Thousands troop out to receive Jesus during the altar call
More than 41,000 people came to "2014 SoCal Harvest"
Saturday night at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, to listen
to a message of hope by evangelist Greg Laurie, who led over
4,000 people to receive Jesus in their lives.
"I know that there is emptiness deep inside you … you were born
with it," Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship,
told the crowd at the three-night event which began Friday.
In his message titled, "Jesus and You," Pastor Laurie went on to
say that if they have not accepted Jesus into their lives, they are
lonely as well as feel guilt.
"I know you are [also] afraid to die," he added.
Noting that there were tens of thousands of people listening to
him at the stadium, online and on television Saturday night,
Laurie said, "Right now, Jesus sees you; He doesn't see a
crowd. And He cares about you, and He loves you."
Laurie referred to the story of the woman at the well in the
Gospel of John, Chapter 4, who was a "social outcast" but had
an appointment with God. She went from husband to husband,
hoping to find her prince, but she simply gave up.
Jesus wasn't talking about the physical well and water, Laurie
said, explaining it was a metaphor.
"If you drink from the well so-called materialism, you'll be
excited for a while … but you'll never be satisfied," Laurie said.
Drugs and other such substances do not satisfy either, and even
relationships or fame do not satisfy, he stated.
People want to love and be loved, according to surveys, Laurie
said.
He reminded the people that Jesus exposed the woman's sin
only to offer the solution. Jesus forgives all sins that we
confess, he added.
Laurie also spoke about Nicodemus in John Chapter 3, who was
a "moral," rich, famous man, as opposed to the woman at the
well. He, too, wasn't satisfied, he said. He gave the example of
American actor and comedian Robin Williams, who committed
suicide Monday, to say that riches and fame do not satisfy.
Later, Laurie read out John 3:16, which says, "For God so loved
the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
"That's it; that's the Gospel," he said, and urged the people to
come forward if they want to receive Jesus into their lives.
"… 4,169 came forward at the invitation to follow Christ!" Laurie
wrote on his personal blog Sunday about the previous night.
"Add last night's stats and that means so far, we have had
69,000 people in attendance and best of all ... 6,464 people have
made a profession of faith to follow Jesus Christ."
In his messages, Laurie is focusing on hope found in having a
relationship with Jesus Christ for the 25th consecutive year of
large scale events this year.
Laurie told The Christian Post in an exclusive interview a week
before the event that he would like Christians to recognize its
significance.
"This is something really amazing that God has done," Laurie
said. "I don't know of another ongoing evangelistic event like
this anywhere in the world that's happened for 25 years – a
large scale overt evangelistic event. I would say don't take this
for granted."
Founded by Laurie and Pastor Chuck Smith, the Harvest
Crusades began as a one-time evangelistic outreach at the
Pacific Amphitheater in Orange County before moving the
following year to Angel Stadium of Anaheim, where it has
become the longest running annual outreach in U.S. history,
according to Harvest Ministries.
Twenty-five years later, the impact of the Harvest Crusades has
launched from the outfield of Angel Stadium to reach more than
6.5 million people around the world.
source: christianpost
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