Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. A little later in the program, we'll tell you how you can get a copy of Dr. Graham's book, Diamonds in the Dark. But first, here's the message. The Hope for the Hurting.
Begin finding in your Bibles the third chapter of the book of Acts. We are living. in a broken World. As a result, people are broken. People like you and me.
Because we're all broken. Physically. Emotionally. Relationally. Morally spiritually Every person born is broken.
And as a result of this brokenness comes pain. and suffering. and often shame. This is the reason that so many today are living in depression and despair. Anxiety.
Fear. And the shame often of this suffering and this pain and this brokenness. often produces a cover-up. because we tend to hide our hurts. We stand to Stuff our sin.
and our shame.
Sometimes we get engaged in just more and more activity to cover up. The hurt. We rush around here and there. Until we run out of hope. Until the world's solutions don't provide.
what we so desperately need. which is hope. In Jesus Christ. You cannot buy this hope. Science cannot provide hope.
Help, but not hope. Government Can't provide hope. material possessions, technology. Hope is in Jesus and Jesus only. Jesus is the only hope, the only answer, the only solution.
To the hopelessness that we all experience in life. You cannot live without hope. When hope is gone, Life is gone. The good news of Jesus Christ is that He can and will restore lives and restore souls. And it's all found in this magnificent story in the third chapter.
of the book of Acts.
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate. And so here's a man, like others, who is there at the beautiful gate to ask alms of those. On their way to the temple.
So look at verse 3. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, Look at us. And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, I have no silver and gold.
But what I do have, I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and raised him up. And immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
This man was alive in his spirit. Hope is reborn in his life. A hope that was never there to begin with because all of his days he was. From His mother's womb. disabled and disjointed.
And left to do nothing. But bad. And yet, something happened to him on that day that made him dance in church. and to praise God for the rest of his life. Peter and John, like the other Jewish Christians and remember the First Christians were all Jews.
who received Yeshua. Jesus as their Messiah and Lord. But these early Christians, like Peter and John, apostles, continued to go to the temple. They went to the temple to pray, but they also went to the temple to proclaim. Christ, just as they went from house to house, it's the church.
was meaning from house to house. They encounter this man. This man who was laid every day. At this beautiful gate. Scripture tells us that he was in this condition since his birth.
This was some kind of A congenital Birth defect. Can you imagine the brokenheartedness? Remember, real people, real stories. Imagine the brokenheartedness of his parents as their little boy never took a step. He's now over 40 years of age, according to the scripture.
Not once did he ever walk. Did he ever take a step? He didn't play Ball with the other boys. He didn't play hide and seek. There were no hospitals, no children's hospitals, there was no surgery.
He couldn't walk. He couldn't work. He was reduced to begging. He had become. A professional beggar.
People carried him there. And by now he knew the whole gig. It was to get near the gate beautiful where people were walking into worship, and it was the Jewish tradition to give alms to the poor.
So he would position himself for no doubt a well-known fixture. at the gate, as people would pass by. And there he cried out, alms for the poor. Alms to the poor. He was broken.
He was a beggar. Couldn't walk, couldn't work, and he couldn't worship. Because the Old Testament law said that Being an His disabled condition. That he couldn't enter into the temple with the others to worship God.
So here he is, cut off from the worship of God.
Now, this miracle that's about to take place literally physically happened for sure. It was a supernatural, sovereign act of God's Spirit through His people. But this Healing is illustrative. This man Is illustrative, and his condition is illustrative of the condition of every person on the face of the earth. Born with a condition.
In which we cannot walk, we cannot work, we cannot worship, we live without hope because we are. Born into sin. The first Couple sinned against God, Adam and Eve. And as a result, because of that sin, suffering came into the world. Because of sin, brokenness.
And the Bible says in Adam, all die. Romans 5, 12 says, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all had sinned. Had there been no sin, there would have been no suffering. Had there been no suffering, there would have been no death. But we are dying.
Because of sin. and not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually. David, who knew sin well, said, I was brought forth in iniquity. Psalm 51, verse 5, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Not the act of conception, but the fact of conception.
The fact that a man was born of woman means that a man is born into sin.
So Sin is a problem. It reduces us to spiritual Begging. and brokenness. And while this man was at the gate, he was outside the gate, he wasn't in the gate and in the presence of God. What a picture that is.
of what sin does. Because sin separates us. We can't walk in the right way. We can't work in the right way. We cannot worship God because we are cut off.
The problem is sin.
Now, I know today in our culture, sin is in. But I should add: while sin is ends, really, sin is within. It is within the human heart. I know there are people who may advise you to follow your heart. That's bad advice.
Because the Bible tells us that The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Don't follow your heart. Because your heart will often lead you in the wrong way. Sin is rebellion and resistance to God. the middle eye.
The perpendicular pronoun. In the midst of sin, that's the problem. Sin is selfishness, and sin is a problem. It's a problem for us, it's a problem for God because God is holy and He must punish sin, He must judge sin. People think sin is in, and therefore it's not a big deal.
Sin is a big deal in the face of a holy God. It was sin that nailed his darling son Jesus to a cross. Sin is why Jesus went to the cross. The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus our Lord.
And so that's why God sent. To this man, two Christians. Who were on their way to worship. And Paul and John, who they're Batman and Robin, right? are walking together.
Full of God's Spirit. They're on their way to pray. And as they're walking in the beautiful gate, This man's crying out. From money crying out For help. And Peter and John say something startling, really.
They stop. It didn't just pass by. And they said. Look at us. It was a holy stare.
They're looking right into this man's soul, the hole in his heart. They were looking beyond his beggary. They were looking beyond... his physical condition and they saw his soul. They saw him with the eyes of compassion, the eyes of Christ.
The Spirit of Christ is living in them. They had walked with Jesus. for those years and they'd seen Jesus stop many times. to help broken people. to heal the lame, to touch the blind and the leper and to even raise the dead.
So they are bold enough to and brave enough to stop just a moment and to look at this man. To see the opportunity that was right in front of them. This man that was laid right in front of them. on their way to church. Jesus had taught them that story about The Samaritan.
He saw the man who was beaten and left for dead and he stopped. And he ministered. And so they were well trained, they were well taught, and now they're so full of the Spirit of Jesus that they do stop. And they engaged this man who desperately needed help and beyond help he needed hope. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: the hope for the hurting.
If you're walking through a tough season, Diamonds in the Dark is a message you need to hear. In this honest and hope-filled book, Dr. Graham shows you how God uses grief. Loss and hardship to reveal spiritual treasures you'd never discover otherwise. We want to send you Diamonds in the Dark as a thanks for your gift of $10 or more.
Call now to request your copy? Call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4227. four six two seven or text the word DIAMOND to 59-789. Don't let stress rob you of peace.
It is possible to break the destructive grip of stress on your life. and enjoy the peace and abundance God desires for you. That's what Dr. Graham helps you do in his booklet, Breaking Free from Stress. We'll send you a digital download of Breaking Free from Stress when you sign up for email updates from PowerPoint today.
Just go to PowerPoint.org slash stress and sign up today.
Now let's get back to today's message. The Hope for the Hurting. What about the people that have been laid right in front of you? Put in your pathway. Put in your neighborhood.
In your office, in your classroom, in your school, in your locker room. How many people Did we pass by? Rather than say, look. And engage them in a conversation regarding our hope in Christ. The Bible says in 1 Peter 3:15.
Always be ready. Always be ready to give an answer. For the hope That is in you. We're to look for every opportunity with the eyes of Christ to see people as God sees them, not as just broken beggars, somebody to. give a penance and go on, but rather that someone that God loves and cares about deeply.
He's called us. to be ambassadors of love and grace and hope. Too often, we're just bumping into people. rather than stopping. Just one time.
To stop. And ask them about their condition, the condition of their souls. The man looked up, expecting to receive something from them, the scripture says. And you know what? The world has every right to expect something of us.
who named the name of Christ. We claim to know Jesus. We claim to have the answer for life's questions. We claim To bear the hope of eternal life and the message of eternal life. We make all these claims.
So, people have the right to expect to receive something from us. They expect generosity. They expect our care. They expect our compassion, and rightfully so. Peter and John said.
Look at us. We should be able to say that. We are representatives of Christ. We are representatives of Jesus. Look at us.
In the language of the New Testament, that phrase, look at us, could actually be look in us or look within us. Peter would later declare: Look, this thing that has happened, we didn't do it. This was all God. This was all in the name of Jesus. You know, they weren't saying, you know, look to us for salvation, but they were just saying, look at us, look within.
And people ought to see something of our character. and our commitment to Christ. We say we have been transformed by Jesus Christ.
So the man expecting received money got. More than he expected. He he wanted money. Just to get by another day. This guy's not living, he's just surviving like some of you.
You're just surviving. Just dragging through every day. With your head down. He's just surviving, and he just wanted enough money to get by another day, to get through another day. He wanted money, but God gave him far more.
God gave him a miracle. And Peter said, We don't have money. We don't have silver or gold. But what we have. We give to you.
That's the spirit of the Christian, isn't it? What we have We give to you. What we have is yours. We don't hold on to what we have, we give what we have, and what we have. Is the message Of hope.
It's the message of new life in Jesus Christ. And this is why Peter said, In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the name of Jesus. Name represents a person's character, a person's identity, a person's authority. You sign your name, and that's your authority. The name of Jesus Christ, that's authority, that's power.
In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. And the Bible says, Now, think about this moment. The Bible says that Peter reached down with his right hand and he lifted him up. Look, people don't need, they don't need a hand out, they need a hand up. They need hope.
He said Take my hand and he. Pulled him up. And instantaneously, this wasn't some phony baloney so-called pseudo-miracle. This was instantaneously. There are 14 miracles recorded in the book of Acts, all to authenticate the gospel and the proclamation of the gospel in that first era of the early church.
To proclaim Jesus Christ and to be exhibit A of the power of Jesus, like the miracles of Jesus. These apostles are now performing miracles, and this man's on his feet instantaneously, leaping and dancing and praising God. He's full of joy, he's full of life, he's full of hope. It was. The name of Jesus.
But the hand of the Apostle. It's the message of Jesus, it's the gospel. But your hands And mine. That help people up, that hold people up. Later on, this man...
We're told it's clinging to Peter when Peter stands to preach the gospel. in which 5,000 men came to faith in Christ.
So What an incredible, amazing miracle. That's a good place to say. God still heals today. But if you were to ask me, Jack Graham, do you have a healing ministry? Are you a healer?
I would say, absolutely not. People talk today about having a healing ministry or a deliverance ministry. I don't read any of that in the Bible. We're in the gospel ministry, the ministry of Jesus Christ. And God may sovereignly choose and supernaturally heal, and he does.
I believe I've been healed physically. I believe I've seen answers to prayer. We're told in the New Testament, in the Gospels, to pray for the sick. We go and we pray in hospitals. We pray at church.
We pray for the sick. And God, in his own purposes and plans, chooses, just like he chose this one among all the other beggars that were there. This man was chosen of God to be healed as a demonstration of the power and the glory of God and the grace of Jesus Christ. But we have something better than physical healing, we have the message of new life in Christ. He got more than the healing of his limbs.
He got the healing of his life, the hope that is in Jesus Christ. And this is the ministry. I mean, we could turn the church into a healing line every week, but that wouldn't be the plan and the purpose of the church. God has called us to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and minister to people with mercy and hope and help. with our hands of mercy and grace.
God may call you to use your. Medical career are your calling to serve people who need Jesus. But he's called all of us. to be soul doctors. To be agents of hope because that's what people so desperately need.
And so he's on his feet, he's leaping. He's dancing. He's praising God. Peter goes on to preach a powerful sermon. in which he proclaimed Jesus.
Crucified, risen, living, and coming again. Everyone was astounded. They were in awe. of this great ministry. When they saw it, they were in awe.
They went, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's what they did. It was revival. The healing of the soul is eternal. The healing of the body is eternal.
is just temporary. Peter was not apologizing when he said, We don't have money. But what we have, we give to you. He was offering the greatest gift of all, which is the gift of eternal life, the gift of the forgiveness of sin. The gift of Jesus.
We've been given this wonderful gift. This blessing. And we have not been so blessed to huddle up and count our blessings. But to extend with grace and generosity the love of Jesus. What do we have?
A savior. who can heal broken hearts and broken homes. Broken lives. It's the heart of God and it's the heart. of the church.
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: the hope for the hurting. Life doesn't always unfold the way we hope. There are setbacks, losses, and seasons that leave us asking: where is God in all of this? In his honest and encouraging book, Diamonds in the Dark, Dr. Graham shares how God is not absent in our pain, He is present.
and he is at work. This powerful resource walks you through some of life's hardest places to reveal spiritual treasures God plants along the way. If you or someone you love is facing grief, Fear or uncertainty, this message will help you find strength, clarity, and hope right where you are. And when you give a gift of $10 or more, we'll send you a copy of Diamonds in the Dark as our thanks. Call 1-800-795-4627.
That's 1-800-795-46277. Or just text Diamond to 59789. And don't forget to visit jackgraham.org. Where you can shop our e-store, give a gift online, or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional.
Our website again is jackgraham.org. And also, be sure to sign up for Dr. Graham's podcast, Bible, in a Year. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? We are living in a broken world, and we're therefore broken people.
whether it is physically, emotionally, relationally, morally, or spiritually. And as a result of this brokenness, there is pain and suffering and and shame. Often we try to cover up our brokenness by trying to help ourselves with some quick, thick, self help remedy.
Sometimes we try to cover up our brokenness by filling our lives with more and more stuff, more and more activities. We think that if we just do more, then we won't have to think about the hurt and pain that we feel. And these methods work fine until they fall apart and they always do. That's why we need hope. Hope that only Jesus gives.
The hope for the hurting that cannot be bought. Science can't provide it. The government can't give it. Wealth, technology cannot provide it. It's in Christ and Christ alone that we discover hope.
For our hurting hearts. And the good news is that Jesus can and will restore our lives and our souls deep within if we will go to Him with our brokenness and receive the new life that He freely gives. If you're not a follower of Jesus, if you've never come to the place in your spiritual life where you know for certain that you have eternal life, that your sins are forgiven, that Christ is living in you, this would be a great time for you to simply bow your heads wherever you are and invite Christ to come into your life. To pray, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. I believe you died on the cross for me and rose again.
and I invite you to come into my life to be my Savior and my Lord. If you will pray and trust Christ and Christ alone for your salvation, I promise you, according to God's Word, that He will save you, He will forgive you, He will live in you, and give you eternal life now and forever. If you're making that decision to follow Christ today, we would love to hear about it here at PowerPoint. You can visit us at jackgraham.org. Let us know that you're trusting in Christ.
We have materials that we'll send you and help you in your new life in Christ. We also would encourage you to visit us so that you can request resources there or prayer requests, or find us there on Twitter and Facebook. And let's engage in the conversation through social media. God bless you. Thank you for joining us today.
And to all of our PowerPoint partners, to all of you who support this ministry, thank you for your care and for your prayers and for your faithful giving to PowerPoint. And that is today's PowerPoint. Today, if you prayed that prayer with Dr. Graham and accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, we'd love to hear from you so we can help you begin your new life with Christ. Please call us at 1-800-795-4627.
That's 1-800-795-4627. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how you can be bold for Christ right where he's placed you. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
