Philadelphia Harvest '08 With Greg Laurie

Big weekend coming up in Philadelphia. If you aren't in the area or can't make it, be sure to click on the links found here to watch the event live.

More than 350 area churches have invited Pastor Greg Laurie and the Harvest Crusades team to partner with them in an evangelistic outreach in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Harvest 08 will be held October 3–5 at 7:30 P.M. at the Wachovia Center. The event will feature some of the top names in contemporary Christian music, along with an evangelistic message from Pastor Greg.

For more than 18 years, Harvest Crusades has put on large-scale evangelistic outreaches around the United States and in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. More than 3.5 million people have attended a Harvest Crusades event in person, and more than 275,000 people have registered decisions of faith in Jesus Christ.

Harvest Crusades events are designed to be opportunities for Christians to invite unsaved family members, coworkers, friends, and acquaintances to hear the life-changing message of the gospel in an environment that is entertaining, yet nonthreatening.

The cornerstone of each event is the presentation of the gospel by Pastor Greg Laurie. Biblically-sound and culturally relevant, Pastor Greg brings a clear gospel message, providing an opportunity for people to make a decision to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

See you there!

Heaven is a Lot Closer Now

After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. — Mark 16:12

Hope you were able to catch the Harvest event this past weekend. I felt that Greg Laurie gave some remarkably powerful messages. Laurie had lost his son, Christopher, only days before the evangelical outreach. His "Heaven is a lot closer now" statement will reverberate for a long time.

This from Greg Laurie's Daily Devotion:

WALKING WITH JESUS

I think it's interesting to note those to whom Jesus chose to appear after His resurrection. We don't read about Him appearing to Caiaphas or Caesar.

Now if it had been me, the first person I would have appeared to would have been Pilate: "Yo, Pilate! Remember me? Can't keep a good man down, can you?" Or I would have appeared to Caiaphas, the high priest who, for the most part, orchestrated the crucifixion.

But it is interesting how Jesus appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus and joined them on their journey. We don't know who they were, and they are not mentioned again in the Bible.

The Bible tells us that Jesus appeared in another form to them as they went into the country. In other words, He was going incognito. They didn't know that it was Jesus.

The last sight they had of the Lord was His beaten and bloodied body. Surely they wanted to get that image out of their minds.

There they were, walking along, and Jesus was walking with them. It's a reminder to us that at all times, even when we don't realize it, Jesus is walking with us.

Isaiah 43:2 promises, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you."

Maybe when you are in church, you feel close to God. But wherever you go, you can know that Jesus is with you there too. When you are going through hard times, even when you cannot feel Him, Jesus is there.
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Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Fellowship Church in Riverside and founder of the Harvest Crusades, recently released Lost Boy: My Story. Anyone interested in not only how Laurie came to be one of the most prolific evangelicals of our time, but a peak at how Calvary Chapel founder Chuck Smith's preaching affected many during the "Jesus movement," will want to read this book.
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For Such a Time as This...

Just a couple of quick notes. If you did not get a chance to listen to Greg Laurie talk at Harvest Christian Fellowship's service Sunday, you can do so by going to Harvest.org and clicking on the "I Still Believe" screen at the top. You can also view the video below.

I Still Believe



Although Laurie only spoke briefly before Sunday's message, it came only a few days after the tragic death of his son, Christoper Laurie.

Also, now more than ever, it's a good time for prayer in regards to the upcoming Harvest event in Anaheim, California. Laurie is the founder of the Harvest, which has impacted many for Christ. Since 1990, more than 3.6 million people have attended a Harvest Crusades event in person, and more than 290,000 have registered their decisions of faith in Jesus Christ.

For such a time as this...

Lord, if...

"Lord, if you had been here . . . "

It's still hard to put into words what transpired this week for the Greg Laurie family, including of course, his daughter-in-law Brittany Laurie. This weekend's Harvest Devotion comes at an especially somber time.

This from John Collins, who is Administrative Pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship:

"Lord, if you had been here . . . "

These are the words of Mary and Martha at the death of their brother Lazarus in John 11.

There, at that moment in time, when death was cruel and vile and heartless, they stood before what seemed an unbreakable valley of darkness. They wrestled with grief, and the grief was unbearable and unbeatable because grief can never be beaten, only experienced.

And so when Jesus came to them, they said it, "Lord, if . . . "

They both said it, at different times, but to His face. We get the sense that they most likely had said it among themselves, too.

"Lord, if . . . if you had only done this or that . . . "

It is the perfectly human response of a heart that is broken because hopes have been dashed and their world shattered. Someone they loved has been taken away. Life as they knew it was now different. They stood on the cliff of that dark valley and peered into the blackness and thought, "Lord, if . . . "

This morning, as I write this, my pastor and his wife stand on that cliff. They are suffering the loss of their eldest son, who was taken from this earth quickly and tragically Thursday. They are battling the unmerciful giant called grief and, like Mary and Martha and every human soul who has waged that battle, they are losing.

It is painful to watch for the end is not near, and with every merciless blow they cry out, "Lord, if . . . "

I have been in that ring before, but only as a young man of 16. My father had died of cancer. The last night of his life, I left the hospital with the words, "I'll be back to watch the World Series game with you tomorrow."

There was no tomorrow. I had missed those precious last hours with him. And I grieved, "Lord, if I had only stayed with him . . . "

"Lord, if . . . " is the cry of every forsaken moment, every unsaid word, every failure to perfectly love the ones we love and now can only remember.

"Lord, if . . . " is how we ask God, "Why?", when we know He won't answer, when we are unsatisfied and frustrated by "seeing through a glass darkly."

"Lord, if . . . " echoes in the darkness and, like all echoes, it returns with no answer. The price of life and love is death and separation. As C.S. Lewis once said, "That's part of the deal."

So where is Jesus? We ask, "Lord, if I must drink this cup of grief, where are you?" To that, we have an answer in Psalms 139:8–12:

"If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—
but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are both alike to you." (NLT)

For Mary and Martha, the darkness and grief for Lazarus was temporary. Jesus allowed it so that His power over death could be made known at the resurrection of Lazarus.

Jesus was there, orchestrating His plan. Out of the darkness of that tomb came a foreshadowing of his own resurrection, which would give light and hope to all the world now that death was defeated.

Where was Jesus? He was there in the darkness of that tomb. And before raising Lazarus, He was with Mary and Martha, weeping with them!

Where is Jesus? He is forever in the midst of our darkness, in the black caverns of our life. He sees the grieving widow. He sees the grieving father and mother. He sees our pastor and his wife and He visits them in their grief. He knows the pain of the journey.

Isaiah said, "He is a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3 NKJV). It is comforting to know that our sorrows are His sorrows and that He knows the aching sense of loss and grief. God never promised to remove our grief, only to give it purpose.

Mary and Martha were united with Jesus in sadness, the grief of loss. And Jesus entered into that grief.

How sweet and comforting to know our God is with us in our moments of desperation. He is the King who bears the full, blunt force of our "Lord, ifs . . . " and then sits next to us with a loving arm around our shoulder and weeps.

It is in these moments with Jesus that we come to know that the darkness only hides His face. One day, when the darkness is gone, His face will be the light of heaven.

My heart breaks for Greg and Cathe. I have come to know Jesus through Greg's faithful teaching of the Word of God. I watch and wince at every blow of grief, but I am confident there are blessings in the buffeting and grateful that Jesus is with them.

Source: Harvest Online Daily Devotions

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Related: Nobody's Exempt

Nobody's Exempt

I call him the everyman's preacher. Evangelical leader Greg Laurie, founder of what's come to be known as Harvest Ministries, talks simple, talks direct, and knows today's world pulse as good as anyone.

Listening to a message or sermon from Laurie often helps answer a lot of questions about life and death. He has put forth major effort in comforting those who ask, "Why does God allow tragedy?" and "Why does God allow evil?"

Yesterday, Laurie faced tragedy of the most horrific kind.

This from Harvest Online:

Christopher Laurie, son of Pastor Greg Laurie and Cathe Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, died this morning in a car accident in Riverside. A resident of Huntington Beach, Laurie, 33, served as the art director at Harvest Christian Fellowship for the past three years.

In addition to his parents, Christopher is survived by his wife, Brittany, and daughter, Stella, as well as his brother Jonathan. Christopher and his wife are expecting another daughter in November.

Memorial plans for Christopher are pending. More information will be posted to the Harvest website as details become available.

A man who has comforted millions with the words of hope in Jesus, now faces asking the same questions again for himself. As I read from Matthew last night, knowing the tragedy that happened earlier in the day I realized again that nobody's exempt, nobody's immune from these things called life and death.

However, no one knows the day or the hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.

When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah's day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn't realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes. - Matthew 24:36-39

Once again, I was reading from my Life Recovery Bible. The note from these verses was this:

Jesus did not tell us when the final redemption of this evil world will come. In the same way, we may not know when our personal recovery is to be complete. All of us are still recovering, one day at a time. None of us have arrived. Not until Christ's second coming will we be relieved of daily working, watching, and recovering.

None of us have arrived. We will never have "arrived" so much as to be immune to tragedy. Not even the greatest of men, like Greg Laurie.

Let's pray for all those in Christopher Laurie's family. As for Christopher, his work here is done...and he must be relieved!

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Harvest.org

Mary Did It

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. — Luke 1:26–27

This from Greg Laurie's Harvest Daily Devotion:

A LESSON FROM MARY

It is difficult for us to understand, 2,000 years later, the significance of the angel Gabriel's appearance to Mary in Nazareth.

After all, he could have found the future mother of the Messiah in Rome, the capital of the greatest power on earth at the time. He could have found her in Athens, the cultural center of the world, or in Jerusalem, the spiritual center of the world.

But God chose Nazareth, an obscure but extremely wicked city that was notorious for its sin. Upon hearing that Jesus was from there, Nathanael said, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46).

What is amazing about Mary is that she lived a godly life in a godless place, and she did so as a very young teenager. Commentators believe she may have been as young as 12, but not much older than 14.

Here she was, a nobody living in a nothing town in the middle of nowhere—precisely the kind of person that God goes out of His way to call. He chose an unknown girl in a relatively unknown city to bring about the most-known event in human history, an event so significant that we actually divide human time by it.

Maybe you are trying to live out your faith in a godless place today, at work or school or among unbelieving family members. You're wondering if it can be done. It can.

Mary stands as an example for us, proving that it is possible to live a godly life in an ungodly world.

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Books by Greg Laurie can be found at Amazon.com.

Will We Live Forever?

These perishable bodies of ours are not able to live forever. But let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. — 1 Corinthians 15:50,51

This from Today's Devotion With Greg Laurie:

Historian Will Durant, when he reached the age of 70, said, "To live forever would be the greatest curse imaginable."

Will we live forever? The answer is "yes" and "no." Will our bodies live forever? No. Will our bodies cease to exist at one point? Absolutely. But the soul is immortal. Each one of us has a soul. It is the soul that gives each of us uniqueness and personality. That part of us will live forever.

Today, many people are searching for immortality, that elusive fountain of youth. Sometimes, it is hard for us to accept the fact that life is passing and death is approaching. One day, you will wake up and realize you have more life behind you than you have in front of you. But the question we should be asking is not, "Can I find immortality?" Rather, it should be, "Where will I spend my immortality?"

If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ and have asked Him to forgive you of your sin, the Bible teaches that you will go immediately into the presence of God in heaven when you die. That is God's promise to you.

But God not only promises life beyond the grave. He also promises life during life, not just an existence, but a life that is worth living. Jesus said, "My purpose is to give life in all its fullness" (John 10:10).

That is the hope and promise for all Christians. That is why the believer does not have to be afraid to die. Or afraid to live.
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Featured Book By Greg Laurie

Beyond: A Devotional

The Experience God Has for You Is Beyond Anything You Could Imagine...

Don’t let anything stop you from strengthening the most important relationship of your life. Drawing closer to God starts right here–with warm, clear, Bible-based devotionals on the core issues of your faith.

In his down-to-earth style, Greg Laurie helps you reinforce your commitment to God and develop the habit of responding to His voice every day. Beyond: A Devotional guides you into Scripture reflection, prayer, and application with daily devotions that take only ten minutes a day. Discover a greater intensity and intimacy with God as your desire to trust and obey Him keeps growing. Are you ready to move beyond your present spiritual limitations?

Open this book to stretch your spiritual muscles…and go deeper, further, and higher in your relationship with God. (Amazon.com)

“Greg Laurie is not only a personal friend, but is one of the great communicators of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our generation. I highly recommend him.”
–Billy Graham