Greg Laurie Daily Devotion - July 26, 2012
The Hope for America
Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. - (Colossians 1:18)
The first recollection I have of going to church was with my grandparents when I was a little boy. I didn’t like it at all. I thought it was boring, and my grandmother kept shushing me. Later, when I was in military school for a few years, we went to a mandatory chapel. I didn’t really enjoy that, either. I really didn’t have a lot to do with the church during my childhood.
So when I came to Christ at age 17, I wasn’t all that interested in church. But there was a very persistent guy on my high school campus who made himself my friend. He came up to me one day and said that he would like to take me to church.
“I really don’t want to go to church,” I told him. “That’s okay.”
He was unrelenting in a friendly kind of way, and I eventually agreed to go with him. It was a Monday or Wednesday night when I first visited Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California. This was during the Jesus Movement, and the place was overflowing with young people. I didn’t want to go in. But sure enough, someone recognized me, and I found myself sitting in the front row.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that I had a front-row seat to a genuine revival. And it didn’t take long for me to go from being uncomfortable at church to being part of everything I could at church. I wanted to learn as much as I could learn.
Today I am as committed to the mission of the church as I was that day when I first discovered how wonderful church can be. And I believe that the hope for America is the church—the hope is God, working through His church.
Summary sentence: Are you committed to the mission of the church?
Tags: Hope for America, church
Copyright © 2012 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
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SPECIAL OFFER
You can receive a copy of Hope for America in appreciation for your gift to Harvest Ministries this month. Your support will help keep us on the radio, daily proclaiming the gospel, as well as help Harvest America take place on August 26.
Greg’s latest resource, Hope for America, is written for all believers. It is a roadmap on how our nation can get back to the values that made us strong, and it shows how we can have a spiritual awakening in the nation.
In less than two months, we are holding an event for our secular culture called Harvest America. It is one day, one church, one message. The gospel message will be beamed live from Angel Stadium across the nation.
