Category Archives: Greg Laurie

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.