Harvest Christian Fellowship Pastor Greg Laurie tackled how Christians should live their lives in the End Times, describing his congregation as “last days believers.”
Laurie preached on Sunday the final message in a sermon series about the End Times, with him focusing in part on how Christians should act as the world gets worse before the rapture.
Laurie drew a parallel to the life of Noah, noting that the Bible periodically compares the End Times to the days of Noah, as recorded in the book of Genesis before the global flood occurred.
For his first point on how to live in the End Times, Laurie said, “God revealed secrets to Noah,” noting that Hebrews 11:7 says Noah was “divinely warned of things not yet seen.”
“Christians know things that the world does not know,” Laurie said. “People in the culture today don’t understand why things are unraveling. They don’t understand why government is expanding its control.”
“They don’t know why people are so depraved and do the horrible things that they do. They don’t know why culture is collapsing, but we do because we know we’re living in the last days.”
Laurie added that “even the basic Christian knows more than some of the great intellects in the world right now” because believers know that “man is bad and God is good, and we know judgment is coming to planet Earth.”
The second point that Laurie talked about was that “Noah had great reverence for God,” pointing to how Hebrews 11:7 said that Noah was “moved with godly fear” to build the ark.
“We need to have that reverence as well,” Laurie said. “We have read the last page of the Bible. We win in the end. We know this from the pages of Scripture.”
Laurie said that the third way to live in the End Times was to remember that “Noah walked with God when no one else did,” pointing to how Genesis 6:9 says, “Noah walked with God.”
“All of us should walk with God,” said Laurie. “To walk with God is to get into harmony with Him, it’s to stay in sync with Him. It’s not to run ahead of Him; it’s not to lag behind Him. You’re in rhythm with God.”
“Be on time for your appointment with God. Stay in sync with what the Lord is doing. When the Lord moves, you want to move with Him as well. Noah walked with God.”
For the final point, Laurie explained, “Noah was a witness for God,” telling his congregation that they are called to be a witness for Christ, even if they do not reach that many people in their witnessing.
“Did Noah reach a lot of people? Actually, he did not,” Laurie said. “Maybe you’ll only reach a handful of people. Maybe it will be your child or your grandchild. But Noah did reach his family.”
Laurie, who oversees a prominent multisite megachurch, acknowledged that, in the eyes of God, it does not matter how big or how small a ministry was while it operated on Earth.
“When we stand before God, He’s not going to say to us, ‘Well done, good and successful servant.’ He’s going to say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant,’” Laurie noted.
“If you’re a pastor of a large church, you’re a pastor of a small church, what God requires of you is faithfulness. Whatever He’s called you to do, He wants you to be faithful. Our goal is not success; our goal is faithfulness. We leave success in the hands of God.”
During his sermon, Laurie also focused on the modern state of Israel and how it relates to the End Times, at one point concluding that “America needs Israel more than Israel needs America.”
“God made a promise to Abraham and his descendants in Genesis 12:3. He says, ‘I will bless those that bless you, and I will curse those that curse you,’” he said.
“Look at any nation that has raised their hand against Israel and the Jewish people, and look at where they are today. The story of history tells us all about this, the most recent being Nazi Germany.”
“One of the reasons God has blessed our nation is because we have been a faithful friend to the nation of Israel since she became a nation, and I pray that we continue in that trajectory.”
Laurie’s sermon was part of a multi-week series at Harvest centered on themes of the End Times, such as the Second Coming of Jesus, the rapture, and the seven-year tribulation.
Laurie’s son, Pastor Jonathan Laurie, preached one of the sermons, describing the millennial reign referenced in the book of Revelation as “a brief layover in paradise before the real Paradise begins.”
“This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. No more corrupt politicians, no more unjust rulings, no more backroom quid pro quo deals,” said Jonathan Laurie last month. “There will be, finally, world peace. No more terrorism, no more bombs.”
“There’s no longer going to be need for weapons anymore, no need to lock doors or spy on each other’s countries.”
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