PowerPoint

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

Jack Graham: To know and to grow in the Word of God should be the purpose and the passion of your life. It should be the commitment and the devotion of God's church.

Guest (Female): On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how you can tap into the work of Jesus through your church. Now here's Dr. Graham with his message, "The Empowered Church."

Jack Graham: Take God's Word and turn with me to the second chapter of the book of Acts. We're going to look at the closing passage of the great second chapter of Acts, the day when 3,000 people were born again, birthed into the kingdom of God and became a part of God's church.

Beginning in verse 42 of Acts chapter two: "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belonging and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

"And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."

They continued in their walk with God because salvation was just the beginning. It was an amazing beginning when so many came to Christ on the very first day of the church, but now the church continues to know and to grow in what they believe and what they are to do for the Lord Jesus Christ. Alan Redpath said the salvation of the soul is the miracle of the moment, but the making of a man of God is the task of a lifetime.

And so we see the making of men and women of God as together we grow in Christ. So what does the empowered church look like? As we go back centuries and centuries ago to the outset, to the originality of the church, what are we to be and to do today? I want you to notice several important factors regarding the empowered church.

Number one, the empowered church is an established congregation. An established congregation, for it says in verse 42, "and they." Who is the "they?" Well, obviously, the "they" is comprised of those who have been born again, those who have been saved that day and then grew in their faith. In other words, this congregation was established with a membership and a partnership in the gospel.

They were saved, and that is how you become a member of the church. Now when Simon Peter preached the message of salvation that day, there was deep conviction of sin. For they were stabbed to the heart and said, "Brothers, what will we do?" Verse 37 says they were cut to the heart. They were under deep conviction of sin, and this is vital.

As a result, Peter said, "Repent and be baptized every one of you for the remission of sin and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." So not only was there conviction of sin when they came face to face with their own sinfulness before God and what Christ had done upon the cross for us, and in the power of the resurrection, then they could receive Christ and have a brand new life.

So there was conviction of sin and then there was conversion of life. In verse 40 of chapter two, Peter said, "Save yourselves from this perverse, this crooked generation." This generation that is going nowhere. In other words, come out of the world and the direction the world is taking you and follow Christ. Get off the broad road that leads to destruction and get on the narrow road, the way, and follow Christ.

Has there been a time, a place, a definitive moment in your life when you have received Christ, having repented of your sin, turning from your sin and trusting in Him? This is absolutely vital. It is critical. It is essential not only to you but to the church itself. Notice that when Peter preached, he spoke of those who were called unto salvation.

Acts chapter two, verse 39: "For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who were afar off, everyone is included. Everyone can come in, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." You see, there is a divine side to salvation in which God calls us unto Himself, and therefore you cannot be saved just anytime you choose to be saved.

God makes the first move. God takes the first step. God calls us into salvation. God is sovereign. Salvation is of the Lord, and this is the divine prerogative of God as He calls us unto Himself. This is the divine side when God opens the heart. And right now, the Spirit of God is at work in people's life, wooing you, bringing you to a place of decision, calling you to faith in Jesus Christ.

This is why it is very important that you never resist the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. That you never blaspheme the Spirit of God by saying no and no and no and no, because what you say no to long enough, you get very good at, and your heart can become hard. God says, "My spirit will not always strive with man."

And it's possible to say no and no and no and no and so resist the work of the Holy Spirit in your life that finally it would be impossible for you to hear the call of God. That's why the Bible says if you hear His voice today, do not harden your heart. So there is the divine side, but there's also the human side. And this is in perfect balance in the Scripture.

What God does and what we do. We are to respond in faith. We are to respond because God has made it possible for all to come in. And the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, is powerful enough, strong enough to cleanse from every sin for everyone. The question is, has your life been transformed? Do you know Jesus? This is how the church is established. The church is not a club or a religious organization. The church is the body of believers, the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Secondly, the empowering church is marked by an enduring dedication. That's why verse 42 says, "and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, the breaking of bread and to prayers." Now what is the apostles' teaching? Well, obviously the apostles were instructing believers regarding the Old Testament Scriptures.

When you read the message of Simon Peter here in chapter two, it is chalk full of Scripture. And all of the messages of the book of Acts are full of the Old Testament Scriptures, so no doubt they would have been teaching the Old Testament, the Word of God. But not only that, what did Jesus say to the apostles? That they were to make disciples and to teach them what? All the things that I have commanded you.

So when the apostles were teaching and instructing these believers, they were talking to them of Jesus, of His life and of His teachings, of what Jesus commanded them to do, essentially the gospels. And of course, this is before the gospels had been written down, so they are telling the gospels. They are teaching the gospels. So they're instructing them concerning the gospels.

And then, of course, the apostles were given spiritual illumination and inspiration in order to give the Scriptures. And the New Testament, the epistles, the letters of the New Testament were written by the apostles. So in rhetorical form, in verbal form, they are giving them the New Testament. So they are teaching them what? Just write it down: the Word of God.

When you read the apostles' teaching, just write right there, God's Word. Instruction in the Word of God. Now this is vital to the spiritual health of every believer and certainly to the health of the church. To know and to grow in the Word of God should be the purpose and the passion of your life. It should be the commitment and the devotion of God's church.

I like what Bible teacher and pastor John MacArthur said about this. He said a believer should count it a wasted day when he does not learn something new from or is not more deeply enriched by the truth of God's Word. Every day we should dig deeply into the Word of God. They devoted themselves. This is the dedication.

The fact is, many are out of church today and have dropped out of the fellowship of the church because they no longer are focused on God's Word in their life, and church is a casual, convenient experience for them. But look at the difference of these believers then and so many of us who claim the name of Christ today. They were passionate, they were fired up, they were committed to the Word of God and growing in their faith in Him.

I would challenge you to be a student of the Word of God and continued in the Word of God. There is a vast indifference and sometimes ignorance of the Word of God among those who profess the name of Christ. Commit yourself to the study of the Word of God, and not just for your head's sake, but for your heart's sake.

I know there's some people who say, "Well, I don't need all that doctrine. I don't need all that teaching. Jesus is enough for me." Well, Jesus is enough, but it is Jesus who taught us to dig deeply into His truth and His Word. And when so many are coming at us today with vain religion and false philosophies of life, we need to know what we believe and why we believe what we believe. We learn that in the Word of God. This is why we are committed to it.

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, "The Empowered Church." Did you know that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion? It's a study of God's Word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life.

To sign up, text "DEVO" to 59789 and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotional every day. Again, text "DEVO" to 59789. We want to tell you about an exciting opportunity available this month. Right now, every gift you give to PowerPoint Ministries will be doubled through a generous $150,000 matching grant, helping reach even more people with the hope and truth of Jesus Christ.

Every day, people burdened by fear, anxiety, and uncertainty are discovering the peace found in God's Word through this ministry. Your support helps make that possible. As our thanks for your gift of $10 or more, we'll send you Dr. Graham's brand new book, *The Lord is My Shepherd*. Text "SEPTEMBER" to 59789 to have your gift doubled and receive your copy today. Again, text "SEPTEMBER" to 59789. Now let's get back to today's message, "The Empowered Church."

Jack Graham: There is the Word of God, devoting yourself to it, but not only you see, they not only devoted themselves to God's Word, knowing and growing in God's Word, but experiencing God's presence in their lives on a daily basis. That's why when you read the second chapter of Acts here, that verse 42 tells us that they continued in fellowship and the breaking of bread and prayers, or the prayers.

Now the breaking of bread had to do with eating meals together, and often when they would eat meals together in their homes, they would stop also to share in communion. And most likely, this is illustrative of that experience of communion, of remembering the Lord's death and His resurrection. So they committed to that.

And then there was prayer. Prayer is always a privilege and a priority in the church, not a postscript. If you're talking about power in your life, spiritual engagement, if you're talking about the empowered church, you must consider prayer because prayer invites the presence and the power of God into our lives, into our families, and into our church.

If we want God to move in our life, we must pray. Remember this, that God invites us and invokes us to pray. Jeremiah 33:3: "Call unto me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know." Just stop and remember, think right now that Almighty God invites you into His presence and promises His provision and power when you pray.

These believers were given to prayers. You see, they were not only transformed by truth, but they were tasting, they were touching the presence of God. Ask God to strengthen your prayer life, even as the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Lord, teach us to pray." You notice in verse 42 it says, "the prayers."

The prayers, there's a definite article there. Now in churches like ours, our prayers are free-flowing and spontaneous. When we pray, rarely does someone read a prayer because we are concentrating, of course, always on making sure that our prayers are offered from the heart. But there's a balance to this, and I've discovered that on balance in my life as I have learned not only to write my own prayers as a part of my devotional life, but also to read the prayers that others have offered.

The prayers. You see, these early believers were praying the prayers not only that they pray spontaneously and extemporaneously from their hearts, but the prayers that were given in the Scripture. God has given us many prayers in the Scripture, both Old Testament and New Testament. And if you want your prayer life to be strengthened, pray the Scriptures.

Pray the prayers of the Bible. Pray in the Scriptures themselves. And I've also discovered through the years in my own devotional life, the prayers of others. You can go online and just Google in prayers. Make sure they're biblical prayers. Make sure they're New Testament prayers. Make sure they're prayers given in Jesus' name.

But there are many books of prayers and lists of prayers and prayers that you can pray that will strengthen your devotional life and your walk with God. There is so much depth and strength in the prayers that are prayed. So don't you think we may need a little balance? And while we pray from the heart and we pray from our soul, our own words, it is helpful to pray the prayers that we have been given.

We want to run so fast from ritual that often we've missed the blessing of the prayers. So they were praying together, and I would encourage you to enrich your prayer life in every way possible. So you see, there is this enduring dedication in the teaching of God's Word and the touching and the tasting of God's presence in the breaking of the bread, in the offering of the prayers.

Not only an established congregation, established in Jesus Christ by believers who are baptized in His name. And not only this enduring dedication as they devoted themselves, but there is an enriching participation. For in verse 42, we read the word fellowship. And later on in this same passage, we read of the disciples, verse 44: "All who believed were together."

Look at it. They were together and had all things in common. They continued in the fellowship. Now most people don't know what fellowship is. We think that fellowship is coffee in the hallway after church. But fellowship in the Bible is much better than that. It's much deeper than that. It means to hold in common.

The word fellowship, koinonia, means to share life together. And of course, our fellowship, according to First John, is with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. We have fellowship with God and therefore we have fellowship with one another. We share a common Lord and we share a common life. And therefore we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

We have fellowship in this family of faith. We are more than a collection of strangers or even a collection of friends. We share a common life, a common Lord, and a common labor because, in reality, fellowship in the church is a shared mission. We share the mission of Christ. And this fellowship is so critical that we are bonded together, that we believe together, that we belong together.

Satan desires to disrupt and even to destroy the fellowship of His people. Yet Jesus said we are to be one. One in heart, one in spirit, one in soul, one in faith. The oneness of our participation. And notice in this, they were willing to give that others may have their needs met, and they were willing to serve so that God could reach people and touch people's lives. This was an enriching participation.

And I want to encourage you, even as the Scriptures in Hebrews 10:25 say, not neglecting to meet together as the habit of some, but encouraging one another. The fellowship of the church, there's nothing like it in all the world.

But not only that, the final thing I want you to see in this picture of the church in every generation, this is a cross-generational from generation to generation experience. See then an expanded celebration. As you read the rest of the passage here, you read of the church together sharing Christ, worshipping together. But there is a verse here that I want you to note, which is verse 46, which says, "And day by day, attending the temple together," that is in public forums.

They were still there in the court of the Gentiles, a vast large place where they could worship together the Lord Jesus Christ. "Then the breaking of bread," this fellowship and this communion there in their homes. "They received their food with glad and generous hearts." And then he goes on to say that they were praising God and having favor with all of the people.

I love this. With joyful spirits and with sincere hearts. The word that is translated in verse 46 "generous" is the only time this word is used in the New Testament. And it's a word difficult to translate. It's a word which has its root in the idea of "without rocks" or "without stones." You say, "What on earth does that mean, without rocks?"

Well, of course, this was a seafaring community, and ships would come in, and if it was smooth sailing, it was because there were no rocks. They were without rocks, so there was smooth sailing without rocks. And the idea here is that they were sailing high, wide, and beautiful for the Lord. It was smooth. They were in a groove spiritually.

They were focused and they were favored by God. They had it all together and it was all working together. This is the church. A Spirit-filled church, empowered, which is growing and joyous and winsome in their witness, and sharing and caring and loving and living for Christ. Full of Jesus and full of His Spirit.

There is liberty in worship, there is a loving fellowship, and there is a life-giving witness. There is powerful worship in this church. Worship that is joyous and celebratory, and yet filled with awe and reverence. And that's always the balance we need to maintain in our worship. There are times that we can't move, we are so deeply touched by the Spirit of God, just as Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and worshipped Him at His feet.

Sometimes we just sit at His feet and worship Him. There are other times we rise in celebration and we stand in honor of His glory and His power in our lives. There's a time to stand, there's a time to sit. The styles of worship are not nearly as important as the heart of worship. If our hearts are joyous in Him, we must make sure that in our worship that it's not all about self-absorption and my personal worship experience, but that it's always about Jesus and honoring Him.

And let me remind you that worship is preparation for heaven. We when we worship God here and now are getting ourselves ready for the celebration of heaven. That's the church. And there's joy in this. There's excitement in this. And as a result, because this church was healthy, it was reproducing. Because the Scripture says they were adding daily those who should be saved. This was a soul-winning church. Their witness was positive and productive in the world. It was with favor in the community. See how they love one another. Just look at how much they love God. This is the church.

Guest (Female): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, "The Empowered Church." Right now, every gift you give to PowerPoint Ministries will be doubled through a generous $150,000 matching grant, helping reach even more people with the hope and truth of Jesus Christ.

Every day, people burdened by fear, anxiety, and uncertainty are discovering the peace found in God's Word through this ministry. Your support helps make that possible. As our thanks for your gift of $10 or more, we'll send you Dr. Graham's brand new book, *The Lord is My Shepherd*.

In this encouraging study of Psalm 23, Dr. Graham shows how the Good Shepherd provides, guides, and stays with you even through life's darkest valleys. Text "SEPTEMBER" to 59789 to have your gift doubled and receive your copy today. Again, text "SEPTEMBER" to 59789.

Did you know that you can join Dr. Graham for his daily devotion? It's a study of God's Word that will help you grow in your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and show you how to navigate through the challenges of life. To sign up, text "DEVO" to 59789 and begin receiving Dr. Graham's devotional every day. Again, text "DEVO" to 59789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?

Jack Graham: We're talking about the power of spiritual engagement. So let me ask you a question: do you want to be fully engaged and empowered to live the Christian life? I really believe you do, and yet I find so many professed believers in Christ today are disconnected from one of the main sources of encouragement and empowerment, which is the local church.

The reason for this can be many, but the fact is many, many Christians aren't having an impact on the world for Christ because they're trying to live the Christian life on their own, in isolation, cut off from a local group of other learning, growing, worshipping Christians. So what about you? Are you actively involved in a local church where Jesus is Lord, where the Word of God is taught, where you can learn and grow in your faith, where you can develop as a disciple, where you can share your witness with others?

I'm not asking whether or not you attend church, but are you spiritually engaged in the life of that church? Are you doing more than just showing up on Sunday mornings? What I'm asking you is whether or not you are connected to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and are you a part of making a difference in your community and in the world for Jesus?

Just like a balled-up fist has more power than one little finger, so do you and I have more power as Christians when we stand in unity together in the name of Christ. A church united is a force to be reckoned with in our generation. In the book of Acts, we read about people who were fully engaged and committed to each other, and therefore they were encouraged and empowered to live the Christian life and then they turned the world upside down. That's the church of the first century, and I'm praying that the church of the 21st century will be like that church, empowered and making a difference until Jesus comes.

Guest (Female): And that is today's PowerPoint. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how the power of Jesus transforms lives and how it can change yours too. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.