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Greg Laurie

Harvest Crusades; Greg Laurie – How to Find Yourself

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 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 

—Galatians 2:20

Scripture:

Galatians 2:20 

What does it mean to take up the cross? Sometimes people think it means that whatever is bothering them or plaguing them is their cross to bear.

But that isn’t what Jesus meant when He said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23 NKJV).

The cross symbolizes the same thing to every person. It speaks of dying to ourselves and putting God’s will before our own. Taking up the cross is exchanging our plans for His plans. It’s when we stop trying to seek life and instead seek God.

So many people today are trying to find purpose in life. What is life about? What is the meaning of it?

The meaning of life, the purpose of life, is to know God. And the best life to live is the Christian life. To live it the most effectively, we must take up our cross and follow Jesus Christ.

The Scottish theologian Samuel Rutherford said of the cross, “Christ’s cross is the sweetest burden that ever I bore; it is such a burden as wings are to a bird, or sails to a ship, to carry me forward to my harbor.”

It’s through death to ourselves that we find life. It’s through exchanging our plans for God’s that we find the best. We find life as it was meant to be lived.

The apostle Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NKJV).

When we lay aside our personal desires and ambitions, God will reveal the desires and plans that He has for us.

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie
Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Prayer Brings Peace

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The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. —Acts 12:6

Despite being chained between two Roman soldiers and facing the possibility of execution the next day, Peter was asleep. (He probably was the only Christian who slept that night.) In fact, it seems that Peter was in such a deep slumber that it took a whack from an angel to wake him up: “Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, ‘Quick! Get up!’ And the chains fell off his wrists” (verse 7).

What gave Peter such confidence and peace? He knew that people were praying for him. In the Psalms David said, “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O LORD, will keep me safe” (4:8). And David’s son Solomon wrote, “God gives rest to his loved ones” (127:2).

I know that people are praying for me when we hold our Harvest Crusades. I simply feel prayed for. It is comforting to know that others are praying for you.

Most of us know what it’s like to wake up in the middle of the night with things on our minds. When this happens, I will pray. I will say, “Lord, it’s 3:00 a.m. There’s nothing I can do about these things. I’m going back to sleep, so you worry about this.” Philippians 4:6–7 tells us, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (verse 7).

Do you sleep in peace? It is a great thing to go to sleep with a clean conscience.

 

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For the Sake of the Gospel – Greg Laurie

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“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” —Matthew 5:44

Even in the church today, we can write off a lot of people, sometimes even fellow believers. It seems that sometimes the slogan is, “Us four and no more.” We can divide over minutiae and allow second-tier and third-tier issues to bring unnecessary division in our ranks.

I have had people criticize me for those whom we involve in our Harvest Crusades: “Why do you let that church come? If that church is coming, then our church isn’t going to participate.” Or, “Why did you let that pastor pray at the crusade? I don’t agree with that pastor, because in one of his books, he quoted someone who once had coffee with someone else, and it is guilt by association. I want nothing to do with any of this.”

But I will say, “Look at the essential areas where we are in agreement, and we can get together—even though there are some minor differences—for the sake of the gospel of Christ. That is all I am trying to do.”

If people want to withdraw over that, then I guess that is what will happen. But I am going to keep doing what I do and keep preaching the gospel and trying to get as many people to join me as possible. And I want to join as many others who are doing this too.

Here is the thing: Sometimes there are people we don’t want to bring the gospel to, because if we were honest (we probably would not verbalize it), we don’t want them to come to Christ. But the Bible says we are to love our enemies (see Matthew 5:44).

So here is my suggestion to you: Go to them. Take the message of the gospel to the people who have offended you and hurt you.