Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
The very purpose and mission of Jesus. You shall call
his name Jesus, for he will save his people from
their sins. To be saved is to be rescued.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
On today's PowerPoint, doctor Graham brings a message about why
you can live without fear and full of great joy.
Now here's doctor Graham with his message.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Gloria Luke, Chapter two, beginning of verse eight, the familiar
story of Christmas and the Song of the Angels. And
in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night, And an Angel
of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of
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the Lord shown around them, and they were filled with
great fear. And the Angel said to them, fear not,
for behold, I bring you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people. For under you
is born this day of the City of David, a
savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be
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a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in
swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there
was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts
praising God and saying glory to God in the Highest
and on earth, peace among those with whom He is pleased.
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Angels are all around us every page you turn in scripture,
the effect and the impact of angels is felt, and
there are over three hundred references in both the Old
Testament and the New Testament to these angel beings created
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by God himself. Now Luke, a physician and historian, tells
us about an incredible angel in count Angels are seen
throughout the scripture, but there is an intensified activity of
angels in the Gospel, especially surrounding the life of Jesus.
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Surrounding the births of Christ, the angels are everywhere, and
then at the temptation of Christ, an angel came and
ministered to him. At the close of those forty days
of combating with Satan himself, Jesus often spoke of the
angels in his teaching and the ministry of our Lord.
Angels attended Jesus as he ascended up into heaven and
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spoke of the return of Christ Christmas two, when Christ
shall come again. So angels are all around. When you
get to the Book of Revelation, angels, along with the
saints of the Ages are praising God in heaven and
pointing out that the angel's stories are are true. Angels
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have a ministry. There are three primary roles and responsibilities
of the angels. First, angels are witnesses. Witnesses, the angels
the very name angel angelis means messengers, and God throughout
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Scripture assigned angels the responsibility of delivering important messages to
human beings. Angels often come with messages of judgment and
executing judgment as we see in the Bible. But the
point is that these angels, these angel messengers, deliver an
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important word from God. Secondly, angels are warriors, powerful and mighty.
As we're going to see in the passage in front
of us. These are angel armies that announce the birth
and the arrival of our Lord. When people encounter angels,
there was typically awe and terror and fear. Angels are
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powerful spiritual beings and spiritual warriors. Angels possess tremendous power
and authority as they fight against demon powers. This also
means that we can be protected by angels. Angels provide
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protection for us. Psalm ninety one and verse eleven says
for He will command his angels concerning you to guard
you in all your ways. Hebrews one fourteen says, are
they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for
the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? So
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they are sent by God to so the saved. This
is an example in Luke chapter two, of the angels
arriving to serve this message announcing the arrival and to
serve the saints of God. Then Psalm thirty four to seven,
the Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear
him and delivers them. These are great verses which remind
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us that angels are warriors. They are our protectors, and
they watch over us even when we may not know it.
But of course angels are not only witnesses and warriors,
but angels are worshipers. This is the primary responsibility of
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an angel. So angels are witnesses. Angels our warriors, and
angels are worshipers. And I say that, because of what
Christ has done in our lives, we our praise and
our worship should exceed the saw of angels. We have
experienced great joy because of what Christ has done for us. Now,
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think about these angels who arrived that night outside of Bethlehem.
They were created by the hand of God, present at creation,
when God fashioned the heavens and the earth, when he
spoke life into being. But when they saw God, the
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God that they had worshiped from eternity past, leave his
throne in heaven and descend and condescend down to earth
to become an embryo in the womb of a woman,
through a birth canal, to be laid in a manger,
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a cattle stall, a feed trough. When the angels saw that,
they must have wondered, But no wonder they how they
worship the Lord, No wonder. They praise God, the infinite,
who has become an infant, the sovereign God who is
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wrapped in swaddling clothes. No wonder. They lifted their voices
enrapture us and rigorous praise to God, shouting glory to
God in the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill
to men. When you think about it, the angels had
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nothing to gain from the birth of God. Nothing, and
yet they are excited, and they extol the glory and
the greatness, and yes, the grace of God. They are
amazed by disgrace that God would become a man. They're
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so excited about this salvation message, so excited that later
Jesus would say, when a lost person comes to faith
in Christ and comes home spiritually, when a person is saved,
that the angels rejoice in Heaven over one person who
comes to faith in Christ. Interestingly enough, the announcement was
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not made in the courts of Caesar Augustus, the most
powerful man on earth. Nor was the announcement of the
birth of Jesus made in the courts of the high priests,
are the religious leaders of that day. Nor was the
announcement made to scholars and scribes, are the educated elite
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of that time. Rather, God delivered the child and then
delivered the message, you know, the story to lowly shepherds. Shepherds. Now,
don't romanticize the shepherds. If you get the role of
(09:25):
a shepherd in a Christmas production or play, that's like
the lowest role of all. All right, if you're a shepherd. Oh,
I thought I was a big deal because I got
to be a shepherd. Not a big deal if you
are truly a shepherd. Because the shepherds were viewed in
that society as the lowest of the low the last
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rung on the social ladder. They were ostracized because they
were viewed as unclean. In fact, they were also viewed
as untrue, trustworthy. So in Jewish law, a shepherd could
not even be called upon to give a testimony in
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a court of law because they were considered crooks, and
many of them were. We don't know about these shepherds,
of course, They, like most shepherds, are unknown, unheralded. They're
out there in the fields. And that's another reason people
didn't care for shepherds that much. They hung out with
the sheep and smelled like them shepherds. But when Jesus came,
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the announcement was made to these outcasts. Some would have
called them low lifes. And yet Jesus came and the
announcement was made to these is a prophecy really of
the ministry that Jesus would have. He came for the
outcasts and the irreligious, and the least and the last
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and the lost right because he loves people, all people.
And you know, the outcasts loved Jesus. They loved him
because he came for the hurting, He came for the helpless,
He came for the hopeless, the broken and wounded. In life,
and by life, so much so that Jesus came to
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be known as the Friend of sinners. Aren't you glad?
Jesus is the friend of sinners because that includes all
of us, and he chooses the unknown and the unheralded
often to be his greatest spokespeople when they come to
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faith in him like the shepherd.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
You are listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the
message Gloria. We're excited to share that we have a
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seven eight nine. Now let's get back to today's message, Gloria.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Think about this message of angels. The angels assured the
shepherds that Jesus would bring them great joy and the
world great joy and banish fear. He said, fear not,
for I bring you good news, good tidings of great joy.
That's Verse ten. So many people live in fear and
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anxiety and depression. Fear is a major problem in the
world today and people's lives today. And yet over and
over again in the scripture, we're told, do not fear.
And so these men, who are, of course afraid, in
the presence of these angels, they're overcome by the presence
of Heaven all around them. They're told, do not fear,
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because I bring you good tidings of great joy, not
just joy, but great joy. You know, fear came into
the world because of sin. Sin brought suffering and misery
into the world. So the message of fear, not I
(14:12):
bring you good tidings, good news of great joy, is
a message that He has come to banish fear in
our lives and to give us great joy. Ray Stedman said,
the chief mark of a Christian should be the absence
of fear and the presence of joy. We can live
without fear and with great joy in our lives because
(14:36):
we have a savior, and his name is Jesus. The
message of these angels is clear Verse eleven. For under
you is born this day in the city of David,
a savior who is Christ the Lord. Three titles given
to Jesus. We already have been told that his name
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shall be called Jesus have his name, but his titles
are Savior, Messiah or Christ and King or Lord. Jesus
came to destroy, to crush the power of sin and
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hell because of his great love. God's love for us.
There's no greater love than the reconciling, redeeming love of
God in Jesus Christ. For God was in Christ reconciling
the world into himself, and our Lord came on this
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mission of mercy. And the good news is that Christ
has come to you and me. No wonder. There's great joy.
We sing, and the world sings. That knows the Lord
because he has come. We ask that question, what child
is this? The great carol? What child child is this?
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We don't have to wonder who this is laid in
a manger. He is Savior. He has come to save,
deliver us, rescue us. In fact, the very purpose and
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nation of Jesus. You shall call his name Jesus, for
he will save his people from their sins. To be
saved is to be rescued. It is to be delivered,
particularly in the face of some great crisis, even destruction.
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If you were drowning and you were crying out to help,
and you were going under, what would you want somebody
to do to come out there and do what save you?
If you were trapped at an automobile in a wreckage
and you feel as though you can't breathe, what would
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you want someone to do. Come to your car and
get those jaws of life and do what save you.
If you went to the doctor and the doctor said,
you have this terrible disease and you're probably you could
die from this disease. But the doctor treats you and
you get well, what would you say that doctor saved
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my life. So when you consider that you are on
a path to destruction, you are in the grip of death,
you are facing judgment and hell, that's a crisis. What
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would you need someone to do for you something that
you couldn't do for yourself, And that is to save you.
And that's why God King, he is Savior. He will
deliver you. Are you saved because all of us have sinned,
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and that sin brings death and judgment and we need
to be delivered from the power and the grip of sin.
And that is the message of Christmas. It's not all
about the baby Jesus and dancing around the manger. This
savior came to deliver us from our sins. But not
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only is he Savior, the angel said, he is Christ.
Someone who is the Christ means the anointed one or
the one who is anointed. Primarily, this means that Jesus
is anointed as king. He is the son of David,
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the promised Messiah. And the child who is born has
always been king. He was king in the cradle as
surely as he was king when crowned in eternity, he
is exalted King. That means that God keeps his promises.
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And just as surely as God promised the Messiah would come,
the anointed King would arrive. God still keeps his promises
to us, and one day Jesus is coming again as
king of kings. But he also says the Angel says
that Christ is Savior, he is King Messiah, and that
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he is Lord. And you'll note in the scriptures that
the word Lord typically is is capitalized there because this
is Yahweh God. This is the name for God, the
personal holy name of God. The word Lord here means
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something beyond leader of the past or leader of the family.
The word Lord means master. It means sovereign God, God himself.
Now listen up. This is the meaning and the message
of Christmas that Jesus, the Savior Messiah, who is born,
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is God. He is Lord, Lord of life and Lord
of death. When you speak of Lord, it speaks of
sovereignty and authority. So Jesus born that day lives as Lord.
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The question is is Jih the Lord of your life?
Because you cannot be saved apart from confessing Jesus and
following Jesus the Savior as your lord. Romans ten nine
and ten says, if we confess with our mouths the
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Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in our hearts that God
is raised in from the dead, we will be saved.
For with the heart we believe in the righteousness, and
confession to salvation is made with the mouth, and whoever
calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
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This is the great confession of Christmas. Is the great
confession of the Christian faith. Ask yourself, is Jesus my Lord?
Have I confessed Him as my Savior and Lord? And
if I have, then he is? Is he the Lord
of my time? Is he the Lord of my talent?
Is He the Lord of my treasure? My tie? Is
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he the Lord of my temperament? Is He the Lord
of my testimony? Is Jesus the Lord of your life?
I guarantee you one day, every knee will bow and
every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God. That's Philippians chapter two. The only
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question is you're going to bow before King Jesus. The
only question is will you bow before him now in
faith and commitment and follow him in obedience, or will
you bow before him in judgment because you have walked
away without faith in Christ, because you've never confessed him
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as your lord and savior. Is he your lord? What
matters is that you confess him now. The Angel saying
glory to God in the Highest and on earth, Peace
to all men and women of goodwill. You know what
that means. What the Angel said that night outside of Bethlehem,
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what they're saying in Gloria to God was peace to
all people of goodwill who have received God's grace. This
is not teaching that we're saved because we have goodwill
in our hearts, but because God has given us his
good will, that we have received his grace, which is
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God's gift of eternal life. So this is salvation peace,
Salvation peace because we have peace with God and we
have peace within because the Savior has come, and we
can make peace and be peace makers in the world
because of what Christ has done for us.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
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Speaker 2 (25:31):
The angels didn't show up to announce a nice religious idea.
They announced an invasion Heaven crashing into Earth with a
claim on everything. And here's what most of us miss.
Those shepherds had a choice. They could have said that's amazing,
rolled over and gone back to watching sheep. Instead, they
left everything and ran to find him. They let the
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announcement change their trajectory. So here's the question you need
to wrestle with. What would actually be different in your
life if Jesus truly had lordship over it, not management rights,
full ownership, Because if nothing would change, you might want
to revisit what you actually believe about that manger. The
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shepherds were nobody's socially rejected, legally untrustworthy, economically irrelevant, and
God chose them to be the first evangelists of the
greatest story ever told. What does that tell you about
your excuses? You think you're too broken, too far gone,
too unqualified, too damaged by life. God specializes in using
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people the world has written off. The angels proclaimed great joy,
not the superficial happiness you plaster on at Christmas parties,
but the deep, unshakable joy that comes from knowing the
master of the universe knows your name and has saved
your life. That kind of joy doesn't stay quiet, It
doesn't stay safe. It changed just how you spend your money,
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how you treat difficult people, how you respond when life
goes sideways. The shepherds heard the message and immediately became messengers.
The angels announced a savior that day, the one who
is Christ, the Lord not was, but is present, tense,
an active claim, current authority. So this Christmas, don't just
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sing about the baby and the manger, but surrender completely
to the one who is King, today and forever.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
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and Jesus' birth are gifts just for you. That's next
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(27:52):
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