Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. If Christ is not on the throne of our hearts, then life never makes sense. There's chaos. If itself is on the throne of your life, then chaos and confusion is constantly in your life. On today's PowerPoint, Dr.
Graham brings a message about what you'll experience at the future Christmas when Jesus returns.
Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message. The Christ of Christmas future. Take your Bibles now and turn. to the ninth chapter of the book of Hebrews.
There are three great, glorious appearances of Christ that are described here. in the passage before us. We've already looked at two of them. That Jesus came as prophet. He appeared the first time, bringing the word of God.
and delivering, embodying The Word of God Himself. Fulfilling all prophecy, he is the prophet. He is also Not only prophet, but priest. In that he ever lives to make intercession. For his sakes.
And one of the focus Passages in all of the book of Hebrews, passages, I should say. Concern this eternal ministry, this present ministry that he now has. Praying for us, pleading for us. We have an advocate with the Father. And when the devil comes against us and accuses us, we have our elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, as our personal attorney.
Advocating for us. The word advocate means lawyer. And so he is our lawyer, and we stand in the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then not only is he prophet and priest, But he is king of kings and Lord. Lord.
So let's look at this passage in Hebrews chapter 9, beginning at verse 24. We meet him first as The priest, for Christ has entered now into the holy place. Made with hands, which are copies of the things, the true things, but the heaven itself, now in the presence of God. on our Behalf. That is Jesus.
As our great Priest. Christmas present. this very moment. Jesus is before the throne of God as your representative. And he is praying for you.
Don't you think That you can face anything in your life right now if you know. that Jesus is praying. and pleading For you. But then scroll down, look down at the middle of verse 26. But as it is, he has appeared.
There's the second appearance. He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice. of himself. That's Jesus' appearance. In his first appearance, as the prophet, as the one, the Messiah.
who came to save us from our sins. to die on the cross. In order that we would be saved. That's Christmas past. As priest, He is Christmas present.
As Profit Christmas past. But as they say, there's more. And that is Christmas future. He's the Christ, the Savior for all seasons. He is the Christ of every Christmas.
And that's why it says in verse 27: And just as it has been appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, Watch it, here it is again, will appear a second time. He will come again. The Christ of Christmas, the one who has come, who has appeared. is coming again. And when he comes again, not as prophet, not as priest, but rather as king of kings.
and Lord of lords. When those wise men came and brought gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. to worship the newborn king. Even these gifts suggest prophet and priest and king, and certainly the goal that was offered. Was a gift worthy of a king.
The myrrh that was offered was the tool of the priest and the incense, the prophet.
So even in the Christmas story, Christmas passed with all deference to The tale gone by. of a Christmas story. Christmas past, Christmas present, Christmas future. The real story of Christmas is right here in these three appearances of Christ. We know that the theme of the book of Hebrews is Jesus the same.
Yesterday, today, and forever. He's the Christ of every Christmas.
So Now we focus on Christ. The king. On Christmas future. The one who was born A king. and who lives as key.
And so I have two simple points. That I want to bring to you today regarding Jesus the King, this third appearance of Christ. And point number one is the fact that Jesus, the Messiah, has come as a king. He is born as A king.
Now I want to make something very, very clear. When Jesus was born, when I say Jesus was born as a king. Let's make sure we understand that Jesus. Has always been the king. Before he was born.
He was king. The Lord of heaven. The creator, the sustainer of the universe. Jesus did not begin at Bethlehem. But in The heart of God, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, this is the mysteries of God.
But Christ the King has always been on the throne of the universe.
So he was King before he was born. Before his birth, he was king at his birth when he is born, and he is forever king of kings and lord of lords, now and forever. When he was born. People recognized Some people recognize that he was king and worshiped him. The angels.
worshiped him as king. Glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace, goodwill. to men. The shepherds ran.
to him. In adoration and worship, and lived to tell about it in that explosion around the manger. Mary and Joseph bowed before him. Mary pondered all of these things in her heart. There are other in the cast of characters that we read about in the New Testament that worshiped him as king, like Simeon, the great old man, who knew that the Messiah would come.
And when the Messiah would come, he was expecting him. And God had given him a word that he would live until the Messiah was come. He lived expecting the king. And when he embraced the infant Christ, he worshipped him. Him.
But it's interesting when you read about these who worshiped him. Of course, most didn't. Most didn't know the king had come. Wise men from Distant Persia traveled and they of course worshipped him. But most did not worship him, even the religious people of that day.
The Romans didn't worship him. And yet, even as a baby, Think about this. The king was controlling all the circumstances and conditions. of his birth and his life. Nothing was out of control.
This story was pre-written history. This story of Jesus didn't just happen. It wasn't an afterthought. It certainly wasn't an accident. But in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son at the right exact moment.
And so when Caesar Augustus sent forth a decree that the Christ would be, or that everyone should be taxed in Bethlehem, that was right on schedule with God's plan that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth. And yet, God writing the script, the king who was in control, Brought the family to Bethlehem where Christ was born, right on schedule, right where the Bible said he would be born. And that's so important because it reminds us. That All the Caesars.
And kings and pharaohs, Caesar Augustus was in power at that day, Herod the Great. But all the Caesars, the kings, the pharaohs, The potentates, the presidents, the prime ministers, the rulers, the dictators. These all come and go briefly on the world stage. All of history breaks down at the focal point of Christ the King, who has been born. All honor to the King.
It means that The Savior has been born a king, a shepherd king. A saving king. He came the first time. As a king, Born a king. Even worshiped as a king by those who received him, but ultimately in his first coming, not to establish an earthly kingdom, But as he said, my kingdom is within you.
The king is to rule. On the throne of our hearts. And the question today is for each one of us. Is he your king? Is he your Lord?
Now unfortunately Sometimes We put ourselves on the throne. And if Christ is not on the throne. of our hearts then Then life never makes sense. There's chaos. If I'm on the throne, if self is on the throne of your life, then chaos and confusion is constantly in your life.
But when you get off the throne of your own life and surrender your will. To worship and follow the Lord, than everything that's chaotic and confusing that's going all around us when self is on the cross and Christ is on the throne. Then life begins to come together. And that joy and that peace. Hope.
And the love. that he brings. It's all there. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message, the Christ of Christmas Future. We're excited to share that we have a new way for you to connect with us.
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Now let's get back to today's message, the Christ of Christmas Future. The Bible says that our times are in his hands. Psalm 31. I read that and I remember that. That my life The beginning of it and the end of it.
Is under his sovereign control, is in his hands.
So what that means to me is that because he is king and he is in control of my life, he is providentially ruling in me, then I am indestructible in the will of God. Immortal. until Christ calls me home. And so take hands off your life and give it to the Lord. And we are on our way to heaven.
One day we will be with our King. That is a guarantee. That is secured because of what Christ has already done for us. And we are We will join our loved ones and our friends and the family of God around the throne of God forever and ever and ever. And that's all because Christ the King has been born.
He died on the cross. He rose again. He has been born into our hearts. There is a sense in which Christmas happens again and again and again when our hearts become a manger and we welcome, receive the King into our lives. The king is born.
The king has come. Always key. But there's more. Because point number two is the king. Is coming Again.
This same Jesus who came the first time. Is coming a second time. That's why we read that scripture: that he will appear again a second time.
Now, this is one of the great themes of the Bible. Not just in the New Testament. But in the Old Testament, which is the coming of the king and the coming kingdom of God. On the earth, the eternal kingdom of God. of God.
Immanuel is with us forever, and one day, because Christ is coming for us, Emmanuel is coming again, we will be with him.
Now when Christ came the first time Most people missed it. Remember that innkeeper? He didn't have a clue, did he? He didn't have room. For Jesus.
Gratefully, he gave them the barn or the cave out back. Good for him, but He's the man who almost missed Christmas because. He didn't have room. For Mary and Joseph, and the baby who would be born. And I think about that story, and of course it's a It's a great truth.
It's a powerful sermon in that Many do the same thing today, like that innkeeper. We don't have room for Jesus in our Christmas. We got everything else going on. We got so much going on, we don't have room for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
Now, today, these are dark days in America. They're dark days many ways around the world. And we wonder, is there any hope? What's the world coming to?
Well, I tell you what the world's coming to. The world is coming to Jesus because Jesus is coming to this world. He is coming Again. And we should live, therefore. Not like the innkeeper who missed it and others who.
did not even know that Christ was born. But we should live. With Joyous expectation of the return Of our key. When the government, as Isaiah said, will be upon his shoulders. His name is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, and the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.
And Jesus is coming again as all wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. And the government will be upon his shoulders. And it's true. It's going to happen. It is happening right now.
Are you ready for Christmas? Christmas is almost here, and you need to be ready because it's going to be here whether you're ready or not. Christmas is coming again when Christ the King comes again. And the question is: are you ready? Because the signs are all around us.
Jesus spoke of these birth pangs, these signs. That would be indicators. of the season of his return. And can I tell you? That There is no sign that needs to be fulfilled.
that has not already been fulfilled. To prepare the way for Christ to come and rapture his people, take his people to heaven with him. There's nothing left. Jesus could come today. And we should live every day on tiptoe with expectation to embrace waiting and watching for our coming king.
Now, that doesn't mean we walk around like, you know, an insane person with our eyes in the sky constantly. But it means our attitude should be. I'm going to live my life today. As if it were the day. In the meantime, not only with watching arms and with watching eyes rather than open arms, ready to receive him again, but With busy hands, because Jesus said, in talking about his return and his kingdom, he said, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things that you need, they'll be added to you.
And he also said, Occupy till I come. You know what that means? Occupy till I come? That means take care of my business till I come. What is his business?
Go into all the world and preach the gospel, starting with your own neighbors and then to the nations. Are you ready for the return of Christ? Because you see, we not only want to go and be ready ourselves, but we want to take as many people with us as possible. We don't want to stand before God with nothing in our hands. No soul, no life that we have influence for him.
We want to be ready, and we want to get others ready. That's why. Today is the day of salvation, as we have read in Hebrews again and again.
Now is the accepted time. Because when Christ comes for for us. And you know, he's coming. In the twinkling of an eye, it says. There'll be no time to make preparations then.
It's over. He comes in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. And when that happens... We're going to be enraptured, taken, caught up together with the Lord. And this is 1 Thessalonians chapter 2.
Four. I believe I can quote it to you. I would not have you to be ignorant or uninformed, brothers, concerning them which are asleep, that you do not sorrow as those who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord will not perceive them who are asleep.
For the Lord Himself will descend with a shout and the voice of the archangel. There's those angels again. With the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, Gabriel, blow your horn with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord will be caught up. Together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so will we ever be with the Lord. Therefore, wherefore, comfort one another. With these words. We are going We are going to fly with the angels. And you won't worry about the trip because You'll be seeing Jesus face to face.
The king of kings and the lord of lords, you will be caught up together with. The saints of the past, your family, your friends, your loved ones who know the Lord.
So what we need to do. In view of getting caught up We don't need to get caught up too much with this world and everything in it. We need to turn loose of this world with both hands and be ready to fly. Ready for the rapture. Ready for the return of Christ.
Those early Christians, they would encourage one another in those dark days of persecution when they would often face death for their faith. They would say a word, and that word is repeated in Scripture: Maranatha. Maranatha. The Lord is coming. And upon hearing it, The other would reply, He is coming indeed.
We ought to be like the Apostle John. When he saw that great vision of the King of kings and Lord of lords, he said, Even so come, Lord Jesus. Even so come.
Now, we have things to do, and until that day, we're going to occupy and get it done until our time or his time comes for us. But we need to get ready. We need to get ready. We need to stay ready. And the only way to get ready.
To live is to live expectantly. And enthusiastically, love every day and live every day to the max. Do what God has called you to do. If you're ever going to serve the Lord, do it now. If you're ever going to witness to that friend, do it today.
If you're ever going to start being faithful in church and being a part of the worship, now's the time to start. No more delays. Let your light shine. Get your lamp burning. Because Christ is coming again, and you need to make sure that you're ready for the trip.
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Just text Connect to 59-789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? When you give your life to Jesus Christ, you give all of your life to Him. And by that I mean nothing is held back. You're not just Getting a ticket to heaven, but rather you are devoting your life as a follower of Jesus.
We know that God forgives us. We know that God changes our hearts. And then, once we have been forgiven and changed by the power of Jesus Christ, once we know the great love and mercy of God, we cannot help but worship Him. this Christmas season, how important it is, as it is every day, to live a life of praise. And that life of praise becomes a life of purpose and passion and power.
J. I. Packer, the great theologian, wrote, To worship God is to recognize His worth or worthiness, to look Godward, and to acknowledge in all appropriate ways the value of what we see.
Well, I like that because when we look at Jesus, we see the treasure of heaven and of earth. The majestic Savior reigns and rules in glory and power. He is our glorious God.
So acknowledge Him not only with your lips and words, but with your life and works. Perhaps you feel that something is missing this Christmas. There could be an emptiness of about your life, about your career, even in your family. maybe an emptiness in the pursuit of wealth and gifts and even hanging Christmas lights and putting up Christmas decorations. Down deep you're just sort of flat, even discouraged and perhaps depressed.
If you don't know Jesus Christ personally, then today, Give him your life. Sincerely, honestly, open up your heart and give him your life to follow him for the rest of your days. With Jesus at the center of your life, you will celebrate Christmas as never before. It will be Christmas every day, now and forever. And that is today's PowerPoint.
Remember that when you give a gift to PowerPoint, your gift will be doubled by a generous matching grant.
So text the word match to 59789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how Jesus can be your hope for every day. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
