Nearly 30,000 Harvest Crusade Angel Stadium Attendees; Pastor Greg Laurie Says Happiness Is Not a Lost Cause
Believers in God have hope, and hope brings happiness, he explained.
"There's more to happiness than what you experience in this world," the pastor said. "I know there's an afterlife, I know there's meaning in life."
God is happy, the pastor told the crowd, adding that people were drawn to Jesus when He was on earth because they could see happiness in Him. The word "blessed," which is used many times in the New Testament, is interchangeable with the word "happy" in several passages, he said.
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Sometimes, we think wrongly that God is always angry with us. "When God looks at you, He smiles. Because God loves you… God cares for you … God knows every detail about you," Laurie said.
The megachurch pastor shared the story of the rich man, from Matthew 19, who came to Jesus one night and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments," Jesus said. The rich man responded by saying, "All these I have kept," the man said.
The Bible says that Jesus looked at him and loved him; Jesus didn't think of smacking him, Laurie noted, stating that even when we sin, God loves us. However, He doesn't want us to remain in sin, he added.
Jesus told the rich man, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Jesus didn't say this to anybody else, but only to this man because he was not keeping the first two commandments: you shall have no other gods before me and you shall not make unto yourself any graven image, Laurie said.
The rich man worshipped his wealth, and "went away sad," the pastor noted.
Laurie then told the crowd that they, too, have a choice to make. "You can go away sad, you can go away mad, or you can go away glad… with joy and happiness in life with the hope of heaven."
You need to realize that you're a sinner, Laurie said, reminding them that "heaven is not for good people, heaven is for forgiven people."
You also need to realize that Christ died for you, for your sins and for the sins of the whole world, the pastor said. You must then repent of your sin, and receive Jesus into your life, he added.
Laurie called those who wanted to accept Jesus Friday night to come to the ground before the stage. Thousands prayed to invite Christ into their lives.
On Saturday night, the event will feature music from Jeremy Camp, Phil Wickham and The Harvest Worship Band. Pastor Laurie will deliver a message titled "Hope for the Afterlife."
Founded by Laurie, who serves as senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship – with campuses in Riverside and Irvine – 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-six 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.
The Harvest with Greg Laurie events are known for relating to audiences through contemporary means like top notch music, live Internet webcasts and social media, but the crux of each event is the nightly message presented by Laurie, according to organizers.
