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. When God says go.
Now, I guarantee you, when God says go. The devil will say no. Or in the case of the early church, Oh no. Because that is when the fight Did you know? That when you choose to follow Jesus Christ and you leave this world behind and follow Christ, that you're going to face opposition.
And this is what the church was experiencing in the early days. Of its life on earth. They were ablaze with the power of God's Spirit, the power of the resurrection. preaching Christ. publicly and from house to house.
And the message and the mission of Jesus is ignited and it's moving throughout every home and every family in the city. But you can count on the fact in your life and certainly in the life of the church, when God opens the windows of heaven to bless us. Satan will open the doors of hell. to blast us. This is why God has called us to fight the good fight of faith.
And so, what's happening here in The fifth chapter of Acts, if I can. kind of catch you up to speed. 120 people gathered in the upper room after the death, resurrection, and then the ascension, the exaltation of Jesus. They're waiting, they're praying. And the Spirit of God, the promise of the Father, comes, and they are baptized with the Spirit and with fire.
They are filled with God's Spirit. They immediately began to proclaim Jesus Christ. People who had gathered there from all over the world at a very big feast, a religious feast called Pentecost. People who had come from all over the world heard the gospel for the first time in their own language. And on that day, the day the church was born, 3,000 people were saved.
They were baptized. The church began to develop in their discipleship daily. As they're growing in their faith and in the Word of God, and they are spreading the fire. And The scripture says they were all in all the time. Because it was every day publicly in the temple and from house to house.
And thousands upon thousands of people are being born again, made alive in Christ. And of course, when that happened, Satan tries to stop it. And Satan always has his minions. to work and to try To hold back the power of the work of God.
Now we know that's impossible because Jesus said, the gates of hell will not prevail against my church. But that doesn't keep Satan From Tribe. And one of the primary methods that Satan uses to shut. his people down to shut us up. is intimidation.
and threats and taunts. and oppression and suppression. And even Persecution. Most of us here in the West in America no very little if anything about Physical Persecution. But we do know a little bit about another kind of persecution.
It's the kind of persecution that Jesus talked about in the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, when he said in Matthew 5: Blessed are you when men persecute you. Blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Okay, we're praying for the persecuted church, but oh, what about us? Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you, and watch this: utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. One kind of persecution is to be thrown to the lions, the other is to be thrown to the critics. One is overt, the other is more covert. One is physical, the other is more emotional, or spiritual, or psychological.
But Jesus said. Happy are you, blessed are you, when you are persecuted for righteousness' sake and. including when you are reviled When people speak evil against you falsely because of me.
Now, not because we're being jerks. But because of Jesus. And if you are a follower of Jesus, you may hear things like, you know, Christians, These born-again kind of Christians especially. They're haters, they're intolerant. And you may be put out, you may be passed over at that job because of your faith in Christ.
You may be put out of the good standing of the social setting in which you walk. There are a lot of different ways, but I guarantee you, if you take a stand for Jesus Christ. You will face the fire. You will face the flight because Satan fights fire with fire. Peter would later say, Peter knew about Facing the fire, as we'll see in this text, but he would later say, Don't think it's strange about the fiery trial that you're about to endure as something weird is happening to you.
He said, Expect it, realize that it is going to to happen. Persecution. And the whole point of the persecution, resistance, opposition. is to stop you From talking about Jesus. That's what Satan wants.
But I want you to see what he gets. When God's people take a stand. Beginning in Acts chapter 5. Verse 17. But the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is, many of the party of the Sadducees.
They were filled with jealousy.
Now they're jealous because the apostles are now on their turf, because many people are coming to faith in Jesus as the Messiah. There was a man who was crippled from birth there who had been healed. He's on his feet, leaping, dancing, praising God. I mean, instantaneously. And he's.
Exhibit A. of the power of the resurrection.
So they don't know what to do about this, and so they call the boys in. They've already called them in once and told them not. to speak about Jesus and threaten them.
So they keep doing it. They go, they run to their friends. Who do you run to when you get in trouble? You run to God's people. You run to God's church.
And that's what they did. And guess what? They prayed. They didn't pray, well, Lord, you'll keep us safe. Lord, you know, don't let anybody hurt us.
No, they prayed for more stuff of the same stuff that got them in trouble to begin with. They prayed for boldness. Courage. And so they get right back at it. And they're out preaching Jesus, so they're arrested.
Verse 18, they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, Go, here's a big sentence, go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life. Go Stand. Speak. All the words of this life.
Life in Jesus Christ. Go stand and speak. Go tell. It was an angel that got them out of prison. They were put in the public prison, and in the middle of the night, aren't you glad that God works the night shift?
In the darkest hour. God will deliver you. He may even send an angel to open. prison doors to break down. The darkness in your life.
He sent that angel. But think about this. The angel could get them out of prison, but the angel couldn't go preach Jesus. That's not the assignment of an angel. An angel has never experienced the grace and the forgiveness of God as we, the witnesses of Christ.
I'm sure the angels get a little impatient with us from time to time, maybe running to the throne of God and saying, These humans are not getting the job done. Let us go. We'll ride it in the sky. You know, we'll show up. With angel wings.
And people will believe, no? That's not God's plan. We can do something that angels cannot do. We are called to do what angels Cannot do, and that is to proclaim the gospel of Christ.
So the angel gave them the commission from the Lord. Go, stand, speak, tell all the words of this life. Isn't that what people around us are looking for? Life? They think life is in pleasure or life is in profit and money or things, but life is in Jesus.
He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have Jesus does not have life. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God. Is eternal life through Jesus our Lord. We have the gift of life which brings hope. to people now and forever.
So we are to go. It's at the heart of who we are, what we're about, is going. And as we go, we are to go and stand, graciously take our stand in the public places. When they were preaching in the temple, don't think church here. This was in the public portico, Solomon's portico, where people were in and out.
There were thousands of people there.
So Peter and John are there preaching in the public place. And again, we've made the point clearly over these weeks. They were doing what? House two. House Evangelism.
So it wasn't just the religious professionals. The apostles But everyone was at it and all at it. Everyone was. sharing their faith in Jesus Christ. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message when God says go.
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?
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Now, let's get back to today's message: when God says go.
So now they're out again and notice what they did. They're out of jail. And what they do... Verse 21. They entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.
Yeah. Middle of the night, what do they do? They washed their face a little bit, splashed a little water on their faces. And then they get right back at it the next morning at daybreak. And they're preaching and When the Sanhedrin shows up, they're thinking, okay, bring those boys from the prison.
We'll teach them a lesson. They go down there to get them in jail and said they're gone. Where'd they go? Don't know.
Somebody shows up and says, Well, they're back out doing it again. They're out preaching Jesus again. What? They're afraid now. I mean, they're afraid of these Christians.
They're trying to figure out what is happening. It says they were greatly perplexed, verse 24. I love that. They were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. I mean, that's the kind of Christian I like to think about.
Up every day just serving Jesus, sharing Jesus. The devil's crowd doesn't have a clue as to what to do to stop it. You know, it's like you get up, you start serving Jesus and witnessing and sharing your faith and loving and living for Christ. And the devil says, they're at it again. We can't stop them.
And that's what happened. in the first century. Because they would not be silenced. They were arrested, they were threatened, they were taunted, they were ultimately beaten. But here's something that happened here.
They uh They really turned themselves in. Because They didn't want to cause a riot. The temple authorities didn't want to cause a riot, so they go to these guys and say, Uh Okay, would you guys mind coming in? We need to talk to you some more. They said, sure, love to.
So there they are right back at it. right in front of these religious authorities. and the religious authorities. Tell them in verse 29 and following, oh, look at verse 27. And when they brought them, they set them before the council.
And the high priest questioned them, says three things. We strictly charge you not to teach in this name. Yet here you have filled Jerusalem. with your teaching. The teaching of Jesus Christ.
And you intend to bring this man's Jesus blood Upon us. When they started out They had 120. They prayed. Baptized with fire, filled with the Spirit. Then 3,000 are baptized.
Then they're numbered at 5,000 men plus women and children who came along, and they are saved. and baptized. And then we're told that Miracles start happening just at the hands of the apostles. And that people are gathered. This is back in verse 16.
People gathered from the towns around Jerusalem. They're bringing in people who need healing. And verse 14, look at verse 14 of chapter 5. It says, And more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes, both men and women.
Now they can't even count them, they're just saying, multitudes. Multitudes, massive numbers of people are coming to Jesus, and now. What was intended to be a criticism. They said, You have filled this city with this teaching about Jesus Christ. The whole city heard.
The whole city was saturated. There was nobody in that town that hadn't heard about Jesus. Not a single one. You have to. Have.
Captured this city with your doctrine. We told you not to do this. Did we not strictly warn you? And you intend to bring this man's blood on us? You see, The problem people have With Christians.
is Christ It's Jesus. Who is the problem? And here's why. You can. Heal.
The sick, help the sick, you can. Feed the hungry. And people will applaud you. You can Help the orphaned. And the homeless.
And people say, you go, that's great. And we can start. homes for Unwed mothers, we can do a lot of things, and as long as we just do those things. And never mentioned Jesus. We'll be fine.
But you start saying this cup of cold water is in Jesus' name. You start loving people in Jesus' name. You start serving people and you say, We're here because we love you, because Jesus loves us, and he loves you, and we want you to know him. You say what Peter and John said in Acts chapter 4, verse 12: There's no other name given among men by where we must be saved other than the name of Jesus, and that's when the fight begins. And that's when they will say, you can't say that here.
You can't talk about Jesus. We like your stuff. We like your good deeds. We like your works. And so some cowardly Christians have decided: well, we'll just do good things, but we won't say anything about Jesus.
We'll do good social works, but we won't talk about the gospel. Wrong. Because all you're doing then is sending a man to hell with a full belly instead of an empty one. If you don't tell him about Jesus. who is mighty to save.
So the whole thing is about stopping Jesus, the mission and the message of Jesus Christ. And Peter said: here's a good principle, verse 29. We must obey God and not men. We must obey God. I don't care what else you're doing, Christian.
You think, well, I show up at church. I give money when I can. I do good deeds. You know, I sing along. I'm a good Christian.
No, if you're not endeavoring to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ by personally sharing your faith, you're disobedient to God. Period.
Now, I know we don't all do it the same way. You can't do it like I do it. I can't do it like you do it. The fact is. That you have more opportunity and privilege than.
A paid professional. A lot of people look at me and other ministers as, you know, that's the guy that shouts real loud on Sundays. He's paid to do it. But a lot of your friends people you know and your neighbors, they know you're not paid to do it. They know you just love Jesus and want to tell them about Jesus.
Tell them about the hope that's in Christ.
So you More than anyone. Can go in Jesus' name. You must go in Jesus' name. It's high treason against the commander-in-chief if you don't. And too many Christians are not in this battle.
I've seen numbers upwards to 80% of church members never personally share their faith. That's a tragedy. That's a tragedy. And I'm just praying that God will ignite a fire in all of us. All of us, that we will be all in and all at it all the time.
And we will go and stand and speak. Go stand where you are. In your circle of influence, in your sphere of influence, go stand there. And lovingly, graciously, but Simply and clearly share the good news of Jesus Christ and the difference that Christ. is making in your life.
Verse 33 says, When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. They were like a cornered animal, you know, kill the messenger. And they plotted to take their lives, but they couldn't shut them up. They couldn't shut them down. And what happens next is great theater, okay?
There's a man, they're in the council and they don't know what to do. They got these guys that obviously are not going to stop. They got the people that are, God's giving them favor. Great grace was upon them all. Great numbers of people were coming to Christ.
And so they're wringing their hands and say, what do we do now? They beat the apostles. They bloodied them. And there was a man. who was a Pharisee among them, Gamaliel.
who was a very astute and a According to Jewish history, a very brilliant man. He He was the spiritual father. to a man by the name of Saul of Tarsus. Who became Paul the Apostle? But he was in effect the mentor of Saul in the Sanhedrin.
And this man, Gamalaos, he stands up and he says something like this. He says, Look, we've had these uprisings before. We've had people come along and say they're Messiah. And it all went away. And if this is not of God, This will go away too.
He said, but if it is of God. You don't want to end up. Fighting. God. That's good counsel.
And because of the power of the resurrection, and because the Jesus people were of God. It spread from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth and you couldn't stop it. Let the redeemed of the Lord say something. Let's go in Jesus' name. When God says go, Satan says no.
Sometimes he says, oh no. But God says go. Don't you dare say no. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message when God says go. 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 1-800-795-4627. Or just text Diamond to 59-789.
And don't forget to visit jackgraham.org. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? The problem people have with Christians is Christ. Jesus is the problem. You can help the sick, feed the hungry, and people will applaud you.
You can help the orphaned and homeless, and people will say, fantastic. We can do a lot of good things, and as long as we never mention Jesus, everything will be fine. In fact, most people will like it. But if you start saying something like, This cup of cold water is in the name of Jesus, it's because I love Jesus that I minister to you, then people will tell you you have to stop. If you mention the gospel, that Christ died and rose again that we might have eternal life, then people will say you're just trying to push your agenda or your religion through.
But regardless of that, we mustn't be put off or be reduced to just being a good works brigade. Yes, we do have an agenda, and our agenda is to share the love of Jesus to a world that desperately needs Him. Our agenda is to tell as many people about Jesus as possible. Our agenda is to take as many people with us to heaven as possible.
So this means more than simply sending people home with full stomachs, but we need to send them home with full hearts, hearts and lives that are full of Jesus and the hope that is in him. I want to thank you for joining us again on PowerPoint today, and we would love to continue this conversation. And one way you can do that is to join us at jackgraham.org. Jackgraham.org. And here you can find information as to how to join me on Twitter and Facebook.
You can also request prayer, and we would appreciate the opportunity to pray with you and for you, especially if you're seeking a meaningful faith. If you want to know Jesus in your life, let us talk to you about that and what that means. Again, just contact us at jackgraham.org and let us know how we can serve you. Thank you for being so generous with us.
So many of you are faithful to give weekly, monthly, regularly to support PowerPoint, and we are most appreciative because I guarantee you, we take the money that you give and reinvest it in the work of Christ through PowerPoint. That means buying air and time. That means investing in resources that we provide for people who come to Christ, who want to follow Christ, and it's all because of faithful givers and donors just like you.
So God bless you and thank you for being a part of PowerPoint each day. And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift of $10 or more to PowerPoint, we'll send you Dr. Graham's book, Diamonds in the Dark, as our thanks. Call 1-800-795-4627.
That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word Diamond to 59-789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how your faith can impact the world and carry you to eternity. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham.
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