Pastor Reveals the One Statement That Helped Rescue Him From a Path of Self-Destruction
For many individuals, coming to faith in Christ isn’t just a means of having your soul saved from the wrath of God that we’ve all earned with our sin, but it’s also a means of having your physical life rescued from destruction as well.
This is the story of well-known pastor Greg Laurie, the founder of Harvest Crusade and Harvest America, as well as the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California.
Before he became a believer in Jesus Christ he lived a life characterized by an absence of faith, drug use, and as he states, a generally moving in the “wrong direction.”
Laurie is the author of the new book “Jesus Revolution: How God Transformed an Unlikely Generation and How He Can Do It Again Today,” and recently made an appearance on PureFlix.Com’s “Pure Talk” to discuss his journey of faith and his mission to reach young people with the gospel of Christ.
“I was a 17 year old kid. I was using drugs every single day. I was going in the wrong direction in my life,” he said, noting that he stumbled upon a Bible study one day on the lawn of his high school, and it changed everything. “I sat down close enough to eavesdrop on what was being said.”
That’s when Laurie heard someone proclaim a truth that stuck with him: “Jesus said, ‘You’re for me, or against me.’” The statement struck him and he wondered, “Am I against Jesus?” He was so moved that he decided to embrace Christ that very day.
Decades later, and he’s now personally led thousands of people to Christ, preaching to young people and adults, alike.
Advertisement - story continues below“Let’s not sacrifice the gospel for coolness … what this generation needs is not more cool stuff, they need Jesus Christ,” Laurie said. “They need to know what the Bible says and they need it in a way that they can understand it.”
Speaking of the importance of reaching people with the gospel, Laurie said that Christians need to “build bridges,” but that the most important act is to explain the meaning of the gospel.
“Ultimately, we need to tell them who Jesus is, that Jesus died on the cross for their sins and rose again from the dead and Jesus can come in their life,” he said. “And then ask them, ‘Would you like Jesus to come into your life right now?’”
Laurie goes on to note that during the 1960s and 1970s, the country was shredded to tatters by the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, the breakdown of the family unit, and much more, yet that didn’t stop the gospel from spreading. In fact, it only allowed the light of the gospel to shine all the more brightly.
But despite that reality, Laurie believes God shone through at the right moment in the Jesus movement, and that a similar revolution can take form again today.
Advertisement - story continues below“Our country was born in revival and we need another spiritual revival in America,” he said. “God can do it again, and we pray that He will.”
If you would like to see more material from Pastor Greg Laurie, you can view his 21-episode television series here.
Source: TheBlaze
