Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. A
little later in the program, we'll tell you how you
can get a copy of a devotional on fifty two
questions every believer should answer. But first, here's the message,
the basic steps of spiritual maturity.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You know, there's a verse in the Bible, third John two.
It says I would that you would be prosperous or
prosper and be in health. I think it says in
the esb I pray that all may go well with you.
That means prosper with you, and that you may be
in good health as it goes well with your soul. Hey,
how healthy would you be physically if your body was
(00:43):
the same health as your soul, that you would prosper
and be in health even as your soul prosper. So
just as we need to be healthy physically and work
to that end and do everything that we can, because
you know you, you know, if you're doing preventative work
and you can correct some things, you can change your diet,
(01:05):
your exercise program, you can be inspired and motivated to
do better in your eating and all the rest in
order to get to tiptop shape, to be physically healthy well,
I want to talk about a checkup of your soul,
your spirit, and that's what Hebrews chapter six is talking about.
(01:28):
Chapters five and six. We're going to start at verse
eleven about this. We have much to say, and it's
hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing
verse twelve. For though by this time you ought to
be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the
basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk,
(01:49):
not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is
unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child.
But solid food meat for the mature. For those who
have their powers of discernments trained by constant practice to
distinguish between good from evil. Underscore that word discernment, circle it,
(02:12):
and then also trained discernment. We are trained to discernment
and discipleship. And then just right on to chapter six,
verse one. Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ,
that is the basics that new believers understand, and let
us go on to maturity. That's what Hebrews is about,
(02:33):
That's what the Bible is about. It is moving onward
and upward in our Christian's life into full stature. In Christ,
every Christian is to be a growing, maturing Christian. We're
not there yet, but we ought to be on the way. C. S.
(02:54):
Lewis said this, All who are called to salvation are
called to discipleship, no exceptions, no excuses. A disciple. What
is a disciple? A disciple is a growing Christian, a
(03:15):
Christian growing in faith. And it is time for some
of us to take our faith to the next level,
to grow up and growing in the right way, not
just growing wider, but growing up in the Lord. So
grow up. How many times did you hear your mama
(03:37):
say that to you? Grow up? Or maybe how many
times this week did you hear your wife say to
you grow up? But we need to grow up spiritually,
because what he's saying here is that some of you
are still acting like children. You're still in a childlike state.
You're still baby believers when you ought to be eating
(03:58):
meat solid food is a strong and vibrant they'll believe. Now.
Babies are cute and little toddlers are wonderful. You know,
little babies, You know you take care of the mamas
and dads. They take care of everything. They feed the baby,
take care of the baby, lay the baby down, swallow
the baby. Everything's about you're taking care of the baby.
Put milk into the baby, feed the baby, all the rest.
(04:21):
And then the babies get a little older, and they
start growing and they start toddling around, and you know
they've been crawling first, and then you know you're hoping, okay,
they're gonna walk, They're gonna walk. And then when they
start walking, you say, oh, no, they're walking, because the
next thing you know, they're running. And and it's great
to see little little ones, little children grow up. And
(04:44):
Jesus welcomes little children. He said, let the little children
come to me, he said, unless you're Unless you become
like a little child and be converted, you'll never see
the Kingdom of God. We come to Christ and child
wonder and faith, and never lose that wonder, that childlikeness.
(05:05):
It's a good thing to have a childlike heart and
a care free heart and never lose the wonder of
life and the joy of a child. Sometimes we lose
that over the years, don't we Why are we are
to be childlike? We're not to be childish, we are
not to be immature. And if that same child who's
(05:29):
now two or three and toddling grows up and keeps
toddling and never develops. They do not develop their promise
or their potential. Then that, of course is sad. It's
cute with children. Spiritually, it's great to have new babies
in a church. A healthy church has lots of brand
new babies, people born again of all ages. I wouldn't
(05:52):
want to be in a church of just all adults
quote mature Christians. It's great to have babies in the church,
in the church that's a healthy church. But when we
are born again, then we begin to grow. And frankly,
some of you you've been a Christian five years, ten years, fifteen, twenty, thirty,
(06:12):
forty fifty, many more, some and you're not wise or better, stronger.
You haven't been growing, you're not maturing now. In contrast,
some of you are old Christians and you're tired, and
you've kind of given up with the attitude. You know,
been there, done that, heard all this before. I've heard hundreds,
(06:35):
if not thousands of sermons. I know the Bible, I
know the stories, I know the routine, I know church,
and you're just kind of stuck. You've kind of quit growing.
You know, you never stop growing in the Christian life,
no matter how old you get. I'm still learning things
every day from God's word and God's Spirit teaching me.
(07:00):
Never Even the Apostle Paul, who was the greatest Christian
in history in my view, he said in the Book
of Philippians, he said, not that I've obtained this already,
not that I've achieved this. I haven't arrived. We don't
arrive until He arrives, when He comes for us. But
the fact is, even Paul said, I'm not there yet,
(07:22):
but I'm getting there. I'm growing there. I press on
to the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Jesus Christ. And some of you, unfortunately,
are like that. You know, an older person, you know
you have to get older, but you don't have to
get colder. You have to get older, but you don't
have to get old. You can be young in heart
(07:46):
and young in spirit and filled with life. And if
that's true physically and emotionally, how true it is spiritually.
You never stop. You know. One of the signs of
maturity and humility is you know what you don't know, right.
(08:14):
Arrogance is you think you know everything, you've heard it all.
But humility is to know what you don't know. And
there's so much more that I need to know that
I don't know. If you're the smartest guy in the
room or gall in the room, you're in the wrong room.
(08:35):
And you need to stay hungry and stay humble growing
in the Word of God. Just like an athlete a
team needs to stay hungry and humble. As growing Christians,
we need to stay hungry and humble, keep pressing on
to the degree that you not only are getting stronger yourself,
(08:56):
you're knowing some things now, you're growing in some things
now that you want to give it away to others.
That's why the writer says to us here, you ought
to be teaching others by now. You ought not to
be that baby who's just taking taking, taking taking. But
if you're growing up in your faith and into the
(09:17):
full stature of knowing Christ, and that's the goal. The
gold is Christ's likeness, the gold is character, the goal
is Godliness. And if you're growing in that direction, then
there comes a time when you're going to share that
with others. And when you are trained in discernment, that
(09:37):
means that you ought to be able to teach others. Now,
why do some Christians succeed in the Christian life and
others fail? Why is it that some start out the
Christian life and they run so well, but they collapse
(10:00):
at some point? They failed, They fall, some arrested development,
they don't get out of the starting blocks. And yet
others will run the right race of life and finish
with a flourish finish well, hands held high, breaking the tape,
bursting onto the streets of glory. What's the difference? Thought
(10:29):
about that a lot? What's the difference? You know what
it is? It's right here, choices, choosing between good and evil,
having discernment, mature people, maturing believers have discernment about right
(10:53):
and wrong, good and better, good and bad, and they
make good choices in their lives. Because our choices make
our character. What is character? Someone said, character is who
you are when no one is watching. Or character is
(11:18):
what you are who you are in the dark. But
I like this on character. Character is the sum total
of the choices you make in life. Character is the
sum total of the choices you make in life, and
you add it all up, and whether it is good
or evil, whether it is right, or wrong. That's what
(11:42):
enables you to grow inwardly, grow in your character. And
that's what we're talking about. First we make our choices,
then our choices make us.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message
the Basic Steps of Spiritual Maturity. When you ask big
questions of God, you can trust he'll give you answers
that grow your faith and deepen your intimacy with Him.
In his devotional The Jesus Code, os Hawkins helps you
uncover bold truths as you search for answers to life's
(12:16):
biggest questions. We want to send you a copy of
this powerful resource as thanks for your gift of ten
dollars or more so, request your copy of the Jesus
Code when you call and give today. Call one eight
hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. That's one
eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. You
(12:36):
can also text the word code to five nine seven
eight nine. Don't let stress rob you of peace. It
is possible to break the destructive grip of stress on
your life and enjoy the peace and abundance God desires
for you. That's what doctor Graham helps you do in
his booklet Breaking Free from Stress. We'll send you a
digital download of Breaking Free from Stress when you sign
(12:59):
up for emails updates from PowerPoint Today. Just go to
PowerPoint dot org slash stress and sign up today. Now
let's get back to today's message, the basic steps of
spiritual maturity.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Now, we make hundreds of choices every day. Most of
them don't matter a whole lot. What we think about,
what we do, what we eat for lunch, what we
put on. I mean, I got up this morning, I
made a bunch of choices. I decided to put this
suit on. I decided to put a white shirt with
this little cool orange handkerchief. I mean it's good, right,
(13:34):
I look good. Right. I did the best I could,
And I mean I made some choices. And but you
know that really doesn't matter. I could have warned a
gray suit and it wouldn't have made it any different.
So those kinds of things they don't matter. They may
be simple, not so significant, but they add up to
(13:59):
your life. But other choices mean everything. There choices that
mean life or death. Their choices that mean usefulness or
non usefulness in the Kingdom of God. Again, discernment is
the mark of maturity. That's making wise choices. Discernment is
(14:22):
making wise choices in life. And the biggest choice you
make is to follow Jesus Christ to begin with, and
then to choose to grow in your faith, moving beyond
curious and convinced to commit him and growing and maturing.
(14:51):
Don't be careless, don't be casual or non committal. A
growing Christian seeks first the Kingdom of God and his
righteous and you will either go forward as a Christian
or backwards. There's no in between. Really, you will either
be progressing or regressing. You will either be taking ground
(15:16):
for the Kingdom of God or losing it. And so
much of this is on us. It's on you. You say, well,
what about God, isn't he supposed to take care of me? Well,
he will, and you have the Holy Spirit to enable
(15:39):
you and help you. But the fact is your Christian
growth is on you, what you choose to do or
not to do. It's like riding a bicycle. Riding a bicycle,
really there's only one direction, and that's fall. To stall
(16:03):
is to fall. Can't go backwards, pedal backwards. On a
real bike, go forward. And I'm not talking about a
stationary bike where you just stand in the same place.
Hate those things. But the Christian life is always moving forward.
(16:24):
Are you learning? Are you getting better? Are you getting stronger?
Are you getting wiser? Are you getting better? Are you
moving forward? Is it onward and upwards? Are downward and
backwards in your life? That's what this is about. And
these secret Now, there are many secrets, open secrets really
(16:47):
as to the basics of spiritual maturity and how you
get there. I could talk a lot about prayer and
the priority of prayer. I could talk about spiritual disciplines
in your life of various kinds, fasting, giving, worship. But
the main thing is loving and listening, learning, living God's word,
(17:17):
God's word, Understanding God's word. That's where discernment comes. That's
where maturity grows in your life. It's God's word Joshua
one eight. Listen to it. The Book of the Law
shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate
on it day and night, so that you may be
(17:38):
able to be careful to do according to all that
is written in it. For then you will make your
way prosperous, and then you will have good success. There's
power in God's word in your life. The Bible is alive.
Martin Luther says, it has hands that take hold of me,
(18:01):
feet that chase me down, ay that search after me.
It's the word of God. But here's the key. When
you're hearing God's word like you are right now, or
whether you're reading for yourself and reflecting, is that you
(18:24):
not only hear it, but that you receive it. So
receive the Word of God when it comes your way.
I've preached all over the world through interpreters, many languages,
all kinds of churches across America through the years, small churches,
(18:48):
big churches, and I'm grateful to have opportunities to preach,
you know, I look forward to growing opportunities, wide open doors.
We preach the Gospel through PowerPoint and media, and I
appreciate the opp tunities to go and more times to
go in the days ahead. But here's the thing. When
I'm preaching again, no matter what kind of church I've
preaching in, I can tell in the first five or
(19:12):
ten minutes the spiritual health of that congregation based on
their ability to receive the Word of God. And believe me,
when you're up here doing this and when you've been
doing it as long as I have I mean, you
see everything. We need one of those cameras on my
(19:34):
head that can see you and put you on the
screen while I'm preaching. You need to see just what
I see. Sometimes. I mean there's some people when they
come there, you know they're already checked out. Their eyes
you know, in screensaver, it's gone. Some people are looking
at their phones, catching up on social media. That's why
(19:55):
it's good to bring a real Bible and not a
fake phone, because I may think you're looking at your
social media when you're actually looking at the word of God.
But be that as it may. I just like having
a Bible like this, like to mark it up, write
notes in it. But I digress. Some people are all
(20:20):
checked out. Some people, you know, they come and they
cross their arms. I mean, maybe not literally, but I
can see it in your eyes. You know, you put
a little do not disturb sign around your neck and say,
you know, you got about thirty minutes to work on me.
Do your best. Some people sleep, but you have a
(20:44):
responsibility to hear God's word, to lean in. Bring your Bible.
I would encourage you to take notes, truly, because you
would just get so much more out of the message
and the take home. The takeaway will be greater. When
(21:06):
I study my Bible. I'm always taking notes. I keep
a journal, and I have a in my quiet time.
And frankly, you know, the world is yelling at us.
There's so much of the world in our heads right
now in every way. We need to get more of
the Word and less of the world in us. Less
(21:30):
screen time and more quiet time with God, less Facebook,
and more faces in the book. That's what we need.
And when you come to church, be ready, be responsive,
receiving the word of God. Romans twelve two. Don't be
(21:53):
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind. The way your life changes. This is
for your mind to change. You stop believing the lies
of this world, and you start believing and living the
truth of God's Word. That's growing, that's discerning between good
(22:14):
and evil. So it's time to get off the ABC's
and get to D which is discipleship. Get off the
elementary kindergarten platform and start growing in your faith. A
couple more scriptures and then we're done. Look at Proverbs
eight thirty fourths in the New Living Joyful are those
who listen to me watching for me daily at my gates,
(22:37):
waiting for me outside my home. What a beautiful word
picture that is happy are those who are outside the
gates of God and waiting just for a word from him.
That very first Psalm says, blessed is the man. It
(22:57):
doesn't take counsel in the world, the things this world,
or stands in the way of centners, set of scoffers.
But look at this verse two. But his delight is
in the law of God, the law of the Lord.
And on his law. He meditates day and night. To
meditate means to chew it and to think about it,
to ponder it over and over in your mind. So
(23:20):
don't just read and think. Okay, I read my Bible today,
but meditate upon God's word. Memorize God's word. The most
important spiritual development and discipline of my life has been
memorizing scripture, meditating on scripture. I was in a situation
this week I needed just to be able to remember
(23:44):
and rehearse some scriptures that I memorized long ago. God
will bring that up. He'll just bubble up in your soul.
But you got to get in the word and get
the word in you. The habitual habit of memory. Rising
scripture will help you to grow, it will force you
to grow. Now, just listening to me or someone else
(24:07):
preach every week, that's kind of processed food. I mean,
hope it's not lightweight, but you know it is processed.
I'm breaking it down. I'm cutting your meat for you know,
you cut the little kid's meat, not you. But I mean,
I'm just saying sometimes you have to cut the meat
up for a child and bite sized portions. But when
(24:28):
you're growing, developing disciple, then you start eating solid food
and you want more. You want meat and not just milk.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message
the Basic Steps of Spiritual Maturity and the Devotional to
Jesus code Os Hawkins invites you to ask fifty two
thought provoking questions found in the Bible that will help
you experience Jesus in deeper, more authentic ways than ever before.
As you dive into these questions, you'll discover that everything
(25:04):
we need can be found in a deepening relationship with
Jesus Christ. We want to help you uncover bold truths
in the search for answers to life's biggest questions by
sending you the Jesus Code as our thanks for your
gift of ten dollars or more to help proclaim God's
unchanging word through PowerPoint. So call now for a question
(25:24):
your copy of the Jesus Code. Call one eight hundred
seven ninety five four six two seven. That's one eight
hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. You can
also text the word code to five nine seven eight nine,
And don't forget to visit Jack Graham dot org where
you can shop our East store, give a gift online,
(25:47):
or sign up for doctor Graham's free daily email devotional.
Our website again is Jack Graham dot org, and also
be sure to sign up for doctor Graham's podcast Bible
in a Year pastor what is your PowerPoint for today?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I pray that you love the Church, the Church of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says Jesus loves the
church and gave himself for it. Make sure that because
Jesus is the love of your life, that you also
love his bride, the Church, and not just you, but
those around you. Invite people who need to know Jesus
to your church. It's amazing what a simple invitation can do.
(26:29):
And will do every Sunday. I'm introduced to people who
come on the arm of a friend or at the
invitation of a neighbor, and many of these their lives
are totally changed by the power of the Gospel, the
power of Jesus Christ. If you don't have a church home,
we would invite you to Preston Wood. Just go to
Prestonwood dot org Prestonwood dot org and all the information
(26:52):
regarding our services is there. But if you have a church,
make sure you show up and are not just showing
up but part painting and worshiping and singing and share
your faith through the ministry and mission of your local church.
God bless you as you make the commitment to worship Christ,
to serve Him through your local church and begin attending
(27:14):
this coming Sunday.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember when you give a
gift of ten dollars a more to PowerPoint, we'll send
you os Hawkins devotional the Jesus Code as our thanks
call one eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven.
That's one eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven.
You can also text the word code to five nine
(27:38):
seven eight nine and join us again next time as
doctor Graham brings a message about how you can keep
growing stronger in Christ every day. That's next time on
PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored
by PowerPoint Ministries.
Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. A
little later in the program, we'll tell you how you
can get a copy of a devotional on fifty two
questions every believer should answer. But first, here's the message,
the basic steps of spiritual maturity.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You know, there's a verse in the Bible, third John two.
It says I would that you would be prosperous or
prosper and be in health. I think it says in
the esb I pray that all may go well with you.
That means prosper with you, and that you may be
in good health as it goes well with your soul. Hey,
how healthy would you be physically if your body was
(00:43):
the same health as your soul, that you would prosper
and be in health even as your soul prosper. So
just as we need to be healthy physically and work
to that end and do everything that we can, because
you know you, you know, if you're doing preventative work
and you can correct some things, you can change your diet,
(01:05):
your exercise program, you can be inspired and motivated to
do better in your eating and all the rest in
order to get to tiptop shape, to be physically healthy well,
I want to talk about a checkup of your soul,
your spirit, and that's what Hebrews chapter six is talking about.
(01:28):
Chapters five and six. We're going to start at verse
eleven about this. We have much to say, and it's
hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing
verse twelve. For though by this time you ought to
be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the
basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk,
(01:49):
not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is
unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child.
But solid food meat for the mature. For those who
have their powers of discernments trained by constant practice to
distinguish between good from evil. Underscore that word discernment, circle it,
(02:12):
and then also trained discernment. We are trained to discernment
and discipleship. And then just right on to chapter six,
verse one. Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ,
that is the basics that new believers understand, and let
us go on to maturity. That's what Hebrews is about,
(02:33):
That's what the Bible is about. It is moving onward
and upward in our Christian's life into full stature. In Christ,
every Christian is to be a growing, maturing Christian. We're
not there yet, but we ought to be on the way. C. S.
(02:54):
Lewis said this, All who are called to salvation are
called to discipleship, no exceptions, no excuses. A disciple. What
is a disciple? A disciple is a growing Christian, a
(03:15):
Christian growing in faith. And it is time for some
of us to take our faith to the next level,
to grow up and growing in the right way, not
just growing wider, but growing up in the Lord. So
grow up. How many times did you hear your mama
(03:37):
say that to you? Grow up? Or maybe how many
times this week did you hear your wife say to
you grow up? But we need to grow up spiritually,
because what he's saying here is that some of you
are still acting like children. You're still in a childlike state.
You're still baby believers when you ought to be eating
(03:58):
meat solid food is a strong and vibrant they'll believe. Now.
Babies are cute and little toddlers are wonderful. You know,
little babies, You know you take care of the mamas
and dads. They take care of everything. They feed the baby,
take care of the baby, lay the baby down, swallow
the baby. Everything's about you're taking care of the baby.
Put milk into the baby, feed the baby, all the rest.
(04:21):
And then the babies get a little older, and they
start growing and they start toddling around, and you know
they've been crawling first, and then you know you're hoping, okay,
they're gonna walk, They're gonna walk. And then when they
start walking, you say, oh, no, they're walking, because the
next thing you know, they're running. And and it's great
to see little little ones, little children grow up. And
(04:44):
Jesus welcomes little children. He said, let the little children
come to me, he said, unless you're Unless you become
like a little child and be converted, you'll never see
the Kingdom of God. We come to Christ and child
wonder and faith, and never lose that wonder, that childlikeness.
(05:05):
It's a good thing to have a childlike heart and
a care free heart and never lose the wonder of
life and the joy of a child. Sometimes we lose
that over the years, don't we Why are we are
to be childlike? We're not to be childish, we are
not to be immature. And if that same child who's
(05:29):
now two or three and toddling grows up and keeps
toddling and never develops. They do not develop their promise
or their potential. Then that, of course is sad. It's
cute with children. Spiritually, it's great to have new babies
in a church. A healthy church has lots of brand
new babies, people born again of all ages. I wouldn't
(05:52):
want to be in a church of just all adults
quote mature Christians. It's great to have babies in the church,
in the church that's a healthy church. But when we
are born again, then we begin to grow. And frankly,
some of you you've been a Christian five years, ten years, fifteen, twenty, thirty,
(06:12):
forty fifty, many more, some and you're not wise or better, stronger.
You haven't been growing, you're not maturing now. In contrast,
some of you are old Christians and you're tired, and
you've kind of given up with the attitude. You know,
been there, done that, heard all this before. I've heard hundreds,
(06:35):
if not thousands of sermons. I know the Bible, I
know the stories, I know the routine, I know church,
and you're just kind of stuck. You've kind of quit growing.
You know, you never stop growing in the Christian life,
no matter how old you get. I'm still learning things
every day from God's word and God's Spirit teaching me.
(07:00):
Never Even the Apostle Paul, who was the greatest Christian
in history in my view, he said in the Book
of Philippians, he said, not that I've obtained this already,
not that I've achieved this. I haven't arrived. We don't
arrive until He arrives, when He comes for us. But
the fact is, even Paul said, I'm not there yet,
(07:22):
but I'm getting there. I'm growing there. I press on
to the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Jesus Christ. And some of you, unfortunately,
are like that. You know, an older person, you know
you have to get older, but you don't have to
get colder. You have to get older, but you don't
have to get old. You can be young in heart
(07:46):
and young in spirit and filled with life. And if
that's true physically and emotionally, how true it is spiritually.
You never stop. You know. One of the signs of
maturity and humility is you know what you don't know, right.
(08:14):
Arrogance is you think you know everything, you've heard it all.
But humility is to know what you don't know. And
there's so much more that I need to know that
I don't know. If you're the smartest guy in the
room or gall in the room, you're in the wrong room.
(08:35):
And you need to stay hungry and stay humble growing
in the Word of God. Just like an athlete a
team needs to stay hungry and humble. As growing Christians,
we need to stay hungry and humble, keep pressing on
to the degree that you not only are getting stronger yourself,
(08:56):
you're knowing some things now, you're growing in some things
now that you want to give it away to others.
That's why the writer says to us here, you ought
to be teaching others by now. You ought not to
be that baby who's just taking taking, taking taking. But
if you're growing up in your faith and into the
(09:17):
full stature of knowing Christ, and that's the goal. The
gold is Christ's likeness, the gold is character, the goal
is Godliness. And if you're growing in that direction, then
there comes a time when you're going to share that
with others. And when you are trained in discernment, that
(09:37):
means that you ought to be able to teach others. Now,
why do some Christians succeed in the Christian life and
others fail? Why is it that some start out the
Christian life and they run so well, but they collapse
(10:00):
at some point? They failed, They fall, some arrested development,
they don't get out of the starting blocks. And yet
others will run the right race of life and finish
with a flourish finish well, hands held high, breaking the tape,
bursting onto the streets of glory. What's the difference? Thought
(10:29):
about that a lot? What's the difference? You know what
it is? It's right here, choices, choosing between good and evil,
having discernment, mature people, maturing believers have discernment about right
(10:53):
and wrong, good and better, good and bad, and they
make good choices in their lives. Because our choices make
our character. What is character? Someone said, character is who
you are when no one is watching. Or character is
(11:18):
what you are who you are in the dark. But
I like this on character. Character is the sum total
of the choices you make in life. Character is the
sum total of the choices you make in life, and
you add it all up, and whether it is good
or evil, whether it is right, or wrong. That's what
(11:42):
enables you to grow inwardly, grow in your character. And
that's what we're talking about. First we make our choices,
then our choices make us.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message
the Basic Steps of Spiritual Maturity. When you ask big
questions of God, you can trust he'll give you answers
that grow your faith and deepen your intimacy with Him.
In his devotional The Jesus Code, os Hawkins helps you
uncover bold truths as you search for answers to life's
(12:16):
biggest questions. We want to send you a copy of
this powerful resource as thanks for your gift of ten
dollars or more so, request your copy of the Jesus
Code when you call and give today. Call one eight
hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. That's one
eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. You
(12:36):
can also text the word code to five nine seven
eight nine. Don't let stress rob you of peace. It
is possible to break the destructive grip of stress on
your life and enjoy the peace and abundance God desires
for you. That's what doctor Graham helps you do in
his booklet Breaking Free from Stress. We'll send you a
digital download of Breaking Free from Stress when you sign
(12:59):
up for emails updates from PowerPoint Today. Just go to
PowerPoint dot org slash stress and sign up today. Now
let's get back to today's message, the basic steps of
spiritual maturity.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Now, we make hundreds of choices every day. Most of
them don't matter a whole lot. What we think about,
what we do, what we eat for lunch, what we
put on. I mean, I got up this morning, I
made a bunch of choices. I decided to put this
suit on. I decided to put a white shirt with
this little cool orange handkerchief. I mean it's good, right,
(13:34):
I look good. Right. I did the best I could,
And I mean I made some choices. And but you
know that really doesn't matter. I could have warned a
gray suit and it wouldn't have made it any different.
So those kinds of things they don't matter. They may
be simple, not so significant, but they add up to
(13:59):
your life. But other choices mean everything. There choices that
mean life or death. Their choices that mean usefulness or
non usefulness in the Kingdom of God. Again, discernment is
the mark of maturity. That's making wise choices. Discernment is
(14:22):
making wise choices in life. And the biggest choice you
make is to follow Jesus Christ to begin with, and
then to choose to grow in your faith, moving beyond
curious and convinced to commit him and growing and maturing.
(14:51):
Don't be careless, don't be casual or non committal. A
growing Christian seeks first the Kingdom of God and his
righteous and you will either go forward as a Christian
or backwards. There's no in between. Really, you will either
be progressing or regressing. You will either be taking ground
(15:16):
for the Kingdom of God or losing it. And so
much of this is on us. It's on you. You say, well,
what about God, isn't he supposed to take care of me? Well,
he will, and you have the Holy Spirit to enable
(15:39):
you and help you. But the fact is your Christian
growth is on you, what you choose to do or
not to do. It's like riding a bicycle. Riding a bicycle,
really there's only one direction, and that's fall. To stall
(16:03):
is to fall. Can't go backwards, pedal backwards. On a
real bike, go forward. And I'm not talking about a
stationary bike where you just stand in the same place.
Hate those things. But the Christian life is always moving forward.
(16:24):
Are you learning? Are you getting better? Are you getting stronger?
Are you getting wiser? Are you getting better? Are you
moving forward? Is it onward and upwards? Are downward and
backwards in your life? That's what this is about. And
these secret Now, there are many secrets, open secrets really
(16:47):
as to the basics of spiritual maturity and how you
get there. I could talk a lot about prayer and
the priority of prayer. I could talk about spiritual disciplines
in your life of various kinds, fasting, giving, worship. But
the main thing is loving and listening, learning, living God's word,
(17:17):
God's word, Understanding God's word. That's where discernment comes. That's
where maturity grows in your life. It's God's word Joshua
one eight. Listen to it. The Book of the Law
shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate
on it day and night, so that you may be
(17:38):
able to be careful to do according to all that
is written in it. For then you will make your
way prosperous, and then you will have good success. There's
power in God's word in your life. The Bible is alive.
Martin Luther says, it has hands that take hold of me,
(18:01):
feet that chase me down, ay that search after me.
It's the word of God. But here's the key. When
you're hearing God's word like you are right now, or
whether you're reading for yourself and reflecting, is that you
(18:24):
not only hear it, but that you receive it. So
receive the Word of God when it comes your way.
I've preached all over the world through interpreters, many languages,
all kinds of churches across America through the years, small churches,
(18:48):
big churches, and I'm grateful to have opportunities to preach,
you know, I look forward to growing opportunities, wide open doors.
We preach the Gospel through PowerPoint and media, and I
appreciate the opp tunities to go and more times to
go in the days ahead. But here's the thing. When
I'm preaching again, no matter what kind of church I've
preaching in, I can tell in the first five or
(19:12):
ten minutes the spiritual health of that congregation based on
their ability to receive the Word of God. And believe me,
when you're up here doing this and when you've been
doing it as long as I have I mean, you
see everything. We need one of those cameras on my
(19:34):
head that can see you and put you on the
screen while I'm preaching. You need to see just what
I see. Sometimes. I mean there's some people when they
come there, you know they're already checked out. Their eyes
you know, in screensaver, it's gone. Some people are looking
at their phones, catching up on social media. That's why
(19:55):
it's good to bring a real Bible and not a
fake phone, because I may think you're looking at your
social media when you're actually looking at the word of God.
But be that as it may. I just like having
a Bible like this, like to mark it up, write
notes in it. But I digress. Some people are all
(20:20):
checked out. Some people, you know, they come and they
cross their arms. I mean, maybe not literally, but I
can see it in your eyes. You know, you put
a little do not disturb sign around your neck and say,
you know, you got about thirty minutes to work on me.
Do your best. Some people sleep, but you have a
(20:44):
responsibility to hear God's word, to lean in. Bring your Bible.
I would encourage you to take notes, truly, because you
would just get so much more out of the message
and the take home. The takeaway will be greater. When
(21:06):
I study my Bible. I'm always taking notes. I keep
a journal, and I have a in my quiet time.
And frankly, you know, the world is yelling at us.
There's so much of the world in our heads right
now in every way. We need to get more of
the Word and less of the world in us. Less
(21:30):
screen time and more quiet time with God, less Facebook,
and more faces in the book. That's what we need.
And when you come to church, be ready, be responsive,
receiving the word of God. Romans twelve two. Don't be
(21:53):
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind. The way your life changes. This is
for your mind to change. You stop believing the lies
of this world, and you start believing and living the
truth of God's Word. That's growing, that's discerning between good
(22:14):
and evil. So it's time to get off the ABC's
and get to D which is discipleship. Get off the
elementary kindergarten platform and start growing in your faith. A
couple more scriptures and then we're done. Look at Proverbs
eight thirty fourths in the New Living Joyful are those
who listen to me watching for me daily at my gates,
(22:37):
waiting for me outside my home. What a beautiful word
picture that is happy are those who are outside the
gates of God and waiting just for a word from him.
That very first Psalm says, blessed is the man. It
(22:57):
doesn't take counsel in the world, the things this world,
or stands in the way of centners, set of scoffers.
But look at this verse two. But his delight is
in the law of God, the law of the Lord.
And on his law. He meditates day and night. To
meditate means to chew it and to think about it,
to ponder it over and over in your mind. So
(23:20):
don't just read and think. Okay, I read my Bible today,
but meditate upon God's word. Memorize God's word. The most
important spiritual development and discipline of my life has been
memorizing scripture, meditating on scripture. I was in a situation
this week I needed just to be able to remember
(23:44):
and rehearse some scriptures that I memorized long ago. God
will bring that up. He'll just bubble up in your soul.
But you got to get in the word and get
the word in you. The habitual habit of memory. Rising
scripture will help you to grow, it will force you
to grow. Now, just listening to me or someone else
(24:07):
preach every week, that's kind of processed food. I mean,
hope it's not lightweight, but you know it is processed.
I'm breaking it down. I'm cutting your meat for you know,
you cut the little kid's meat, not you. But I mean,
I'm just saying sometimes you have to cut the meat
up for a child and bite sized portions. But when
(24:28):
you're growing, developing disciple, then you start eating solid food
and you want more. You want meat and not just milk.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message
the Basic Steps of Spiritual Maturity and the Devotional to
Jesus code Os Hawkins invites you to ask fifty two
thought provoking questions found in the Bible that will help
you experience Jesus in deeper, more authentic ways than ever before.
As you dive into these questions, you'll discover that everything
(25:04):
we need can be found in a deepening relationship with
Jesus Christ. We want to help you uncover bold truths
in the search for answers to life's biggest questions by
sending you the Jesus Code as our thanks for your
gift of ten dollars or more to help proclaim God's
unchanging word through PowerPoint. So call now for a question
(25:24):
your copy of the Jesus Code. Call one eight hundred
seven ninety five four six two seven. That's one eight
hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. You can
also text the word code to five nine seven eight nine,
And don't forget to visit Jack Graham dot org where
you can shop our East store, give a gift online,
(25:47):
or sign up for doctor Graham's free daily email devotional.
Our website again is Jack Graham dot org, and also
be sure to sign up for doctor Graham's podcast Bible
in a Year pastor what is your PowerPoint for today?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I pray that you love the Church, the Church of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says Jesus loves the
church and gave himself for it. Make sure that because
Jesus is the love of your life, that you also
love his bride, the Church, and not just you, but
those around you. Invite people who need to know Jesus
to your church. It's amazing what a simple invitation can do.
(26:29):
And will do every Sunday. I'm introduced to people who
come on the arm of a friend or at the
invitation of a neighbor, and many of these their lives
are totally changed by the power of the Gospel, the
power of Jesus Christ. If you don't have a church home,
we would invite you to Preston Wood. Just go to
Prestonwood dot org Prestonwood dot org and all the information
(26:52):
regarding our services is there. But if you have a church,
make sure you show up and are not just showing
up but part painting and worshiping and singing and share
your faith through the ministry and mission of your local church.
God bless you as you make the commitment to worship Christ,
to serve Him through your local church and begin attending
(27:14):
this coming Sunday.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember when you give a
gift of ten dollars a more to PowerPoint, we'll send
you os Hawkins devotional the Jesus Code as our thanks
call one eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven.
That's one eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven.
You can also text the word code to five nine
(27:38):
seven eight nine and join us again next time as
doctor Graham brings a message about how you can keep
growing stronger in Christ every day. That's next time on
PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored
by PowerPoint Ministries.
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