What's Your Excuse?

good morning everybody let's pray together father we have just prayed we lift the cross lifted high lifted high we raise our white flag we surrender the Lord we mean that because we have come to know that your plan well it's better than ours and you love us and you're always looking out for the long-term transformation in our life you want to make us more like Jesus you want to get us ready for heaven so Lord we pray that will happen today as we open your word give us an eternal perspective on all things we would ask in jesus name amen you can be seated alright we're back in our God came near series which is a chronological look at the life and ministry and teachings of Christ from all four Gospels and today were in two passages I'd like you to turn to first of all Matthew chapter 22 and Luke chapter 14 turn on the both will be primarily anchor to Matthew 22 and will also refer to Luke 14 and the title of my message is what's your Excuse subtitle cat did it I'll explain that in a moment heard a story about a minister that was walking down the street and he saw about 12 boys together ages 10 to 12 and they were standing around a dog so the minister thought they might be thinking about hurting the dog and he approached him and said voice what are you doing to that dog and one of the boys said well pastor we we all love this dog and we all want to take him home but only one of us can do it so we figured whoever here told the biggest lie gets to take the dog home well the minister was outraged by such a thing how dare you that's so wrong don't you know the Bible says lying is a sin and he went on and gave them a little sermon and then he said when I was a boy I never told a lie little boys looked at each other for a moment says okay he gets a dog guess what everybody has lied everybody lies more than they think they do quick Paul how many of you have told a lie raise your hand well you are a deceptive group of people no seriously we all have maybe more often than we think we do fact is we learn how to deceive very early in life we learn how to deceive before we can even talk like the little baby discovers if I scream really loud right now my parents will rush into the room even if there's nothing wrong and then it's all downhill from there as we get older we learn the fine art of excuse making and what is the difference between a lie and an excuse not much yet an excuse has been defined as the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie or another definition of excuse I really like an excuse is a lie dressed up for dinner that's all in excuses it's just a fancy lie an upgraded lie if you will and it's what we offer when we don't want to do something an excuses what we say what we don't want to participate or we didn't get the job done it's not a reason it's an excuse and we've used them throughout our lives and we've heard them throughout our lives you know when the homeworks not done the kid says the dog ate my homework you know did a dog ever eat homework ever is there anyone here that actually got their homework ever eaten by a dog I just I'd just like to know more about it but maybe that happened maybe it didn't but then there's the other one when you're late I'm sorry my alarm didn't go off or how about this one it was just so much traffic that's why I'm late yeah but you left late you just leave that detail out yeah there was traffic but you left late the fact is lying deception and giving excuses have become far too common in our culture imagine how different our country would be if everybody suddenly started telling the truth how about everything men it would be shocking for sure studies showed that people lie a lot on their resumes a study revealed that 71% will increase their tenure of previous jobs on their resume 64% will exaggerate their accomplishments 60% will overstate the size of the department they manage if 53% cite partial degrees is full and 48% inflates salary history a study done by USA Today revealed that one-quarter to one-third of all workers tell lies about tardiness and absence and an article revealed that each of his fibs about 50 times a day then there are those lies we've just heard forever they should be in the lying Hall of Fame how about this one I'll be ready in a minute let me ask who do you think says that more men or women no not mad someone's a girl say maybe you're mad and I have heard this so many times you know I have four granddaughters okay so this starts very young it's all about the outfit in everything working it's about the accessories and my wife will say I'll be ready in a minute I know that is not literal then shall sometimes say I'm a little cold I ain't I need to get a sweater I'll see let me go get the sweater where is it because if she goes and gets a sweater we're talking five minutes a whole new outfits gonna come out again okay I'll be ready in a minute just so you grow something I'm picking on you here's another one I'll do it in a minute now who says that more guys or girls oh yeah guys take out the trash clean out the garage walk the dog I'll do it in a minute no you won't that's an excuse you're just putting it off here's another one of course I'm listening no you aren't you were texting or doing something else here's another one we say it all the time nothing's wrong right it's something wrong nothing's wrong notes in the--in trunk no nothing's wrong yet something's wrong here's another lie that's told a lot yes dear yeah just you know come on yes dear I'm not sure what part of that is the line yes or dear or both and here's other lines that we may tell and we don't even realize it you look great you know they don't look great don't be lying to them or you break up we'll still be good friends probably not or to your wife you might say she means nothing to me how about this lie hello I'm from your government and I'm here to help then there are excuses and we've all heard them at one time or another George Washington said it's better to offer no excuse than a bad one and most excuses are pretty bad the first excuse I can think of probably uttered in human history was from our first parents and the garden called Eden Adam and Eve placed there by God Adam is first Eve came a little bit later and they ate of the forbidden fruit which Eve offered to Adam and the Lord comes and demands an explanation why they disobeyed him why they eat the fruit off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and Adam offers the first recorded excuse in human history of us on a reason it was an excuse he said it's the woman you gave me god this is not my fault yeah I take a nap I wake up and she's here I'm missing a rib and the next thing I know I've got forbidden fruit on my face come on that was the first here's the second excuse offered it was Eve she said the serpent beguiled me updated translation the devil made me do it right so we've done those but I think one of my favorite excuses found on the Bible really a lie was actually told by Aaron in the book of Exodus you remember that Moses led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt and they were making their trek through the wilderness to the promised land the Lord instructed Moses to go up to Mount Sinai to receive the commandments and so Moses left Aaron in charge Moses had been this spiritual leader how Aaron take care of things until I get back well some time elapses and the people grow impatient they say where is this Moses that let us out of the land of Egypt and kind of a loose paraphrase we want a God that's tangible that we can touch and see and hear it says we'll have an idea well get all your rings in your and your watches and your grills they didn't have girls back then you know bring me all your bling in effect and I'm gonna melt it and he melts all this gold and he forms into the shape of a calf it's a golden calf and he elevates it where everyone can see and he says worship that not doing a great job watching the kids meanwhile up announce cyanide here's Moses receiving the commandments written by the very finger of God not being dictated by a strange little boy as depicted in that movie that came out I forgot the name of it weird movie about Moses I think was the title gods in something yeah what is it the Exodus yes gods in something yeah constant kings that's it you know I don't really care but anyway it was a bad depiction because in the movie strange little boy representing God is giving direction to Moses what to write no that's not the way it happened God himself wrote with his own finger on those tablets and one of those Commandments said you shall have no other gods before me so as Moses is making his way down from Sinai Commandments in hand he hears noise Joshua says man I think there's a war going on down there as they get closer Moses says that that's not a war that's a party meanwhile back at the camp the Israelites have stripped off their clothes and they're dancing naked in front of a golden cap probably singing celebrate good times come on Danny any name Dean and Josh's on guitar you know Dalene Moses Watts downing demands an explanation and there's Aaron I know I know this looks bad China looks like we're worshiping a false cotton having an orgy let me explain we threw the gold into the fire and this calf just came out he actually said that so what else could we do it strip over closing words up a false god I'm ridiculous but that's what an excuse is it's really a lie you know people aren't the only ones that offer excuses animals do it to run an article in the paper about a gorilla in a zoo this is true story named Coco and this is amazing this gorilla communicates through sign language they can actually sign with this gorilla and so they bought the gorilla a little pet a companion a little cat and one day the gorilla Coco got angry about something and ripped the sink off the wall that's why you never want to get a gorilla man ok rip the sink off the wall so they came and they signed it Coco why did you do that and Coco sign this back this is absolutely true Coco signs back cat did it I love that that's why the subtitle of the message is cat did it in our little grunts and Christopher is 2 years old and there's a little cat that wanders a run in our neighborhood pretty fat cat fat cat and probably chowing down on mice and such and and it's pretty friendly it will come up to you when you call it so we gave him a little bowl of milk to take through the cat and he set it down and the cats lapping up the milk and out Christopher's so excited petting the cat why he drinks the milk and and then Christopher tried to sort of pick the cat up which isn't a great idea and they can't knock the milk over so off the cat went so a day later we said Christopher how did the milk get spilled and Christopher said cat did it so it's just same thing as cocoa of the gorilla see by the way you can't cry over spilled milk so just never mind okay so here's our story now in Matthew 22 why do I talk about excuses because we're gonna read three big excuses that people offer they were invited to a royal wedding feast a party among parties a great honor to be invited to such a thing but they would not attend and they offer the lamest excuses ever but the big picture of this story is the kingdom of God the ultimate party if you will the ultimate feast is offered to all of humanity and people hide behind the same three excuses that these people offered two thousand years ago so we're gonna look first at Matthew 22 verse 1 the kingdom of heaven this is Jesus speaking as I guess certain king who arranged a marriage for a son and sent out a servants to call those who are invited to the wedding and they were not willing to come this is the key they were not willing - come again he sent out other servants saying tell those who are invited see I prepared my dinner my oxen and founded cattle are killed all things already come to the wedding but they made light of it and went their ways one went to his own farm another to his business and the rest seized his servants entreated them spitefully and killed them when the King heard about it he was furious and he sent on his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city and then he said to his servants the wedding is ready but those who were invited they're not worthy so going to the highways and as many as you find invite them to the wedding so the servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found both good and bad and the wedding hall was filled with guests we'll stop there so first four tells us the king sent out his servants this was an epic event to be invited to this world wedding was the ultimate opportunity see this was a great honor this was a celebration that would go on for weeks and you would be fed the finest food in the land made by the greatest chefs you would be entertained by amazing musicians and you would even have clothes provided for you to attend the wedding so you would be dressed appropriately I mean everything was there all you had to do was say yes so it was an honor to be invited back in this culture they would extend to invitations the initial invitation than the follow-up invitation but these people could have cared less about this but here's what makes it bad initially they said yes and later they said no in other words they RSVP as we would say today yon coming but then when the date was announced they said I can't come and they offered up lame excuses now the problem is great expense was involved in this and so to be invited to an event of this kind and then not attend was really an insult but it was a joke to these people verse 5 says they made light of it and went their ways the Greek word for made light of beads to be careless to neglect to not even care and here's what their excuses were flip over to Luke 14 and we'll find them verse 18 to 20 here's their excuses one guy said he bought a feel and wanted to inspect it so he wanted to be excused another said he bought five pair of oxen and wanted to try them out another said he had just been married so he couldn't come hey these aren't even good lies what are you talking about see but here's the bottom line these men were thinking only of themselves verse five back there Matthew says they like me light of it and went their ways the first two excuses that are offered have to do with material possessions and the third with affections possessions and affections cover virtually every reason by which people say no to God there's nothing wrong with having a career there's nothing wrong with having a home there's nothing wrong with having a family in fact those are things that God can bless but they should never become more important than God himself it's been said quote the good is often the enemy of the best end quote in the same way there are those that will not come to Christ and they'll offer up a plethora of excuses let's go back to these guys on what they said category number 1 verse 18 of Luke 14 he said I bought a field and I want to inspect it excuse me for this man possessions were more important than God possessions were more important than God I bought to feel and now I'm gonna go look at it what are you an idiot you bought something without looking at a verse have you ever done that I have because I've ordered online and have you ever ordered something online that you thought would be one thing and it was another altogether I didn't order this what no you did order it but you were mistaken you see and I remember when I was a little kid I used to read comic books and there was this one ad that was on a lot of comic books on the back cover it was an ad for these World War two soldiers that you could order the offer was 200 World War two soldiers for a dollar 98 I saved my money up I want 200 World War 2 soldiers I envisioned these large figures and tanks I got them they were like the size of ants they were the smallest soldiers I'd ever seen but there was another ad that you've probably seen it was about sea monkeys ever see the sea monkeys and they had a little drawing of a of a daddy and a mommy monkey and little baby monkeys and and they had all these promises of what would happen you just add water and it's instant life they said this little sea monkey family will entertain you endlessly and you could even get the microview ocean zoo and you could watch them and they had sea monkey racetracks and they would compete man I'm a kid at this is awesome so I order them you know what they were they're brine shrimp you know what brine shrimp are is that what you buy in the pet store to feed your fish or tiny little shrimp I was not endlessly entertained there were no sea monkey races none of the things they promised happen and by the way the micro Ocean Zoo was just a plastic jar so it was a ripoff well that's stupid you have to see something before you buy it I love the amazing descriptions that Realtors come up with to describe homes you ever had that either sounds one way and you get through it are you kidding you read the words retirement Haven that's I love that that's a 30 year old Sunbeam trailer retirement Haven ocean view ocean view at this price you get there yeah if you're standing on the roof with a high-powered telescope there's an ocean view how about this one steps to the beach steps from the beach they just don't tell you it's 250,000 steps from the beach you could drive there faster here's another cute fixer-upper that's a pile of lumber with some plans may be thrown in so this guy come on I have to go look at a piece of land I already bought you that can't be true but by the way he was polite about it verse 18 he says excuse me and it's implied in the original language please excuse me you know there are people you will approach with the message of the gospel and they'll be hostile they'll be angry they'll be argumentative and they'll be just a real pain to talk to and then you'll talk to other people and they are just so nice about it so we will conclude oh man that person who yelled at me who argued with me they're so far from ever coming to Christ but this nice person they're so pleasant about it you say would you like to hear about Jesus Christ and they say yes please tell me so you share the gospel and then you say you know I'd love you to come to church with me sometime would you ever come I love to really yeah so if I picked you up you come to church with thee absolutely they give you their address you go the next Sunday you knock on the door they haven't done anything they're ready oh I forgot it's this sandy I'm so sorry could we do it next Sunday okay you go back to next Sunday hey you ready I'm sorry I just on a piece of land I have to go look at it you start getting the idea they're never coming here's a little insight sometimes that people that are nice about it are further from the kingdom of God and those that are hostile about it see sometimes that people that are nice about it that they don't want to say no but they really are saying no but the person who's hostile might be under the conviction of the holy spirit and that's why they're hostile you know there's an old saying if you throw a rock into a pack of dogs the one that barks allowed us is the one that got hit it's sometimes a person that's barking the loudest if you will that's arguing the most is the one that's closer to the kingdom of God than the person who is sweet and nice about it but never comes but this first guy he's being held back by possessions and in his case it was real estate immense love for real estate is often an indication of his real state before God but for somebody else you'd be something else not real estate it could be a car for another person it could be a toy for another person it could be computer stuff for another person it could be fill in blank here it's just stuff it's things they're more important to you than God himself and one day what if you get all that stuff has that really bring happiness no years ago I went to visit a home or a suicide had taken place it is one of the most tragic scenes had ever witnessed it happened in a luxury home that this family really did have an ocean view and and as I was called to the home the woman had a perfectly ordered home I I just noticed how everything was in its place it was decorated perfectly everything was just right and tragically before she took our life she hen wrote suicide notes to every member of her family and then she died in her car her luxury car in her garage turning the engine on she was asphyxiated and she died in the seat of this luxury car in this beautiful home overlooking the ocean so I come to this family and I asked where the husband is oh he's out sailing on his yacht and the kids had all kinds of problems asked them do you guys ever go to church yeah we go in Christmas and Easter was so sad but here are people that had with so many dream of and yet here was this emptiness and this woman so miserable she wants to check out of life Jesus says what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul it's not wrong they have stuff but it is wrong when stuff has you and here's the thing we'll look at someone who has a lot of things almost say well that person they are materialistic yeah maybe they are but then you can look at somebody else who doesn't have that much and say well they would never have a problem with stuff no it's not what you have it it's what has you you see the Bible says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil which while some have coveted after they have erred from the faith and they've pierced themselves through with many sorrows that verse does not say as it's often quoted money is the root of all evil oh it is it the love of money is the root of all evil which while some have coveted after they have erred from the faith they may not even have it yet but all they think about is stuff and that can keep a person from God that's what kept the first person from God perfect illustration the rich young ruler guy comes up to Jesus now to be a ruler you had to be at least thirty but he's young so he's in his early 30s he's very successful cruises up in his customized chariot it was lowered custom wheels exhaust the whole deal dressed head-to-toe in designer clothing you know all kinds of bling on him probably holding the latte you know cruises have hey lord how's it going man good teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life Jesus looks at this kid says well you need to keep the commandments and then he gives some of the commandments a young man out of heat and and this young guy shoots back all these commandments I've kept from my you and then I love it because one gospel says Jesus looked at him and loved him that's interesting to me it would have made more sense if we read Jesus looked at him and smacked him you liar you've broken them all what are you talking about he loved him he saw right through this guy okay I'll tell you what buddy take all of your stuff solid give the money to poor to the poor and follow me you know a treasure in heaven called his bluff cuz this man was in love with stuff and he went away sorrowful too bad excuse number two career is more important than God back to Luke fourteen nineteen guy says I bought five pair of ox and I wanted to try them out who buys oxen without trying them out what if one was lame what if they weren't healthy and be like buying a car without driving it first would you be suspicious well I like this car ready to buy this car can I take it for a test drive no you cannot why don't you just just can't just buy the car give me the money sign on the dotted line well wait I you should be suspicious test-drive the car this guy this obviously was not a reason this to was an excuse look people have to work doctor Bible says every man doesn't work he shouldn't eat and not only do people need to work but people need to work hard and you know what I think Christians should be the harder hardest workers of all the hardest workers because the Bible says whatever you do you do it for the glory of God and as you work hard and you're productive and God is blessing you that's a good thing and then you can take those resources he's bless you with and be faithful and you're tithing and you're giving and you can use what God has blessed you with to impact lives around the world it's a win-win situation but sometimes people become so obsessed with success they forget about God and pretty soon they don't have time anymore for anything spiritual hit let's go to church I'm gonna work Sunday let's go to midweek City gotta work then well let's get up in the morning read the Bible gotta work then wait no working you're using that as an excuse and now that thing that is a good thing has become a bad thing because it's taken the place of the best thing and the most important thing finally excuse number three relationships are more important than God back to Luke 14 20 and others said he had just been married and he couldn't come I like this guy not like I have a field I have to go look at now I'm married my life is over guys can I marry I'm dead to the world hold on if I went home and said to my wife we've just invited to have dinner at the finest restaurant in California all expenses paid you're ready to go my wife would be happy she wouldn't even say just a minute we'd go the meatloaf can wait right that's a good thing so this guy's wife hey guess what dear we've been invited to a royal feast and they'll even give us the clothes to wear let's go no I can't come I have a wife that was a lie but you know here's the truth is sometimes people will let relationships get in their way with a relationship with God listen if you're in a relationship right now with any person that would be jeopardized if you follow Jesus you need to rethink that relationship this is why a Christian should never marry a non-christian because the Bible says what fellowship does light have with darkness or righteousness with unrighteousness so the Bible says don't be unequally yoked together with non-believers you say well no I'm gonna bring them to the Lord maybe that does happen but in more cases I've seen believers drugged down in relationships with non-believers listen girls if you're single don't even think about a guy who's not a follower of Jesus Christ I don't mean a token Christian look for a man of God that's what you want guys don't even consider a girl that doesn't love the Lord look for a virtuous woman because as time passes and yes beauty fades she'll be more precious to you and more beautiful to you and his qualities will become more impressive to you that's what you need to look for my wife says I said this to her once and I don't remember it so I'm gonna go with her virgin it's not very romantic but we were just going out together and Kathy says I said to her Kathy I'm gonna tell you something if you ever get in am I in the way of my relationship with God your honor here I said I said that she says yes you did Wow she said you know what I loved it said you loved it oh yeah she said I was always able to kind of manipulate guys kind of control guys get him to do what I wanted to do and I thought here's a guy that knows what he believes and gods more important to him than me that's the kind of guy I want to marry I said okay well I'm glad I said it then my wife tells me I never officially proposed to her and I don't remember this either but instead of getting down on one knee like a proper man proposing to a woman and pulling out the little ring box and flipping it open and saying would you marry me she says we were having dinner and I said well I guess we're gonna get married right I said I really did that she said yeah that's what you said and that was the first time I realized Kathy speaking that you wanted to marry me well we've been married 41 years so it's not that worked out don't try this at home I am a professional idiot I'm a professional idiot so relationships kept this man back don't let that happen to you let me say something to you girls who may be in a relationship with a non-believing man you've married him now what well now according to scripture you should try to win him to Christ you should not leave the marriage you should try to win him over but what about a man that says to you you can no longer go to church and I don't want you to read the Bible and I don't want you to talk to our kids about Christ do you have to obey that answer no you don't because the Apostles have told him one occasion to no longer preach and they said we must obey God and not man God's established a structure in the marriage relationship and the man should be the spiritual leader of the home but having said that if a man would try to keep you away from your relationship with God you don't want to submit to that you want to keep yourself strong spiritually and you want to keep your kids strong spiritually too he says why I don't want to go to church on Sunday hey honey bye see you when we get back I made a little meal for you don't do it in a mean way you're going to church you're taking the kids to church you're not gonna let that drag you down spiritually some guys watching the webcast now going car seal Greg Laurie while he is drinking his beer Coco Coco don't let those things hold you back there's one final movement and we're done in this story we're back in the Matthew version now so now the wedding is starting the big feast is beginning and the king came to see the guests this is a big deal the king himself he sees a man there who does not have on a wedding garment this would imply that there was a similarity in the garments that were distributed to all of the people so here's one guy standing out like a sore thumb he says to him friend why did you come in here without a wedding garment and the guy was speechless again let me emphasize the garment was provided it's not like you had to go and buy it or even rent it I got a tux shop no he was given to you here you go just for you wear this Carmen this guy refused I'm a good weight on Carmen let everybody else grovel before the king I'll dress the way that I want to just not walk right in so the King sees him he stands out and there's a friendliness on the part of the King friend why didn't you take the garment that was provided for you really it was an insult friend why would you insult me I'm the king why would you do this you didn't have to come the guy thought well I want all the free stuff that's why I came there people like this with God yeah I want forgiveness I want heaven I want peace of my heart but I want to live the way that I want to live I want to go to heaven but I want to live like hell that isn't gonna work because God has offered you a wedding garment if you will and what that means is he's offered you a way into heaven and there's only one way into heaven and that is to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and if you'll turn from your sin and ask Jesus to be your Savior and Lord you are welcome in to the greatest celebration of all time what if you say well I don't need Jesus Christ and I know need this forgiveness I'll get in through my own good works or whatever you'll never make it in at all there was an offer and the offer was rejected do you think that God in heaven would have allowed his suffer his son to suffer and die on a cross if all roads led to heaven do you think that God the Father would send Jesus to atone for our sins to be murdered in cold blood after he had been flogged if I could get any Kevin through good works the only reason Jesus had to go through all of that for me was because there was no other way to satisfy the righteous demands of God and for me to reject this offer a forgiveness as an insult to God listen to this verse in the Bible Hebrews 10:29 think how much more terrible the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God and have treated the blood of the Covenant as if it were common and unholy such people have insulted and enraged the Holy Spirit it may be nice about it well I'm a nice person and I try to do nice things and you know I don't care about the death of Jesus is blood whatever okay throw on my own that's an insult to God let me take it a step further you are enraging the Holy Spirit that's like a slap in the face of God for you to think you can get there without the help and forgiveness of Jesus Christ so this man saying why did you reject this garment now I must reject you and he turns the man away and the man is speechless no smug remarks no clever comebacks people offer their reasons why they don't come to Christ but they're not reasons friend they're lame excuses their lies dressed up for dinner that's all they are there's no good reason you know when we're young or preoccupied we're having fun you say well I'm too young to think about that I'll I'll think about what I'm really old like 30 and you hit your 30s and I think well I'm really busy man and you know my career is getting off the ground and we've got a mortgage now and I've you know I'm married I have a kid and so I'm I'm too busy I'll get to it later then you get a little bit older like 50 and you're saying well you know I don't know retirement sits within striking distance and you know and I'm really really old maybe I'll believe in Jesus and then you hit 70 or maybe 80 or maybe even 85 now you just think too old to change set in my ways see there's always an excuse oh when I'm older oh I you know do it now this is the time to come to Jesus there might be some of you that have been allowing other things to keep you away from him and I'm saying nothing is more important than your relationship with God because I'll tell you what if you got a call go ahead and clap for that go ahead have you got a call from your doctor money morning god forbid and he said we've run those tests that I need you to come in immediately and if we were to sit you down and say I've really bad news you have one month to live all your priorities would change your career to not issue your stuff now you're just gonna worry about who's going to get it when you're gone all those relationships those are going to be over with soon enough that would be a sort of an opportunity to get an eternal perspective the big picture here's my point you maybe you'll never get that call maybe you will but life could just end like that and if you keep putting this off you will have missed the greatest offer it's better than a wedding feast it's better than a party it's an invitation to spend all eternity with God in heaven in perfection but you must come and accept his offer have you asked him to forgive you of your sin as you're listening to me right now most of you are said pastor Jeff who's asleep in the front row you just woke up welcome back it's because you were snoring I've heard you for the last five minutes and that by the way is very offensive I made all that up I've been preaching online I just lied for 12 seconds just there but it was a joke so it's okay that's another one I was just kidding now I forgot what I was saying ah if you're listening to this right now and you're not sure that your life is right with God if you're not certain that you'll go to heaven when you die if you don't know with complete confidence that your sin is forgiven respond to this opportunity as we close in prayer let's all bow our heads father thank you for loving us so much you sent Jesus and Lord Jesus thank you for coming and laying your life down for us on the cross you suffered you died for us and now you offer us your forgiveness all we have to do is take it and receive the gift of God which is eternal life through Jesus Christ help those who have never received it who've never taken it to do so now we ask well their heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying how many of you would say today I'm ready to accept God's forgiveness I'm tired of hiding behind lame excuses I'm ready to say yes to Jesus Christ I want my sin forgiven I want to know that when I die I'll go to heaven I want my guilt taken away I'm ready to accept his offer pray for me I want Jesus Christ in my life if that's your desire wherever you're sitting would you raise your hand up and let me pray for you you want Jesus Christ to come into your life and forgive you raise your hand up I'll pray for you god bless you anybody else raise your hand up high where I can see it god bless you god bless you how about up in the balcony god bless you guys up there god bless all of you you that are watching in the satellite sights you raise your hand up I don't see you but it doesn't matter God sees you take your little step of faith raise your hand up you want us forgiveness anybody else god bless each one of you now while we're still praying I'm going to ask every one of you that is race again if you would please I want you to stand to your feet and I'm going to lead you in a prayer of commitment of crisis stand up if you raise your hand with me during that moment stand to your feet stand up wherever you are stand up we're gonna settle this right now we're not putting it off till tomorrow we're doing it now you want to get right with God you want your sin forgiven you want Christ to come into your life stand to your feet wherever you are stand up quickly and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer god bless you that are standing by the way you won't be the only one standing if you do because others are outside there in the amphitheater stand to your feet right now and I'm gonna lead you in this prayer one final moment stand now and we'll pray together god bless all of you standing now as I pray I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me and this is where you are asking Jesus Christ to be your Savior and Lord and you're choosing to follow him again as I pray pray this out loud after me right where you stand you guys pray this now Lord Jesus I know him a sinner but I know that you're a savior who died on the cross and shed his blood for my sin I turn from my sin now I choose to follow you Jesus from this moment forward be my Savior be my Lord be my god be my friend thank you for loving me and accepting me in Jesus name I pray amen god bless you guys that prayed that prayer god bless you you

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 15,900

Rating: 4.8513513 out of 5

Keywords: church, harvest church, greg laurie, excuses, bible, God, Gospel, life

Id: aqvjdJ8asHc

Length: 45min 28sec (2728 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 28 2015