How Steve McQueen Came to Christ | From the Archives

Hey there, thanks for listening to the gray glory pod just a ministry supported by harvest partners on Greg Laurie encouraging you if you want to find out more about harvest ministries. Learn more about how to become a harvest partner, just go to harvest.org how many of your furtive actor Steve McQueen raise it.

Steve McQueen yet. He's a very well-known actress really and I caught I was looking at fashion a magazine the other day and they had article that asked the question who is cooler Steve McQueen or James Dean. So they sorta checked out their fashion sense and their accomplishments and they concluded Steve McQueen was the coolest guy ever. That was why McQueen was called the King of cool email a lot of amazing films like the magnificent seven bullet the great escape. See McQueen was the very definition of a self-made man.

He rolled the fastest motorcycles is IKEA racecar driver.

He was always on the move in many ways McQueen was running for his life looking for a father because you see his dad abandoned him when he was a little boy and his alcoholic mother married and divorced multiple times and student two of Steve's stepfathers beat him, and he was out of the streets at the age of nine. Can you imagine all in the zone of the age of nine he ended up in being arrested yet to join the circus for a time he was searching for some kind of meaning and purpose in his life. Well, he took some acting classes and was pretty good at it before he knew it he was the number one movie star and all of the world. McQueen said in an interview. You only go around once in life, to grab a handful of it. It was the 60s and early 70s and everything was free, free drugs, free sex, you name it and Steve grabbed at all and he also was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. Women in cars he had booze. He had global fame. He had money.

One time he said you know what when he was asked. You believe in God is that I believe in me. That was the way you live will you know when he reached the pinnacle and then he just got sick of it all and he disconnected and his doctors told him he was having some problems with the lungs and he needed to get out of LA so Steve moved away in 1970 and tried to start a new life in a little town near Ventura and he married his third wife. There and she wrote in a book about Steve's life, Steve McQueen, the last mile quote. Despite the worldwide fiend that he had in the fact that he never financially wanted for anything. A certain piece alluded Steve for most of his life he had seen it done at all in this 50 years on earth but there was one thing he didn't have, and I was the one thing he wanted most inner peace, so Steve disconnected from the old Hollywood world and he bought a airplane hanger and filled with all of us supercool restored motorcycles ever there was one thing you never learn how to do and that was fly. So we went and bought a vintage plane known as a Stearman biplane and he has some of his friends who could teach them how to fly it. They said there's one guy, a guy named Sammy Mason was in his mid-60. Sammy was a former test pilot for Lockheed in a stunt pilot so Steve and Sammy spent a lot of time in the cockpit of that plane is Steve McQueen was learning to fly and they talked about life and the meaning of life and Steve noticed something different about Sammy and he said Sammy was about you that's different.

Sammy said Steve it's my relationship with Jesus Christ. So McQueen wasn't free.

Sammy said Steve wanted to come and join me at church and much to his surprise, Steve McQueen showed up at church and the pastor whose name is Leonard to wit knew that the famous movie star was in this church when he told people to leave them alone and let them just come in they did in one day.

Pastor DeWitt and I know this because II found faster when I was reading the story and I thought I wonder if this guy still alive so we tracked him down.

I got him on the phone and he already knew me. Because we did a crusade up in Ventura. There were his church is and he said no we helped you in the goods it all that we had a nice talk and I said tell me about what happened with Steve McQueen this is Greg. I was standing around after a Sunday morning someone tops on my shoulder. I turn around their Steve McQueen is his pastor. I want to talk to you. I would ask you some questions. So Leonard said okay come on in the Morrow and Steve Clementi said we had a to do a three hour conversation and Steve have a lot of questions and and I asked Leonard the pastor will what were his questions.

He said Willie wanted to know what is God really like is God really forgive sin. No wonder Stephen tried it all drugs, booze at the coolest machines ever so Pastor DeWitt answered Steve's questions and then Steve said good I'm I'm good now you answer all my questions and then the pastor's a reliable question for you Steve and Steve smiled and said you want to know if I'm born again right. The pastor said yes. Steve agreed, said yes pastor I'm born again. I went forward at one of your invitations a couple of weeks ago and made my commitment to Jesus Christ. A lot of people don't know the story, the king of coal met Christ. Everyone who knew Steve said his transferred transformation was immediate and dramatic. He spent hours pouring over his Bible and praying and he was bringing all the members of his family to church and bringing friends to church and trying to right wrongs for all the things he had done in his life and it was an amazing things. The wanted to know more. He asked that the pastor would beat with them every weekend. Seems that I want to get on a soapbox and talk about this before I know more about it. So Steve is growing to continue to grow spiritually for a year but he wasn't feeling well what he was working on one of his last films the Hunter so we went to see his doctors and they broke the tragic news. Steve you only have months to live view of incurable cancer, and it spread throughout your body.

So Steve told the pastor and Steve said you know what pastor now that I'm a Christian. I really want to live it up.

I don't make it.

I know more and going. Then McQueen said the only regret I have is I was not able to tell people what Christ did for me so I just wanted to right that wrong and tell you what Christ did for Steve McQueen tonight. He saved them and forgave them of all of his sin.

Steve had one wish he knew he was going to die.

Yes, the pastor peaked at Billy Graham come visit him. Pastor DeWitt knew some people that work with Jillian and the great evangelist came to visit Steve McQueen and Steve was on oxygen at this point and Billy said there was a sparkle in Steve's blue eyes and he was so responsive telling me of how Christ did change his life. And then Steve is going to go in for surgery for a very large tumor in he had misplaced his Bible and Billy said here take my Bible and so he gave his Bible to Steve and signed it. Steve went in for surgery and they remove the tumor, but then when he was in recovery. He died of a heart attack, they found Steve McQueen lying there with Billy Graham's Bible open Steve's hand on it next to John 316 he went right in the presence of God say what's John 316 oh I'm glad you asked. Jesus said for God so loved the world, say it with me.

He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. You know that's true. Everybody needs Jesus, the highest of the high, the lowest of the low, every man, every woman, every boy every girl. Everybody needs Jesus, you realize that yet you can come to him and believed tonight and be forgiven of all of your sin.

Steve asked the pastor what is God like you want to know what God is like.

Take a long look at Jesus and you have the answer, because Jesus was God was scan on walking among us, loving us caring for us for giving us that's God and Jesus is here tonight as Mel Gibson pointed out he didn't stay in the tomb, Christ rose again from the dead, these alive in here ready to come into your life and forgive you of all of your sin. Everybody, this is great glory and you've just been listening to a classic message from harvest ministries.

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