Category Archives: Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Suit Up

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The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. —Romans 13:12

If you were to suffer the horrible experience of falling into a septic tank, you can be sure the clothes you were wearing would quickly become a part of your past. You wouldn’t wash them because it would ruin your washing machine. You would simply throw them out.

The apostle Paul wrote, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12).

The idea is to cast off the works of darkness as though you had fallen into a septic tank. Cast them off like dirty clothes. In their place, put on the armor of light. Trade in the old for the new. Suit up.

Then Paul tells us there are things we must get rid of and things we must be engaged in: “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Romans 13:13–14).

The words “revelry” and “drunkenness,” used together, depict drunken individuals walking through the street. It is the party animal mentality. It seems that people who are drinking always get noisy. They start laughing at things that aren’t funny. They start raising their voices. They think they are acting sober when, in reality, they are acting like people who are drunk because that is exactly what they are.

There are Christians who say they have the liberty to drink and know when to stop, but they still come under the influence. As Christians, we want to be under the influence of God. That is how we are to live as last days believers.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Are You Awake?

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This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. —Romans 13:11

Have you ever had someone call you very late at night or very early in the morning? You answer the phone, and the voice on the other end says, “Did I wake you?”

What do we always say? “No.”

Why are we so reluctant to admit we were sleeping? Why do we always want to deny it?

The apostle Paul wrote, “Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living” (Romans 13:11–12).

The J. B. Phillips paraphrase states it this way: “Why all this stress on behavior? Because, as I think you have realized, the present time is of the highest importance—it is time to wake up to reality. Every day brings God’s salvation nearer. The night is nearly over, the day has almost dawned. Let us therefore fling away the things that men do in the dark, let us arm ourselves for the fight of the day!”

“The present time” this verse is referring to is the Lord’s return. Paul wasn’t addressing his words to nonbelievers; he was addressing Christians. He was addressing his remarks to genuine believers whose spiritual lethargy and laziness made them appear and act as though they had no spiritual lives.

We, too, can get a little lazy and a little lethargic. Maybe we have been taking in the Word of God without an outlet for what God is teaching us in our lives, and as a result, we are actually falling asleep in the light. We are resting on our laurels and living in our past. We need to wake up. The coming of the Lord is near.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Ready to Go

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“You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.” —Luke 12:40

When I go on a trip, I always pack my bags the night before, especially if it is an early morning flight. I will always have everything ready to go because I want to be at the gate on time. I don’t want to miss my flight, so I prepare in advance.

That is the idea Jesus was communicating when He said, “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately” (Luke 12:35–36).

In other words, have your walking shoes on and be ready to go.

To be ready for the return of Jesus is to be engaged in activities you would not be ashamed of if He were to return. It is a good thing to ask yourself periodically, This place that I am about to go, this thing that I am about to do—would I be embarrassed or ashamed to be doing this if Jesus were to come back? If the answer is yes, then don’t do it. If you can’t pray over your plans for the evening, then don’t do those things. You should be able to say, “Lord, bless our time at dinner. Lord, bless our time as we go here or there or as we do this or do that.” If you can’t, then don’t do it.

First John 3:2–3 says, “We know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

If we really believe that Jesus is coming, it should cause us to live godly lives.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Live What You Believe

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But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. —2 Peter 3:8

When I became a Christian in 1970, the Jesus Movement was in full swing. A lot of young people were coming to Christ. There was a great deal of talk about the soon return of Jesus. It was very common to see bumper stickers on cars with slogans that read, “In case of Rapture, this car will be unmanned” or “Jesus is coming!”

I don’t know how many of those I have gone through, but quite a few. And still He hasn’t come. Some would say, “You guys were all wrong. Maybe He is never coming.” But here is what the Bible says in response: “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” (2 Peter 3:9).

Forty-three years ago, I was praying that Jesus would come back. I would venture to guess there are many who are glad that God didn’t answer my prayers because they have become believers since then. I also think that somewhere on earth is an individual who will be the last one the Lord is waiting for to put his or her faith in Christ, and the moment this person does so, the Rapture will take place.

Peter continues, “But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment” (verse 10).

If you really believe that Jesus is coming back, then it should impact the way you live. And if it doesn’t impact the way you live, then you are completely missing the point.

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Smoke Signals

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And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?” But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” —Luke 18:26–27

I once heard a story about a man who was shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. Seeing that rescue might not happen for a long time, he painstakingly built a little hut to provide himself protection from the elements and a place to store the few items he had managed to salvage from the wreck. Every day he would prayerfully scan the horizon, hoping for the approach of a ship. But he saw nothing.

Then one evening, after he had been out and about on the island, searching for food, he came back to see that his little hut was in flames. He tried to put out the fire, but it was too late. Everything he owned in this world had gone up in smoke. He went to sleep that night listening to the pounding of the surf, stunned by his own misfortune.

The next morning he awoke to find a ship anchored off the island—the first ship he had seen since he had been marooned. Still trying to believe his eyes, he heard footsteps, and then a human voice, saying, “We saw your smoke signal and we came to rescue you.”

That’s how it happens sometimes. In divine sovereignty and grace, the worst-case scenario somehow becomes the best-case scenario.

Disasters can turn out to be great opportunities for God to work in your life. The Lord is always present with us, always intimately acquainted with our circumstances, and He specializes in taking “impossible” situations and turning them around, for His glory and our benefit.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Works that Follow Us

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And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!” —Revelation 14:13

God keeps meticulous records. There is a reward waiting for every believer. Even those small things are duly noted. Jesus said, “And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded” (Matthew 10:42). The reward for followers of Jesus is that we will have our works follow us.

What kind of works will follow you? What will be said at your memorial service? What things will be noted? Have you noticed that at a funeral, it is never mentioned how much money he or she had in the bank? Rather, the focus is always personal. There are stories about family and friends and about the merciful, sacrificial, loving, kind things he or she did. That is the kind of things people want to hear at a memorial service. Our works follow us.

If you don’t have any works following you, then that raises the question of whether you are a true believer. Although works don’t save us, they are good evidence that we are saved. The Bible says, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (Ephesians 2:8–9). At the same time, a faith that does not produce works is a faith that is not working.

If you died today, would you die in the Lord, or would you be separated from Him? Are you like the people of Babel in Genesis 11, building your little tower to heaven, hoping that it will get you there?

We want real, saving faith so that our works will follow us in that final day.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – The Last Enemy

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The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. —1 Corinthians 15:26

When someone loses a loved one, there is a place for mourning. The depth of our sorrow is an indication of the depth of our love. But there is also a place for rejoicing if that loved one is a believer because we know we will see him or her again.

Even Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus as he saw the devastating power of death. Death is an enemy, and 1 Corinthians 15:26 tells us, “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.”

No one wants to die. No one looks forward to death. But we all will die, and we want to have put our faith in Christ before we enter into eternity. However, there is something we need to remember about heaven.

Paul the apostle, when he went to heaven and came back to earth, tried to put his experience into words. He could find only one word that helped him describe it, and that was “paradise” (see 2 Corinthians 12:4). It is an interesting Greek word that actually refers to the royal garden of a king. Think about the most beautiful garden you have ever seen or the most amazing sight you have ever laid eyes on. That was the depiction of heaven Paul gave. He was saying, “I don’t really have the words, but it was like a paradise.”

As Pastor Adrian Rogers put it, “The God who sculpted the wings of the butterfly, blended the hues of the rainbow, and painted the meadows with daffodils is the same One who made heaven.”

In heaven all questions are answered, all tears are dried, and all pain is gone. Heaven is pure bliss. That is why Paul said that he longed to be there. Heaven is far, far better than earth.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – God’s Heart toward the Lost

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There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. —Acts 10:1–2

In Acts 10, we are introduced to Cornelius, a Roman centurion living in Caesarea. As a military man, he would swear allegiance to Caesar not only as his leader, but also as his deity, which was required. But Cornelius did not go the way of other Romans. He was exposed to the faith of the Jewish people and was drawn to it. So Cornelius began to call not on the gods of Rome, but on the God—singular—of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He wanted to know this God.

God heard the prayers of this pagan man and sent an angel to him, who told Cornelius that he needed to talk with someone named Simon Peter. Then the Lord directed Simon Peter to go to the house of Cornelius and share the gospel with him, which Peter did. The result was that Cornelius believed.

As I have said before, there will be surprises when we get to heaven. One of them will be that some of the people whom we never thought would be there will be there.

The gospel is universal in scope. It isn’t for one group or one race or one nation. It is for everyone. That is why Jesus tells us to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

C. S. Lewis said, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no hell.”

God wants to save people. It is His heart to bring people to faith. He will more than reach out to them. He will more than reach them halfway

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Written on Our Hearts

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But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. —Romans 1:18

We are all born with a sense of right and wrong. Before children can even speak, they have a sense of it. You can tell by watching them. They check to see if they can get away with something, and when you tell them no, they do it anyway.

Right and wrong are in our human nature. There is a human conscience. Romans 1:18 says, “God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.”

Some say they live by their own standards, but I would argue they don’t. They know what is right, and they know what is wrong. And they have broken their own human standards. We are told in Romans 2:12, “When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it.”

Down in our hearts, we know right from wrong. God’s laws are written within them. Our own conscience either accuses or excuses us. And God will judge us according to the light we have received.

Know this: God wants to save us even more than we want to be saved. Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost” (Luke 19:10).

David told his son Solomon, “Learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever” (1 Chronicles 28:9).

If you are a true seeker, then you will find your way to Jesus Christ.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – A Master Designer

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For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. —Romans 1:20

God has revealed Himself in many ways to every person, everywhere. He has given us the testimony of His own creation. Romans 1:20 tells us, “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. . . .”

To say that all of the beauties of God’s creation came about randomly is ridiculous. The person who believes in the theory of evolution makes a choice to believe it. I believe they make that choice because the lifestyle they want to live has no place for God. If there is a Creator, then there is a God. If there is God, then there is a Judge. If there is a Judge, then there is a judgment. And if there is a judgment, they will have to stand there one day. So they have to try to find a way to write God out of the script.

But I think we know intuitively there is a Master Designer behind it all. To look at this world and say that it all just came about randomly borders on the absurd. It would be like saying the 747 aircraft was not the result of the engineering efforts of countless engineers, designers, and workmen at Boeing, but came into being because a tornado swept through a junkyard, and after it was done, there it sat in all its glory.

Yet people will look at something as intricate and amazing as the human body and the creation around us and say it all came about randomly. The Bible says, “Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God’ ” (Psalm 53:1).

God has given us the witness of His creation.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Don’t Look Back

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I find it interesting how we can look at the past through rose-colored glasses. Remember the children of Israel? They had been delivered from the tyranny and bondage of Egypt, where for years they had languished in slavery. In their deep distress they cried out to God for deliverance, and the Lord answered their prayers through a man named Moses.

As they made their way through the wilderness, God supernaturally fed them with an incredible bread-like substance called manna. Manna literally means, “What is it?” They had it daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But after a while, they got tired of it. They said, we are sick of manna. We remember the good old days back in Egypt, where we ate garlic, leeks, and onions (see Numbers 11:5).

They spoke of the good old days in Egypt, but as slaves they basically ate table scraps. They barely scraped out a miserable existence. Yet in their imaginations, they magnified these scraps into some sumptuous feast they had each and every day. Don’t build up the past in your mind. Remember it for what it was. Don’t allow the enemy to pull you down by fantasizing about it. Protect your mind, and don’t look back. Remember what Jesus said in Luke 9:62, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God” (NLT). These words contain an implied promise that ought to challenge us to the core. The Lord is telling us: If you do not move forward for My glory, then you will not be fit for My Kingdom. But if you move forward, then you will have an honored place at My table . . . forever.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Every Day Jesus

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“You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” —John 15:14

Jesus wants us to follow Him wherever He leads. But sometimes we may not want to follow Him. Sometimes we may not like where He is going. Even so, we are to follow.

Jesus said, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:14). It is not for us to pick and choose the things of the Bible that we like and agree with but reject the things we don’t like and don’t agree with. Following Jesus is a package deal. When Jesus said to Matthew, “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9), the word “follow” could be translated “walk the same road.” It also includes the idea of doing this continuously, and it’s an implied command. So a paraphrase of Jesus’ words might be, “I command you to follow Me each and every day.”

He doesn’t want to only be our Sunday Jesus. He wants to be our Monday Jesus. And our Tuesday Jesus. And our Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Jesus.

One day, we will be walking with God on earth, and the next day we will be walking with Him in heaven. One day we will start our journey on this planet, and the next day we will wake up in heaven. That happened for Enoch. The Bible says that “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:24).

I can just imagine the Lord saying to him one day, “Let’s go for a walk, Enoch.” Maybe after they walked for a while, God said, “We are closer to My house than yours. Why don’t you come to My house today?” So Enoch started out on one shore and ended up on another.

Are you walking with the Lord each and every day? Are you ready to meet Him?

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Out for a “Talk”

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Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”   —Matthew 16:24

I think sometimes that Jesus has a lot of so-called followers today who are more like Twitter followers. Twitter followers know what someone says, and that is the extent of it.

It is how a lot of us are with Christ: “I am a follower of Jesus. . . . Did He Tweet today?”

But following Christ is more than that. Jesus said to Matthew, “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9). Matthew wasn’t a believer at the time. He was a tax collector working for Rome. But Jesus walked up to him, looked at him (or right through him), and said, “Follow Me.” Matthew bolted up from that table and began to follow Christ.

The phrase “Follow Me” also could be translated “Follow with Me”—not follow behind Me, but follow with Me. In other words, “Let’s take a walk together.”

The other day I took a walk with my wife, Cathe. I bolted out the door, and she asked me to slow down and wait for her. That is not the way for a husband to walk with his wife, and that is not the way to walk with the Lord. We are not to walk ahead of Him.

To be a follower of Jesus means that He walks with us. We are never alone.

Sometimes Cathe will take a walk with her girlfriends. When she tells me she is going on a walk with certain friends, I will say, “You are going on a talk, not a walk.” It has nothing to do with walking, and she admits that is true.

The Lord wants to go on a “talk” with you, not just a walk. It is not about how fast you can move. It is about fellowship and companionship.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – We Don’t Fool God

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If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. —1 John 1:8

I think the word “hypocrite” is misused a lot. For example, if you happen to be hammering away on something and suddenly miss the nail and hit your thumb, you might scream a word that you should not have. And if a nonbeliever overhears you, he or she might call you a hypocrite. But are you really a hypocrite?

I don’t think so. I think you are a human.

I am not excusing sin; I am just explaining it. We are all sinners. And Christians do still sin, unfortunately. The Bible says, “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (1 John 1:8–9).

It is only a matter of time until we will fall short in some way, shape, or form. We will say the wrong thing. We won’t do the right thing. But that doesn’t make us hypocrites; that just makes us flawed.

A hypocrite is different. Originally, the word “hypocrite” simply meant “actor.” In the dramas of early Greece, an actor would hold a mask in front of his face as he was portraying a character. When the mask was in front of his face, he was the hypocrite. It wasn’t a negative word.

To call someone a hypocrite today, however, is a criticism—even an insult.

Judas was a hypocrite. He pretended to be something he was not. So it is when we act as though we are Christians and we are not. We may fool a few people. We may even fool some of the people all of the time. But we never will fool God any of the time.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Spiritual Adultery

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Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. —James 4:4

Here is a simple truth to remember: If you are single, you are not supposed to have sex. And if you are married, you are to have sex only with your spouse (a member of the opposite sex, I might add). That is the way it is. Everything else is a sin.

Some will disagree, and some will say this viewpoint is not politically correct. Nevertheless, it is biblically accurate, and if they have an argument, then their argument is with God. The Bible says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10).

In Revelation 14 we read of 144,000 messianic believers who lived pure lives:

These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. (verses 4–5)

The word “defiled” used here means immoral. And on more than one occasion, the Bible uses the metaphor of having other gods as being like adultery. James says, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (4:4).

To love this world means committing spiritual adultery. You have a choice. You can be the world’s friend and God’s enemy, or you can be God’s friend and the world’s enemy. Which will it be?

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – A New Song

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And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne. . . .

—Revelation 14:2–3

Sometimes we see heaven depicted as a place where people sit around on clouds, strumming on their personal harps in boredom. While it is true there will be harps in heaven, not everyone will be playing them. In Revelation 14:2, John the apostle was describing a stringed instrument. It was a point of reference for him: “And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps.”

Maybe we could update this scene in heaven by saying there were a lot of guitarists rocking out on their electric guitars. The point is that it isn’t boring; it is a celebration of a new song that is being sung.

Every believer should have a new song. The psalmist David wrote, “He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth—praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord” (Psalm 40:2–3).

If you have trusted in Christ, if you have been lifted from a pit of despair, then you have a new song. Did you know that? It doesn’t need to be a literal song. You don’t have to walk around and sing, “I used to be an unbeliever . . . but now I am a Christian. . . .” Rather, it is the idea of having a new message.

So stop singing the old song. Sing the new song. Let others know what Christ has done for you. That is what these believers in heaven were doing. And that is what we ought to do.