PowerPoint

Guest (Female): Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. God always gives his best to those who leave the choice with him. So what we need to do when we follow our Lord Jesus, taking up his cross and his identity and leaving the world behind us, is to veritably sign a blank check.

On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how to have a faith that looks for the miraculous. Now here's Dr. Graham with his message, Expectant Faith.

Jack Graham: We're in a series of messages as we have now worshipped our Lord with exaltation. Now it's time to worship him with proclamation—the proclamation of the scriptures, which is also the core value of our church: to proclaim the inerrant and infallible word of God. We're in a series of messages just begun, really, called Real People, Real Stories, Real Faith.

It's real because when we reach back into the scriptures, especially these Old Testament stories, we wonder if this is real today. And yes, it is real. In fact, faith is real. It's the only thing that's really real because it's the only thing that really lasts. Beyond our senses is this sixth sense, this ability that God has given every one of us to believe and trust in him. Beyond the empirical realm that is temporary, there is a spiritual realm that is accessed by faith.

So in this Reader's Digest version of the Old Testament in Hebrews chapter 11, we connect with the legacy of our faith from generation to generation. Today we meet the father of the faithful, an elder statesman by the name of Abraham. Abraham is the biggest name outside of Jesus in the Bible, I would believe, because more reference is given to him in both the Old Testament and New Testament. There are more New Testament references to Abraham than any other Old Testament personality. His personality just punctuates the pages of the scripture. He was known as the father of the faithful, and of course, he was known as the friend of God. Imagine.

We sing it around here: "I am a friend of God." And we become the friends of God by faith. As we are looking at this man's faith, I see expectant faith. Expectant faith. It is a spiritual as well as a psychological fact that we move towards what we see in our minds. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. I say, if you don't see it before you see it, you will never see it.

We move in the direction of our faith. Your life will follow your expectations. Your life will follow your faith. What you will believe, you will receive. And if you will raise the level of your expectancy by faith, you will see God do the supernatural in your life. It's true. It is so true.

So let's meet this man whose God was pleased to call him friend. In Hebrews 11, the Holy Spirit selects three episodes from his life, and each begins with the "by faith" formula. These are sermons in and of themselves, so listen fast. Expectant faith—what is it? Trusting God when we don't know where.

Verses 8 through 10: "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God."

Abraham was initially an idolater, living in a Canaanite city, Ur of the Chaldees. His father Terah was an idolater before him. And he would have lived and died in his idolatry had not God broken through sovereignly in his life. And had he not heard this compelling call of God to leave Ur of the Chaldees and by faith follow him into a future that he did not know or understand.

He heard the inaudible; God spoke to him. How did God call him? Was it initiated at a sunrise when he saw the glory of God, or a beautiful sunset? Was it when he realized the restlessness of his own heart, that the idols, the stone gods of the Canaanites, could not satisfy the need of his life? He had tried his father's religion, and it was worthless. He realized was it some sense of conscience of right or wrong, a sense of conviction that he needed to get right with God that he did not know? Was it somehow that the Holy Spirit just whispered in his heart? Did God speak audibly? We don't know, but we do know that God spoke personally to Abraham.

And he called him. And when he called him, he called him out of Ur of the Chaldees, out of everything that he had known. At this point, he's 75 years of age when God called him. Never too late to begin again. And God spoke to him, and apparently, without opposition, without question, he followed, going to a place that he didn't know. He goes home, tells his wife and family, "Pack, we're leaving." "Where are we going?" "Well, we don't know. We're following God."

And that's what they did. He made a clean break with his past to follow his God by faith. Now that is a very fundamental point of the Christian life. But so many miss it. So many want to hold on to the world and follow Christ, but that's impossible. If you're going to follow Christ, it means a clean break from your past, to repent, to turn around from your sin and to follow after Christ, to choose to follow Christ.

God called him to leave his home, his family, his friends, his job, his security, his religion. God said, "Leave that all in the past." Just as he called those fishermen, Jesus walking along the shores of Galilee said, "Leave your nets and follow me." And these grown men, something so compelled by the presence of Christ, just dropped everything and followed Jesus. It was instant obedience. God called; he moved into a brand-new life.

Second Corinthians 5:17: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come." Faith means no strings attached. Faith, someone said, is leaving no forwarding address. You cut the cord with the world. You sail under sealed orders. Faith means you decide to do the will of God before you know the will of God. Some want to say, "God, you show me what you want me to do, and I'll do it." No, you do what God has shown you to do right now, and God will show you the next thing.

I being in the way, the Lord led me. Ed Dobson said faith cost Abraham his financial security, his reputation, his family relationships, and his cultural identity. Another said faith is the art by which a person lays hold of God's resources, becomes obedient to what God prescribes, and abandoning all self-interest and self-reliance, trusts God completely. And oh, how I've proved him o'er and o'er, having trusted him. Because you see, the will of God is always good, perfect, and acceptable. God is good; his will is good.

I love the saying, "God would choose for you what you would choose for yourself if you had sense enough to choose it." God always gives his best to those who leave the choice with him. So what we need to do when we follow God, when we follow our Lord Jesus, taking up his cross and his identity and leaving the world behind us, is to veritably sign a blank check and say, "God, you fill in the blanks. Here is my life. Lord, your will, anywhere, anytime, any cost."

And then follow. And as Abraham followed, everywhere he went, he pitched a tent and built an altar. He left his split-level home—and yes, the ruins of this area showed split-level homes and libraries; it was the center of civilization—he left all of that, and he started living in tents. But everywhere he pitched his tent, he built an altar. That's a picture of the Christian life as being pilgrims and strangers on earth. And he was movable. He was movable. Good place to stop right there and just ask that personal question: Are you movable?

Somebody said the word "status quo" is Latin for the mess we're in. Are you movable, amenable, expendable to the will of God in your life? Will you do what he wants you to do, go where he wants you to go, say what he wants you to say, even though it doesn't make sense and you don't know how, you don't know where, you don't know when? But you know God. He pitched a tent, and he built an altar. Why? Because now he's a worshiper of the true God. And when all of these idolaters would come by there in the deserts, they would say, "What God are you worshiping?" And he would say, "My God, Yahweh," because his worship became a witness.

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, Expectant Faith. Be sure to sign up to receive Dr. Graham's daily video devotion on the Seven Words from the Cross. This powerful study will remind you of the sacrifice Jesus made so that we can be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God. Dr. Graham will share a short devotion about the final words that Jesus spoke from the cross and what they mean to us today. To sign up, text CROSS to 59789. It's absolutely free to join, so text CROSS to 59789.

Right now, you have an incredible opportunity to help someone experience the hope and truth of Jesus Christ. And thanks to an exciting $150,000 matching grant, your gifts this month will be doubled to help proclaim God's word even farther through PowerPoint Ministries. And as our way of saying thanks, we'd love to send you Dr. Graham's book, Help, a powerful resource showing you how Jesus meets you in your struggles with strength, comfort, and hope. Text MAR to 59789 to give today. Again, that's MAR, M-A-R, to 59789. Now let's get back to today's message, Expectant Faith.

Jack Graham: Abraham now had a magnificent obsession: to find, to follow, fulfill God's will in his life, God's purpose in his life. And therefore, his expectant faith trusted God even though he didn't know where, he didn't know when; he just believed.

Secondly, expectant faith trusts God when we don't know how. It means trusting God when we don't know how. By faith, we not only hear the inaudible as we follow, but we do the impossible. He now walks with God not only as a friend but as a father. Look in verses 11 and 12. It refers to Sarah, his wife: "By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him, God, faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore."

What a story. By now, Abraham and his wife Sarah are in their nineties. She has been barren her entire life. And she walks in one day and says to Abraham, "Honey, we're going to have a baby." And after Abraham passed out, they believed. Sarah actually laughed when she got the news, and thus the word "laughter" for Isaac is his name.

I love that story of that old couple sitting by the fire. The fellow decided to get a little romantic. He said, "Honey, I'm sure proud of you." She couldn't hear very well. She said, "Huh?" "Honey, I'm sure proud of you." She said, "Speak up!" "Honey, I'm sure proud of you!" She said, "Yeah, and I'm tired of you too."

So this old couple bring forth life. The Lord's commands are not always accompanied by reason, but they're always accompanied by promises. This was unreasonable, unthinkable, impossible. But it was the promise of God. You may not always understand the reason for his plan, but when you can't trust his hand, trust his heart.

I can't explain everything that's happening to you, to me, to anyone, but I can know that God is at work and that we serve a supernatural God. Jesus said, "If you believe, all things are possible for one who believes." All things. In Matthew 19:26, our Lord said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

God is a supernatural God. He's not old and tired and can't do it anymore. The God of Abraham is the God of Jack and of Bill and of Sue and of Mary. And this God, on one occasion in the story of Abraham, it says of him, "Is there anything too hard for God?" That's a question you can't answer because God can do anything but fail. There's no person too hard for God to save, no one beyond his grace. There is no problem too difficult for God to solve. There is no prayer too bold that God cannot answer.

There is nothing too hard for God. But let me ask you, what in your life are you by faith trusting God to do that's beyond the ordinary? But that God would do something so great, that you would pray something so full of faith, that if God doesn't come through, you're sunk?

God made of Abraham and Sarah through their son the progenitor of the Israeli nation. Not too many people get to start a race of people, but Abraham and Sarah became the parents of the nation of Israel. As blessing after blessing after blessing, God wants to pour out his supernatural favor on your life if you will ask and seek and knock and believe and receive and expect.

Your life, which was going nowhere, can now be going somewhere as you expect God to lead you and as you trust him. And he was looking really not for just the physical blessings, but notice in verse 10 of Hebrews 11 that he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. He was on his way to the heavenly city.

God has put eternity in our hearts. God has given us a desire, a longing for something else beyond this, something more beyond this, something beyond this, something greater than this. And I tell you, the longer you live and the more you discover how hard life can become at times, you realize that heaven is a definite upgrade. Abraham knew that. He was longing for and looking for a country and a city. Maybe he was singing that old gospel song, "This world is not my home, I'm just a-passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door, and I can't feel at home in this world anymore."

Give me the real thing over virtual reality. And heaven is real. So he's on his way to a city. God blessed Abraham. What does that mean? It means that he placed his favor and his fortune upon him. It means that he promised him an indescribable future if he followed him. It means that the blessings of God can be bequeathed from generation to generation upon our children and our children's children. That is God's blessing.

One final word. Expectant faith is trusting God when we don't know why. Hebrews 11:17 to 19: "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, 'Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.' He considered that God was even able to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back."

Now we see a faith to endure the unthinkable, the incomprehensible. God says, "Abraham, I want you to take your son, your only son, Isaac, and I want you to sacrifice him on an altar, a bloody sacrifice unto me." What? This is one of the most gut-wrenching passages of scripture in all of the Bible. And we think, this is unthinkable. This is not like God. Why would God require this? How could God ask for my only son? Not this, Lord, not this sacrifice.

Abraham had waited so many years for this boy, and now God is saying, "Give him to me." But expectant faith believes God even, even when you don't know why. We need to learn to say when bad things happen to us, not "Why me?" but "Why not me?" Because all of us will be subject to tests and trials. In fact, the faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted.

And the bottom line is because God delivered Isaac at the final moment and stayed the hand of Abraham and provided, in type and symbol of Christ who was to come, a substitute, the ram caught in the thicket. This all became a prototype of Calvary—what Christ would do when God gave his only son on the cross, who died on the cross for us. Because what God really wanted was not Isaac, but God wanted all of Abraham—everything. Abraham was over a hundred years when he was still—oh, when he was still in the school of faith. You never graduate from the school of faith until you get to heaven.

But he learned this most valuable lesson: that God wants everything we have. He was willing to lay it all out, to give it all, to sell out everything because he gave God his heart. Warren Wiersbe said this, and I close with this: "It is a basic law of the Christian life that we must give back to the Lord whatever he gives to us. Otherwise, those blessings may become idols that come between the Lord and us. By faith Abraham obeyed God and yielded up Isaac and received him back as if raised from the dead. The spiritual experience of death and resurrection has always been God's way for his people to enjoy the abundant life. When God calls you to surrender up to him the most precious thing you possess—your family, your business, your health, your children—when God calls you to surrender up to him the most precious thing you possess, do it by faith, knowing that this is the only way to receive it back as a blessing and not as a burden."

Expectant faith means that we follow God by trusting him when we don't know where, when we don't know how, and when we don't know why.

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, Expectant Faith. I want you to know that right now your support goes even further to help share the hope of Jesus with people around the world. Thanks to a generous $150,000 matching grant, every gift this month will be doubled to help proclaim God's word through PowerPoint Ministries. That means you'll help reach even more people who desperately need truth, encouragement, and the gospel.

And as a heartfelt thank you for your generous gift this month, we'll send you Dr. Graham's book, Help, to remind you that you are not alone, your pain is not unseen, and God's peace is real. Text MAR to 59789 to have your gift doubled and request your copy today. Again, text MAR, M-A-R, to 59789. Be sure to sign up to receive Dr. Graham's daily video devotion on the Seven Words from the Cross. This powerful study will remind you of the sacrifice Jesus made so that we can be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God. Dr. Graham will share a short devotion about the final words that Jesus spoke from the cross and what they mean to us today. To sign up, just text CROSS to 59789. It's absolutely free to join, so text CROSS to 59789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?

Jack Graham: Well, I love this whole idea of expectant faith because there are times in our lives when God wants to stretch us, to stretch our faith and our strength in him. So he calls us to trust him for something bigger, something greater, something more impossible than you would even dare to imagine. This is the essence of expectant faith.

When we examine expectant faith, we see it has a powerful spiritual aspect to it. It has a strong mental aspect to it, because as human beings, it is natural for us to move to what we think. Proverbs 23:7 says it this way: "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." So what you think, you are. You may have heard me say along the way, if you don't see it before you see it, you will never see it. That's regarding expectant faith and having a vision of what God wants to do in your life.

God has created us to move in the direction of the way we think, that becomes our faith. Your life will follow your expectations and your faith. And so if you raise the level of your expectancy by faith, you will see God do the supernatural in your life. That's right, I said the supernatural. God will do amazing things in your life, things that you could never have imagined possible if you will trust him.

Abraham was someone who clearly demonstrated these principles in his life. He had received an enormous promise from God, and even though the promise seemed impossible, Abraham fully expected God to fulfill it, and he moved toward the promise throughout his entire life. And ultimately, he realized this promise; the promise was fulfilled.

Now this is an outstanding picture of expectant faith. This kind of faith requires that we follow God by trusting him even though we don't know where we're going or we don't know how it's going to happen and we don't really know why it could be happening. But God knows the answers to all of these questions and so much more. That's why we can trust him. In Matthew 19:26, Jesus said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Do you have a promise, a dream, a vision that you're waiting on God to fulfill? Then this is the beginning of expectant faith. Surrender your dreams to him. Wait with anticipation on the fulfillment of his promise, and you will see God do the impossible in your life. Remember, there is no prayer too bold for you to pray that God cannot answer it.

Guest (Female): And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift to PowerPoint, we'll send you Dr. Graham's book, Help. Just text MAR to 59789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how to choose a life of faith. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.