The Last Days: An In-Depth Interview With Greg Laurie

hey everybody thanks for watching our youtube channel we're constantly updating it with new content and never seen before content so if you want to get the latest from harvest hit the subscribe button well we're here at harvest oc with pastor lori and it's our second podcast interview that we're doing and then this one is about this right off the press yeah it's the revelation book and um we kind of want to have a little bit of a conversation about you know hey what it took to do this and why this is such a big book so let's start with that um this is almost 500 pages yeah so there's been a lot of books about various books of the bible why did you feel that this kind of warranted this sort of volume yeah i think well first of all i enjoyed the challenge of it i i am not an expert on bible prophecy but i am a student of bible prophecy and i've been teaching bible prophecy for over 50 years so i've been effectively preparing for this for decades but the more i teach on bible prophecy the more i want to make it understandable to rank and file people make it understandable and and i think god wants us to understand bible prophecy you know it's interesting when the topic of the abomination of desolation is discussed in matthew 24 and that's the event when the temple will be rebuilt in jerusalem and the antichrist erects an image of himself demands people worship it when that is mentioned jesus says let the reader understand so it's like god wants us to understand these things when paul is writing to the believers in thessalonica and he's talking about the coming of the lord he says brothers i don't want you to be ignorant concerning these things so what does the word revelation mean it means unveiling it is not god's desire to conceal but to reveal and bible prophecy is not given to scare us but to prepare us so i wanted to show the practical side of understanding end times events and how it should impact us studying bible prophecy should expand our hearts not merely inflate our brains it should cause us to want to live a godly life and it should cause us to want to reach out to people that don't know the lord but you know one thing i would say is when we read the book of revelation with understanding we realize that god's in control and that's very reassuring let me even talk about the design when i was talking to our lead designer i said i want something that's vibrant and colorful optimistic and optimistic because usually when you see a commentary in revelation it's red and black and very ominous archangels yeah yeah and i thought let's make this because what is it it's a book of promises and one other thing i would add that there is a special blessing promised to the person who reads hears and keeps the book of revelation now there's no blessing like that attached to any other book of the bible so there's a blessing if i read it and it's implied in the original language to read it out loud so i have to read it then i need to hear it i need to understand what the message is and keep it it should impact me in day-to-day living so i thought people want to understand this book i want to try to write a commentary on revelation that is understandable for regular people so they can know what this important book of the bible has to say to them would you would it be fair to say that it's probably the the most misunderstood book in the bible the yeah it always feels and we've talked about the design and making it look optimistic and and almost joyful because christ is coming back and that's the that's the end game um what do you say to people that say you know it's a it's scary yeah when i talk to people i was going to do this with you they thought oh my gosh this is a scary book yeah so what do you tell people to say that well i mean look there are parts of revelation that are are very intense uh we see the judgment of god being poured upon planet earth we see the revealing of the most wicked man who will ever lived identified as the antichrist and the beast we see the horrible tribulation period we see the rise of babylon yes we see all that but it's interesting people seem to miss the fact that the first part of the book of revelation were caught up into heaven and jesus gives specific words to his church as symbolized by the seven churches of revelation which by the way followed a postal route so these were not only actual churches that existed actual congregations but i believe that they speak to us today and they're very relevant words and so it starts with the message of christ of the church so i begin by asking what if you got an email from jesus or a text from heaven would you read it of course these are like the email of the lord a letter from jesus directly to us as his followers and and there are rays of light throughout the book i heard about a man who who was not known for his deep bible knowledge who said to some others i understand the book of revelation and these other guys were more theologically astute they said no one understands the book of revelation it's an enigma it's a mystery and the man said no i i understand it they said oh you understand it okay what is the book of revelation about and the man said the book of revelation basically says we win in the end you know and there's truth to that so i think as i read through this book i discover or i'm reminded of the fact god is in control of everything that is happening in the world he tells us the future and when god predicts the future and i use the word predict loosely because he knows the future when god speaks of the future it's as though we were speaking of the past and in fact it's more accurate because i forget things that happen you know sometimes i'll tell the story of what happened in a certain place that my wife would be listening she'll say you got the story wrong i'll say you weren't even there she said no but the first time you told it you had other details you left out and she's right so um god remembers the past but he knows the future and living in the realm of eternity when he tells us what is going to happen it's not like the lord is out there on a limb it's like the lord knows what's coming down and he's just revealing that to us so i find revelation to be a very reassuring book throughout the book and throughout the actual revelation book we talked about um the role that america plays on there and uh we live and probably in my lifetime now the scariest time you've been but it's also true that previous generations also lived i mean we looked at you know the father germany all of this uh throughout the years hitler was looked as that could be the antichrist and you spoke about he was you spoke about this in the book so every generation seems to have their times why do you think this time is just a particular very good question okay there are signs of the times and then there's a super sign and the super sign of the time is the rebirth of the nation israel which actually has a connection to what happened in world war ii on may 14 1948 israel became a nation against all odds uh despite losing over six million jewish people in the holocaust the jewish people almost as if on cue return to their homeland i think the jewish people recognize we need to fend for ourself we need to defend ourselves we cannot depend on anyone else to do it and so they returned to their homeland and they fulfilled a bible prophecy the bible tells us on many occasions that's what happened in ezekiel 37 38-39 it talks about the regathering of the jews into their homeland and multiple times it says in the end times in the end times so we're reminded when this happened it's like a prophetic clock starts ticking that is unique to our generation the reemergence of the nation israel now as we see hostility toward her as a nation as we see other signs of the times happening before our eyes we're being reminded that the bible has told us all of these things uh jesus compared end times events to birth pain or labor pains i should say so as a woman is getting closer to having her baby her labor pains get closer and closer together so the idea is we've always said signs of the times if you will and hitler and the third reich and all that happened in world war ii were certainly huge events but now we're seeing things get closer and closer together where there's not months in between events it seems like there's weeks and sometimes days sometimes even hours we see things unraveling before our eyes like take the middle east as an example what happened in afghanistan which in all honesty i think was done very poorly uh and and it was a horrible chain of events and it was not done the way it should have been done with the tragic loss of of 13 uh american service people and one who attended here yeah one well one of the members of the that died tragically there in kabul was uh came to christ along with this family at the harvest crusade so we're thankful that that family believes but oh what a tragedy it is but now we see the re-emergence of islamic terrorism it never went away but now it's on the front page again and right as we're coming to the 20th anniversary of 9 11. and i just watched a documentary on that and it was just so shocking to sort of relive those moments because this documentary followed it in real time where they thought just some plane maybe a small plane crashed by accident into the world trade center then as they're filming the fire they see a commercial jet fly into the tower and then to watch those towers crumble before our eyes and the tremendous loss of life exceeding the lives lost even at pearl harbor and it's hard to believe that happened here we are 20 years later and we're still dealing with this threat these two are signs of the times reminding us that jesus is coming back again he said something in the book that the rule of america is either one of revival or judgment yeah and i thought it was really a great statement because we can either decide that as a country we're going to have this great revival we've talked about the jesus movement in the 70s which we're obviously a big part of um what path are we going are we going towards the revival we're going towards judgment yeah well at the moment i got to know the answer a little bit but yeah i want to do it it's hard to say i mean you know i'm reminded of the opening lines of is it the tale of two cities it was the best of times it was the worst of times i i think both are happening at the same time really bad things happening in our culture the collapse of the american family the redefinition of a family the redefinition of the sexes and you could really take the breakdown of the family and it is at the root of most of our societal ills today uh almost everything is traced to a broken home it's specifically a fatherless home so as we see all of these things happening it doesn't look good but then at the same time as i see young people coming to christ and i see their passion for their faith and their desire to serve the lord it gives me hope so i think we're in a wait and see moment so we need to pray we need to pray that god would send another great spiritual awakening we're starting a brand new series in the book of acts and so i was pointing out in a message i recently gave that if we want to learn about revival we need to go back to the 60s and i don't mean the 1960s i mean ad60 and that was the first jesus movement that jesus himself started there were no bell bottoms but there was long hair beards and sandals like the modern 60s but it was a different kind of movement that christ himself started that literally changed the world here's what concerns me as i read the book of revelation and other books of the bible i cannot see any mention of the united states you clearly find israel spoken of in the end time scenario i think you have a very good case for iran and their role they're going to play in the prophetic puzzle i think you can make a pretty good case for russia and even china but how is it that the reigning superpower the united states is really nowhere to be seen well uh it may be that we just grow weaker with the passing of time and that we become a part of the ten nation confederacy behind the coming world leader identified in revelation as the antichrist it may be that we're decimated in some kind of a nuclear war god forbid and it could also be that there's such a massive revival in america and people are caught up to meet the lord in the air that that would obviously change the the the nature of our nation overnight i don't know why we're not in the end times scenario but i'm praying that god will send one two three or more revivals before he comes for his church and i don't know when that will be well that's kind of the key with no one knows no no but we need to be prepared as christian correct that's right um let's talk about the antichrist because i think it's always a fascinating subject for tv shows and culture in general endlessly and it's all number one messages on youtube are pretty much all in the antichrist and it's always portrayed as this evil looking sort of dark but in the book you were very clear about this antichrist will be one that has a ton of charisma yeah will be very intelligent will be very compelling to listen to will bring peace in lots of ways so if you look at all those characteristics you would think well it's a good guy right so why how are we going to be able to discern from that yeah well i jokingly said it could be on the cover of news we can gq at the same time think the devil wears prada right why do we think you'll be a menacing figure he has to be a charismatic figure because people follow him and i think that he's he obviously has economic solutions he has military solutions he comes as a man of peace initially but he's not a peacemaker he's a troublemaker and if satan never had a son this is him but he's a deceiver remember we call him anti-christ the prefix anti doesn't just mean against it also means instead of so he'd be a christ-like figure to some jesus said one of the end times signs is many will come in my name saying i am christ so he'll be that man how will we be able to discern believe i don't expect to be around too discerned because my understanding of bible prophecy would tell me that before antichrist can be revealed the church will be removed this is based on a statement by the apostle paul in the book of thessalonians when he says he who now restrains will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way then that wicked one will be revealed whom the lord will destroy with the brightness of his coming so that wicked one is antichrist he who now restrains i believe is speaking of the work of the holy spirit through the church the church is like a restraining force in the world today it's christians that speak up for the unborn it's christians that defend the family it's christians that stop trying to stop the spread of evil imagine if we were taken suddenly from this planet how quickly evil could spread we're a restraining force but once we're removed antichrist can be revealed so i often remind people don't be looking for antichrist be looking for jesus christ well that's kind of what i wanted to get to the point of that is is while we know where our comfort lies and we know where our hope resides yes um a lot of people look at revelation they say well it's a long book there's a long period of time so we're going to wait all this time what do you say to people who say like well when's going to be our resolution where's our comfort now in these times what do you say to these people well the lord's going to come when the lord's going to come jesus said no one knows the day of the hour only the father in heaven so we should never set dates um but in the meantime we have a job to do in the book of acts in the opening chapter uh the disciples come to jesus and say uh you know basically when are you going to establish your kingdom jesus said it's not for you to know the times of the seasons but you will receive power at the holy after the holy spirit comes upon you to be witnesses unto me uh in jerusalem judea samaria and the unknown parts of the earth allow me to loosely paraphrase it lord when are you going to establish your kingdom on earth guys get off that it'll happen when it happens you have a job to do get the gospel out that's a very loose paraphrase and an interpretation in fact but i think that's what we should be focusing on you know when we pray thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven as a part of the lord's prayer we're praying for a the return of christ to the earth that will happen at the appointed moment but we're also praying that people will come to christ because every time a person believes in jesus the kingdom of god is extended a little bit further so we need to focus on our job and here's what we're told in peter uh god is not late as some men count lateness he's long suffering toward us not only did any perish but that all should come to repentance so god's not late god's on time and he wants so many people to come into the kingdom before we're caught up to meet the lord in the air so our job is not to stand on a rooftop staring at the sun waiting for jesus to return it's to be about our father's business sharing the gospel and expanding the kingdom until god brings his actual technical kingdom to this planet we tend to forget that a little bit that's not just a wait and see yes game it's an it's an active game we need to be proactive not only in our faith but in the message that we have and we talked about the message at harvest which is to know him and make him known uh i think that's pretty evident there's something in in the book that you talk about the the sick and dying church yeah which i was pretty fascinated by that passage and you talked about all the ills that can fall into a church for a variety of reasons i mean you talk about the fact that you know a few a few years back having a tv in church was a big problem yeah we're having a service that was broadcast or the website um what are the factors that contribute to a dying church if there's such a thing yeah well as i mentioned earlier as the book of revelation begins before we get into the juicy stuff that everyone wants to talk about antichrist millennial reigns second coming battle of armageddon false prophet etc before we get into that jesus has specific words to his church it starts with his words to the church of ephesus he says i know how hard you work i know how discerning you are but i have this against you you've left your first love so remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the first works quickly so very tenderly and lovingly jesus reminds the church and reminds us as christians stay in your first love relationship with jesus stay close to the lord so you start with the church of the and you end up with the church of laodicea and that is the church where jesus is on the outside trying to get in and he says behold i stand at the door and i knock if he'll hear my voice and open the door i'll come in so we've gone from a church that is uh apostolic and we're ending up with the church that is apostate what happened what happened is that church did not stay close in their first love they began to drift and let other things get in the way the sign of a sick and dying church is a church that is living in its past instead of in the present and looking to the future you mentioned tvs in church so one years ago we you know we put up a big flat screen and we filmed the services and i remember having a couple say we're leaving the church we don't come to church to watch tv okay well we're not watching tv it's not like we're watching the show it's like we're just trying to take modern tech and use it to reach people i've had people be critical of everything why are you going on online that's dangerous well look there's a lot of wickedness out there don't we want to go out there with the gospel i think christians need to permeate everything we need to permeate mass media social media we need to be involved in the arts we need to be involved in politics we need christian lawyers christian doctors christian athletes we need to go out there and infiltrate the world and show people what a christian looks like and share the gospel and so we shouldn't be afraid of these things and sometimes the church gets stuck in ruts cultural ruts and we can adapt to the times and i think that we want to adapt to the times we're living without compromising our message and so it's interesting as you come to uh the church before laodicea the church of philadelphia he says you have a little strength and so the ideas of a sick person getting up off their sick bet and uh you know so we start with the church that is in danger of leaving their first love a church that gets very sick but then the church that's coming back again and that gives me hope for revival because i believe that god could revive the church and we could have a comeback and we need to do that we need to be known more for what we are for than what we're against and and there is a place for us in culture a place for us and all these things but don't let those things take the place of our primary mission our primary mission is to proclaim jesus christ to call people to christ and help them get up on their feet spiritually discipling them and repeating the process that is what we call the great commission we can't lose sight of that well the book is about i mean the subtitle is a book of promises i mean the promise of what jesus holds for us in the future you talk about this in the book quite a bit uh there's an end game to this jesus is coming back yes and we're going to be with them in heaven that's right um do you think that people lose track of that that there's there is an end game i mean there's an actual there's a reward there i mean people go we find people going to church and go through motion every sunday on the clock you go you sit down at probably the same place you always sit down yeah you have your routines yes and some people will look at the screen we talk about tv some people will look at you even though they're here yeah they look at it from the screen um but they forget that there's a reward yeah how do we convince people that there's a long game being played here well i think it's just look at what scripture says you know c.s lewis once said those that think the most of the next life do the most in this one loose paraphrase and i think it's good to be heavenly minded and i think people misunderstand what that means uh you've heard the expression they're so heavenly minded they're no earthly good uh i would say some people are so earthly minded they're no heavenly good being heavenly minded means that i think of the eternal you know in ancient documents they used to write a phrase momento mori mip over your bank account how much money you have in the bank how many properties you own whatever momento mori which means think of death and the idea was just have an eternal perspective it's not a morbid preoccupation with death it's the understanding that life on earth ends but life continues on later this should be a warning to the non-believer because there's a final judgment it should be a promise to the believer because there are future blessings and rewards for us and you know sometimes when a young person dies we feel like that's the worst tragedy and of course it is a great tragedy when anyone dies but especially a younger person and but we act as though well that's it and they missed out on all the opportunities we forget there's an afterlife and maybe dreams will be realized in the next life that we're not fully realized in this one and don't forget one day heaven and earth are going to become one this is spoken of at the end of the book of revelation and so we will be together again with loved ones that have preceded us in faith the bible even talks about building houses and planting vineyards and the lamb with the lion these are very tangible things are going to happen so there's great hope for the future for the child of god but it's not so for the person who has not put their faith in christ so the thing i emphasize in in this book and always in my ministry is you know come to jesus and believe in him and then begin to live for him and put god first and seek first the kingdom of god in his righteousness and god will just put all the other areas of your life in their proper order this is a real promise to be fulfilled yeah uh well you talked about juicy stuff and of course we can't leave that out i want to talk about armageddon yeah people forget that it's an actual place it's not just a concept correct in the book you you illustrate that quite a few times about president reagan you know talking about the collapse and saying i think we're headed towards armageddon and it became it became a movie and you know in all of this um people are curious about those actual things that are taking place in revelation about america armageddon specifically and the role that america would play in there because we don't really see it so talk to me a little bit about armageddon yeah i don't know if america will play a role in armageddon but basically armageddon is from the root word armageddon or megiddo valley of megiddo so in israel there is a place called the valley of megiddo according to scripture this is where the final battles are going to be fought at the end of the great tribulation period so here's kind of the prophetic calendar as i see it next event is the rapture of the church then we have the antichrist emerge he rebuilds the jewish temple he comes initially with overtures of peace but at the halfway point of the tribulation period antichrist shows his true colors and commits that abomination of desolation where he erects an image of himself in the temple and commands people to worship it this sort of signals the second half of the tribulation with the judgment of god is poured out on the earth the antichrist is sort of a sidekick if you will a false prophet a a religious figure a guru type guy who who sort of brings a spiritual movement wrapped around the antichrist with his economic and military solutions and according to revelation they're both energized by the dragon it is identified for us as satan in revelation chapter 12. so all of these things are culminating things are looking pretty bleak but even in the midst of this horrible tribulation period god raises up his witnesses there's two witnesses that are raised up that are proclaiming the truth uh we don't know who they are many think they're moses and elijah uh one has the power to stop it from reigning another can call fire from heaven unique traits attributed to those prophets plus when jesus was transfigured moses and elijah were on each side of him i don't know if it's moses and elijah i personally think it probably is and then the antichrist kills them so it looks like he's prevailing and the bible tells the sin that god raises them from the dead and they ascend to heaven so there are these glimpses of light breaking through the darkness of the tribulation period including an angel flying through the heavens proclaiming the everlasting gospel but everything is building now building to the final battles the battles of armageddon it's the antichrist and his combined forces of 10 nations we don't know who they are in particular facing off against the kings of the east some of surmise that could be china china and japan perhaps india is involved i don't know that's all guessing there but there will be the forces of the antichrist there will be the kings of the east that much i know and they'll face off in the battle of argent armageddon while they're battling away this is the moment when christ returns in the second coming he ends the battle of armageddon and then he establishes his kingdom on the earth so armageddon is a place it's a battle or a series of battles which is ended by the return of jesus christ i want to be part of that movie well you will and i want to be a part of it here's why because the bible tells us when christ who is our life shall appear we shall appear with him in glory so the lord is coming back with armies from heaven so the way i see it eve is we're caught up to meet the lord in heaven and then when the lord returns to the earth we return with jesus back to the planet so we'll have a front row seat and we'll i believe we'll be there you mentioned something in the book which i literally was not aware of that the word rapture is not mentioned in the bible yeah um so where did that come from yeah well the word rapture and here's the the common rebuttal of rapture that's something that was invented in the early 1900s and it didn't exist before that nonsense okay uh the word rapture comes from the latin word rapturous that's built on the greek word harpazo all right so if i have a latin bible i i come to the word caught up harpazo it would be rapturous so you could say that the word is in some translations of the bible but the event is clearly in the bible and spoken of often the word harpazo is used repeatedly first thessalonians 4 is probably the most uh well-known use of the word when it says the lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel the dead in christ will rise first and we which are alive and remaining shall be caught up together with them in the clouds the word caught up means it's from the word harpazo taken by force taken quickly it's the ultimate great escape and so this is spoken of many times jesus in john 14 said and my father ourselves are many mansions if what we're not so i would have told you if i go i come to prayer i go to prepare a place for you and i will come again and receive you harpazo receive you unto myself that where i am you may be also we read about this event many times in scripture so the event has always been in the bible and it's an event where the lord comes for his church i think there's a difference between the rapture if you will or the harpazo if you prefer and the second coming in the rapture he comes for his church and the second coming he returns with this church in the rapture it's before the great tribulation the second coming is at the end of the tribulation in the rapture he comes as a thief in the night in the second coming every eye will see him so there's many distinctions but sometimes in the bible they're both spoken of together as the coming of the lord so i think the main thing is you just need to be ready to meet the lord the book i think is a perfect sort of junction between allegory and these vivid images that we all have in our heads and really practical application listen your job is not like you said it's not to stand up on the rooftop and wait it's to be proactive in your faith um is there a time where we are cut standing and looking around and waiting for things to happen as opposed to just say hey listen it's time for us to be proactive it's time for me to go talk about my faith to somebody that doesn't know me are we caught in those moments oh sure i think you know what i think it is eve is like i think we get distracted you know after jesus ascended the angel said why do you stand looking up into the sky the same jesus that you see will come back again then there to get on with the work that they're called to do and i think that people christians today get very distracted we let other things take the place of the lord let me use as an example politics you know i've said before i think christians should run for office i think it's great when christians are elected and the bible even says uh when righteous people are ruling the people rejoice having said that our primary focus on life should not be on politics it should be on spreading the gospel and calling people into god's kingdom and i've seen christians that used to be passionate use their social media platforms talking about jesus all the time now it's other things that they're more passionate about it might be their political candidate it might be for or against the vaccine for or against mask wearing for or against fill and blank here here's what i'm saying you're entitled to your opinion i have my opinions but i don't get up in the pulpit and talk about those things because those are secondary issues my message is jesus christ and him crucified and resurrected and so i think that we we should not allow ourselves to become distracted jesus warned actually about a servant that's waiting for his lord's return where they're distracted by the cares of this life what they're going to eat or what they're going to wear what they're going to drink there's nothing wrong with saying what am i going to have for dinner what am i going to wear today what career path will i follow good those are good things to think about don't be obsessed with those things put god first coming back to matthew 6 33 seek first the kingdom of god in his righteousness and all these things speaking of what we'll eat wear and drink etc will be added to you so all i'm saying is have your primary passion be about jesus it's okay to enjoy life in fact the christians should enjoy life more than anybody else the bible says god has given us all things richly to enjoy enjoy it have that great meal admire the sunset enjoy time with family and friends enjoy what god has given you but let your primary passion be for christ and that's what we should be doing all the time but especially in light of the fact that jesus is coming is it well i hate to ask question but is it really possible in these days to be able to say listen i have this life where my life is dedicated to christ yeah i have these other pursuits that i'm doing can we find i i've yet to find a really good politician that doesn't get attacked for his belief the minute that they declare themselves as christians you know they're on the spot right away now they'd only have to defend their positions but they have to defend their faith as well that's right is it possible can we do this nowadays we can and i think in a way we must you know i've i've had the opportunity to have in-depth conversations with many political leaders uh many that if i named them people would know them but i don't always talk about what i say to these people but i try to take i'm a pastor i i'm i'm not there as a political advisor i'm not a pundit i'm i'm i'm a pastor i'm a minister and so i i like to point them to christ i like to remind them of what scripture says i pray for them i admire them and but but i don't get all involved in the political aspects of it but but i want to you know be able to minister to whoever god puts in my path and and i think it's a wonderful thing when people want to honor the lord take one example my friend marco rubio senator from florida marco posts a scripture on his twitter feed every day he has come under tremendous attack for that but i admire the fact that a senator not some pastor a senator wants to post a scripture there's nothing politically helpful about that in fact but this is something that's a conviction of marco and i i once met him and his wife jeanette not once i've been with him multiple times but i was doing a married couple's conference in hawaii and after it was over with someone came and said marco rubio sarah and he would like to meet you i said senator marco rubio and indeed it was him and we spent time together and i saw how much he loved the lord he loved the word of god his wife was a just a great bible student just a wonderful christian couple and and my feeling is i'm appreciative that someone like that would be out there serving our nation with their faith in christ intact i've talked to others that have strong faith now we may not always agree with every position they take on everything but uh i'm thankful when i see these people ask for prayer and ask for biblical counsel and i think we should rejoice because there are other politicians that go out of their way to oppose biblical values they go out of their way to oppose things that we believe are true and right for our nation and so we shouldn't be all about politics but we shouldn't leave it out either there is a place for us to be involved in that process but again what i'm reminding people of is god is ultimately in control and we want to focus our primary energies on bringing people to christ you said something that i just picked up on of all those things that we've all known there's some famous people that have reached out to you and that you've talked to the council too you said something just now at the end of the day i'm a pastor yeah when i think of you it's always pastor laurie it's never it's never greg and it's never you can call me greg but i will tell you i i told you i won't do that so okay but but i uh and it's not for any other reason other than the fact that i see you as my pastor you know my wife sees you as her pastor and that position is rare hair i mean you know we don't see it very much now that people because personas become bigger and that you've you've remained in your heart a pastor it com brings me back to what we did with billy graham with the book yeah and he was always a simple country preacher you still see yourself as this this simple pastor that came from really humble backgrounds and now here we are almost 50 years later i do and because i'm still that person right and i'm just a i was a confused kid 17 years old using drugs going the wrong way in life i heard the gospel jesus came into my life he changed my life i found myself i was a graphic designer at that time and my sole aspiration was to go into design i want that's what i wanted to do and i did that for a couple of years but then i saw the lord put his hand upon me to preach the gospel and teach not something i ever aspired to in fact i was a horrible student in school but you know no i had something to talk about something to write about and i became a student i became a reader which i was not up to that point it was more of a television viewer you know in reading like worthless magazines and things that weren't helpful and suddenly i find myself devouring biblical literature and other things you know to expand my thinking and growing and you know so fast forward 50 years you know i still want to just reach regular type folk i i'm not an intellectual i've never claimed to be i don't think when anyone has ever accused me of being an intellectual i am a i'm a person who has christ in my life and i want other people to have christ in their life and if anything as the years have passed i think i've become simpler by intention wanting to bring it down in the most understandable way to people whether i'm talking about the book of revelation or any other thing i'm teaching to the book of acts right now i want people to see how it relates to their day-to-day living how they can apply it in their life i'm not trying to impress people when i preach i want to reach people i want to educate them i want to edify to use a biblical word edifying build them up spiritually that's my job and and i think it's a very high calling and i'm not ashamed to say that i'm a preacher you know sometimes people will say well i'm a life coach or i'm a motivational speaker or i'm an influencer okay i'm a preacher and i'm happy to be a preacher that's what i do and so i try to influence and i try to do what it can in other platforms but i'm not embarrassed to say that's what i do you know we do films uh we're working on a new film right now that will be released in the months to come that's an evangelistic type film similar to something we did a while back called a rush of hope so yeah i'm a i'm a bit of a filmmaker right now but again it's just to bring the gospel it's just to reach people in a different way and and that's what i'm called to do and that's what i'm thrilled to do and privileged to do this book is uh not only first of all it's kind of an easy read you wouldn't think that a 500 page book is an easy read but it is i think it's well you know it's it's it feels like greg laurie wrote it yeah and you know of course you did but it's spoken in the way that the same way that people that reach out to us and say he made the bible understood you know i was able to understand the concept really easily because of the language he used and something i noticed when we when we speak every time we speak i'm kind of struck by that we'll end with this in the middle of writing this and many other books that you've done do you find still yourself excited by because every time you talk there's a level of excitement i see i see your posture changes and you know you there's an excitement that builds in the air and you may not call yourself an intellectual but i would certainly call you a bible scholar and do you still find yourself excited to find new things because i know you found new things when you wrote this book always excited i mean the thing i love to do more than anything else is i love to study discover for myself this truth then write it in a way that is understandable i work a long time people might be surprised to know that i work a long time at crafting a message so it doesn't feel sermonic but it feels more conversational that actually takes extra effort i once saw billy graham being interviewed by um i'm honest no frost david frost emma said robert frost he was a writer no david frost the british interviewer interviewed billy and billy said this and i it stuck with me he says i study to be simple and so i go out of my way to simplify um to make it understandable not to make it simplistic it's a difficult job well it is yeah it takes more effort so when i get up to speak i don't want people to see the seams in the message or whatever i went through to get that message to them i just want them to be fat just take away truth fed drawn closer to god if that's the impression it makes then that's i did my job and and so this is something i love to do i actually love to study i love to write messages and i love to deliver messages a lot of other things i do i do because i need to do them i don't love them as much perhaps but but i love the actual process of preparing and delivering messages and it's always exciting to see something new or to rediscover something you've forgotten and i'm kind of excited oh i can't wait to share this you know so there's a joy in learning something and sharing it with others it reminds me of something that in the late 80s i believe and you and i are certainly old enough to remember nbc uh didn't do new programs in the summer yeah but their motto was well if you haven't seen it it's new to you yeah so i think i i almost see that the same way with with young christians that may come and that message may have been old but they hear it for the first time it's new yet again yeah we're gonna end on this um in the book you write something about the best is yet to come yeah what is the best that's yet to come knowing the answer yeah the best set you yeah the best that is yet to come is is is the hope of heaven it's it's the resolution of everything it's the answer to every question it's the drawing of every tear it's when everything comes together and we say i finally get it you know there are things in life that make no sense i've had things happen to me tragedies the loss of my son 13 years ago that makes no sense to me but i know one day i'll have an eternal perspective the bible says i'll know as i am known so right now i know in part i get little glimpses but i don't get the big picture but one day everything will be revealed and and rewards will be given and conversations that were ended will be restarted and uh and everything will be returned to its proper place god will redeem things he he will revive things and he'll make all things right he'll make all things new that's the promise of revelation that's the promise of the afterlife that is the promise of eternity given to every follower of jesus christ so i think it's always very important you know to to be looking up jesus said speaking of end times events when you see these things begin to happen look up for your redemption as drawing there he didn't say freak out he said look up and and then colossians 3 the apostle paul says set your mind on things above and another way to translate that is think heavenly thoughts or literally just think heaven just you know every day think heaven a little bit there's a heaven there's an afterlife there is blessings that are coming this isn't all there is some people make it all about the here and now and they forget all about the by-and-by we need the big picture and that's what revelation does for us is it reminds us of the big picture that god is in control pastor lori as always that was great thank you thank you so much thank you this month greg laurie released his latest book revelation a book of promises why study revelation the word revelation means unveiling god's desire is to reveal not conceal and this book unveils pictures of the spirit world great cataclysmic events in store for the planet and the coming antichrist but as greg laurie explains the primary objective of this book isn't to reveal the antichrist it's to reveal jesus christ in his soon coming revelation a book of promises is designed to help you see jesus as the centerpiece the star and the focus of revelation with this eminently practical guide you can experience the blessing promise to those who read hear and keep the words of this prophetic book after all bible prophecy is not given to inflate our brains but to enlarge our hearts request revelation by greg laurie when you give today

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 136,737

Keywords: harvest, Harvest Christian Fellowship, Greg Laurie Sermons, bible study for me, bible study, youtube sermons, Greg Laurie, Greg Laurie Live, Bible Prophecy, the end of days is coming, the end of days 2020, are the end of days coming, how to survive the end of days, how to survive the end of the world

Id: 9vK-BN3LeYY

Length: 48min 43sec (2923 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 25 2021