PowerPoint

Jack Graham: It is evident that the people who have made the greatest impact upon the world, influencing the world for eternity, are those who have a living faith and who live the faith of the cross.

Guest (Female): Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how you can experience the power of the cross in your life. Now, here is Dr. Graham with his message, "Crucified with Christ."

Jack Graham: I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to the second chapter of the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter two. I want to speak to you on the subject today, "Crucified with Christ."

Many of you have been to the cross for pardon, for the forgiveness of sin, for the new life that is ours in Jesus Christ, but you’ve never been to the cross for power in your life, for provision in your life. There is a level of teaching in the word of God. You might call it the milk level of teaching. Just as a baby is to desire the sincere milk of the word, so are we as newborn babes to nurture our lives in the word of God, the milk of the word of God.

But then as we grow beyond the early stages of the Christian faith, as we develop in our discipleship with Christ, we should move on beyond the milk of the word to the meat of the word and to grow deeper and to go deeper in the great truths that transform our lives every single day. The milk of the cross concerns our salvation, coming to Christ, knowing the forgiveness of sin, and the promise of the living Christ within and the hope of being with him forever and ever. That’s the milk of the cross. That’s the basics of Christian faith and testimony.

But then there's the meat of the cross. And the meat of the cross concerns not only our salvation in Christ, but—and here’s a big word coming—our sanctification in Christ, which means our growing into Christ-likeness, our becoming more and more like Jesus with our lives and in our lives. And it is in this meat teaching of the word of God, in this meat teaching of the cross, that we discover the power of the cross in our lives, the power to live a passionate, devoted life for Jesus Christ, the power to live a life that makes a difference in the world now and forevermore.

Now, the apostle Paul was captivated, he was captured by the cross. This great Christian never moved beyond the cross. He said, "I preach Christ and him crucified." He said, "I boast not in myself, but I boast, I glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ." And he teaches us the tremendous truth that we are to always live in the grace and in the glory of the cross. If we’re to be passionate followers of Jesus Christ, we must not only love the cross, but we must live the cross.

The apostle Paul in Galatians 2:20 gives us a powerful sentence that you should know, and you should beyond knowing it, know the understanding and the truth of it. Galatians 2:20, "For I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me."

As I have studied the history of the Christian faith and have observed the impact of believers in our own generation, it is evident that the people who have made the greatest impact upon the world, influencing the world for eternity, are those who have a living faith and who live the faith of the cross, who have been willing to surrender and sacrifice to lay down their own lives for the sake of the cause of the cross.

It is in understanding who we are in Christ that we really begin to grow up into Christ, into full stature in Christ. Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live." Paul knew who he was. He was a man in Christ. He was a man of the cross. Paul understood the reality of Jesus living in him, the crucified, risen Christ filling his life, flooding his life every day.

The secret of Christian living is Christ in you. That you are a man in Christ, a woman in Christ, and Christ is living in you. Paul said in Colossians 1:27, "Christ in me, the hope of glory." So you need to be able to say it, you need to be able to know it, you need to be able to believe it and live it: I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. It is Easter to live crucified and risen in Christ. It is the crucified life.

What does it mean? It begins by eliminating ego, denying self, being willing to lay down our lives to follow Christ. Look, there is a price to pay for passion. If you are to live a passionate life for Christ, then you must realize it’s going to cost you. C.T. Studd was a great athlete of another generation and he left a professional sports career in England to follow Christ to the mission field as God had called him.

And many were questioning C.T. Studd’s sanity in leaving the popularity and the position of notoriety and celebrity in England to go and bury his life on a mission field. And C.T. Studd in response said these words: "If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, there is no sacrifice I can ever make for him which could ever be too great."

Another great believer in Christ who became a martyr as a follower of Christ, a martyr in Nazi Germany because of his faith, his name was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And he said the cross is laid on every Christian. The cross is laid on every Christian. He went on to say that we are called to abandon the attachments of this world. And then he said it so clearly: "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." To die to self, selfish pursuits, selfish ambitions in order to live for Jesus Christ.

To be willing to lay down our ambitions and our appetites and to crucify the flesh. Now, that flies in the face of a culture and a world that promotes self-will and self-esteem and self-expression and even self-worth. It flies in the face of a love of self, the "all about me" way of life. But did you know that Jesus said if you’re going to follow me, you must pick up your cross daily and follow me?

Now, those who heard Jesus say these words knew exactly what he meant. It may be a little bit distant to us in understanding what it means to pick up the cross, but remember, everyone who heard Jesus say the words "pick up your cross, deny yourself, follow me" would have understood what that meant because the cross was an instrument of torture and execution and death.

The people in the day of Christ, they saw people crucified. They knew what the cross meant. And they understood when Jesus said pick up your cross and follow me that Jesus was saying be willing to come and die when you follow me. To sacrifice, to surrender your life to follow me.

You see, the Bible doesn’t tell us to love self or to pamper self, but the Bible tells us there’s only one thing to do with self and that is to crucify self. To eliminate ego—E-G-O. You know what that is, don't you? E-G-O: edging God out. And it is our pride, our ego, our arrogance, our selfishness that removes Christ from his rightful place of preeminence and power in our lives and delegates him to some lesser place when we allow self on the throne of our hearts, when we are living for self rather than crucifying self.

It means surrendering our lives to crucify our lives, our ambitions, our desires. To follow Christ is so much more than just coming to Jesus and getting a ticket to heaven and then so often we hear words like this: well, just come to Christ and he’s going to make your life great, he’s going to make your life wonderful, he’s going to make your life meaningful, you’re going to have a better marriage, you’re going to have better kids, you’re going to have better breath—everything’s going to be better when you come to Jesus.

And I affirm that. I affirm that Jesus will make your life better. He said, "I’ve come that you might have life and have it more abundant." You can live a fulfilling and fruitful life in Jesus Christ. But what about carrying the cross and living in sacrifice, the discipline of our minds and of our bodies and of our souls? The dethroning of self in our lives?

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, "Crucified with Christ." Easter is just around the corner and we want to help you prepare your heart for the season. When you sign up, we will send you a video devotional every day until Easter to 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 devotional 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. Again, text CROSS to 59789.

Guest (Male): Right now you have the incredible opportunity to help others experience the unshakable hope and abundant life found only in Jesus Christ. Your support of PowerPoint Ministries makes a real and lasting difference, changing lives for eternity as people encounter God’s word. And because your partnership matters so deeply, we'd love to send you Dr. Graham's new book, *Living Hope in a Hostile World*, as our thanks for your gift of $10 or more.

This book explores the bold truths of 1 Peter and offers strength, courage, and hope for whatever you may face. To give your gift, text FEB to 59789. Text F-E-B to 59789. Now, let’s get back to today's message, "Crucified with Christ."

Jack Graham: Perhaps Romans 12 would help us understand what it means to pick up this cross and to live this crucified life. So just turn with me to Romans chapter 12. These are important verses for the believer. Verse one: "I beg you, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

Paul said this cross life, this crucified life, is the life of being a living sacrifice. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. The sacrifice, the surrender in the life of the believer is not to be optional, casual, or trivial. Today, you can purchase a car with multiple options. That’s one of the fun things about living in our generation, all the options that we have.

When I was a kid, there was one kind of Coke and it was eight ounces in a bottle. Now you’ve got all kinds of Coke. You’ve got Diet Coke, you’ve got Diet Coke with vanilla, you’ve got Diet Coke with lime, you’ve got Diet Cherry Coke. You’ve got Classic Coke, and whatever happened to that other Coke? You’ve got Coke with no caffeine and Coke with caffeine. You’ve got all of these options.

And you know, when you go to buy a car, our old car, our old '54 Dodge or whatever that was, it basically had a steering wheel and a few seats. No seat belts. But today, we have many wonderful options in our cars. And you can look at the brochure, you can get online, you can read all the options. And if you’re willing to pay a little more, sometimes pay a lot more, you can get more and more options on your car and now we’re conditioned to wanting the options.

And you know, some of us take the same approach in Christianity. You think that what we need to do in the Christian faith is that you can choose your options in the Christian life. I’ll take salvation, but I’m going to pass on the sacrifice. I’ll take the forgiveness of sin, but I’m not going to pay the price for forgiving others' sin. No, the Christian life and the surrender—I’m saying this crucified life is not optional equipment for the believer. This is basic Christian faith and living.

This is a summons to all Christians. I beseech you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, all are called to carry the cross. Every one of us. Paul said, "I beg you passionately, deeply from the heart because of the mercies of God, to present your body as a living sacrifice." What kind of sacrifice and surrender is it? It is a logical sacrifice.

Logical because he said do this because of the mercies of God. Paul has spent eleven chapters in the book of Romans describing the great truths of who we are in Christ and what Christ has done for us. And that all of our lives are now in Christ and we have this tremendous future and hope in Christ because of the cross and because of the resurrection. And he spent all of these wonderful moments in the book of Romans just teaching us this truth and then he comes and says, "All right, now because all of this is true, therefore, because of this, because of the mercies of Jesus Christ, because of that cross."

It’s logical, it’s reasonable, to present your body as a living sacrifice. Now, in the Old Testament, there were two kinds of sacrifices. One kind of sacrifice was sacrifices of propitiation, when the sacrifice would be offered for the propitiation of sin, the forgiveness of sin, dealing with sin. And then there were the dedicatory sacrifices, and Jewish believers would bring these sacrifices of dedication in response, in gratitude to what God had done.

The cross, the death of Jesus, was an act, a sacrifice of propitiation, the forgiveness of sin. And now because of this great act of sacrifice and love, we come with a sacrifice of dedication in response to these mercies. Because of what Christ has done for us, we lay down our lives as an act of surrender and dedication to him. And folks, this is reasonable. It's logical.

We owe him our lives. We are bought and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus. What, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Therefore glorify God with your body which belongs to Christ. And therefore to live and to carry the cross, what does it mean? It is to present your body as a living sacrifice to him. That means your feet are to walk in obedience to him every day.

It means that your eyes are to behold his beauty and purity and to stay focused on him step-by-step each day. It means that your hands are to serve him. That your arms are to embrace and to lift others, those who are fallen, those who are loveless, those who are broken. To live this life, this crucified life, means that we belong to him. And therefore it is logical to give ourselves to him. But not only is this sacrifice a logical sacrifice, it is a living sacrifice.

And then it is a lasting sacrifice. A logical sacrifice, a living sacrifice, and a lasting sacrifice. Because we carry the cross all the way into eternity. We persevere through difficulties and dangers. Eugene Peterson, the author of *The Message* translation of the Bible or paraphrase of the Bible, said the Christian life is a long obedience in the same direction. Now, our generation is not known for finishing things.

But let it be said of us, dear people, what could be said of the apostle Paul when he said, "I have finished the course." Let us carry the cross all the way to the finish line and beyond and to persevere through pain. You see, again, passion means sometimes discipline, pain. Ask any athlete who wants to be a champion. Ask any musician who wants to excel. Ask anyone who in their chosen endeavor succeeds, and you will understand that it takes blood, sweat, and tears to accomplish anything great in your life.

And certainly to live the Christian life, it requires obedience to the very end and all the way, even when it is difficult, even when it is demanding, even when it is dangerous. It’s a lasting sacrifice. Jesus when he carried the cross finished the work the Father sent him to do. There must have been many times when he wanted to quit. When Jesus was carrying the cross, broken, bruised and bleeding, every inch, every ounce of him physically must have been crying out, "Quit! Give up!"

But thank God Jesus with his cross crashed through the quitting points, the barriers, until on the cross he said, "Tetelestai, it is finished." So we deal with our ego, and in laying down the self-life we take up the Christ-life in us and we are empowered. Now, lest you think that this Christian life is so painful there’s never joy, there’s never satisfaction, let me remind you that it was because of the joy that was set before him that Jesus endured the cross and despised the shame.

Jesus knew joy. He lived every day under the shadow of the cross in his life, and yet there was joy. He said, "My joy I give to you." It was the joy that was set before him, the joy of you and me coming to him, the joy of eternity. Paul said the sufferings of this present time can’t compare to the glory that we’re going to share when we see Jesus.

So yes, we preach of pain, yes, we speak of sacrifice, but it is in the losing of our lives that we gain our lives. It is in the laying down of ourselves that we take up our fullest self. A great Christian of yesteryear, Samuel Rutherford, put it this way: "The cross of Christ is the sweetest burden that I ever bore. It is a burden to me such as wings are to a bird or sails are to a ship to carry me forth to my harbor." There is glory and honor in sacrifice.

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, "Crucified with Christ." Your support of PowerPoint Ministries makes a profound impact, helping more people discover the truth and hope of Jesus Christ. And to thank you for your generous gift today, we'd love to send you Dr. Jack Graham's new book, *Living Hope in a Hostile World*.

It's a timely resource that reminds you how to stand firm in faith, cling to God's grace, and live with courage, even in your most challenging times. As you grow in your walk with the Lord through this resource, may you be encouraged to know that your generous support is helping others do the same. Text FEB to 59789. Again, text FEB, as in February, to 59789.

Easter is just around the corner and we want to help you prepare your heart for the season. When you sign up, we will send you a video devotional every day until Easter to 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 devotional 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. Again, text CROSS to 59789.

Guest (Male): Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?

Jack Graham: So many Christians today live lives as though God doesn't even exist. Friend, if you today are allowing the worries and anxieties of this world to dominate your life, if you're living your life to please man rather than God, if you're living your life without the power of Jesus in your life, then I want to challenge you today to take to heart the passage we talked about in today's message.

Galatians 2:20. It is such a powerful verse. And if you plug that verse into your life—a 220 volt of God's power into your life, Galatians 2:20—you will discover the power of Jesus living in you. Take that to heart and ask God to make you conscious of that fact every single day. And then use the power of God in your life to live all out for him, to share your faith with others, to be a better man, a better father, a better woman, a better wife.

You can live in the power and the strength of Jesus living in you. And when you do, you will discover a confidence in life that you could have never, ever imagined. I know in my own life I find it absolutely essential not to run in the strength of my humanity but to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus lives in you by his Holy Spirit.

And Galatians 2:20 reminds us of this great truth: that when we exchange our life for his life, then his life overwhelms and dominates us every single day. And we start living like Jesus, we start acting like Jesus, we start serving in the power of Jesus. Truly, it's the only way to live the Christian life because without Jesus, the Christian life is impossible. The Christian life is made possible by the presence and power of Jesus who lives within. And that is today's PowerPoint.

Guest (Male): Remember, when you give a gift of $10 or more to PowerPoint, we will send you Dr. Graham's book, *Living Hope in a Hostile World*. Just text FEB to 59789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about what Jesus can do through the church. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.