- Alright, well, let's grab our Bibles. We're going to turn to two passages today. We're going to turn to John chapter eight, the gospel of John, chapter eight, and also, Psalm 19. Psalm 19. And the title of my message is The Disciplines of a Disciple. The Disciplines of a Disciple. Quick question, how many of you want to hear God speak to
you today from His word? Raise up your hand. OK. Good. That's most of you. Well, it really comes
down to how you listen. How you listen. You know, there's
different ways to listen. You could listen passively. You could really not listen at all or you can listen intently. You need to listen as though
your life depends upon it because it does. Because what we're looking
at is from God Himself. Let's say you were going to be a skydiver. How many of you have ever gone skydiving? Raise your hand up. Wow, I'm impressed by that actually. I've never gone skydiving.
I don't plan on going. Now, if my plane was on
fire and there was a chute, I would go skydiving, OK? But, apart from that, I don't
envision that happening, but, I think if I was
going to go skydiving, I would listen very carefully
to my instructor, right? Like, how to use the chute, where is the ripcord, when do I pull the ripcord. Why would I listen to him carefully? Because my life depends on it. In fact, I did hear a story of a guy who went skydiving for the first time. He jumped out of the plane. Five seconds later, he pulls the ripcord. Nothing happens. He starts to panic. He pulls it harder. Still, nothing happens. Then, he remembers that
he has another chute, a backup chute. He pulls that ripcord and
still, nothing happens. Suddenly, he looks down
and, much to his shock, he sees another guy in the air. Except, this guy's going up
as the skydiver is going down. So, the skydiver yells to the guy, hey, do you know anything about skydiving? And the guy yells back,
no, do you know anything about lighting gas stoves? (congregation laughs) Get it? See how they were just like- He was coming down. The
other guy's going up. Wasn't that good? OK, but- You listen, you listen to your instructor because your life depends on it. Well, here's what the Bible
tells us now about discipleship. That's our series. Discipleship. The road less taken. Let's review what we've already learned, and if you're writing notes, you may have missed one of these points, so you might want to jot them down. Five things we've already learned about what it means to be a disciple. Number one, the disciple of Jesus Christ loves God more than
anyone or anything else. That's based on Luke 14, where Jesus said, if you want to be My disciple, you must hate your father,
mother, wife, brother, sister, and your own life, and we
pointed out to you that the Lord is not telling us
to literally hate someone, but to love Him more, where our love for God would be so strong, our love for someone else would be like hatred in comparison. So, point number one,
love God more than anyone or anything else. Number two, the disciple of Jesus Christ takes up their cross daily,
emphasis on that word, daily and follows Christ. And we learned that what that
means is you die to yourself. You put God first. Number three, the disciple of Jesus has turned the title deed of
their life over to Christ. The title deed or the
pink slip, if you will. Jesus said there in Luke 14,
if you want to be my disciple, you must forsake all that you have. It does not mean we have
to take a vow of poverty to be a believer, or a disciple. But that phrase, forsake all that you have means surrender your claim to, or simply acknowledge everything you have comes to you from God, hence the point, turn the pink slip, or the title deed, of
your life over to God. Number four, a disciple
impacts their culture. Jesus pointed out that we
are the salt of the earth. In the first century, salt
was used to stop the spread of corruption or the rotting process. You'd rub it into the meat to preserve it. And salt stimulates thirst. In the same way, as a follower of Christ, we speak out against evil
and we speak up for Christ. Hopefully, living a life that it so godly, it causes others to have
a thirst to know Him. And fifth and lastly, a disciple brings forth spiritual fruit because scripture tells us, herein will they know you're My disciples, that you bring forth much fruit. Alright, with that in mind, let's talk now about the
things that a disciple does to stay strong, spiritually. That's why I've called this message The Disciplines of a Disciple. In fact, the word disciple comes from the root word discipline. They're rooted together. But we don't like discipline, right? That's hard. You know, we want it fast. We want it now. We don't like to wait
for anything anymore. You want to get a book
or some item of clothing, or whatever it is that you want. Why go down to the mall? Just order it on Amazon.com. And if you're a Prime member, you might even get same-day delivery. You want to watch a movie.
Why go to a theater, now? Download it on iTunes or
maybe watch it on Netflix. Or you know, you want
to find the news out. You don't have to wait for the news to come on at 6:00 in the
evening, like the old days. Just go to Twitter. Find out right now what's going on. Get the news feed from that. Or if you want to find
some information out, gone are the days of the
Encyclopedia Britannica. (congregation laughs) How many of you remember those? Some of them- Some, you used to be able to buy them. They'd come to your house sometimes. A very impressive set of books. I got a set years ago. Even the title, The
Encyclopedia Britannica- (congregation laughs) You just sounded intelligent
telling people about it. Here is my set of The
Encyclopedia Britannica. Have you read them? No, I've never read them, but
they look nice, don't they? (congregation laughs) And the problem was when you did get around to reading them, they were already dated, right? Hardback books, already dated. Now, we just Google information, not that it's always accurate, because anyone can
pretty much say anything and it's not vetted in many cases. But, we like to get things quickly. So, when we hear of following Christ and taking up crosses
and disciplining ourself and slowing down and
meditating on God's word, that is like alien information. But yet, God says, be still
and know that I am God. So, what I'm going to share with you now is an absolute essential
for being a disciple. If you are going to be a
real disciple of Jesus, you need to slow down and learn to listen, bringing me to my sixth point. A disciple will carefully
read, study, and live according to God's word. It's on the screen if you're taking notes. A disciple will carefully
read, study, and live according to God's word. What is that based on? Jesus said in John 8:31, He said these things to
those who believed in Him. If you continue in My
word, you are My disciples, and you will know the truth and
the truth will set you free. You know, sometimes that
verse is taken out of context. You know, man, the
truth will set you free, and here's the truth. And we'll use it to
describe all kinds of truths and quotes that we might pass on. But this is very specific here. This is not just any truth. This is specific, absolute truth found exclusively in scripture. The context is reading, studying, knowing, and living scripture. That truth will set you free. This is the only absolute truth, the truth we find in the Bible, because God says, Thy word is truth. Jesus says, I am the way. Why? The truth and the life. This is the only absolute truth we can be certain of in life. And, when I understand
what God says about life, it sets me free. For instance, you might think, oh, God doesn't love me and He would never forgive me of my sin. OK, check out the truth in the Bible, where it says if you
will confess your sin, He's faithful and just
to forgive you your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Oh, no. I've messed up. I'm condemned. God won't hear my prayers. Hey, open up the Bible
and read the truth, man. Romans 8:1. There is therefore now
no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Or, if you have air conditioning problems, there's no condensation
to those who are in- (congregation laughs) No, I made that up. I just wanted to see
if you were listening. But you see, I continue in the truth because everything I need to know about God and life, itself, is found in the Bible. How many of you believe that? It's true. Everything that you need to know. You don't need extra biblical books or special revelations from people. No. Everything you need to know about God is found right here in this book that you hold in your hands. And, as disciples, we
are to learn it first and then, we are to share it with others. Let's again review the Great
Commission in Matthew 28. Jesus says, go therefore and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
Son, and the Holy Spirit. Listen. Teaching them to observe all
things that I've commanded you and lo, I'm with you, even to the end of the age. So, I'm learning and I'm teaching. As I've said, as a follower of Jesus, I should either be discipled by someone or I should be discipling someone else, passing this truth on. Paul writes about that in Colossians 1:28. He says, so, we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone, with all the wisdom God has given us, we want to present them to
God's spiritually mature in a relationship with Christ. Listen to this. You can not take people any further than you, yourself, have come. You can't take people any further than you, yourself, have come. And here's the problem. We're aware of that. And, you know, maybe we're not as far down
the road as we ought to be as followers of Jesus. In my first message, I pointed out that some who've known the Lord
for 10 years, 20 years, are still kind of like
big spiritual babies. They haven't learned to
feed themselves spiritually. They haven't become
mature as they ought to. But listen, you ought to
be so mature in your faith that you could say to someone, follow my example. You say, no, Greg, you're wrong. We should never ask people
to follow our example. We should just have them follow Jesus. That's a cop-out. You should be living a godly life in such a way where you could
say as the Apostle Paul said, imitate me, as I imitate Christ. First Corinthians 11:1. Be imitators of me. Follow my example and, listen, if you like it or not, people are looking at you as a visible representative
of Jesus Christ. And they're making evaluations about God, according to the way that you live. That's a lot of pressure. I don't like that. Well, they're doing it, so, deal with it. That's what being a disciple is. We accept that. I mean, what if the church is filled with people just like you? What if everybody else in the church was just like you are? What if everyone in the church read the Bible as faithfully
as you read the Bible? Would we be a Bible-studying church? What if everybody in the church worshiped God just like you do? Would we be a worshiping church? What if everybody in the church gave of their finances just
as faithfully as you do? Would we have a church that's supported? What if everybody in the church shared the gospel as often as you do? What would it be like? What if others were just like you? What if they walk like you and talk like you and dress like you? I heard about a guy that wanted to get married in the worst way. So, he found a girl he was in love with. He took her home to meet his parents and his mother didn't like her. So, he went on to find another girl, brought her home. Still, the mother didn't like her. So, then he went out and found a girl that looked like his mother, talked like his mother, dressed like his mother. In every way, this girl
was like his mother. But his father didn't like her, so- (congregation laughs) So, being a disciple is walking with Jesus in such a way that you could say to someone else, follow my example. Well, Greg, we mess up. I know we mess up. We all do. I do. You do. But that doesn't excuse
us from being an example. Now, listen. He says if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples. This is translated elsewhere, if you abide in my word- You're saying, well, what does this mean? Kind of like the dude abides
from the Big Lebowski? No. No, it's different. The word abide is used- How many of you understood that reference, the dude abides? Four of you. OK. Never mind. (congregation laughs) Scott, you got it, didn't you? Scott- I knew Scott would get it. Scott's in the front row. He's a professional comedian. He tells me that. No, he is. He's very funny. But- He tells me that, too. He says, I'm very funny. I know he his. But, anyway. Moving on. Abiding. What does that mean? Well, Jesus says in John 15. If you abide in me, and
my words abide in you, you'll ask what you will and
it shall be done unto you. What does that mean? The word abide means- Think of a tree, planting
your roots deeply into Christ, soaking up the nutrients, growing each and every day, staying in a given place, staying in fellowship with him. If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples. If you abide in my word,
another word for it. Or Jesus said if you abide in me and my word abides in you, then you'll ask for whatever
you want and it'll be done and I'll tell you why. Because you'll start praying for what God wants you to pray for. That's the objective of prayer, not getting God to do
what I want Him to do. It's getting me to do
what God wants to do. If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples. That means you study it. That means you memorize it. And, ultimately, it means
it affects your thinking and, ultimately, your living, in everything that you do, I love how someone describes
that man that walks with Him and it says, his delight is in the word of God and in it does he meditate day and night. The word meditate means to ponder. Actually, in the root, it means to chew. Chew your food. Chew. Think it over. See, I think sometimes we read the Bible with no comprehension. We see it as a religious duty. We do mechanically. You read three chapters. Read three chapters. What were they about? I have no idea. (congregation laughs) But I read three chapters
and I can prove it. Yeah, but, if it doesn't affect your life, if you don't even
understand what you read, you'd be better off reading three verses. I'd rather you read one
chapter of the Bible, slowly, carefully, with contemplation, asking the Lord how it
applies to your life, than read 10 chapters so
you have bragging rights. It's possible to read the Bible out of pure duty and
not remember anything, sort of like Dory in Finding Nemo. Remember? She was always forgetting. Or maybe you might read the
Bible like some self-help book. Positive Principles. Well, it's much more than that. I need to understand that
this is the very word of God and I read it that way. I am now reading the words of God. I am reading the autobiography of God. And I believe that this
book will speak to me. I love what Martin Luther said. In paraphrase, he said the Bible is alive. It has hands. It takes hold of me. It has feet. It chases after me. It's alive and it's powerful and sharper than any two-edge sword. So, we must approach it like that. You know, I think the
best way to illustrate it it's sort of like the role
of a pitcher and a catcher at a baseball game. Like this. This is a baseball. And if I'm the pitcher and
I'm going to throw this, the catcher has to pay attention. Right? Because if I throw this hard, if I'm a really good pitcher, this could get up to a speed
of 100 miles per hour, right? So, you have to be paying attention because if you aren't paying attention, you're going to miss it. So, let me see. Here it comes. You know, and if you're not looking- (congregation laughs)
- See? You weren't looking. That was a Wiffle ball. No one will be harmed in that. This one's a little harder. This one's harder and it's coming. (congregation laughs) So, you better be paying attention. (congregation laughs) Scott. Very good. Oh! (congregation laughs) Oh, now we're injuring people. Here we go. (congregation laughs) - [Greg] I don't know why
I put my leg up, like- (congregation laughs) what was that? OK, this illustration has
completely fallen apart, hasn't it? OK, one more time. Here it comes. Catch it. It's coming. Very good. OK, don't throw it back. I want you to keep it. You keep it. Keep it. Keep it. That's yours. (applause) I think that little boy
back there wants it. Do you want that? Do you want the ball? Give it to the little boy behind you. He wants it. Look at him. - [Greg] There you go. OK, listen. You just woke up. Why? Because I was throwing things at you. (congregation laughs) And you didn't want to be injured. But, no, the role of a
pitcher and a catcher, they work together. Jason Pal, our high school
pastor, told me in the back room, I used to be a catcher in baseball. And he says the catcher's the most important person on the team. I said, I thought the pitcher was. No, the catcher. OK, whatever. But they have to work together. So, when the word of God comes your way. How do you listen? See, it makes all the difference. If you're distracted,
you're looking around, your head might come off. But if you're paying attention, you got that big, old padded glove and you got that cage in front of your face, you catch it. That's how you have to come
ready to hear the word of God. You know, I find that
when I come to church, if I bring a notebook and take notes, it really helps me. Because I forget things, very quickly, and that's why we put notes on the screen. We put points on the screen. We put scripture references on the screen to help you for further Bible study. Listen, we need to
listen carefully because success or failure in the Christian life is dependent on how much of the Bible you get into your heart
and mind on a daily basis and how obedient you are to it. That's on the screen. I want you to think about this. Success or failure in the Christian life is dependent on how much of the Bible you get into your heart
and mind on a daily basis and how obedient you are to it. I've never met a Christian
who's failing spiritually who is also studying the Bible diligently. It's usually when there's
a neglect in this area. Billy Sunday became one
of the great evangelists of his generation. He was before Billy Graham and someone once said
to him as a young man, William, if you do these three things, no one will ever write the word
backslider after your name. They said, spend 15 minutes a
day talking to God in prayer, spend 15 minutes a day letting God talk to you through the Bible, and then, spend 15 minutes a day talking to someone else about Jesus. If you do these things, you'll
never be called a backslider. I thought that's pretty good information, don't you think? So, we need to approach the word this way because, you see, the Bible
doesn't just contain truth. The Bible is truth. It is the yardstick by which we measure all other so-called truth. And if you're a hungry
person, spiritually, you're a healthy person, spiritually. Healthy people are hungry people. That's how I know I'm in good health because right now, I'm hungry. But, I'm always hungry. I'm not hungry 20 minutes after I eat, but I'm hungry shortly after that. And so, that's a good sign, if you hunger for more of the word of God. You know, when we do our crusades, I speak at a lot of churches. I've spoken at churches
all around the world and could I ever tell you stories. Crazy things that have
happened at church services. But I've spoken to every
kind of congregation, large and small. I've spoken at calvary chapels and Southern Baptist churches and Assemblies of God churches and Anglican churches and you name it, I've
probably spoken there. And I can take the spiritual
temperature of a congregation in under five minutes. I get a very real sense
of where they're at in their relationship with the Bible, starting with having them
bring their Bible to church. How many of you brought
your Bible to church today? Let me see your Bible. Just hold it up. Now, that's- That looks good to me. And see some of you are
holding up phones and tablets. I'm going to give you credit for that because I know the Bible is in it. (congregation laughs) But having said that, I think it's really great to
carry an actual Bible, as well, and mark up your Bible. So, I even like the fact that the Bible has symbolic power. You know what I'm talking about? Sometimes I'll be flying and you know, I'll get seated next to someone and we're chatting away and
having a friendly conversation. And, you know, it may come out that I'm
a Christian, somehow. I try to make it come out somewhere and before long, I may reach into my briefcase and pull out a Bible. And I have seen people
visibly recoil from my Bible. (congregation laughs)
- It's like, you pull it out, they're- It's like you pulled a
rattlesnake out of a bag. They're afraid it's like, going
to attack them or something. Here's my Bible. Sorry, it's a living Bible. It gets very excited, you know. (congregation laughs) Keep it in a box with
little air holes punched in. (congregation laughs) So, the thing is, is there's
just power in the word of God and we want to fill our lives with it. And there are other things that can, sort of pollute our minds, so we miss what the word of God says. Someone once came up to a
great Bible teacher and said, sir, I would give the world
to know the Bible as you do. And the teacher looked at him and said, that's exactly what it will cost you. I'd give the world. Yeah, give up the world. Romans 12 says, don't be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind that you might know what is the good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. How is my mind going to be transformed? It's going to happen through
study of the word of God. I love the fact that in Acts 17 it talks about the believers in Berean and they listened very carefully when the apostles showed up. We read there the people of
Berean were more open-minded than those of Thessalonica. They listened eagerly to Paul's message. They searched the
scriptures, day after day, to check up on Paul and Silas to see if they were
really teaching the truth. I love that they listened eagerly and also, that they checked up on them. Can you imagine checking
up the Apostle Paul? The apostle Paul who wrote a
good part of the New Testament. Yeah, we're checking you out, buddy. We'll see if what you say
lines up with scripture. That is the right way to listen. Alright, with all of this in mind, let's go to our second passage and we'll conclude with this. Psalm 19. Psalm 19. We'll read just a few
verses about the word. We'll read the phrase,
the law of the Lord, but that could just as easily be the word of the Lord or the word of God. You could even put the words, the Bible, and it would still mean the same thing. Psalm 19, verse seven. The law of the Lord is perfect or the word of God is perfect or the Bible is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is
clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together. More are they to be
desired are they than gold, yes, and much fine gold and sweeter are they than
the honey in the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned and in keeping of them, there is great reward. Did you notice the cadence of those words? It almost sounds like a song, doesn't it? Like the lyrics of a song. That's because the psalms
were originally songs. So, you are reading song lyrics, in a way, inspired by God. So, what've we learned
about the word of God? Number one, the word of God is perfect, a direct contrast to the flawed, imperfect
reasoning of humanity today. Things are always changing and
things are always shifting. Culture changes. Fashion changes. Technology changes. You have the latest,
greatest whatever phone and then a new one comes
and quickly replaces it. Oh, man. Hairstyles change, too. You know, we all look back at
our high school yearbook photo with shock, right? And we always think, what was I thinking? (congregation laughs) Was the mullet really a good idea? (congregation laughs) I took it even further. I was bald and I had a mullet. That's like, the worst thing imaginable. I actually rocked that
look for a short time. You don't want to do that, ever. But even the newspaper is dated now because we have access to all this news that we can get at the drop of a hat. But God's word, in
contrast, is always fresh. It's always new. It's as fresh as the morning dew. The scripture says of God, his mercies are new every morning. Number two, the word of God is a treasure. The word of God is a treasure. Look at verse 10. These truths are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold and
there is a great reward for those who obey them. It's like gold. There's a passage in Proverbs 2, speaking of searching for scripture- or searching scripture,
as mining for gold, from a modern translation and it says, if you make insight your priority and won't take no for an answer, searching for it like a
prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt. I love that translation. You know where in the Bible it said, I'm like Indiana Jones. I'm Dora the Explorer, here,
if you're a kid. Right? I want to see what's in the
word of God for me today, how God could speak to me from scripture. That's the way to approach it. You know, I lost my iPhone the other day. And that's kind of a big deal when you lose your phone, isn't it? So, I use the feature, Find My Phone, and you basically send out a signal. And I've often found my phone with me. Like, where- Find my phone and it's
like, why is it at my house and then I hit the little chime to make the sound so I can find you and it's like, in my pocket or it's in the cushion of
the chair that I'm sitting in because I'm too lazy to go looking for it. By the way, I also use this
feature, Find My Phone, to find my wife. They should just call
that an app, Find My Wife, because my wife- her phone is always dying. I don't know why. The battery's always low. Is this only true for me, husbands? How many husbands said- Never mind. I don't want to get you in trouble. Her phone's always dying and so, then her phone's always on mute. OK? She said, I had it
turned down for church. And so, I can't find her. She won't answer her phone. So, I hit the Find My
Phone feature on her phone. And a loud chime goes out and then, I keep hitting it, hitting it, hitting it, until she- What?! I said, just wanted to know
where you were. How are you? (congregation laughs) Find My Wife, great feature. You know how you feel
when you leave your house and forgot your phone? You're halfway to work. Oh, no, I forgot my phone. I must go back and get my phone. What if you felt that
way about your Bible? What a difference it would make. (applause) Oh, no, I forgot my Bible. I need to go get it. You know, in our film Steve
McQueen: American Icon, we tell the story of his conversion. Steve came to Christ when he
was at the peak of his career, as the number one movie star in the world. But six months later, after he'd been growing in his faith and going to church every week and studying the Bible with his pastor for an hour each week, Steve found out he had cancer and it was in the advanced stages. And it was told by his doctors, just get your affairs in
order. You're going to die. You only have months. Well, Steve really wanted to live and now he had something
to really live for. He wanted to tell others about
what Christ had done for him. And he heard about doctors down in Mexico with all of these treatments
so they could care cancer. And, in desperation, he started
getting those treatments and he found a surgeon who would remove the cancerous
tumors, that, at that point, had filled his entire body. And so, he chartered a
plane to fly down there and get the surgery done. But he asked his pastor, Leonard DeWitt, if he could somehow meet Billy Graham. Steve had seen Billy on television and Billy was at the peak of
his ministry at this point. And Bill came to visit Steven. I know because I shared this story earlier and I found out that one
of the pilots of that plane went to our church. His name is Mike. And he came up and said, Greg, I was one of the
pilots on that plane. I'll tell you exactly what happened. And so, he said, out on the runway, we didn't
know we were picking up Steve McQueeen. We just had another name
he was flying under. And suddenly, a knock on
the door on the fuselage and we open it and there
stands before us Billy Graham. And he said, I'm here
to see Steve McQueen. And Steve pulls up shortly afterwards and they're in the plane. And Billy speaks with Steve
and they have prayer together. And Steve realizes he's lost his Bible. And, he's sort of panicked about it. And Billy says, it's OK,
Steve. Here, take mine. And he gives to Steve his personal Bible. And I've had this Bible in my hand. It has the name Billy Graham
embossed on the cover. It's a very well-worn Bible, a lot of notes in it
from Billy's messages. And Billy inscribed it, to
my friend, Steve McQueen, may God bless and keep you always. And he wrote in the
passage from Philippians, He who has begun a good work in you will keep you unto the
day of Jesus Christ. So, Steve held on to that
Bible Billy Graham gave him and he went down to Juarez, Mexico and checked into a little clinic. And the surgeon performed the
surgery that lasted for hours. The huge tumors were removed. In fact, the surgeon
collapsed in exhaustion from the surgery. And Steve survived the surgery and he was wheeled into a recovery room. And sadly, a short time later, Steve entered eternity after
dying of a heart attack. They went into the room and they pulled the
sheet back of Steve's bed and he was holding on to
the Bible of Billy Graham. This book is so precious because when you get to
the last day of your life, you're not going to care about a cool car. You're not going to care about how much money is in the bank. You aren't going to care
about what house you lived in. You're not going to care
about your next vacation or the new iPhone or the new Android phone or the new anything. But I'll tell you what you
are going to care about. You're going to care
about what the Bible says because this is the book that tells you how to get to heaven. And this is the book that
prepares you to know God. (applause) The word of God, this
is how He speaks to us. One last point and I'll close. Keeping the word of God makes you happy. Keeping the word of God makes you happy. Verse eight of Psalm 19. The statues of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Listen, if you want peace,
joy, meaning, and happiness that comes through knowing God's word, Luke 11:28 says, happy are those that hear
the word of God and keep it. You can have a happy life without sin. All you hear is, oh, no, you
need to get drunk and party to have fun or you need to do drugs or you need to have illicit sex or you need to do this or do that. It's all a lie. You need a relationship with
God through Jesus Christ and you'll find the happiness
you've wanted in life in a relationship with Him. And I'm going to close
this message by saying, do you have this relationship with God? See, it's the Bible that
tells me that God loves me. How would I know otherwise? It's the Bible that tells me God loved me so much
He sent His son, Jesus, to die on the cross in my place. It's the Bible that tells me
that Christ rose from the dead three days after they crucified him. It's the Bible that tells me Christ can come and take
residence in my heart. It's the Bible that tells
me I can be forgiven of all of my sin, if
I will believe in Him. Again, this is the autobiography of God. So, have you asked Christ
to forgive you of your sin? Do you know with certainty that you will go to heaven when you die? If not, I wouldn't want
to close this service without giving you the
opportunity to believe. If you would like Him
to come into your life, if you would like to find this happiness the Bible promises, if you would like to know
that you'll go to heaven when you die and have that confidence, like Steve McQueen had, it can happen for you right now because Jesus says, I stand at the door and knock. And if you'll hear my
voice and open the door, I will come in. Let's all bow our heads for
a word of prayer, please. Everybody praying with me. Heavenly Father, I pray
now for everybody here, everybody watching, everybody
listening, wherever they are. I pray that your Holy Spirit will convict and convince them of their need for you. And I pray they will
come to and believe now. And, while our heads are
bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying, how many of you would say today, Greg, I need Jesus. I want to find this happiness
you've been talking about. I want to go to heaven when I die. I want to find the meaning
and purpose of life. I'm ready to say yest to Him. I'm ready to believe in Him. Pray for me. Listen, if you want Christ
to come into your life, if you want Him to
forgive you of your sin, if you want to go to heaven when you die, if you want to find this happiness
we've been talking about, would you raise your
hand up wherever you are? And I'd like to pray for you. Raise your hand up high
where I could see it. God bless. God bless you. Hands are going up all over the room. I hope yours is one of them, if you need to take this step, wherever you are. Maybe you're watching
this screen right now, would you raise your hand, too? Because the Lord is with you there. Just raise your hand and say, yes, I need Jesus Christ
right now. Pray for me. Anybody else? You want His forgiveness. You want to know God in a personal way. You want your guilt taken away. You want a second chance at life. Raise your hand up. Let me pray for you. God bless you. God bless all of you. Now, I'm going to ask
that every one of you who has raised your hand, I want you to stand to your feet and I'm going to lead you in a prayer. Stand to your feet. You heard me right. Stand up. Yes, sir. Stand up. Stand up, even if you
did not raise your hand, but you want to make this commitment, a re-commitment to Christ. I want you stand up right now and I'm going to lead you in a prayer. If you're watching the screen, stand up right now. I'll lead you in this prayer. Wherever you are, stand up and say, yes, I want Jesus. And we'll pray together. I'll wait one more moment. Anybody else? Stand up and let me pray with you. God bless all of you standing. Anybody else? Stand now. Alright, all of you standing, I want you to pray this
prayer out loud after me. This is where you're asking
God to forgive you of your sin and you're asking Jesus
to come into your life. Again, as I pray, pray this out loud, right where you're stand. OK? Pray this now. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. But I know that you are the Savior that died on the cross and shed your blood for every sin I have ever committed. I'm sorry for my sin, Lord. I turn from my sin and I choose to follow Jesus from this moment forward. Thank you for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name, I pray. - [Greg] Amen. God bless each one of you
that prayed that prayer. God bless all of you. God bless you guys. God bless.
(applause)
