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Guest (Male): Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham.

Jack Graham: God calls us therefore to serve him to move from spiritual couch potatoes to being active, aggressive, obedient, joyful servants of Christ.

Guest (Female): On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about three virtues that can move you from apathy to action. Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message: Choosing Action Over Apathy.

Jack Graham: Take your Bibles and turn with me, please, to the book of Proverbs, chapter 29 is where we will begin. Vision is so important to an organization, to a church, and to our personal lives. We all must have a personal vision and mission of what God wants to accomplish in our lives, our families, our future.

And we want that vision to be good, but beyond good, we want it to be great. And so often, our choices as followers of Jesus are not what is good and what is bad, or what is right, what is wrong, but so often what is good and what is best and what is great.

For example, it's possible to be a good Christian, but I want to be and I trust you want to be a great and godly Christian beyond the average. You can have a good marriage, but better still, you can have a great marriage. You can raise good kids, or you can, by training them up in the nurture and the teaching of the Lord, you can have great kids.

You can have godly kids. You can have a good job and a good life, or you can set higher standards for your life and yourself and succeed in life beyond your wildest imaginations with God enabling you. And yet, too many of us settle for mediocrity. We're satisfied where we are. We're not moving too much.

We're just okay. And Jesus talked about lukewarmness. He said, "I would rather you be hot or cold, but you're lukewarm," and he said that makes me sick to my stomach, I will spew you out of my mouth. Lukewarmness is an insult to God himself.

God calls us therefore to serve him, to move from fence-straddling and pew-sitting spiritual couch potatoes to being active, aggressive, obedient, joyful servants of Christ. Say, "Well, I'm a busy person." Well, God always calls busy people.

Moses was busy tending the flocks when God spoke to him out of the burning bush and called him to deliver Israel. God never calls the lazy or the idle or the halfhearted. He typically calls people that are already doing things for him. "I being in the way, the Lord led me."

Have you ever noticed that it's much easier to steer a car when it's in motion than one that's sitting still? So like Moses, Gideon was busy threshing wheat in the bottom of a well when God called him to be the great judge and deliverer of Israel.

David was busy tending the flocks of his father when God saw his heart and called him to be a conquering king. Elisha, the great prophet, was busy plowing twelve yoke of oxen. That sounds like a big job to me, twelve yoke of oxen. He was busy doing that when God called him out to tend to the people of God and do a great work for him.

Nehemiah was a layman who was busy serving the king in Persia when God broke his heart for his people back in Jerusalem and called him to get busy at rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Peter and Andrew were casting their nets in the sea when Jesus said, "Follow me," and they left their nets, though busy businessmen, and followed Christ.

James and John were mending their nets, fixing their nets, when God came by, when Jesus walked by and said, "Leave your nets and follow after me." Matthew was collecting taxes when Jesus called him. Paul was on his way to persecute Christians, busy in his religion, when Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus and called him to be a missionary to the nations.

I could go on and on, couldn't I? Not only biblical, but people all around us that we know. Isn't it interesting that so often the most vibrant and busy people are the ones that God keeps using in a great way? So we don't want to be satisfied with who we are and where we are.

We don't want to settle for that. We want to get out of our who-cares attitudes or "let somebody else do it" spirit. We want to all engage in the work of Christ. So what motivates us from apathy to action, from mediocrity to moving for the glory of God, from a religious consumer to becoming a passionate follower of Jesus Christ?

I want to mention three virtues that we find in the book of Proverbs that will help us move from mediocrity to greatness, from action to apathy. And the first of these is obedience. Proverbs 29:18 says this: "Where there is no prophetic vision," that is, a great vision from God for your life, "the people cast off restraint."

There's chaos, there's rebellion where there is no vision, "but blessed is he who keeps the law." Obedience. Proverbs 13:18: "Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored." We're not only to be hearers of the word, but we are to be doers of the word.

Proverbs 21:3: "To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice." When Saul lost the kingdom assumed by David, anointed by God, Saul, the great king who was the man who might have been, he had so much, but he did so little with so much.

And on one occasion, he incompletely, inconsistently disobeyed God. God told him to do something, he didn't do it. He was out, David was in. And in that conversation between Samuel, the great prophet of God, and Saul, who was begging to stay in his role and fought to stay in his role, it was then that God said, "To obey is better than sacrifice."

Obedience is better than giving our money, than showing up at church, and just being a religious consumer when God has called us to be a passionate follower of Christ. Live in obedience to Christ. That is the joy of life.

Now to be sure, faith, and faith in Christ alone in his grace, is what saves. But the faith that saves alone is never alone. The faith that saves works. The same passage that tells us that we are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, you can't earn your way or deserve your way into eternal life.

The same passage says, "But we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Finding your purpose in life, finding your meaning, finding your direction in your career, in your calling, this is what motivates us as we obey God.

In spiritual service, we are commanded to share Christ, to be witnesses. We need to be held accountable to that because that is a commandment to Christ. We are commanded to be faithful worshippers and prayer warriors. We are commanded to give generously to the work of Christ.

We are commanded to know and love God's word, to study God's word. We are commanded to live holy, straight-edge lives for Christ, not just happy but holy lives. These are the commands of God. These are the commands of Christ. Are we living in obedience to Christ?

Why is it that so many Christians don't live like Christ? Why is it that the world looks at us and wonders why we don't live our faith? Do unbelievers see in you a life that they want to live in Christ, or do they say, "I got plenty of problems already, I don't need to add religion as another one of my problems"?

Do they see your obedience and say, "What he has, what she has, that's what I want"? This kind of commitment and obedience must be renewed daily. And when we do, it comes from the heart. I'm not talking about living on a list. I'm not talking about legalism. I'm talking about a love for Christ that obeys him.

What did Jesus say? "If you love me, keep my commandments." Proverbs says, "My son, give me your heart." It is from the heart that we obey God, not external pressure but internal love and devotion for Christ. Psalm 51:6 says, "Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart."

Remember, God will not take you one step further than your measured obedience to him. That's a virtue: obedience to God and his word that will move you from apathy to action. Not just sitting there, but actually doing something with your life that makes a difference in the world.

Not simply making a living, but making a life. Not just existing, but really living. What gets you up in the morning should be the trumpets of God, the call of God that moves you. Say, "Well, my job's boring. I'm just tired of going to work. I'm tired of doing the same thing over and over."

Remember, God has put you where he's put you, not primarily to make money, but as a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. And whatever you do in your calling in life, be obedient to God and watch God ignite you because vision produces passion and passion produces energy in your life.

Guest (Male): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: Choosing Action Over Apathy. July 4th, 2026, will be a day of great celebration for the 250th birthday of our great country. However, there has never been a more important time in our 250 years as a nation where we need God to move in power and heal our land.

That's why I'm inviting you to join Dr. Graham in a prayer challenge for our nation. To join, simply text CRY to 59789. Again, text CRY to 59789. Remember that your support of PowerPoint ministries helps bring the truth of Jesus Christ to people around the world. Every day we hear from listeners who are searching for answers, longing for peace, and discovering hope through God's word, often for the very first time.

Your generosity keeps that message going out. And as our thanks for your gift today, we'd love to send you Dr. Jack Graham's book, *The Jesus Book*, a powerful guide to help you grow deeper in your relationship with Christ. Text MAY to 59789 to give your gift and request your copy. Again, text MAY to 59789. Thank you for helping proclaim the hope of Jesus. Now, let's get back to today's message: Choosing Action Over Apathy.

Jack Graham: Secondly is diligence. Diligence. That's the second virtue that will spark you and ignite you to get moving. Proverbs 10:4 and 5: "A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame."

In the book of Proverbs, when you read it, you will discover that there is a word that appears again and again in about five Hebrew forms, one or two in the English, but it's simply the word "slacker" or "sluggard" or "slothful." A slothful person.

I mean, that just sounds bad, doesn't it? Slothful. But it's a word which means basically lazy and lethargic. The church fathers organized some of the sins in what is now known as the seven deadly sins. They're not deadly in the sense that they cannot be forgiven; every sin can be forgiven in Christ.

But these were considered categorically among the worst sins. They are pride and envy and gluttony and lust and anger and greed and sloth. But slothfulness is not a good thing. Writer Regina Brett wrote in the *Chicago Tribune*: "Sloth is insidious.

It whispers that you might as well do it tomorrow. That nobody will know if you cut corners here and there to save yourself some trouble. That the world will be the same in 100 years no matter what you do. So why do anything? Sloth says, 'Don't strain yourself. What's the big hurry? And just give me five more minutes.'

Sloth hits the snooze alarm, hits the remote control, and hits the road. Sloth hits the road when the going gets tough. Sloth cheats on exams, drinks milk straight from the milk carton, and does slightly less than the right thing. It doesn't bother returning something to the lost and found but pockets it instead.

It doesn't tell the clerk if he has undercharged. Sloth has never written a thank-you note, sent a birthday card on time, or entertained angels. All this simply asks too much effort." Slothfulness. God has even said work is good. In fact, have you ever noticed that when you're lazy, it creates more laziness?

The fastest way to depression in your life is just to lay down and quit. Best way to be defeated is to quit in life. God tells us over and over again that we are to provide for our households, to take care of our families. If a man won't work, the scripture says, neither shall he eat.

Proverbs 19:15: "Slothfulness cast into deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger." Romans 12:11 in the New Testament picks up on this theme: "Do not be slothful in zeal," this is talking about serving Christ. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

You know one of my favorites, of course, 1 Corinthians 15:58. Out of the high theology of the resurrection, it ends in verse 58, the resurrection chapter: "Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. You know your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Work!

Hebrews 6:12 says, "So that you may be not sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promise." You know what gives you credibility for Christ and the gospel at your office with your coworkers is your strong work ethic.

The Christian ought to do more than the average, better than the average. God has called us not to just do an okay job or to do our duties, but to exceed with excellence. Excellence in all things and all things to the glory of God.

Sluggishness, basically, slothfulness and sluggishness is basically selfishness. It's the apathy which says, "I don't care. I'm too tired. I'm too old. I'm retired. I've quit." No, no, no. Not apathy, but action. Slothfulness can mean to be remiss in something, careless and negligent and lax and inconsistent.

I don't want to be inconsistent in my walk and my work with Christ. I want to be faithful. Who can find a faithful man? Proverbs 15:19 says, "The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway."

Proverbs 18:9: "Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys." A slothful man neglects his work and the materials to go to ruin. The brother he destroys are the materials. Proverbs 21:25: "The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse labor."

Slothfulness. God even uses the ant and the industriousness of the ant in comparison to the indolence and the indulgence of those who are sluggards. Proverbs 6:6: "Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways and be wise. Without having any chief officer or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest."

You can learn a lot from an ant, because an ant, without any apparent leadership, labors incessantly for the food. Proverbs 23:21: "For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags." On the spiritual side, of course, slothfulness hurts you in your work, your secular work, your job.

White are the fields unto harvest. Jesus condemned the lazy servant in the parable of the talents. I don't want to be lazy in the harvest. I never want to get to the place in my life where I say, "I'm done. I finished. Who cares? Let somebody else do it."

God has called us not to complacency, but commitment. I want to live in joyful, active obedience all the days of my life. This isn't automatic; it requires discipline over indulgence. Let us always be vigilant and diligent in the work of Christ, because we're not laying up for ourselves treasures on earth, but treasures in heaven.

We're working for the Master. We're serving him. Your boss, your board, your business—that's not your master. Christ is your master as a follower of Jesus. You're working for him. If you're a homemaker or a surgeon, a developer, a construction worker, whatever you do, you're working for him.

Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because we will give an account at the judgment seat of Christ with what we have done with our lives. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.

If you sow industriousness and if you sow diligence, if you sow commitment, if you sow your life and your best, you're going to reap not only what you sow, but more than you sow. It wouldn't profit a farmer if a farmer planted a seed and got one apple.

You plant a seed, you get a lot of apples. You plant your life as a seed, you give your money as a seed to the work of Christ, you develop your life as a devoted follower of Christ, you invest your life and you will get not only what you sow, but you'll get more than you sow later than you sow.

You may not see it until another lifetime, but you will see it. Jesus said a cup of cold water given in my name will not go unnoticed at the judgment. The opposite of that is true, of course. We reap what we sow. You sow the wind, the Bible says you reap the whirlwind.

You sow sin and carnality and you're going to reap corruption and death. So it's a choice we make, isn't it? This is all about choices. Do I choose obedience? Do I choose diligence? And one final thing in two minutes: resilience.

Resilience. Proverbs 21:21: "Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor." "Pursue" is a strong word; it means to chase down. In spite of what the world says, you're going to pursue righteousness. In spite of what your flesh says, you're going to pursue godliness and life and honor.

Proverbs 24:10 and 11: "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death, hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter." If you want a muscular faith, you have to keep working it.

You've got to overcome your inner doughboy and keep going, and doing, and serving. You know what the problem with so many churches today? Their "go" is broken. And I am determined as long as God gives us life and breath that we will keep going and sowing in Jesus' name.

I want to be resilient. That's a robust faith. That's a muscular faith. That's a faith that is resilient against all odds to keep moving even when you can't feel you can go another step. Because people are dying, people are crying, people are broken, and we have been called to rescue the perishing, care for the dying, and snatch them from pity and sin and the grave.

In a broken world, God has given us a life. What we do with that life, just as that life is God's gift to us, what we do with that life is now our gift back to God. May God give us true obedience and tough resilience and tenacious vigilance and diligence at our jobs, at our church, in our families, in our homes.

Jesus said, "Work, for the hour is coming when no man will be able to work." Work while it is day, for there is coming a time when day will be done and the crops will be in, and only what we've done for Jesus Christ will last.

Guest (Male): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: Choosing Action Over Apathy. We want to thank you for being a part of the mission of PowerPoint ministries. Every day through the support of friends like you, the message of Jesus Christ is reaching people across television, radio, and digital platforms around the world.

So many people today are searching for answers, longing for peace, and looking for something to still hold on to. And your support helps point them in the one who offers all that and so much more: Jesus. As our thanks for your gift this month, we'd love to send you Dr. Jack Graham's book, *The Jesus Book*, a powerful guide to help you move beyond simply knowing about Jesus to truly knowing him through his word.

Text MAY to 59789 to give your gift and get your copy. Again, text MAY to 59789. July 4th, 2026, will be a day of great celebration for the 250th birthday of our great country. However, there has never been a more important time in our 250 years as a nation where we need God to move in power and heal our land.

That's why I'm inviting you to join Dr. Graham in a prayer challenge for our nation. To join, simply text CRY to 59789. Again, text CRY to 59789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?

Jack Graham: There are too many people today who really don't care. They don't care about their neighbors, they don't care about their nation, they don't care about the world. And that's a sad life to live. It is an empty life to live. When you only care about yourself rather than others, you become so apathetic that you don't care about what God cares about.

And I'll tell you what God cares about: God cares about people. God loves people. And we can't say we're too busy to get involved and get engaged in the work of Christ. I find that God calls busy people. The busiest people end up being the most faithful servants of Christ.

So don't be just a consumer of religious messages, but be a passionate follower of Jesus. Don't watch the world, but engage in the world and make a difference right where you are. And that's my PowerPoint for today. Well, let me mention once again as we've been talking the last several days and weeks about our Twitter feed and Facebook links so that we can talk to you every single day.

Just go to jackgraham.org. We would love to get to know you better. And we'll be talking about a variety of subjects from, of course, the Bible and the Christian life and spirituality, what's going on in my life personally, along with some of my opinions regarding the culture, and even every now and then a few sports opinions.

It's all fun, it's all good, and you can find me @jackngraham on Twitter, or link with our Facebook. The simple way to do it is simply to go to jackgraham.org. That's jackgraham.org and there you can find out how to connect with us. God bless you. I look forward to being with you again on PowerPoint.

Guest (Male): And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift to PowerPoint, we'll send you Dr. Graham's book, *The Jesus Book*. Just text MAY to 59789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about the way to find true success. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.