PowerPoint

Jack Graham: Christ followers know that we can love life. The Lord our God is a sun and a shield. He gives grace and glory, and no good thing will He withhold from them who walk uprightly. This is life as God has intended.

Guest (Male): Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how we are to relate to one another in love. Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message, Loving Life.

Jack Graham: Take your Bibles, turn with me to 1 Peter, chapter 3, beginning at verse 8. "Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind." It sounds like the Sermon on the Mount, doesn't it? The words of Jesus. And Peter is reminding the Christ followers of what it means to live in love.

And then he says, "Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing." And here it is, verse 10: "For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Peter gives us some principles as to how we can love life and enjoy good days. Principle number one: the principle of love. Love says it all. And when we read this checklist in verse 8 of how we are to relate to one another and the response that we're to give to each other, it's really all about love.

He begins with love's unity. When he says, "have unity of mind." Now, it is rare a rare thing in our culture to find unity because there's so many things that are driving us apart in our times. But you can't win without a unity of heart, unity of purpose, unity of mind with your family, with your friends, certainly in your church. And this was written to the church in that generation; it's written to us in our generation.

Now, unity is not uniformity. God didn't make us all the same way. Just wearing the uniform—there are no cookie-cutter Christians. God made us all different that He might make us one. And it is in this diversity that there is real unity because we all bring to the body our own individual parts and the work of Christ in us. We should seek this unity of purpose. We should be one in heart and one in commitment, and this oneness is what makes a difference in the world.

So if you want to enjoy good life, practice this unity of mind. Then he uses the word "sympathy" there. It's a word which means compassionate. Love is compassionate. Compassion or sympathy means to feel with. To feel with. How needed this is today. I think we've seen so much crisis, we've watched in media so many traumas that we're almost numb to people's pain. And we just walk by people, walking out of their lives rather than walking into their lives.

Compassion is your hurt in my heart. That's what compassion is. It is your hurt in my heart. And therefore, that's what love does. Love is always a verb. It shows compassion. Romans 12 says it well: "Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, and live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight." That is compassion.

This is the reason we need a spiritual family, the church, so that we can rejoice with one another and celebrate life together, do life together, so that we can share life's hurts together. Love is compassionate. This word compassion is often used to describe Jesus. When He saw the crowds, their emptiness and their longing for God, He felt compassion, the Bible says, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

When He saw a blind man, He had compassion upon him. A man who was a leper, He touched him. A man that had been isolated and untouched for years, Jesus touched him; his hurt was in Jesus' heart. That's compassion. And when a woman was dragged before Him to be executed for her act of adultery, Jesus had compassion on this broken, abused woman, and He forgave her. That's the compassion that the church of Jesus Christ ought to experience.

I'm certain you know some of the things that Christians are noted for being against. And we ought to take a strong stand against certain things. We oppose abortion. The Bible teaches that every life is sacred before God, and I oppose it with every ounce that I can be. But what about those who have experienced abortions? Are we going to throw them away? Are we going to provide alternatives where young women in trouble can really have a choice?

Yes, we oppose sin, but we are to embrace those who have sinned. What about those who are addicted to alcohol and drugs? We're against that. We're against alcohol and drugs because of what it does for people, and we can oppose that, and we can let our voice be heard. But what about broken people, people in bondage? Are we going to welcome them to show compassion? Are we going to turn away and walk away and just say that's another one to throw away?

What about people who are engaged in homosexuality and their lives are in disobedience to God? We oppose homosexuality. But are we going to embrace those who have been broken by their sin and who want to come to Christ and want to change by the power of Jesus Christ in their lives? Are we going to throw people away or are we going to invite them in?

What about people that are divorced? We stand for marriage. We hold high the standards of marriage: one man, one woman as long as they both shall live. And we ought to continue to raise that standard high. But what about people who have been divorced? And many of these didn't want it, or some who even wanted it at a time but now they desperately need Christ in their lives. What are we going to do? Are we going to show compassion to people? Are we going to walk away? May God give us the grace and the strength to be the kind of people that show compassion, the compassion of Jesus.

But not only compassionate and sympathetic, but love is compassionate, but love is also affectionate. He speaks here in verse 8, look at this as you're just checking off the list here: "brotherly love, a tender heart." Affectionate in our expressions to one another. The word brotherly love has to do with being born out of the same womb. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. We are a spiritual family. We need one another.

And there is a sense in which in Christ we are closely more closely connected than together in this spiritual family than we would be with some of our own human family who don't know Christ. Because we're going to be in heaven together forever. And so therefore we ought to be affectionate. And I would say to anyone who wants to love life and enjoy good days, cultivate and cherish your friends.

But love is not only compassionate and love is not only affectionate, it is subordinate. Look at the words that follow: "a humble mind." A humble mind, humility, humble-mindedness. Now humility is not an act that we put on; it's not a show. The Bible tells us that we ought to soberly analyze our lives and not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think.

But it's my observation that for every one person who thinks more highly of themselves than they ought to think, that there are a hundred who think of themselves more lowly than they ought to think. And when you think about it, a lowly attitude towards yourself is really inverted pride. It is pride turned inward. It's still all about me. People don't like me, people don't care about me, I'm just a nobody, I'm just a nothing. That's inverted pride.

You are somebody in Christ. You belong to the King of Kings. Take the focus off yourself and put it on Christ. You see, humility is not thinking lowly of yourself or highly of yourself; it is just not thinking of yourself and looking to Christ and to others. And he says that can be expressed by not repaying evil for evil, reviling for reviling. We need to befriend people and forgive people.

And then on the contrary, now I want you to see this in verse 9: "Bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing." Now there's a powerful teaching in God's word regarding the blessing. In the Old Testament, the patriarchs would bless their children and bless their families. And this was more than a prayer; this was a powerful expression of words and the potential of a life and a family that was given by the father.

In the New Testament, this word appears again and again to bless, that we have been blessed of God and we are to bless others. And even one word of blessing to a student or to a man or a woman struggling in their life, just one word of blessing can turn around a thousand negative things that happened. If we will bless people, finding in them words for encouragement and their potential and their promise, it can make an amazing difference in people's lives. So that's love.

Guest (Male): You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, Loving Life. 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. Now, let's get back to today's message, Loving Life.

Jack Graham: Then there's the principle of lifestyle. You want to enjoy good days every day and love your life? Well, look, he says in verse 10: "Let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit." In other words, tame your tongue. Tame your tongue. How many times do our tongues get us into trouble? We're having a good day and then we say something stupid that turns it into a bad day, right?

So we're to put a muzzle on our mouth. Psalm 141, verse 3 says, "Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth." When he talks about the tongue and the sins of the tongue, he's talking about integrity and he's speaking of using our tongues to bless and not to curse. So many people have a disconnect between their heart and their head and their mouth. But Jesus said out of the heart proceeds all these things that come out of the mouth. What's in your heart's going to come out in your words spoken.

You want to enjoy good days, watch your mouth because your mouth is a reflection of your character and the content of your heart. And then he says by pursuing purity and peace. Notice that he says: "Let him keep his tongue from evil, his lips from speaking deceit," and then he says, "let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it." Now these are powerful words.

"Let him turn away from evil." It's a great word picture. It's a picture of a boxer in the ring and he is ducking and bobbing and weaving and trying to miss the punches. When it says "turn away," it means like this: turn away from evil. Well, we are in a spiritual battle, aren't we? We're fighting enemies that would knock us out. And so we are to shun evil, we're to turn from sin, and to do everything we can to avoid sin because of the consequences of sin and the impact of sin upon our lives.

Look, you can't sin and win. And if you're determined to live your life party hearty, if you're determined to just live it up and live a life of sin and disobedience to God, it's going to hurt you and it's going to hurt you bad. So shun sin, tame your tongue, live a life of integrity. Why? For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their prayer. You want God to listen to your prayers? You want God to answer you when you call upon Him? The Bible says if I regard iniquity in my heart, God won't hear me. That's a promise that God won't answer your prayer if you're not living in obedience to Him.

There's another principle, a final principle, and that is the principle of Lordship. That's down in verse 15. And if you want to love life and enjoy good days, practice this principle. Here it is: "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy." Maybe your Bible says, "sanctify the Lord in your hearts. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect."

Love this verse. One of my personal favorites. It says if you want to love life, enjoy good days, first of all, sanctify Christ in your heart. What's that mean? To sanctify means to set apart as holy. So to sanctify Christ in your heart means that we give Him His proper place of preeminence in our lives. That we give Him first place and the first position of our lives. He doesn't want just a place or a position in our lives somewhere; He demands preeminence.

So this is speaking of the Lordship of Christ, allowing Jesus to reign and rule in our hearts, to control everything. Sanctify the Lord in your hearts. Honor Him by giving Him the rightful reign and the rule of your life.

And frankly, there are a lot of people sitting in churches who grow up in churches who have been saved but Jesus is not Lord of your life. You've confessed Him as Lord and possessed Him as Savior, but is Jesus the Lord of your life? The way to love life, see good days, is for Jesus to be the Lord of all.

And then not only sanctify Christ, but share Christ. He says, "be ready, be ready to give an answer for the reason of the hope that is in you." This is talking about our witness. This is how we give a shout out to the Lord. How we share Christ in our lives. How are we to do that? Number one, we're to be real. He said the hope is in you. Our witness is real.

Remember, again, I mentioned the Christians originally contacted here in the scriptures were facing persecution and struggle, pain and suffering of all kinds. They were bleeding and dying for Christ. And yet the hope was in them. Most people want to know: is your faith real when things aren't going your way, when you're struggling, when there's death, when there's sorrow, when there's sadness, when there's suffering? Is your faith real?

So be real in your witness, the hope that is in you. Be reasonable in your witness. Be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you. That's what the scripture says. Be reasonable. It's the word apologetic. We get our word apologetics, which means how to defend the faith. Now you don't necessarily have to be a trained and schooled apologist to share your faith or a theologian, but you do need to be prepared to give a witness of what Christ has done in your life and how He can change other people's lives.

You need to know not only what you believe but why you believe what you believe. Because every one of us are going to be challenged; our faith is going to be challenged. On university campuses, in our culture, our faith is being constantly confronted and challenged. And Christians need to be able to give an answer for the hope that is in us.

And it worries me sometimes when I hear about all these kids growing up in churches across the country that they launch out, they go to college, and they have no spiritual foundation. They have no answers to the questions and the assaults that they're facing on their college campuses, among their friends, sometimes with professors. There's no answer because we've been sitting just listening or going to parties and having fun and showing up at camp, but we've not been building our lives upon the Word of God. I challenge you, men and women, students, make sure that you are able, ready and able to give a witness for what Christ has done for you. Not only what He's done for you, but how He's done it. It's important. Be prepared. Be prepared. Be prepared.

So this witness, this life of under the Lordship of Christ sharing Christ, it is relevant, reasonable, and one other thing I want to say is relational. And what I mean by that is when he says be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, do it with gentleness and respect. Relational, respectful. Our goal is not to cram God down somebody's throat. God's too big to cram down a human being's throat.

Our job is to be respectful and honest and authentic in our faith and to respond accordingly. But frankly, a lot of the times we're running more people off because of our ineffective witness. I jotted down a few habits of highly ineffective witnesses. Number one: avoid friendships with people who need Jesus. That's how to be an ineffective witness. Avoid friendships with people who need Jesus. Even though Jesus was a friend of sinners, keep your distance. You'll be a totally ineffective witness for Christ.

Next: do your best to be negative your entire life. Complain about everything. Complain about the weather, whine about the weather, complain about your team, be negative about your friends, and never have any fun. Look like you just came from church and you swallowed the communion rail. Be harsh, be harsh and judgmental about how bad people are. Talk about that publicly and loudly how wicked the world is and how bad people are. Avoid being prayerful, avoid being thankful, avoid being generous. Do your best to be negative and you will have no impact on the world.

Thirdly: wear camouflage. Try and prevent people from knowing that you're a Christian, a Christ follower. Tell a filthy joke or laugh at a dirty joke every now and then. Slosh down a few drinks with the boys and get a- and get a little buzz so that people will think you're one of them. Gossip with your friends. Throw in a few slanderous and profane words just for the spice of life. And don't dare let people know that you're different. Try to blend in, just conform with the culture, and you will have no witness to your friends.

Next: speak Christianese. Use only words when you're talking to your friends about Christ, use only words that church people understand, like "Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?" That's Christianese. And while you're talking to them, let them know by your attitude and your words how much smarter you are than they are regarding the Bible. And talk to them, if you really want to impress them, talk to them about subjects like predestination and prophecy. That'll really draw them in. Use clichés and let people know that you've got all the answers about God. And if you really want to get people, walk up to them and say something like, "God told me to tell you this." And when you say that, get this really weird, bizarre look in your eyes.

And if you really want to use the language of Zion, you can make the good news of Jesus Christ totally inconsequential and completely incomprehensible with people who desperately are in need of hope and need the simple good news of Jesus Christ. There's one other one: avoid the message and name of Jesus. Don't speak up when your faith is challenged. Wimp out when Jesus is denied or defamed or blasphemed. Whatever you do, never mention sin or its consequences. And if you do something nice for somebody, don't tell them that you're doing it because of Jesus. Don't tell them that you're doing it in Jesus' name.

Don't pray before your meals in public. And by all means, never take your Bible to class or to the office. Don't be caught dead reading it, and avoid telling people in a normal, natural way what Jesus has done for you. And you will be a totally ineffective witness. No, we are to be reasonable, we're to be relevant, we're to be real and responsible.

Guest (Male): 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. 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: The bottom line in life is love. If you really want to live a life of joy and fulfillment, love is the key. It's the key that unlocks the door to life itself. So as we close today's program, remember these truths about love. Love is unifying and affectionate. If you want to enjoy good days, cultivate and cherish your friends, and don't forget to watch your tongue. Tame your tongue.

There's so much hardness and harshness and so many cold hearts in the world today. So if you want to love life and enjoy good days, develop kindness. Seek kindness rather than cynicism and harshness. Try blessing someone else by using words of encouragement that elevate. One word of blessing can make a difference for someone who is struggling in life.

Love is seeing the world with humility. It is taking the focus off yourself and putting it on Christ. And remember this: humility is not thinking lowly of yourself; it's putting Christ first in your life and others ahead of yourself. And finally, love is allowing Jesus to be the Lord of your life. He is the Lord of life. He is the Lord of love. And as you give Him His rightful place of preeminence to reign and rule in your life, His love will live through you. He is the source of joy and happiness and an abundant life.

And this would be a really good place to stop and just simply say: if you don't know Jesus, if you don't know the love of Jesus, if you have never experienced His personal love for you in your life, then this would be an awesome time to invite Him to be the Lord of your life today by receiving Him as your Savior, asking Him to forgive you of all your sins and to come into your life. You can do that with a simple prayer.

For the Bible says whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. If you believe in your heart that Jesus died for you and rose again, and if you will turn from your sin and trust in Him, the Bible promises that you will have eternal life, and that includes the abundant life that we live in Christ.

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 how your tongue has the power to build up or tear down. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.