Greg Laurie - Changed Lives - Part 2
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God takes your sin. He throws 'em into the sea of forgetfulness, and he posts a sign that says, "No fishing allowed". Your sins can be forgiven and your sins can be forgotten tonight, no matter what they are. If you'll put your faith in Jesus Christ.
Maybe one statement would help that person to make that journey from the top of the stands down to the field. So it's a battle raging for me that I take very seriously and I think we all need to be praying in that moment of decision for people. I think it's a holy moment, it's an awesome moment, it's a scary moment but it's also an awe inspiring moment, as all those people come forward and pray and ask Christ to come into their life. I know this much, Heaven breaks out in applause every time a person comes to faith. Jesus said there's joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner who repents. Imagine a celebration when 100 or 1,000 or 5,000 respond. So that's why we need to really pray when an invitation is extended.
As a paper boy delivering the good news is trusting in Isaiah 55:11: "So shall my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it".
Sonny: I think I stayed sober just out of respect for my mom to go and it was massive, you know, it was, it was huge. And you know, the music's playing and you look around and you know my Mom knows all the sons and everybody's singing. It's like, okay, this seems like everybody's happy. They have something in their life that's real. I didn't feel like it was, anybody was looking at me bad, or judging me, it just felt like I was going to be a part of something that was special and bigger than myself.
Sonny did not go forward that night, but a work in his life had begun. He was slowly being shaped, but it was going to take more time for him to fully surrender.
Sonny: During that week, my mom had went down for like, some routine checks in the hospital and stuff like that, and without me knowing, she had had to go back in that night. So I hurried down there and when I got down there, you know, she was shaking and her body was really cold and as soon as I got in there, you know she had looked at me and said, you know, "Hi son". But she was shaking while she was doing it. And that was just more of a shock of what's going on. And then that night, she would really just go into kind of a coma state that was, you know, she would never, wouldn't be able to respond back and then literally within the next couple of days, the doctor was telling us, "She's not gonna make it". So it was that quick, And so that was kind of a shock. I hadn't left the hospital room for like a week. Every day he would come in and say, you know, "Be prepared through the night, you know, she's probably gonna go through the night". And then he would come back in the morning and he would say, "You know, be prepared to the day". He would do that. He was doing that for days, almost a week and then one morning he comes in, I think he was a little shaken himself the doctor, but he kind of came in with his little interns and stuff and he says, "You know, the reason why she hasn't just completely let go or gone is because we call it mother's heart". And he says, "The reason why she won't go and let go is because she doesn't wanna leave her kids behind". And so I'm sitting in the back of the room, and then all of a sudden I'm having these flashbacks of like, my mother's sitting with me and telling me, you know, that she's going to pass, and she wants to make sure that, you know I'm gonna be in Heaven and just all started to hit me. And then I went to the parking lot and that's when I just kind of had this moment and you know, I prayed for the... I'm sorry. And I had my first big boy prayer, you know? So I just said, "If you're real, you know, I want you to come into my heart," and I said, "I want you to forgive me for my sins". You know, I got on my knees in this dirty greasy parking lot in the hospital and I said, "If you're real, come into my life and just, you know, let it make sense". And I went home, I cleaned up, showered up, felt like I did, you know, what my mom would want me to do and I went back to the hospital room. And you know, I whispered into my mom's ears, I said, "Go and be with Jesus, you know, I'm gonna be all right, and the girls will be all right". And it wasn't shortly after that, you know that she went to be with the Lord.
Greg: You can feel the tug of Heaven deep down inside. This is where you're meant to go someday. And when we get to Heaven, we'll not only see the Lord there, we'll see our loved ones that have died and gone on before us, who also believed in Jesus Christ. Heaven will be a time of great reunion and we'll pick up where we last left off. Isn't that great? The only way anyone will get into Heaven is if we put our faith in Jesus Christ. Our fame won't get us in, our possessions won't get us in, our religiosity won't get us in, you have to believe in Jesus.
Greg: It's hard for people to believe that they could be forgiven of their sin, especially if they've done some horrible things in life. But don't forget that when Jesus hung on the cross, his first words were, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". Who was he praying for? Well he was praying for the religious authorities that sent him to the cross to die, he was praying for the Roman soldiers that pounded the spikes into his hands and feet. If he could forgive them, the very people that put him to death on a cross and murdered him in cold blood, surely he can forgive you? The Bible says that we serve a God who is gracious and full of mercy and ready to forgive. And the Bible says if we will confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. See our God, he has a big eraser and he can use it in your life. And we should not choose to remember what God has chosen to forget. You can put your sins behind you. You can put your mistakes in the rear view mirror and you can go forward as a follower of Jesus, as the Bible says, "A new creation in Christ, old things passed away, everything becoming fresh and new". That's what God can do for you.
At the 1997 Harvest Crusade in Philadelphia, Chrissy's eyes had been opened to a life she never knew. Her career path was music, landing a major record deal but she was unsettled on the path she was on. She decided to walk away from her contract. Her passion for music never faded. She decided to use her talents to reach other young people searching for truth, joining a Christian pop band known as Zoe Girl.
Chrissy Katina: Right away we got into traveling, and we were so surprised at how young our audience was. They were very young girls starting at 5, 6 years old, all the way up through teenagers. And to be able to have an impact on girls that young, it was priceless, to be able to call that my ministry. Zoe Girl was on tour with Carmen, I believe it was in the year 2000. We had been traveling all around the country, we did 82 cities with him and one of those cities was Philadelphia and when I looked, I remember looking at the itinerary and I saw that we were going to be at the Philadelphia Spectrum. And I thought, that was where I got saved. That was the moment that was the location and here I am, I'm gonna be able to be on that same stage and I can share my testimony with these people in the arena that I was once sitting in. It was such a beautiful night, a beautiful experience for me to be able to stand up there and tell my friends and family and everybody else that was there, thousands of people, that hey a couple years ago I was sitting in that very seat and I didn't know who Jesus was and I found him here. And here I am today and it's been such a beautiful experience and transformation in my life that I just, I'm so honored to be here. It was just a neat experience. I don't even how to really put it into words.
After the death of his mom, Sonny, submerged himself into music. He joined a band and that was the birth of Payable on Death, P.O.D.. During the tragedy of 9-11 in 2001, P.O.D.'s mega hit "Alive," soared to the top of the charts and immediately P.O.D. was an international success. Even with the success, Sonny was unsettled. He knew in his heart there was still something missing.
Sonny: And when we finally this time agreed to do the Harvest, I'm like, here I am in one of the worst like times of my life, and I'm gonna go do something great, in my heart, as great and as awesome as the Harvest? Like I feel in no way, shape or form am I even worthy enough to be able to be a part of something that is so... because of my experience and in my past. And we got to do a few songs and when we were done, I stood on in the dugout the whole time and listened to Greg, soaking it all up, for me. And then when he gave the altar call, at the time, my head is down the whole time, so I'm praying, I'm not even looking, I'm not watching anything. I'm just praying I'm asking God into my heart, you know? I'm rededicating myself to the Lord, you know? And all I keep hearing Greg is, "Wow, you know, we'll wait, we'll wait. Seems like we got a lot of people, you know, just keep on coming, we ain't going nowhere. Don't worry about it". And God was allowing me to be a part of something so awesome. And he waited and there was the most people that they'd ever had to come forward. And it hadn't anything to do with purity in myself but God was just saying, "Do that. I'm the one who is control of this, I'm the one who draws people. I'm the one who saves people". You know, you think that your problems and your struggles and life is so big that... confused by it or that I can't work around it or that I can't work through it, like it, God put me in check, you know.
As we go through life, the shaping of the master shaper can give us a sense of design, of mission, of understanding the gifts, the breathing, the realization of who we are, to really come alive. That is the effort of God working our life, forming our life, shaping our life, and creating something of meaning and purpose and goodness, so we might share with our lives the never changing message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Proclaiming the Gospel is what Greg Russinger was called to do since surrendering his life to Christ at the first Harvest Crusade. Over the course of time, as a pastor, a visionary, he's dedicated his life to helping the less fortunate, the down and outers, the destitute and the hopeless. He is the founder of Laundry Love, a worldwide initiative. For the poor, laundry can be prohibitive. It can also mean going without other basic essentials. Laundry Love provides soap, detergent and sets the platform to share Christ, the source for hope and life, no matter the circumstance.
Greg Russinger: Kids will actually skip school because of the bullying and the teasing, based on the scent of their clothes because they don't have the wherewithal to wash their clothes, there is a stigma that hits them with this teasing and this bullying. So they will skip school, so they will miss their education opportunity because of this. And so hearing the fact that these kids in our country, like carry the weight of that, that was pretty compelling to make sure that we are, you know, moving forward with this effort around the US and realizing it's so simple. But then what happens is that when you're inside this laundromat, if anybody goes to a laundromat, you've got literally two hours of doing nothing. So you might as well just start engaging one another in conversation. So what I've learned is like I can do something for you, but life is so much better if I can do it with you. And so in those laundromats, literally we're doing life with people. And the exchange and the solidarity and the reciprocation of what happens in those places are just amazing and the stories are countless. And just the opportunity of praying with people has been constant. I mean we hear of churches that are doing this, people coming to Jesus in laundromats, like people being prayed for, people being encouraged, like families, like it's just crazy. The stories are endless.
Since that day that Sonny fell to his knees in that dirty parking lot and surrendered to God, he's devoted his life to loving others, and today he uses his platform around the world to share the redeeming message of God's love.
Sonny: It doesn't matter whether I'm in P.O.D, like my heart is to love people, to serve people. Sometimes you don't want to take advantage of the platform that you've given or you don't want to lose that but, and everything that P.O.D. does like, it's not like I'm going on every tour and I can come back and brag. "Oh yeah, so and so and so and so and so and so gave their life to Lord because you know, I shared the Gospel with them". No, it's a lifetime commitment of loving people, you know? And when that person comes up to you and they're like, "Dude, I wanted nothing to do with God all my life, but I've been watching you and I'm watching you guys and I see what a good daddy you are. And I see you know you picking up that trash and I see you loving people. And I saw you praying with those kids outside the concert venue," and it's like that can take a lifetime of doing that. And so for me, with P.O.D. it's like, I could have never prepared to be a part of any of this, because I can't take, I can't take credit for it, but I can acknowledge that dude, I love people, you know? I wanna see people get saved. I wanna see people experience the the joy of God's salvation and his redemption and his mercy in my life. I want to see people see that, cause that's when it's real.
Chrissy is well connected with Harvest, married to James Katina, a member of the band the Katinas that often perform and lead worship at Harvest Crusades.
Chrissy: I'm in ministry today and whenever I think about the little lives that have been touched through Zoe Girl, it always just stems back to 1997 at the Harvest Crusade and that moment that my life was changed. I'll never forget the opportunity that I had to tell Greg Laurie, that I'm literally the fruit of your ministry and every little girl that came to a Zoe Girl concert from then on, was also touched by Harvest. And it's just an unbelievable thing that it just keeps carrying on.
Greg Russinger: So I've held on to this and they probably would look a whole lot different now than they did then, but I walked away with this 25 years ago and it says, "My decision for Christ. Knowing that I need the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, I now trust in him to pardon and deliver me from the guilt and the power and the brokenness of my life and the sin. As he gives me strength, I shall witness for him, serve him and the fellowship of his church, and seek to do his will in all my daily life. God said it in his Word. I believe it in my heart. That settles it forever". So I signed it and 8/18/1990.
Greg: Well, I have good news for you tonight. It's not too late to change. No matter what horrible things that you have done in life, I want you to know that you can be totally and completely forgiven.
Greg: He wants to forgive you. He wants to change you. He wants to fill that void in your life.
Greg: What do I need to do to get rid of this nagging guilt that haunts me day in and day out? What must I do to be saved? Here's the answer.
Greg: Number one, you have to admit you're a Sinner. It's time to say, "You know what I'm responsible for what I've done. I've sinned, I've broken God's commandments, I've blown it".
Greg: Stop blaming everybody. Stop blaming your parents or stop blaming your background.
Greg: And take responsibility for your own sin. You're a Sinner, that's what the Bible says.
Greg: And number two, I must repent of my sins.
Greg: The Bible says, "Repent and be converted and times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord". You say, "What does that mean? Repent"?
Greg: That means to change your direction. You've been doing things you know are wrong, you've been sinning. It's time to say, "God help me to change and to turn around," and say, "I'm gonna start following Christ".
Greg: Thirdly, realize Christ died for your sin. And when Jesus hung in there on that cross, he did it for you. He died for you. He bled for you. He suffered for you. He bore your sin, he bore my sin. So I need to realize God did that for me.
Greg: He came to pay a debt he did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay.
Greg: Fourthly, you must receive him as your Savior. You must say, "Lord forgive me".
Greg: The Bible says for as many as received him, he gave them the power to become sons of God.
Greg: Listen, Jesus says, "I stand at the door and I knock, and if you will hear my voice and open the door, I will come in".
Greg: Are you ready to open that door tonight and ask Christ to come in?
Greg: And lastly, you must do it publicly.
Greg: Jesus said, "If you will acknowledge me before people, I will acknowledge you before my Father and the angels in Heaven. But," he added, "if you deny me before people, I'll deny you before my Father and the angels in Heaven".
Greg: God doesn't say, "Clean up your life and come to me", in effect he says, "Come to me and I'll clean your life up".
Greg: If you want your sin forgiven, if you wanna know that when you die, you will go to Heaven.
Greg: If you want that void in your life filled and you want your guilt taken away. If you want Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to come and live inside of you...
Greg: ...if you want Jesus Christ to come into your heart tonight to be your Savior and Lord, I'm gonna ask you right now, wherever you are, to get up out of your seat and start making your way down to this field.
Greg: Tonight is the night when your life can change. No, you can't change yourself but God can and will change you if you will come to Jesus Christ.
Chrissy: We are never too far gone, never too far away from him to where we can't come back to God. It's just like Greg Laurie said about the prodigal son. The father accepted him with open arms despite all of his flaws and him running away, it didn't matter in the end and that's exactly the way it is with God. And he would love that for each and everyone of us.
Sonny: In growing in the Lord, you realize that God is just, you know, he's faithful. It's not by coincidence or by chance that all these things happened and, you know that she would take her last breath, you know, in peace. And God had really answered prayer, cause I realize how, you know, how long did my mom pray for me or, you know, cry to the Lord about me? And then God would, you know, answer her prayer and then she'd go be with him. My heart is that, throughout this wild and crazy journey that I will be with my mother again one day and I will have all my unanswered questions, you know, revealed to me and spoken to me and explained and made sense to me. Through this whole journey of P.O.D. like, ultimately, my heart is to see people get saved. I love Greg, got to hang out a couple of times and just even at Harvest. Like I said, the first Harvest was so incredibly amazing for me spiritually, that he allowed us to be a part of a couple other ones. The heart is the same, his commitment's the same. You know, I'm inspired by his commitment to the Lord all these years to keep doing it.
Greg Russinger: Now, 25 years later, God uniquely pursues each of us every day, and doesn't stop pursuing his creation because he has this desire to redeem and restore what he's made. It was overwhelming to know then, like I do now, that I was uniquely made. There would be an eternal gratefulness to not only my friends that invited me, but just to Greg, to others that work with him. I can just say thanks because I was a guy that, probably like a lot of people, are sitting in that big giant open space. And they're probably wondering to themselves, is this for real? And I think I can ultimately say, yeah, I've tasted something that has forever quenched my life.
Greg: Well, you've heard the story of Sonny and Chrissy and Greg, three very different stories, but the solution for all of them was the same, they needed God. And they found a relationship with him through Jesus Christ. And you can find that same relationship for yourself. You see, Jesus was God in human form. Jesus was God with skin on and he walked this earth, and he lived our life, and he died our death, and then he rose again. And now this Jesus, who died on the cross for our sin and rose again, is ready to forgive you of all of your sin, just like he did for Greg and Chrissy and Sonny.
Jesus stands at the door of your life and he knocks and he says, "If you will hear his voice and open the door, he will come in". How do you open the door? Well, he's just a prayer away. It's as simple as saying, "God, I'm sorry for my sin, and I want your forgiveness right now. I believe that Jesus Christ died in the cross for me". Have you ever asked for his forgiveness? You see, only you can make that decision. The Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Think of yourself as being caught in a riptide at the beach and you're in trouble and you can't get your feet on the ground and you see the lifeguard there in the stand. And you realize you need to call for help to be saved. So you cry out and the lifeguard comes to your aid.
That's your situation, you're caught in sin, you're in a riptide, if you will, and your only hope is Christ. So call out to him. You say, "Well how do I do that"? Through prayer, prayer is just talking to God. And right now, I'd like to lead you in a prayer where you can ask Jesus Christ to come into your life, where you can open the door of your heart and ask him to be your Savior and Lord. If you'd like to do that, if you would like to know with certainty that you will go to Heaven when you die, if you would like all of your sins forgiven, if you would like a fresh start in life, then just pray this prayer with me. In fact, you could even pray it out loud if you like. This is a prayer of asking Christ to come into your life. Let's pray.
Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a Sinner but I know that you're a Savior, and you died on the cross for me. I'm sorry for my sin, I turn from it now. I ask you to come into my life to be my Savior and my Lord, to be my God and my friend. I choose to follow you from this moment forward, in Jesus's name I pray, amen.
Hey, I've got good news for you. The Bible says, "These things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life". When you believe in Jesus Christ, when you believe in the name of the Son of God, you can know with assurance that God has heard your prayer and that you will see him in Heaven one day. Until that time, walk closely with Jesus Christ, discover his plan that he has for you, as you open up the user's manual of life, the Bible, and begin to read it. It's God's love letter to you. So let me just say: God bless you and welcome to the family of God.