July 29, 2025 • 28 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
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 doctor Graham's book Diamonds in
the Dark. But first, here's the message. When God says go.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Now, I guarantee you when God says go, the devil
will say no, or, in the case of the early Church,
oh no, because that is when the fight begins. Did
you know that when you choose to follow Jesus Christ,
and you leave this world behind and follow Christ, that
(00:41):
you're going to face opposition? And this is what the
Church was experiencing in the early days of its life
on earth. They were ablaze with the power of God's spirit,
the power of the Resurrection, preaching Christ publicly and from
house the house, and the message and the mission of
(01:02):
Jesus is ignited and is moving throughout every home and
every family in the city. But you can count on
the fact in your life and certainly in the life
of the Church. When God opens the windows of heaven
to bless us, Satan will open the doors of hell
to blast us. This is why God has called us
(01:25):
to fight the good fight of faith. So what's happening
here in the fifth chapter of Acts, if I can
kind of catch you up to speed. One hundred and
twenty people gathered in the Upper Room after the death, resurrection,
and then the escension of the exaltation of Jesus. They're
waiting their pray and the spirit of God. The promise
(01:47):
of the Father comes and they are baptized with the
spirit and with fire. They are filled with God's spirit.
They immediately begin to proclaim Jesus Christ. People who had
gathered there from all over the world at a very big,
big feast, a religious feast called Pentecost, People who had
come from all over the world heard the Gospel for
the first time in their own language. And on that day,
(02:08):
the day the Church was born, three thousand people were saved,
they were baptized. The church begin to develop in their
discipleship daily as they're growing in their faith and in
the Word of God, and they are spreading the fire,
and the scripture says they were all in all the time,
(02:29):
because it was every day publicly in the temple and
from house to house, and thousands upon thousands of people
are being born again, made alive in Christ. And of
course when that happened, Satan tries to stop it, and
(02:50):
Satan always has his minions to work and to try
to hold back the power of the work of God.
Now we know that's in possible because Jesus said, the
gates of Hell will not prevail against my Church. But
that doesn't keep Satan from tribe. And one of the
(03:11):
primary methods that Satan uses to shut his people down,
to shut us up, is intimidation and threats and taunts
and oppression and suppression and even persecution. Most of us
here in the West in America know very little if
(03:35):
anything about physical persecution, but we do know a little
bit about another kind of persecution. It's the kind of
persecution that Jesus talked about in the Beatitudes, the Sermon
on the Mount when he said in Matthew five, blessed
her you when men persecute you. Blessed are you when
(03:56):
you are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven. Okay, we're praying for the persecuted church,
But oh what about us. Blessed are you when others
revile you and persecute you, And watch this utter all
kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. One
kind of persecution is to be thrown to the lions.
The others to be thrown to the critics. One is overt,
(04:21):
the other is more covert. One is physical, the other
is more emotional or spiritual or psychological. But Jesus said,
happier you blessed her. You when you are persecuted for
righteousness sake, and including when you are reviled, when people
(04:44):
speak evil against you falsely because of me. Now, not
because we're being jerks, but because of Jesus. And if
you are a foller of Jesus, you may hear things like,
you know, Christians, he's born again kind of Christians especially,
they're haters, They're intolerant, and you may be put out.
(05:05):
You may be passed over at that job because of
your faith in Christ. You may be put out of
the good standing of the social setting in which you walk.
There are a lot of different ways, but I guarantee
you if you take a stand for Jesus Christ, you
will face the fire. You will face the flight, because
(05:28):
Satan fights fire with fire. Peter would later say, Peter
knew about facing the fires we'll see in this text.
But he would later say, don't think it's strange about
the fiery trial that you're about to endure. As something
weird is happening to you, he said, expect it, realize
(05:48):
that it is going to happen. Persecution, and the whole
point of the persecution, resistance, opposition is to stop you
from talking about Jesus. That's what Satan wants. But I
(06:14):
want you to see what he gets when God's people
take a stand. Beginning in Acts, chapter five, verse seventeen,
but the high Priest rose up, and all who were
with him, that is many of the party of the Sadducees.
They were filled with jealousy. Now they're jealous because the
(06:35):
apostles are now on their turth because many people are
coming to faith in Jesus as the Messiah. There was
a man who was crippled from birth there who had
been healed. He's on his feet, leaping, dancing, praising God,
I mean instantaneously, and he's exhibit a of the power
of the resurrection. So they don't know what to do
(06:57):
about this, and so they call the boys in. They've
already called them in once and told them not to
speak about Jesus and threaten them, so they keep doing it.
They go they run to their friends. Who do you
run to when you get in trouble, You run to
God's people, You run to God's church. And that's what
they did. And guess what they prayed. They didn't pray, well, Lord,
he'll keep us safe. Lord, you know, don't let them
(07:17):
anybody heard us know. They prayed for more stuff of
the same stuff that got them in trouble to begin with.
They prayed for boldness, courage, And so they get right
back at it and they're out preaching Jesus. So they're
arrested Verse eighteen. They arrested the apostles and put them
(07:39):
in the public prison. But during the night, an angel
of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them
out and said, go, here's a big sentence. Go and
stand in the temple and speak to the people all
the words of this life. Go stand, speak all the
(08:02):
words of this life life in Jesus Christ. Go stand
and speak. Go tell it was an angel that got
them out of prison. They were put in the public prison.
And in the middle of the night. Aren't you glad
that God works the night shift And in the darkest
(08:23):
hour God will deliver you. He may even send an
angel to open prison doors. To break down the darkness
in your life. He sent that angel. But think about this.
The angel could get them out of prison, but the
(08:44):
angel couldn't go preach Jesus. That's not the assignment of
an angel. An angel has never experienced the grace and
the forgiveness of God as we the witnesses of Christ.
I'm sure the angels get a little impatient with us
from time to time, maybe running to the throne of
God and saying, these humans are not getting the job done.
(09:09):
Let us go. We'll ride it in the sky. You know,
we'll show up with angel wings and people will believe. No,
that's not God's plan. We can do something that angels
cannot do. We are called to do what angels cannot do,
(09:29):
and that is to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. So
the angel gave them the commission from the Lord, go
stay and speak, tell all the words of this life?
Is it that what people around us are looking for life?
They think life is in pleasure, or life is in
profit and money or things. But life is in Jesus.
(09:49):
He who has the Son has life, and he who
does not have Jesus does not have life. The wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life. Through Jesus our Lord, we have the gift
of life which brings hope to people now and forever.
(10:10):
So we are to go. It's at the heart of
who we are. What we're about is going, and as
we go, we are to go and stand graciously take
our stand in the public places. When they were preaching
in the temple, don't think church here. This was in
the public portico, Solomon's portico, where people were in and out.
There were thousands of people there. So Peter and John
(10:33):
are there preaching in the public place. And again we've
made the point clearly. Over these weeks they were doing
what house to house evangelism, So it wasn't just the
religious professionals, the apostles, but everyone was at it and
all at it. Everyone was sharing their faith in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jackham and the message when
God says go if you're walking through a tough season,
Diamonds in the Dark is a message you need to hear.
In this honest and hope filled book, doctor Graham shows
you how God uses grief, loss and hardship to reveal
spiritual treasures. You'd never discover otherwise. We want to send
(11:20):
you Diamonds in the Dark as a thanks for your
gift of ten dollars or more. Call now to request
your copy. Call one eight hundred seven ninety five four
six two seven. That's one eight hundred seven ninety five
four six two seven, or text the word diamond to
five nine seven eight nine. Don't let stress rob you
(11:40):
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 up for email updates from PowerPoint Today.
Just go to PowerPoint dot org slash stress and sign
(12:03):
up today. Now let's get back to today's message. When
God says, go.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
So now they're out again, and notice what they do
they're out of jail, and what they do Verse twenty one.
They entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach
middle of the night. What do they washed their face
a little bit, flash of little water on their faces,
and then they get right back at it. The next
(12:31):
morning at daybreak and they're preaching, and when the Sanhedron
shows up, they're thinking, Okay, bring those boys from the prison,
we'll teach them a lesson. They go down there to
get them in jail and said they're gone. Where'd they go?
Don't up? Somebody shows up and says, well, they're back
out doing it again. They're out preaching Jesus again. What
(12:57):
they're afraid now, I mean they're afraid of these Christians.
They're trying to figure out what is happening. It says
they were greatly perplexed Verse twenty four. I love that
they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would
come to. I mean, that's the kind of Christian I
(13:18):
like to think about up every day just serving Jesus,
sharing Jesus. The devil's crowd doesn't have a clue to
what to do to stop it. You know. It's like
you get up, you start serving Jesus and witnessing and
sharing your faith and loving and living for Christ, and
the devil says, they're at it again. We can't stop them.
(13:41):
And that's what happened in the first century because they
would not be silenced. They were arrested, they were threatened,
they were taunted, they were ultimately beaten. But here's something
that happened here. They really turned themselves in because they
(14:02):
didn't want to cause a riot. The temple authorities didn't
want to cause a riot. So they go to these
guys and say, okay, would you guys mind coming in,
We need to talk to you some more. They said, sure,
love to. So there they are right back at it,
right in front of these religious authorities, and the religious
(14:27):
authorities tell them in verses twenty nine and following, oh,
look at verse twenty seven. And when they brought them,
they set them before the council, and the high priests
questioned them, as three things, we strictly charge you not
to teach in this name. Yet here you have filled
(14:47):
Jerusalem with your teaching, the teaching of Jesus Christ, and
you intend to bring this man Jesus blood upon us.
When they started out, they had one hundred and twenty
(15:09):
they prayed baptized with fire, filled with the spirit. Then
three thousand are baptized. Then they're numbered at five thousand
men plus women and children who came along, and they
are saved and baptized. And then we're told that miracles
(15:32):
start happening just at the heads of the apostles, and
that people are gathered. This is back in verse sixteen.
People gathered from the towns around Jerusalem. They're bringing in
people who need healing. And verse fourteen. Look at verse
fourteen to chapter five. It says, and more than ever
believers were added to the Lord. Multitudes, both men and women.
Now they can't even count them. They're just saying multitudes, multitudes,
(15:57):
massive numbers of people are come to Jesus. And now
what was intended to be a criticism, They said, you
have filled this city with this teaching about Jesus Christ.
The whole city heard. The whole city was saturated. There
(16:19):
was nobody in that town that hadn't heard about Jesus,
not a single one. You have captured this city with
your doctrine. We told you not to do this, did
we not strictly warn you? And you intend to bring
this man's blood on us. You see, the problem people
(16:43):
have with Christians is Christ. It's Jesus who is the problem.
And here's why. You can heal the sick, help the sick,
you can feed the hungry, and people will applaud you.
(17:08):
You can help the orphaned and the homeless, and people say,
you go, that's great, and we can start homes for
unwed mothers. We can do a lot of things. And
as long as we just do those things and never
(17:28):
mentioned Jesus, we'll be fine. But you start saying, this
cup of cold water is in Jesus' name. You start
loving people in Jesus' name, You start serving people, and
you say, we're here because we love you, because Jesus
loves us, and he loves you, and we want you
to know him. You say what Peter and John said
(17:50):
in Acts, chapter four, verse twelve, there's no other name
given among men by where he must be saved other
than the name of Jesus. And that's when the fight began.
And that's when they will say, you can't say that here.
You can't talk about Jesus. We like your stuff, we
like your good deeds, we like your works. And so
(18:11):
some cowardly Christians have decided, well, we'll just do good things,
but we won't say anything about Jesus. We'll do good
social works, but we won't talk about the Gospel wrong,
because all you're doing then is sending a man to
(18:32):
hell with a full belly instead of an empty one.
If you don't tell him about Jesus, who is mighty
to say so? The whole thing is about stopping Jesus,
the mission and the message of Jesus Christ. And Peter said,
here's a good principal verse twenty nine. We must obey
(18:55):
God and not men. We must obey God. I don't
care what else you're doing Christian. You think, well, I
show up at church, I give money when I can,
I do good deeds. You know, I sing along. I'm
a good Christian. No, if you're not endeavoring to bring
people to faith in Jesus Christ by personally sharing your faith,
(19:17):
you're disobedient to God. Period. Now, I know we don't
all do it the same way. You can't do it
like I do it. I can't do it like you
do it. The fact is that you have more opportunity
and privilege than a paid professional. A lot of people
look at me and other ministers as you know, that's
(19:38):
the guy this you know, shouts reil out on Sundays.
He's paid to do it. But a lot of your friends,
people you know, in your neighbors, they know you're not
paid to do it. They know you just love Jesus.
Who want to tell them about Jesus, tell them about
the hope that's in Christ. So you, more than anyone
(20:05):
can go in Jesus' name. You must go in Jesus' name.
It's high treason against the commander in chief if you don't.
And too many Christians are not in this battle. I've
seen numbers upwards to eighty percent of church members never
(20:26):
personally share their faith. That's a tragedy. That's a tragedy.
And I'm just praying that God will ignite a fire
in all of us, all of us, that we will
be all in and all at it all the time,
(20:47):
and we will go and stand and speak. Go stand
where you are, in your circle of influence, in your
sphere of it. Go stand there and lovingly, graciously, but
simply and clearly share the good news of Jesus Christ
and the difference that Christ is making in your life.
(21:09):
Verse thirty three says when they heard this, they were
enraged and wanted to kill them. They were like a
cornered animal, you know, kill the messenger. And they plotted
to take their lives. But they couldn't shut them up.
They couldn't shut them down. And what happens next is
great theater. Okay, there's a man. They're in the council
(21:30):
and they don't know what to do. They got these guys,
and obviously they're not going to stop. They got the
people that are God's giving them favor. Great grace was
upon them. All great numbers of people were coming to Christ,
and so they're wringing their hands, said what do we
do now? They beat the apostles, they bloodied them, and
(21:51):
there was a man who was a pharisee among them, Gamellio,
who was a very astute and according to Jewish history
of very brilliant men. He was the spiritual father to
a man by the name of Saul of Tarsus, who
became Paul the Apostle. But he was in effect the
(22:15):
mentor of Saul in the Sanhedrin. And this man Gamalayas
he stands up and he says something like this. He says, look,
we've had these uprisings before. We've had people come along
and say they're Messiah, and it all went away. And
(22:38):
if this is not of God, this will go away too,
he said. But if it is of God, you don't
want to end up fighting God. That's good counsel. And
(23:02):
because of the power of the resurrection, and because that
Jesus people were of God, it spread from Jerusalem to
the ends of the earth, and you couldn't stop it.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, let's go
in Jesus name. When God says go, Satan says no.
(23:25):
Sometimes he says, oh no, God says go, don't you
dare say no.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
You are listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the
message when God says go. Life doesn't always unfold the
way we hope. There are setbacks, losses, and seasons that
leave us asking where is God in all of this.
In his honest and encouraging book Diamonds in the Dark,
Doctor Graham shares how God is not absent in our pain.
(23:54):
He is present and He is at work. This powerful
resource walks you through some of life life's hardest places
to reveal spiritual treasures God plants along the way. If
you or someone you love is facing grief, fear, or uncertainty,
this message will help you find strength, clarity, and hope
right where you are. And when you give a gift
(24:15):
of ten dollars or more, we'll send you a copy
of Diamonds in the Dark as Our Things call one
eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. That's
one eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven,
or just text diamond to five nine seven eight nine,
and don't forget to visit Jack Graham dot org pastor
(24:36):
what is your PowerPoint for today?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
The problem people have with Christians is Christ. Jesus is
the problem. You can help the sick, feed the hungry
and people will applaud you. You can help the orphaned
and homeless and people will say fantastic. We can do
a lot of good things, and as long as we
never mentioned Jesus, everything will be fine. In fact, most
people will lie it. But if you start saying something
(25:02):
like this cup of cold water is in the name
of Jesus. It's because I love Jesus that I minister
to you, then people will tell you you have to stop.
If you mentioned the gospel that Christ died and rose
again that we might have eternal life, then people will
say you're just trying to push your agenda or your
religion through. But regardless of that, we mustn't be put
(25:25):
off or be reduced to just being a good Works Brigade. Yes,
we do have an agenda, and our agenda is to
share the love of Jesus to a world that desperately
needs him. Our agendas to tell as many people about
Jesus as possible. Our agenda is to take as many
people with us to Heaven as possible. So this means
(25:46):
more than simply sending people home with full stomachs, but
we need to send them home with full hearts. Hearts
and lives that are full of Jesus and the hope
that is in him. I want to thank you for
joining us again on PowerPoint today and we would love
to continue this conversation and one way you can do
that is to join us at Jack Graham dot org.
(26:09):
Jack Graham dot org and here you can find information
as how to join me on Twitter and Facebook. You
can also request prayer and we would appreciate the opportunity
to pray with you and for you, especially if you're
seeking a meaningful faith. If you want to know Jesus
in your life, let us talk to you about that
(26:30):
and what that means. Again, just contact us at Jack
Graham dot oorg and let us know how we can
serve you. Thank you for being so generous with us.
So many of you are faithful to give weekly, monthly,
regularly to support PowerPoint, and we are most appreciative because
I guarantee you we take the money that you give
(26:52):
and reinvest it in the work of Christ through PowerPoint.
That means buying air and time, that means investing in
resource verus is that we provide for people who come
to Christ, who want to follow Christ. And it's all
because of faithful givers and donors just like you. So
God bless you and thank you for being a part
of PowerPoint each day.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember when you give a
gift of ten dollars or more to PowerPoint, we'll send
you doctor Graham's book Diamonds in the Dark 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 diamond to five nine
(27:38):
seven eight nine and join us again next time as
doctor Graham brings a message about how your faith can
impact the world and carry you to eternity. That's next
time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham
is sponsored by PowerPoint ministry s
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 doctor Graham's book Diamonds in
the Dark. But first, here's the message. When God says go.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Now, I guarantee you when God says go, the devil
will say no, or, in the case of the early Church,
oh no, because that is when the fight begins. Did
you know that when you choose to follow Jesus Christ,
and you leave this world behind and follow Christ, that
(00:41):
you're going to face opposition? And this is what the
Church was experiencing in the early days of its life
on earth. They were ablaze with the power of God's spirit,
the power of the Resurrection, preaching Christ publicly and from
house the house, and the message and the mission of
(01:02):
Jesus is ignited and is moving throughout every home and
every family in the city. But you can count on
the fact in your life and certainly in the life
of the Church. When God opens the windows of heaven
to bless us, Satan will open the doors of hell
to blast us. This is why God has called us
(01:25):
to fight the good fight of faith. So what's happening
here in the fifth chapter of Acts, if I can
kind of catch you up to speed. One hundred and
twenty people gathered in the Upper Room after the death, resurrection,
and then the escension of the exaltation of Jesus. They're
waiting their pray and the spirit of God. The promise
(01:47):
of the Father comes and they are baptized with the
spirit and with fire. They are filled with God's spirit.
They immediately begin to proclaim Jesus Christ. People who had
gathered there from all over the world at a very big,
big feast, a religious feast called Pentecost, People who had
come from all over the world heard the Gospel for
the first time in their own language. And on that day,
(02:08):
the day the Church was born, three thousand people were saved,
they were baptized. The church begin to develop in their
discipleship daily as they're growing in their faith and in
the Word of God, and they are spreading the fire,
and the scripture says they were all in all the time,
(02:29):
because it was every day publicly in the temple and
from house to house, and thousands upon thousands of people
are being born again, made alive in Christ. And of
course when that happened, Satan tries to stop it, and
(02:50):
Satan always has his minions to work and to try
to hold back the power of the work of God.
Now we know that's in possible because Jesus said, the
gates of Hell will not prevail against my Church. But
that doesn't keep Satan from tribe. And one of the
(03:11):
primary methods that Satan uses to shut his people down,
to shut us up, is intimidation and threats and taunts
and oppression and suppression and even persecution. Most of us
here in the West in America know very little if
(03:35):
anything about physical persecution, but we do know a little
bit about another kind of persecution. It's the kind of
persecution that Jesus talked about in the Beatitudes, the Sermon
on the Mount when he said in Matthew five, blessed
her you when men persecute you. Blessed are you when
(03:56):
you are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven. Okay, we're praying for the persecuted church,
But oh what about us. Blessed are you when others
revile you and persecute you, And watch this utter all
kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. One
kind of persecution is to be thrown to the lions.
The others to be thrown to the critics. One is overt,
(04:21):
the other is more covert. One is physical, the other
is more emotional or spiritual or psychological. But Jesus said,
happier you blessed her. You when you are persecuted for
righteousness sake, and including when you are reviled, when people
(04:44):
speak evil against you falsely because of me. Now, not
because we're being jerks, but because of Jesus. And if
you are a foller of Jesus, you may hear things like,
you know, Christians, he's born again kind of Christians especially,
they're haters, They're intolerant, and you may be put out.
(05:05):
You may be passed over at that job because of
your faith in Christ. You may be put out of
the good standing of the social setting in which you walk.
There are a lot of different ways, but I guarantee
you if you take a stand for Jesus Christ, you
will face the fire. You will face the flight, because
(05:28):
Satan fights fire with fire. Peter would later say, Peter
knew about facing the fires we'll see in this text.
But he would later say, don't think it's strange about
the fiery trial that you're about to endure. As something
weird is happening to you, he said, expect it, realize
(05:48):
that it is going to happen. Persecution, and the whole
point of the persecution, resistance, opposition is to stop you
from talking about Jesus. That's what Satan wants. But I
(06:14):
want you to see what he gets when God's people
take a stand. Beginning in Acts, chapter five, verse seventeen,
but the high Priest rose up, and all who were
with him, that is many of the party of the Sadducees.
They were filled with jealousy. Now they're jealous because the
(06:35):
apostles are now on their turth because many people are
coming to faith in Jesus as the Messiah. There was
a man who was crippled from birth there who had
been healed. He's on his feet, leaping, dancing, praising God,
I mean instantaneously, and he's exhibit a of the power
of the resurrection. So they don't know what to do
(06:57):
about this, and so they call the boys in. They've
already called them in once and told them not to
speak about Jesus and threaten them, so they keep doing it.
They go they run to their friends. Who do you
run to when you get in trouble, You run to
God's people, You run to God's church. And that's what
they did. And guess what they prayed. They didn't pray, well, Lord,
he'll keep us safe. Lord, you know, don't let them
(07:17):
anybody heard us know. They prayed for more stuff of
the same stuff that got them in trouble to begin with.
They prayed for boldness, courage, And so they get right
back at it and they're out preaching Jesus. So they're
arrested Verse eighteen. They arrested the apostles and put them
(07:39):
in the public prison. But during the night, an angel
of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them
out and said, go, here's a big sentence. Go and
stand in the temple and speak to the people all
the words of this life. Go stand, speak all the
(08:02):
words of this life life in Jesus Christ. Go stand
and speak. Go tell it was an angel that got
them out of prison. They were put in the public prison.
And in the middle of the night. Aren't you glad
that God works the night shift And in the darkest
(08:23):
hour God will deliver you. He may even send an
angel to open prison doors. To break down the darkness
in your life. He sent that angel. But think about this.
The angel could get them out of prison, but the
(08:44):
angel couldn't go preach Jesus. That's not the assignment of
an angel. An angel has never experienced the grace and
the forgiveness of God as we the witnesses of Christ.
I'm sure the angels get a little impatient with us
from time to time, maybe running to the throne of
God and saying, these humans are not getting the job done.
(09:09):
Let us go. We'll ride it in the sky. You know,
we'll show up with angel wings and people will believe. No,
that's not God's plan. We can do something that angels
cannot do. We are called to do what angels cannot do,
(09:29):
and that is to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. So
the angel gave them the commission from the Lord, go
stay and speak, tell all the words of this life?
Is it that what people around us are looking for life?
They think life is in pleasure, or life is in
profit and money or things. But life is in Jesus.
(09:49):
He who has the Son has life, and he who
does not have Jesus does not have life. The wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life. Through Jesus our Lord, we have the gift
of life which brings hope to people now and forever.
(10:10):
So we are to go. It's at the heart of
who we are. What we're about is going, and as
we go, we are to go and stand graciously take
our stand in the public places. When they were preaching
in the temple, don't think church here. This was in
the public portico, Solomon's portico, where people were in and out.
There were thousands of people there. So Peter and John
(10:33):
are there preaching in the public place. And again we've
made the point clearly. Over these weeks they were doing
what house to house evangelism, So it wasn't just the
religious professionals, the apostles, but everyone was at it and
all at it. Everyone was sharing their faith in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jackham and the message when
God says go if you're walking through a tough season,
Diamonds in the Dark is a message you need to hear.
In this honest and hope filled book, doctor Graham shows
you how God uses grief, loss and hardship to reveal
spiritual treasures. You'd never discover otherwise. We want to send
(11:20):
you Diamonds in the Dark as a thanks for your
gift of ten dollars or more. Call now to request
your copy. Call one eight hundred seven ninety five four
six two seven. That's one eight hundred seven ninety five
four six two seven, or text the word diamond to
five nine seven eight nine. Don't let stress rob you
(11:40):
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 up for email updates from PowerPoint Today.
Just go to PowerPoint dot org slash stress and sign
(12:03):
up today. Now let's get back to today's message. When
God says, go.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
So now they're out again, and notice what they do
they're out of jail, and what they do Verse twenty one.
They entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach
middle of the night. What do they washed their face
a little bit, flash of little water on their faces,
and then they get right back at it. The next
(12:31):
morning at daybreak and they're preaching, and when the Sanhedron
shows up, they're thinking, Okay, bring those boys from the prison,
we'll teach them a lesson. They go down there to
get them in jail and said they're gone. Where'd they go?
Don't up? Somebody shows up and says, well, they're back
out doing it again. They're out preaching Jesus again. What
(12:57):
they're afraid now, I mean they're afraid of these Christians.
They're trying to figure out what is happening. It says
they were greatly perplexed Verse twenty four. I love that
they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would
come to. I mean, that's the kind of Christian I
(13:18):
like to think about up every day just serving Jesus,
sharing Jesus. The devil's crowd doesn't have a clue to
what to do to stop it. You know. It's like
you get up, you start serving Jesus and witnessing and
sharing your faith and loving and living for Christ, and
the devil says, they're at it again. We can't stop them.
(13:41):
And that's what happened in the first century because they
would not be silenced. They were arrested, they were threatened,
they were taunted, they were ultimately beaten. But here's something
that happened here. They really turned themselves in because they
(14:02):
didn't want to cause a riot. The temple authorities didn't
want to cause a riot. So they go to these
guys and say, okay, would you guys mind coming in,
We need to talk to you some more. They said, sure,
love to. So there they are right back at it,
right in front of these religious authorities, and the religious
(14:27):
authorities tell them in verses twenty nine and following, oh,
look at verse twenty seven. And when they brought them,
they set them before the council, and the high priests
questioned them, as three things, we strictly charge you not
to teach in this name. Yet here you have filled
(14:47):
Jerusalem with your teaching, the teaching of Jesus Christ, and
you intend to bring this man Jesus blood upon us.
When they started out, they had one hundred and twenty
(15:09):
they prayed baptized with fire, filled with the spirit. Then
three thousand are baptized. Then they're numbered at five thousand
men plus women and children who came along, and they
are saved and baptized. And then we're told that miracles
(15:32):
start happening just at the heads of the apostles, and
that people are gathered. This is back in verse sixteen.
People gathered from the towns around Jerusalem. They're bringing in
people who need healing. And verse fourteen. Look at verse
fourteen to chapter five. It says, and more than ever
believers were added to the Lord. Multitudes, both men and women.
Now they can't even count them. They're just saying multitudes, multitudes,
(15:57):
massive numbers of people are come to Jesus. And now
what was intended to be a criticism, They said, you
have filled this city with this teaching about Jesus Christ.
The whole city heard. The whole city was saturated. There
(16:19):
was nobody in that town that hadn't heard about Jesus,
not a single one. You have captured this city with
your doctrine. We told you not to do this, did
we not strictly warn you? And you intend to bring
this man's blood on us. You see, the problem people
(16:43):
have with Christians is Christ. It's Jesus who is the problem.
And here's why. You can heal the sick, help the sick,
you can feed the hungry, and people will applaud you.
(17:08):
You can help the orphaned and the homeless, and people say,
you go, that's great, and we can start homes for
unwed mothers. We can do a lot of things. And
as long as we just do those things and never
(17:28):
mentioned Jesus, we'll be fine. But you start saying, this
cup of cold water is in Jesus' name. You start
loving people in Jesus' name, You start serving people, and
you say, we're here because we love you, because Jesus
loves us, and he loves you, and we want you
to know him. You say what Peter and John said
(17:50):
in Acts, chapter four, verse twelve, there's no other name
given among men by where he must be saved other
than the name of Jesus. And that's when the fight began.
And that's when they will say, you can't say that here.
You can't talk about Jesus. We like your stuff, we
like your good deeds, we like your works. And so
(18:11):
some cowardly Christians have decided, well, we'll just do good things,
but we won't say anything about Jesus. We'll do good
social works, but we won't talk about the Gospel wrong,
because all you're doing then is sending a man to
(18:32):
hell with a full belly instead of an empty one.
If you don't tell him about Jesus, who is mighty
to say so? The whole thing is about stopping Jesus,
the mission and the message of Jesus Christ. And Peter said,
here's a good principal verse twenty nine. We must obey
(18:55):
God and not men. We must obey God. I don't
care what else you're doing Christian. You think, well, I
show up at church, I give money when I can,
I do good deeds. You know, I sing along. I'm
a good Christian. No, if you're not endeavoring to bring
people to faith in Jesus Christ by personally sharing your faith,
(19:17):
you're disobedient to God. Period. Now, I know we don't
all do it the same way. You can't do it
like I do it. I can't do it like you
do it. The fact is that you have more opportunity
and privilege than a paid professional. A lot of people
look at me and other ministers as you know, that's
(19:38):
the guy this you know, shouts reil out on Sundays.
He's paid to do it. But a lot of your friends,
people you know, in your neighbors, they know you're not
paid to do it. They know you just love Jesus.
Who want to tell them about Jesus, tell them about
the hope that's in Christ. So you, more than anyone
(20:05):
can go in Jesus' name. You must go in Jesus' name.
It's high treason against the commander in chief if you don't.
And too many Christians are not in this battle. I've
seen numbers upwards to eighty percent of church members never
(20:26):
personally share their faith. That's a tragedy. That's a tragedy.
And I'm just praying that God will ignite a fire
in all of us, all of us, that we will
be all in and all at it all the time,
(20:47):
and we will go and stand and speak. Go stand
where you are, in your circle of influence, in your
sphere of it. Go stand there and lovingly, graciously, but
simply and clearly share the good news of Jesus Christ
and the difference that Christ is making in your life.
(21:09):
Verse thirty three says when they heard this, they were
enraged and wanted to kill them. They were like a
cornered animal, you know, kill the messenger. And they plotted
to take their lives. But they couldn't shut them up.
They couldn't shut them down. And what happens next is
great theater. Okay, there's a man. They're in the council
(21:30):
and they don't know what to do. They got these guys,
and obviously they're not going to stop. They got the
people that are God's giving them favor. Great grace was
upon them. All great numbers of people were coming to Christ,
and so they're wringing their hands, said what do we
do now? They beat the apostles, they bloodied them, and
(21:51):
there was a man who was a pharisee among them, Gamellio,
who was a very astute and according to Jewish history
of very brilliant men. He was the spiritual father to
a man by the name of Saul of Tarsus, who
became Paul the Apostle. But he was in effect the
(22:15):
mentor of Saul in the Sanhedrin. And this man Gamalayas
he stands up and he says something like this. He says, look,
we've had these uprisings before. We've had people come along
and say they're Messiah, and it all went away. And
(22:38):
if this is not of God, this will go away too,
he said. But if it is of God, you don't
want to end up fighting God. That's good counsel. And
(23:02):
because of the power of the resurrection, and because that
Jesus people were of God, it spread from Jerusalem to
the ends of the earth, and you couldn't stop it.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, let's go
in Jesus name. When God says go, Satan says no.
(23:25):
Sometimes he says, oh no, God says go, don't you
dare say no.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
You are listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the
message when God says go. Life doesn't always unfold the
way we hope. There are setbacks, losses, and seasons that
leave us asking where is God in all of this.
In his honest and encouraging book Diamonds in the Dark,
Doctor Graham shares how God is not absent in our pain.
(23:54):
He is present and He is at work. This powerful
resource walks you through some of life life's hardest places
to reveal spiritual treasures God plants along the way. If
you or someone you love is facing grief, fear, or uncertainty,
this message will help you find strength, clarity, and hope
right where you are. And when you give a gift
(24:15):
of ten dollars or more, we'll send you a copy
of Diamonds in the Dark as Our Things call one
eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven. That's
one eight hundred seven ninety five four six two seven,
or just text diamond to five nine seven eight nine,
and don't forget to visit Jack Graham dot org pastor
(24:36):
what is your PowerPoint for today?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
The problem people have with Christians is Christ. Jesus is
the problem. You can help the sick, feed the hungry
and people will applaud you. You can help the orphaned
and homeless and people will say fantastic. We can do
a lot of good things, and as long as we
never mentioned Jesus, everything will be fine. In fact, most
people will lie it. But if you start saying something
(25:02):
like this cup of cold water is in the name
of Jesus. It's because I love Jesus that I minister
to you, then people will tell you you have to stop.
If you mentioned the gospel that Christ died and rose
again that we might have eternal life, then people will
say you're just trying to push your agenda or your
religion through. But regardless of that, we mustn't be put
(25:25):
off or be reduced to just being a good Works Brigade. Yes,
we do have an agenda, and our agenda is to
share the love of Jesus to a world that desperately
needs him. Our agendas to tell as many people about
Jesus as possible. Our agenda is to take as many
people with us to Heaven as possible. So this means
(25:46):
more than simply sending people home with full stomachs, but
we need to send them home with full hearts. Hearts
and lives that are full of Jesus and the hope
that is in him. I want to thank you for
joining us again on PowerPoint today and we would love
to continue this conversation and one way you can do
that is to join us at Jack Graham dot org.
(26:09):
Jack Graham dot org and here you can find information
as how to join me on Twitter and Facebook. You
can also request prayer and we would appreciate the opportunity
to pray with you and for you, especially if you're
seeking a meaningful faith. If you want to know Jesus
in your life, let us talk to you about that
(26:30):
and what that means. Again, just contact us at Jack
Graham dot oorg and let us know how we can
serve you. Thank you for being so generous with us.
So many of you are faithful to give weekly, monthly,
regularly to support PowerPoint, and we are most appreciative because
I guarantee you we take the money that you give
(26:52):
and reinvest it in the work of Christ through PowerPoint.
That means buying air and time, that means investing in
resource verus is that we provide for people who come
to Christ, who want to follow Christ. And it's all
because of faithful givers and donors just like you. So
God bless you and thank you for being a part
of PowerPoint each day.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember when you give a
gift of ten dollars or more to PowerPoint, we'll send
you doctor Graham's book Diamonds in the Dark 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 diamond to five nine
(27:38):
seven eight nine and join us again next time as
doctor Graham brings a message about how your faith can
impact the world and carry you to eternity. That's next
time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham
is sponsored by PowerPoint ministry s
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