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

Jack Graham: We are called to identify with Christ. That's what it means to take up your cross and follow Christ. Your cross is not a burden you bear. Your cross is not some illness or problem. To pick up the cross means that you identify with Christ.

Guest (Male): On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how to choose a life of faith. Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message, Decisive Faith.

Jack Graham: Turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11, verses 23 to 29. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had commanded that all the Hebrew boys be slaughtered.

But Moses' parents had faith. And verse 24, "By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin." He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

And by faith, he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith, he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. And by faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.

Decisive faith. First, you decide, and then what you decide develops your life and destiny. You make your choices in life, then your choices make you. You're free to choose, but you are not free to choose the consequences of your choices. Your choices choose for you, and God chooses for you based upon the choices that you make.

Moses himself one day stood before the children of Israel and said, "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life." Say that. Choose life, that you and your offspring may live. Life. What a beautiful choice.

Joshua, the successor to Moses, the leader of the children of Israel at the end of his career, said, "Choose this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." And so Moses becomes the example of someone who made the right choice and with decisive faith became one of the greatest men who ever walked on the earth. The lawgiver, the patriarch, Moses himself.

What is a decisive faith? What kind of decision do we need to make in life? One, notice that Moses' decision was simply put, a right decision. You might call it a righteous decision. The story really begins, as we noted, with Moses' parents. His father Amram and his mother Jochebed. The word Jochebed means "for the glory of God." What a beautiful name.

And these parents, Hebrew parents, gave birth to this beautiful child. The Bible tells us that Moses was very beautiful, and yet this terrible decree came from Pharaoh to slaughter all these innocents, these newborn baby boys. And the story therefore emphasizes the faith of Moses' mother because the parents were not afraid of the king. They weren't afraid of Satan's power or his work.

They gave up their baby for adoption. The mother placed the child in the bulrushes and Pharaoh's daughter, who was there, saw the beautiful child and took the child in. And yet God orchestrated that Moses' own mother would be in effect the nanny of the child. And on Pharaoh's payroll, God saw to it that Moses' own mother raised this child.

Of course, because of her own faith, she passed the faith along. She taught him and trained young Moses in the works and the ways of God. How do you suppose Moses knew all that he knew? He being the author of the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch. God first planted these seeds of faith through his mother and his father. He was no ordinary child. He was a beautiful child, and no child is an ordinary child.

Every child, both born and unborn, is precious and beautiful. The Psalmist said in Psalm 139 that we are all formed by God in the wombs of our mothers. "You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous, and how well I know it."

"You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion. You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book. How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly. Imagine that. I can't even count how many times a day your thoughts turn to me. And when I wake in the morning, you're still thinking of me."

The scripture is very clear that all of life from the womb to the tomb and into eternity is sacred before God. We are repulsed by the idea that Pharaoh would slaughter these innocent babies. And yet, in our own culture, in our own country, the unborn are being slaughtered in what ought to be the safest place on earth, and that would be the mother's womb.

Well, Moses raised in the household of Pharaoh, but trained by his own mother, spent the first 40 years of his life as a prince of Egypt. Acts 7:22 says Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and he was mighty in his words and deeds. Moses was a brilliant statesman and scholar. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us that he was actually a soldier as well, that he was placed in charge of the royal guard of the Egyptians.

The fact that he was trained in all the education of the Egyptians would mean he would have studied mathematics, hieroglyphics, astronomy, chemistry, mummifying, I guess, and all the rest. He was brilliant. It's always been amazing to me when you read the educational processes of the Egyptians and all that they believed. For example, regarding creation, they had some crazy ideas about creation and the cosmos that Moses would have learned as an Egyptian.

And yet when God spoke to Moses and he wrote down the words regarding creation, it wasn't the ideas of the Egyptians that he wrote, but "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Not of the gods of Egypt, the gods of the sun, the gods of the Nile, but the one true God. But for these 40 years, growing up and as a young man, he enjoyed celebrity status.

He was a rock star in Egypt. When his chariot rolled by, because he was the son of Pharaoh, the people would have shouted, "Bow the knee, bow the knee, bow the knee." And yet in his heart, because of decisions he was making as a small child, even, so many of the decisions, the choices that we make that form our character and commitment are made even before the age of six.

Certainly in childhood and young adulthood, all along, in his heart, he knew he was a Hebrew. He knew he was an Israelite and he sensed, somehow sensed, God's call to deliver his people. He knew that God had put his hand on his life. And so he was grieved no doubt every time he saw his own people being punished, these Hebrew slaves.

The backbreaking work of these Hebrew slaves. And one day, he saw a fight breaking out, an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew, and he tried to break it up. And we don't know if it was self-defense, we're not sure exactly what happened. But the Bible says that Moses, when he saw this fight taking place, he was so incensed, he looked this way and he looked that way and he killed the Egyptian.

This way and that way. The problem is he didn't look this way. And he got out ahead of God. I don't know what Moses thought. Maybe he thought he was going to deliver the Israelites by killing one Egyptian at a time. But he did it in the flesh, and as a result, he became a fugitive of Egypt and ran for his life into the desert.

And so that decision, that decision that we read about here in Hebrews, even that mistaken manslaughter charge, he was choosing to side with his people. He rejected everything in Egypt, and he ends up on the backside of the desert. It was that decision that ultimately would have determined his destiny. Had he not made this life-changing choice to side with his own people, we would have never heard of Moses. Think about it. He would have died and been mummified and buried in the sands of the desert. A wasted life.

But because he chose God's way, because he chose to follow the will of God for his life, he became the man that we know that changed the world. So often the choices that we make change everything in our lives. And of course, the choices that we make day after day after day add up to our character.

Guest (Male): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message Decisive Faith. Be sure to sign up to receive Dr. Graham's daily video devotional 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 devotional 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 thank you, 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, Decisive Faith.

Jack Graham: But there's something else about this decision. It was a reasonable decision. Look again at our text, verse 24. "By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin." He considered, that's the word I want you to note, he considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt.

This was a reasonable decision, a considered decision. In his heart, he knew he wanted to follow the one true God. He knew God had something special in his life, and yet there were all these pleasures that he enjoyed in Egypt, all of these treasures that he was experiencing. And yet he chose to leave the palace, and that required great sacrifice.

This was a big decision, but it was not without cost. And you know, it costs to serve Jesus. He turned away from the pleasures and the treasures of the world in order to be God's man. But Moses wasn't quite ready to deliver Israel when he first got involved. And so when he got on the backside of the desert, he spent the next 40 years of his life, imagine that.

This man who had slept on satin sheets in the palace, this man who had known all the accolades and the applause of the world, now he's living on the backside of nowhere as a shepherd. And interestingly enough, the Egyptians despised shepherds. They considered them unclean and filthy. And day after day in the desert, Moses hears nothing but the bleating of these sheep. He must have wondered many times, why am I here? Why am I in this desert?

We are called to identify with Christ. That's what it means to take up your cross and follow Christ. Your cross is not a burden you bear. Your cross is not some illness or problem. To pick up the cross means that you identify with Christ. By picking up the cross, that you identify with Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father except by him.

And when you identify with Christ, the world will come against you. You stand for Christ, even your friends may think you're crazy. Your own family may walk away from you. You truly identify with Christ and the world will reject you. That's why John the Apostle did say, "Friendship with the world is war with God." And so when we come to follow Christ, we're called to let loose of the world with both hands and pick up our cross and follow daily after the Lord.

Even though the world may reject you, we're to bear and to share the image of Christ. Moses realized the way he was living was a dead end. Verse 25 of Hebrews 11 speaks of choosing to follow God rather than enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. Now, we do people a disservice if we tell them that there's no pleasure in sin. Sin is pleasurable for a season. But its pleasure is fleeting. It's here and then it's gone and you wonder, why am I so empty?

Some of you have tried all the pleasures. Some of you right now are trying the pleasures of this world to satisfy, and they don't satisfy. They may gratify, but they do not satisfy. Well, Moses rejected all of that, and I assume he must have figured after 40 years he was finished. That God was finished with him. That it was all a terrible mistake and that he was destined just to live his life out in the desert and be buried there.

But all along God was perfecting and preparing him for the greatest season of his life. He was in a 40-year parenthesis. But God was with him. Moses needed to be emptied of self and filled with God. And that's what happened out there in the desert. There in the desert Moses learned to rest, to think, to be still and know that God is God.

He waited and he waited and he waited, and in God's own time, God fulfilled his mission. It was a day like any other day, hot burning desert, and Moses noticed that a bush was burning. And he realized as he drew near, as he dared to draw near, as he heard the voice of the Great I Am speaking to him, "Take your sandals off your feet. You're on holy ground."

And there in the desert it became holy ground as he came to know the power and the passion of God in his life. The Great I Am filled him. Just as that bush was ignited, Moses realized if the fire that is within that bush can now ignite my life and fuel my life, then maybe God can use me again. He learned as Bible teacher Ian Thomas says, "Any old bush will do." God could have ignited any bush in the desert, but he chose just any old bush, set it afire.

And when that bush is aglow, God speaks and uses it. Interestingly enough, the Hebrew word, the root word for desert in the Hebrew language, is to speak. Have you noticed that when you're in the desert in your own life, God speaks in the desert experiences? Those trials and tests and turmoils in our lives. Without the desert, we might live our lives and never really hear from God the way we need to hear from God.

It was there in the desert that God takes away everything from Moses. For Moses, it was no more palace, no more chariots, no more servants, no more applause. Just the bleating of these sheep, barren and hot, harsh desert. But there God speaks. What's your desert? Estrangement? Loneliness? A divorce experience? A wayward child? An illness? A tough time in your life that you don't understand why, what, or when, or where?

Some painful experience, some brokenness in your life, that desert. And it goes on and on like it did for Moses, and you wonder if it's ever going to end. But God was with him and God spoke to him. God trains us in the desert experiences of life for a deeper, more abundant life by purifying us and preparing us for the greatest season of our life. God does his deepest work in the secret places.

God did something in Moses' life in the desert that he could not have done in the palace. He prepared him to be the man that he became. So he made a considered decision. It cost him a great deal. It cost him 40 years, but what he gained was a reward that cannot be measured. And thus, the final word is a decisive faith includes this rewarded decision.

Look again in verses 26 and following. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of all of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. He endured as seeing him who is invisible. It speaks of him keeping the faith of the Passover, of him leading the children across the Red Sea. God rewards faith. God honors faith because faith honors God.

It is said that Moses spent the first 40 years of his life learning that he was something. He spent the next 40 years of his life learning that he was nothing. And he spent the next 40 years of his life learning God could make something out of nothing. And Moses became the shepherd of the people of Israel.

This passage closes with a great celebration. By faith, they went out from slavery, delivered, and Moses led them as he stood before the most powerful man on earth, the Pharaoh. It was a great victory. God delivered his people. He conquered one by one through the plagues all the gods of the Egypt. And in the Passover, by faith, they went out under the blood.

By faith, it's always about the blood. Revelation 12:11, "And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even to death." They went out under the blood. They were empowered by the blood, and so are we. Our reward, our victory. You see, Pharaoh is really a type and illustration and example of Satan in the Bible.

And Satan is defeated. The powers of darkness are destroyed in the name of Jesus and in the power of his blood. This is how we overcome when we decide to follow him. Pharaoh and the powerful Egyptian army, they were destroyed. And how were they destroyed? In the Red Sea. And the army was advancing, the children of Israel were between a rock and a hard place.

And what did Moses say as he heard from God? He said, "Fear not, stand firm, see the salvation of the Lord which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you will never see again." God said, "Tell the people just to stand firm and see what I'm about to do." You know, so often when we're in a jam, we're trying to fix everything, we're trying to work everything out, when God says, "You just stay still. You know that I am God. You wait on me and in my time and in my way, I will deliver you."

Yes, God is going to destroy your every adversary. The Bible says in Romans 16:20, "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." That's your victory, that's your reward. He's the rewarder of those who diligently seek him. How? By faith. To choose faith, even over the reality of what's going on around you. To choose the reward of faith. To decide to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.

Guest (Male): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message Decisive Faith. I want you to know that right now your support goes even farther 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, that's M-A-R, to 59789. Be sure to sign up to receive Dr. Graham's daily video devotional 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 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. It's absolutely free to join, so text CROSS to 59789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today?

Jack Graham: Well, it is important to have decisive faith because our choices shape the persons that we become. They form the substance of our character and in a very real sense, they prepare us to lead the life that God has planned for us. So, decisions matter a great deal. In fact, it could be said that our character is the sum total of the choices, the decisions we make in life.

Now, we see this kind of decisive faith reflected in the life of Moses as well as in the life of Moses' parents. When Pharaoh wanted all the baby boys killed, Moses' parents made a decision of faith that not only spared their son's life but also set him on a course with destiny that he could never have imagined. That's why I say that decisions and choices that we make change everything.

And as Moses grew up and chose the will of God and identified with the people of God, he became a man that would change the world. So, how does having a decisive faith impact our lives? Well, you and I may not have the dramatic experiences that Moses had, but our experiences are nonetheless important to God. For example, when we were raising our children, I would always say to them, it's always right to do right, it's never right to do wrong, it's never wrong to do right.

Always, always, always make the right decision. Obey God. You see, right decisions are at the very heart of developing a decisive faith. Even the choice to live a life of faith that will change your life for eternity. And when you identify with Jesus, when you receive Christ into your life, you realize that the world is going to come against you, just as Pharaoh and all of his army came against Moses and the children of Israel, and just as the world came against Jesus. But even in the face of such incredible opposition, I urge you to choose and keep standing for Jesus. Even if your family and your friends reject you, decide now, purpose in your heart that you will follow Christ no matter what. Though none go with you, press on and follow hard after him. Decisive faith is to follow in the steps of Jesus and Moses and the countless other unsung heroes who have chosen the ultimate reward of knowing God and the eternal destiny that we have in him. And that is today's PowerPoint.

Guest (Male): 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 when Dr. Graham brings a message about what it takes for you to be someone God can use. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.