The Refreshing Power Of The Word Of God (With Greg Laurie)

welcome back to harvest at home i have a message for you with the title the refreshing power of the word of god but before that i want to tell you about harvest at home next weekend it's going to be a very special edition it's going to be an evangelistic version of harvest at home and i'm going to be joined by my friend singer songwriter matthew west now if you listen to christian radio you know who matthew west is such a prolific and talented individual who has a real heart for ministry and uses his music in such a powerful way so you're going to hear music from matthew and a message that is more evangelistic in nature than what you would normally hear at a harvest at home so here's your job here's your opportunity here's your mission if you're willing to do it and i hope you are because we've been talking about evangelism and sharing our faith i want you to find someone to watch harvest at home with you next weekend maybe you watch it with them maybe you watch it on a phone a tablet maybe you put it on your tv screen because there's a harvest app for apple tv and also for roku so you can however you watch it just get a non-believer to watch it with you or send them a link and say check this out so next weekend matthew west a special evangelistic edition of harvest at home why don't we pray together father we ask now your blessing as we open your word and as we actually talk about your word together we commit this bible study to you now in jesus name we pray amen before we dig in i want to show you some of my bibles from over the years i keep every bible i never throw a bible away why would you this is my first bible this looks like something from the 70s doesn't it because it's a scofield cross-reference bible so right after i became a christian i called my grandmother and told her her name is stella and she was so excited because she did used to take me to church when i lived with her and my grandfather for a number of years she said greg i want to buy you a new bible now it's a funny thing because my first prayer as a new christian was lord i want to get a really nice bible because i had this little paperback version that was already pretty worn i think it was used when they gave it to me so i went to the bible bookstore and they had this beautiful bible originally you had a black cover with gold pages now well it's a little beaten up but as they say a bible that's falling apart is usually the indication of a life that isn't so i put a leather cover on it because it had to look like a hippie bible right because that's the era so there's my name there and i i did a lot of drawing as you know i came from a background of graphic design so i love to draw in the margins of my bible now you can see some pages are falling apart here this thing has really seen its day uh it's not that i disagreed with this it's just i don't know why this whole passage from matthew is missing it just came out of my bible here's some more notes look at these you can see the little notes i wrote in the margins and then i had notes in the back that kind of marks it in time so this is bible number one early 70s so this is bible number two this is a cambridge wide margin bible you see these margins are larger so i would write notes in the margins here look how small the writing is i wrote this with a rapidiograph plant pen which is what artists often use so i would write these little notes in the margins and i don't know how i was able to read these notes they were so small also looking through this bible i came across a set of notes that i've not seen forever i've actually used this title fairly recently so obviously i haven't upped my game since then but god's answer to fear and worry so this is a second bible this would have been the third bible we're still in the 70s this one is interesting because it has a little metal binder it's kind of like a notebook bible so i would write here's a page that's come loose but i would write notes in it and um these are things that i would i would actually speak from the notes in the bible so here's one on elijah three points about elijah number one he stood in the presence of god number two he had separation from the world three he had humility over little guy pointing so you flip it over ah number four obedience so these are my bibles and and you know bibles are so precious and so wonderful and it's great to go back and look at them but i want to talk to you about the power of the word of god in your life right now why don't you grab your bible right now and turn to psalm 19 and again the title of my message is the refreshing power of the word of god listen if you want to be a growing christian if you want to be a successful christian if you want to be a believer that brings forth spiritual fruit as jesus says he wants us to bring forth and you need to be a bible studying christian and as a believer we are either progressing or we're regressing we're either going forward or we're going backwards and the moment we stop the forward momentum is when we begin the backward regression i read not long ago about a coach a guy who trains people uh for a living and most of his clients were quite overweight some 60 70 pounds overweight this guy this trainer was in perfect shape washboard abs ate the right foods loved to exercise and he really couldn't relate to what his clients were going through so this guy decided to intentionally put on 70 pounds to see what it was like and so he started by changing his diet from the foods he used to eat to fattening foods for instance for breakfast he had captain crunch cereal and then he would have a snack it would be banana bread and he would have chicken alfredo pasta for dinner and lots of corn dogs and donuts in between by the way this diet sounds really good to me except the captain crunch cereal i could live without that but all the rest this sounds amazing well it was exhilarating to him because at first there was no difference in his body he still looked good but then he noticed the first thing to go with the abs and then he started getting flabby then he found out his blood pressure was going up he was tired all the time he found himself lethargic and depressed and to me this is the picture of what it's like when we start going in the wrong direction spiritually instead of eating the nutritious message of god's word we fill our lives with spiritual junk food so when that happens you need a restart you need a reboot you need a refresh this is my last message in our series that we're simply calling refresh and i want to talk to you about the refreshing power of the word of god because the reality is as believers we all have those moments when we stumble when we trip up when we make the wrong decision we think that wrong thought and we need to repent we need to reboot uh we need to be revived and refreshed and that's what we're going to be focusing on together because you want to build your life as a christian on christ and his word at the end of the sermon on the mount jesus gave this summary statement in matthew 7 whoever hears these words of mine and puts him into practice he is a wise man who builds his house on the rock and the rain came down and the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against a house but it did not fall because its foundation was on the rock but then christ goes on to say whoever hears these saiyans of mine and does not put them into practice he is a foolish man who builds his house on the sand and the rain came down and the streams rose and it fell with a great crash look every life is going to be tested every one of us is going to face storms in life as followers of jesus so make sure you're built on the right foundation which is a relationship with jesus himself and of course on god's word don't build your christian experience on experience don't build your faith on your fickle emotions build your life on christ and his word because as you read study memorize and dig into the word of god it will refresh you psalm 19 verse 7 says the law of the lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the lord is sure making wise the simple the word that the psalmist uses therefore converts means to revive to restore and to transform now when we see the law of the lord that could just as easily be translated the word of the lord or simply the bible in other words the bible restores you the bible refreshes you the bible transforms you i can think of so many times in my life where my mind was going in the wrong direction have you ever been gripped by fear worry or anxiety and found by just quoting the right scripture that it sort of righted you or when you're dealing with pain or with grief we just marked 13 years since our son christopher went to be with the lord and since that has happened i've spoken to countless families who've lost loved ones especially children and i've talked to them about grief grief is powerful and it can overwhelm you and there were times when our grief was so powerful and so overwhelming uh we didn't know if we could go on uh but the thing is is grief has its place it's the process of healing it's a process of processing the thing that has happened to you i compare it to being out in the ocean and uh it's summer so a lot of us are in the ocean maybe we're on our surfboards or our stand-up paddleboards or maybe we're on our boogie boards right have you ever gone over the falls like going over the front of a wave and you're in white water it's like you're in a washing machine and you don't know which way is up so if you have a boogie board or some surfboard and a leash attached to your ankle you know one thing is certain that boogie board that flotation device will always go to the surface because people have become disoriented when they've gone over the falls especially if the wave is big and they don't know which way is up and instead of going up they go down so here's what you do if you've got that leash grab the leash and go in the direction of your surfboard or your boogie board and get your head above the water and get a gulp of air because a new set of waves might be coming that's grief it just turns you upside down you don't know what to think you don't know what's going on your emotions are running amok grab the leash what is the leash the leash is the word of god and it pulls me to the surface and i can get my eyes on jesus for a moment and it can get me sorted out and back in alignment with god again how important the word of god is in our life the word of god restores us it refreshes us it transforms us listen to this success or failure in the christian life depends on how much of god's word you get into your life on a regular basis and how obedient you are to it let me repeat that for emphasis success or failure and the christian life depends on how much of god's word you get into your life on a regular basis and how obedient you are to it god told his people back in the book of joshua if they want to succeed spiritually they needed to constantly be looking at his word joshua 1 8 it said this book of the law or the word of god shall not depart from your mouth meditate in a day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it and if you do this your way will be prosperous and you will have good success meditate in the word of god what does it mean to meditate well in the bible it needs to contemplate that's the idea is given in scripture of chewing one's food carefully in eastern meditation one empties their mind in biblical meditation one fills their mind with the word of god and as you memorize and know and understand scripture it'll be a weapon to use as you share your faith and a weapon to defend yourself when you're being attacked remember the first temptation that happened back in the garden of eden is when satan effectively came to adam and eve and challenged them to doubt the word of god he said did god really say what you think he said has god really said you cannot eat of all of the trees in the garden and this is one of the first things that happens to a person when they become a christian they have doubt about what they believe and jesus told us how to handle this and showed us really when he was tempted in the wilderness remember three waves of temptation came to christ from lucifer and in each instance jesus says it is written it is written he came back to the word of god which the bible describes as the sword of the spirit listen a growing believer will delight in and love the word of god you'll love it it's not like you'll dread reading it you look forward to reading it someone describing the happy man says happy is the man that doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful but his delight is in the word of the lord and in it does he meditate day and night the psalmist said in psalm 119 how i love your commandments lord they give my life back to me because you're unfailing love and your words are true so this is something we need to understand you have to open up this book heard about a woman that wasn't feeling well so her husband took her to see her doctor and she went into his office a little time passed and the doctor comes rushing out and he says is there anybody here that is a screwdriver someone happened to come and they gave it to the doctor he goes back in the office where this man's wife is another moment passes the doctor comes out again and says does anyone have a pair of pliers someone gives the doctor a pair of pliers he goes back in the office he returns again does anyone here have a hammer now the man is alarmed his wife is in there he says doctor what are you doing with my wife the doctor says i haven't even gotten to your wife yet i'm just trying to get my medical bag opened see that's how a lot of us are we're wondering why is life going so poorly why am i making so many bad decisions open up the book the doctor needed to open his medical bag you need to open up the word of god one of the ways a doctor speaking of doctors knows that a person is healthy is if they have an appetite he'll ask you how's your appetite a healthy appetite is an indication of good health a loss of appetite is an indication of something possibly wrong healthy christians are hungry christians and they're hungry for the word of god first peter 2 2 says like newborn babies crave spiritual milk that you may grow up spiritually because you know the feeling that you have when you haven't eaten i mean look you can set a clock by my stomach i get up in the morning i'm hungry uh i'm hungry for lunch at 11 o'clock i'm ready to eat i'm hungry for dinner at five o'clock and when i don't eat i get a little bit cranky i think the phrase is hangry right you're angry but it's really you're just hungry hangry you just need to eat something and in the same way you might find yourself kind of irritable and and uptight and anxious and maybe angry and you wonder what's wrong have you read scripture did you open the day with the word of god jeremiah 15 16 says when your words came i ate them their way they were my joy and my hearts delight for i bear your name o lord god almighty now i want to tell you nine things about the bible you need to know nine things about the bible and i'm gonna go now to psalm 19 to bring them to your attention read along with me if you can i'm reading from the king james version psalm 19 verse 7 the law of the lord now again let me remind you this could just as easily be translated the word of the lord or simply the bible so i'll say the word of the lord the word of the lord 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 to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold and they're sweeter than the honey and the honeycomb moreover by them is your servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward beautiful now let's start identifying the nine things we need to know about the bible if you're taking notes point number one the word of god is perfect the word of god is perfect the phrase the law of the lord or the word of the lord is simply saying it is perfect there's no flaws in it everything you need to know about god is found in the bible everything you need to know about life is found in the bible and it never goes out of date so many things go out of date have you ever noticed how strange most people's photos are in the yearbook it seems like we all collectively decide let's take a really bad picture for our yearbook and have the weirdest hairstyle of all time so i've had a lot of hairstyles over the years that let's go back over the life of greg and his hair here i am as a little boy with my mom you see curly little blonde hair there by the way i'm rocking jeans even when i was a little guy so i'm still wearing jeans today okay so here now is greg when he's getting a little bit older uh that's not a real gun that's a toy in my belt there i'm kind of growing my hair out a little bit here i am in high school i've got the classic surfer wave going i wish i still had that wave i remember i used to whip my hair a lot you know you kind of throw your head a little bit now the wave is gone and all i have left is just beach it's pretty sad so here's when i was kind of getting into the hippie look a little bit i'm growing my hair out sideburns are growing out and here is the full-blown hippie greg early 70s i was just starting out in ministry and this is what i look like when i met kathy here i am where i'm kind of cleaning things up a little bit the beard's gone a little fu manchu mustache going on and now i just cut everything off shaved my beard so here's clean shaving me and this is when i started to make some bad decisions with my hair because i was losing it you see so i'm trying to compensate for it and i want to look at this next picture because this is effectively my version of the mullet but you could as just as easily call it the skull it because um the mullet basically is when you grow your hair long in the back and by the way the mullet's making it come back i would highly recommend against that please don't do a yearbook picture in a mullet even if it's popular anyway coming back to it you grow your hair long in the back but in my case my hair was gone so i grew it long and i combed it over that's never a good idea if you're doing the comb over just stop because when you get out of the pool and this long thing of hair is hanging past your shoulders this is not a good look for you or for anyone else so i had the comb over going and the mullet hence the term the skull it but now i've gotten a brand new hairpiece and this is how you're going to be seeing me from this point on what do you think of that no not really that said that was done on an app by my friend john irwin so preachers shouldn't wear hair pieces it's a lie on your head right so sorry you're going to get the bald greg this is me but these things come and go hairstyles come and go musical styles come and go but the word of god is always current and it's always relevant i love what lamentations 3 23 says it says his mercies are new every morning can't you think of a time when you've read a scripture you've read before but suddenly that passage that you're familiar with jumps off the page because it's completely relevant to what you're facing in the moment you can trust the word of god point number two and it's really a question how do you know the bible is the word of god sometimes we'll doubt it can i believe the bible can i be certain that this really is god's word to me so if you have a bible why don't you just grab it right now and hold on to it maybe it's an app on your tablet or your phone but i want you to think about this book i'm holding this book that we call the bible this is god's message to us technically speaking the bible is not one book but it's actually 66 different books written over a 1500 year span of time its words were written by authors 40 of them all told from every walk of life kings peasants philosophers fishermen statesmen and scholars yet all of the authors of the bible write about one primary theme and that theme is god's redemption of mankind and each one of these individuals was inspired by god to write these words ii peter 1 20 says you must understand no prophecy in scripture came about by the prophets themselves but they wanted to pro as they wanted to prophesy but it was the holy spirit who moved the prophets to speak from god as we're reminded in ii timothy 3 all scripture is inspired by god or another translation says all scripture is breathed by god how do i know the bible is the word of god here's one point i know the bible is the word of god because it gave me the experience it claimed it would give me now don't say well greg you shouldn't build your life and experience this is just one of many points as to why i believe the bible is the word of god but i believe it because everything the bible promised to me was true everything the bible says to me i have found to be true for instance the bible says god would forgive me of my sin first psalm 1 9 says if i will confess my sin he's faithful and just to forgive me my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness so i read that verse and i said lord cleanse me of my sin one of the first things i remember experiencing as a brand new christian was a sensation of having a mess of weight removed from me now i didn't know what i'd just done i prayed and asked jesus into my life i had read that i should cast all of my care upon him for he cared for me i hadn't read any verses yet but i remember feeling this weight lifted off of me that was god forgiving me of my sins the bible says to me if any man be in christ he is an altogether different kind of person the old things have passed away behold everything becomes fresh and new i became a different person after i gave my life to christ i saw that change inside of me and i knew it was real i tried to be a better person i wanted to be a more caring person i wanted to be different than i was but i couldn't change myself and suddenly with christ living in me and reading the word of god i saw that these things happened for me as the bible said they would i read in the bible that god could give to me a peace that passes all human understanding because in philippians we read don't worry about anything pray about everything and the peace of god that passes all human understanding will keep your heart and mind in christ jesus have you experienced that peace that passes all understanding as you're watching me right now do you find yourself racked with guilt feeling the pressure of your sins upon your life right now do you feel like you're carrying the weight of the world at the end of this message i'm going to tell you how to have that weight lifted how and how to come into our relationship with god through jesus christ i mentioned already that my son went to be with the lord and i tested the word of god then i couldn't even get to sleep at night and i would remind myself of what scripture says and i would quote scripture to myself and it would console me and comfort me and sustain me i believe the bible is the word of god because it gave me the experience it promised number two i believe the bible is the word of god and that it is true because it's confirmed by science now some of you might be thinking no greg you're wrong science and the bible contradict each other that's not necessarily true people over the years have scoffed at the bible saying it's so unscientific you know they did the people that believe the bible they're fools and well it's actually the bible that told us that the lord sits on the circle of the earth it's a bible that told us the earth was round not flat as many of the experts thought at one stage in human history it's the bible that tells us and told us that the stars in the sky were innumerable but of course astronomers said well that's ridiculous we can actually count the stars and they had their count and then they'd get a more powerful telescope and add some more numbers to that and on it grew but the bible tells us that god stretched forth the heavens into a limitless expanse which can never be measured and filled with stars which are as numerous as it stands upon the seashore well now modern science says confirm this is true that we really can't even count the stars in the sky it was the bible that told us the things that we see are made out of things that we don't see hebrews 11 3 says by faith we understand the entire universe was formed at god's command and what we see now is made out of things we don't see everything that we look at right now is made up of protons neutrons and electrons and also croutons no those are on your salad but the idea is god told us the things we see are made of things we don't see so the bible was ahead of science in many ways but listen the bible is not a scientific textbook if it were it would be much larger and much less comprehensible the objective of this scripture is not to tell us how the heavens go but how to go to heaven let me say that again the objective of the bible is not to tell me how the heavens go but how to go to heaven and how to know god here's another point the bible is true because it's the one book that dares to predict the future not once not twice but hundreds of times with 100 percent accuracy think of all the scriptures in the old testament that pointed to the arrival of the messiah the bible told us in the old testament messiah would be born of a virgin he'd be born in bethlehem he would be crucified and the bible said in the old testament he would be crucified before the actual act of crucifixion even existed the bible is the one book that tells us what is coming in our future as well i'm not talking about nostradamus here or the mayan prophecies i'm talking about a reliable source and that really is the mark of a true messenger from god or a book that comes from god can it predict the future and the answer with the bible is yes then i could go on and talk a lot about how archaeology confirms the bible it doesn't contradict it it seems like whenever there's a new archaeological find it confirms what the bible said and i could talk about so many things happening in our world right now that are fulfillments of bible prophecy the turmoil in the middle east and much much more but let me just move on to my next point the word of god transforms us the word of god transforms us psalm 19 verse 7 the law of the lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the lord is sure making wise this simple see when i read god's word it transforms the way i think it transforms me in the way that i live it changes me but here's the thing we must remember it's not enough to just read the bible i must do what the bible says james 1 22 says remember it's a message to obey not just to listen to if you don't obey you're only fooling yourself uh you're you're like a person who sees your face in a mirror and does nothing to improve their appearance you see yourself walk away and you forget what you even look like but if you keep looking steadfastly into god's perfect law or into his word the law that sets you free and do what it says don't forget what you heard then god will bless you for doing it it's amazing you know when you go and look in the mirror it shows you something sometimes you see something that others were seeing but you were not aware of like there's a string of cheese hanging from your lip from the omelettes you had that morning nowhere no wonder everyone was kind of smiling at you and looking away oh they must think i look good do they know you have cheese hanging from your face and the mirror showed you that so you see something in the mirror make the necessary correction so i opened the word of god oh yes i read the bible today great did you do what the bible said the bible says don't just be hearers of the word but be doers of the word listen the bible is god's word to us and it should be treasured as we read in psalm 19 more to be desired are these things than gold yes then much fine gold psalm 119 11 the psalmist says your word have i treasured in my heart that i might not sin against you what does that mean to treasure in your heart means to hide or store something so obviously this verse and others are advocating and encouraging bible memorization do you have any bible verses memorize if not why not you say oh greg it's i just can't memorize scripture oh yes you can you have lines from movies that you quote all the time you have lyrics from songs you've memorized you have so much information and data in your brain that you've committed to memory certainly you can make some room for the word of god because none of those things are going to help you in a time of trouble uh lyrics of songs or lines from movies are not going to sustain you when you're facing adversity in life but the word of god will so commit commit it to memory here's another point verse 7 the word of god gives us incredible wisdom the word of god gives us incredible wisdom the testimony of the lord is sure making wise this simple this word that is translated simple comes from a root word that speaks of an open door it's describing a person who has a mind like an open door everything comes in and everything goes out this person doesn't know what to take in they don't know what to keep out and so they're naive they're open to everything enclosed to nothing and these are the kind of people that read weird conspiracy theories online and they attach as much credibility to the weird conspiracy theory as they attach to scripture the bible says they need to immerse himself with scripture so a simple-minded person a person with far too open of a mind will become a biblically grounded person and develop a biblical world view this comes from the study of the word of god there's going to be times in life where you're going to read passages of scripture you don't fully understand i would encourage you to talk to your pastor or talk to someone who has been a christian longer and they can probably help you but i've been asked the question well what do you do when you come to a verse in the bible that you don't agree with you probably won't like my answer and change your opinion you're wrong because the bible is right you don't adapt the bible to the way you think you'll hear sometimes people say well you know my god would never judge a person or i believe in a god and you start describing your own god you can't make up your god as you go there's only one god and he's revealed in the bible and we don't conform that god to us we conform ourselves to him i'm almost done point number eight the word of god is right the word of god is right psalm 19 verse 8 the statutes of the lord are right rejoicing the heart in hebrew this means the bible has set out for us the right path for us to follow you don't have to lose your bearings and the fog of human opinion as you read scripture you know it's reliable so as you read the bible it's good to ask yourself a few questions you read a verse you could ask yourself the question is there any sin mentioned here that i should avoid is there any promise stated here that i ought to claim is there any victory for me to gain is there any blessing mentioned here that i could enjoy and now number nine my last point keeping the word of god makes you happy keeping the word of god makes you happy psalm 19 verse 8 the statutes of the lord are right rejoicing the heart jesus said in luke 11 28 happy are those that hear the word of god and keep it you want to be a happy person be a person who studies the bible you want to be a happy person be a person that memorizes the bible you want to be a happy person be a person who obeys the bible listen you can have a happy life without sin you can have a happy life without drugs or alcohol you can have a happy life without sex outside of marriage god is not out to ruin your life he wants you to be fulfilled the happiness he gives doesn't stop when the party is over it's a whole different approach to life it's a change of everything i mentioned earlier that the bible promises that if i believe in jesus i'll become a different person on the inside because old things are passed away and everything becomes fresh and new the bible promises that god will lift that weight off of my shoulders of sin the bible tells me what the meaning of life is you say well greg what is the meaning of life the meaning of life is to know the god who created you the bible says god has said eternity in our hearts what that means is deep down inside we know there's something more deep down inside we we know we're made for something more and what we're really longing for is not some new possession it's not some new experience even a relationship can't fill this void what we're longing for deep down inside is a relationship with god himself revelation 4 11 says god created all things for his own pleasure you know some people spend their whole life chasing happiness they spend their whole life trying to find the ultimate pleasure the ultimate experience now you were created to give god pleasure when you give god pleasure which means you come into a relationship with him and a friendship with him and you begin to communicate with him and hear from him you will find the pleasure you've been looking for not from seeking it but from seeking god himself the purpose and meaning of life is to know god and discover his plan for you and the bible also tells me how to get to heaven is there any more important question than that how do i get to heaven i was talking with someone the other day and i asked them if they believed they would go to heaven and their answer was well yes i i'm a good person i had to break the bad news to them that they're maybe a good person relatively speaking but they're not good enough to get to heaven because the bible also tells me i'm separated from god by my sin i've crossed the line i've broken his commandments i've fallen short of his standards but then scripture reminds me that while i was yet a sinner christ died for me on the cross he had nails driven through his hands and feet and blood and died at my place on the cross of calvary and then he rose again from the dead three days later and if i will turn from my sin the bible says repent and be converted and times of refreshing will come from the presence of the lord you want to be refreshed then repent you say repent what does that even mean i don't know if i've even pented yet why should i repent to repent means to change your direction you've been walking away from god it's time to do a u-turn it's actually a military turn i mean a term that means you turn turn around about face and walk toward god repent turn from your sin and turn to jesus christ you want to go to heaven when you die here's what jesus says for god so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life let me leave you with this god loves you he loved you so much that he sent his own beloved son to die on the cross in your place and then jesus rose from the dead and now stands at the door of your life and he knocks if you'll hear his voice and open the door he'll come in as jesus said whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life do you want everlasting life do you want to go to heaven when you die do you want the burden of your guilt and shame and sin lifted from you do you want a fresh start in life it can all happen if you'll ask god to forgive you and if you will ask jesus christ to come into your life in a moment we're going to pray and i'm going to extend an invitation in this prayer for you to believe in jesus for you to be forgiven of your sin for you to have from this moment forward the certainty that you'll go to heaven when you die if you've not asked jesus to come into your life yet do it now if you need to recommit your life to the lord do it now and pray this simple prayer after me just pray this simple prayer if you want christ to come into your life if you want to go to heaven when you die 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 for my sin and rose again from the dead i turn from my sin now lord and i choose to follow you from this moment forward thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer in jesus name i pray amen god bless you you've made the right decision to follow jesus christ so i've been talking about the bible i have a bible for you it's called the new believer's bible this is a special edition of the new testament that i did with my friends over at tyndale publishers there's over 10 million of these in print it's a very understandable translation called the new living translation with hundreds of notes that i wrote that sort of take you on a treasure hunt through the bible discovering what the bible has to say to you i want to send you a copy of the new believer's bible at no charge for you to get started on the right foot and following jesus christ you see the phone number on the screen right now if you call that number just say i just prayed with craig and i want that new believer's bible i've accepted christ into my life there's also if you're watching on a computer or a tablet or a phone a little box that you can click and if you click that box we'll send you the same bible so you can send your information to us but don't delay get a copy of the new believer's bible we're going to

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 19,464

Rating: 4.8903108 out of 5

Keywords: the refreshing power of the word of god, the power of the word of god, the power of the word of god sermon, the power of the word of god sermon outline, the word of god, the word of god speaks, the word of god is powerful, do you need refreshment

Id: 0SPFaIDEJI4

Length: 44min 3sec (2643 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 01 2021