealed himself to us so that we can know him and walk with him so start reading the bible today another thing i want to recommend you do is begin to pray like we did just did like pastor greg just led you in a prayer go to god and talk to him take him your worries take him your frustrations take him your fears take him your wins and your victories and all of your life and talk to him because that's what god wants from us and it doesn't take any kind of flowery language or these or thou's or anything like that all we have to do is simply talk to god and he hears the prayers of his people is what the bible tells us the third thing i want to recommend that all of you do is start going to church one of the things we would love to do is help you get connected to a good church in your area wherever you may be watching this and we know those people watching us all over the world and i think that one of the best ways that you can grow in your relationship with jesus is to get into a community of other believers at a local church in your area if there's not one in your area then start attending harvest at home every weekend starting saturday evening all through sunday we have harvest at home online services and small groups online that you can join to be part of this community of believers and then lastly i would want to say that you would tell someone what you did tell someone what you did tonight that you prayed that you gave your life over to jesus and share with them the good news that you just received maybe you know someone that needs this message maybe you know someone that needs to hear the message of the gospel i think we all do and so start telling others what jesus has done for you well hey that's uh i mean this is the best thing that could have happened tonight i mean there are literally thousands of people down on that field that just gave their lives over to jesus and so what we're going to do now after you get your uh the registration to get your bible if you fill out that form stick around with us because we do have a fireworks show that's going to be happening in just a little bit hey i also want to go back and and say um you have a story to tell and we would love to hear your story if you would go to harvest.org forward slash stories and share your story with us of of the way that god ministered to you even tonight we would love to hear that story to be able to share it with others about how god is using harvest and harvest ministries to help people meet jesus and so i believe that we're going to put a countdown up in just a few minutes and once we do we're going to i see a firework show in a little bit along with some great music so don't go anywhere also this socal harvest event is available to send to others we're going to have it on our youtube channel i believe there's also going to be an archive on our website if this message spoke to you if this event spoke to you share it with others send it to them send them the link and a text message or an email or a dm whatever that looks like so make sure you get that over to those that you know that need to hear this message well hey we want to say thank you for joining us tonight i'm going to sign off but don't go anywhere because we do have the fireworks show happening at about 10 minutes so go grab some popcorn go get something to drink whatever it takes and come back and we're gonna see a firework show in just a little bit as well as some great music well hey god bless you guys you take care good night so um so [Applause] look at this [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] uh uh [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] oh wow nice um [Applause] this is yes hey there guys um so um um [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] we worship [Music] victory [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] god who heals we sing to the god who saves we sing to the god who always makes us [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] we were the presidents [Music] we were the best [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] yes is amazing grace [Applause] [Applause] [Music] foreign i sing for what have you done for me come on [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] who brings our chaos back into water who makes the orphanage [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh jesus [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] ladies and gentlemen come on ladies and gentlemen phil wickham come on thank you phil well this concludes our harvest crusade this year for 2021 what'd you guys think how good was that amazing music an amazing message an amazing response what an awesome fireworks show and time of worship we had just now man this is definitely going on the highlight reel of all time best harvest crusades we're so thankful that you guys joined us this year hey we want to let you know have that event next year in mind july 3rd sophie stadium it's going to be amazing we're calling it jesus revolution because of the film that's going to be coming out make sure you're paying attention to that and you're keeping your eyes peeled it's going to be an absolute blast hey we want to invite you also if you were able to come and help us tear down the stage here and all of our sound equipment and lighting equipment and all that if you are able and willing come meet us over at the right field foul poll on the first baseline and you can help us begin to tear down listen if you want to connect with us make sure you check out our website harvest.org we've got harvest at home my dad's radio program has daily devotions that you can plug into and uh it's going to be a great time for you to check that stuff out hey with that god bless you guys why don't we close in prayer heavenly father we pray that you had just ministered all those people that came down on the field tonight lord all those people that came and made a decision to follow you lord would you touch them would you reach them would you really cement this relationship this decision that they have made fill them with your holy spirit lord we're so thankful to see this amazing outpouring of what you have done a wonderful harvest of souls lord it's to you that goes the glory and we thank you and it's in jesus name we pray together and everybody says amen amen we'll see you guys next year god bless you we love you [Applause] you

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 48,602

Rating: 4.9499583 out of 5

Keywords: harvest, Harvest Christian Fellowship, Greg Laurie Sermons, bible study for me, bible study, youtube sermons, Greg Laurie, Greg Laurie Live, socal harvest, harvest crusade 2021, evangelistic sermons, sermons on fame, sermons on being famous, can you be famous and a christian, the bible on fame, what does the bible say about fame, how to believe in god, how to be saved by jesus christ, how to know i am going to heaven', harvest crusade

Id: qy_0R3ThkzI

Length: 155min 5sec (9305 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021