Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. God is the author and sustainer of truth. Satan is the father of lies. And therefore, we're never more like the devil than when we're telling. A lot.
On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how you can reflect Christ with your words.
Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message: keeping your promises. The theme of this sermon is Matthew 6:33: To seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all of these things will be added unto you. Kingdom living today.
And always, Jesus hones in on the inner person. And he elevates from the externals to the internals. He enhances and expands the law of God. It elevates the Christian's life. as we live the life of the king and for the sake of of the kingdom.
One of the key issues for Jesus and for the follower of Jesus is to live with integrity. Honesty. Faithfulness. truthfulness. in all matters.
that we live, not a lie. but we live the life. Of our Lord, who is the way, the truth. And the life.
Now, we know, of course, that integrity is a major issue for our culture. Alan Bloom, in writing the closing of the American mine. Writes, there is one thing a professor, a university professor, can absolutely be sure of almost every student entering the university today, and that is that every student believes. That truth is relative. In other words, there is no certain, sure, absolute right or wrong, yes or no.
But that Truth. It's flexible. Truth is fluid. Truth can be existential. It can be true one day, they say, and not true at another time.
It's true when it's happening, or ethics, morality is situational. And so in a culture in which so many have Bought into this lie that there is no absolute truth, that the Ten Commandments are passe and. Speak of the age of the dinosaurs and So on. In a day in which we have So many. Who believe that truth is relative, is there any wonder?
that we live in a culture that is so void of real truth. Another well-known book is The Day America Told the Truth, and studies of Americans indicate that 91% of Americans lie on a regular basis. 91%. The majority of us, they concluded, find it difficult to get through a week. One week.
Without Telling a lie. One in five. They say, can't make it through a single day. Without lying. And so Because truth is so scarce.
in our culture. Everyone is now suspect. Business people, advertisers. News and media commentators, clerks, salespersons, lawyers, doctors. Teachers, professors.
And yes, preachers. We all want to know, we all wonder who's really telling the truth these days. Is anybody Saying it straight up. And so our culture's very foundation is built upon a network of fabrication. You might call it creative truth.
Some love to shade the truth. And of course, we love to spin the truth. And people make promises. without keeping them. and betray confidences.
And so on. This is all a part of our everyday living, is it not? Of course it's true. That we are suffering from mass truth decay. in our culture.
An erosion. of truth. And it makes it very difficult for all of us, especially those of us who desire to keep our promises and to live according to the truth that is ours in Jesus Christ, because we find it difficult to rise above, to elevate above this world standard of truth and live according to the kingdom. And the truth of God's kingdom. Obscuring and obstructing the truth is a national pastime.
And yet believers must rise above. By keeping our promises. Proverbs 6 verses 16 to 19 lists Seven things that the Lord hates. The very top of the list is a lying Tongue. It is impossible for God to lie, according to Hebrews 6 and 18.
God is the author and sustainer of truth. Satan is the father of lies. He is a liar and a murderer from the beginning. And therefore, we're never more like the devil than when we're telling. A lie.
When we're shading or spinning. The truth, or breaking our promises, or not living according to our own, the integrity of our own hearts. And so Jesus addressed that issue of integrity and promise keeping in chapter five. In verses 33 and following, he begins with a discussion of oaths, and I'll just briefly tell you before we read that that it was. That it was.
Predominant in the culture in which Christ lived, the religious culture in which Jesus lived, for people to make oaths, to swear upon this, that, or the other, to swear in the name of God, to swear in the name of heaven, to swear in the name of the throne of heaven, in order often to manipulate the truth, to hide the truth, and to cover up lies. And Jesus, knowing that we often say things externally that we don't mean internally, once again, zero's in. And he measures the inside and not just the outside.
So look at the verses, verses 33. Again, you've heard it. That it was said of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord. But I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king, nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let's all read verse 37 together.
But let your yes be yes and your no. For whatever is more than these, It's from the evil one. Let your yes B yes. And you know Be no. Yeah.
is what I would call Simple. Integrity. Living in integrity.
Now, what did Jesus mean in these verses? What is he commanding us to do?
Well, number one, he's telling us that as believers, as kingdom Kids, as children of the kingdom, that we always speak in the presence of God. God hears and knows Our words. Therefore, When we're Making oaths. or swearing in his name or in some other name. We are in effect taking God's name meaninglessly.
By God, I will do this, and so on. To take God's name in vain is a vicious Sin. But of deepest concern here is how we make our promises before God. If we have to call upon some oath at a special occasion, as the Pharisees did, to determine whether or not we are. Expressing the truth or speaking the truth, then we're not living in integrity.
God sees and hears and knows the intents of our hearts.
So let yes be yes and no be no in the sight of God. We speak in the presence of God. In Matthew 12, 36. Jesus said, But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, They will give an account of it. In the day of judgment.
And then in Luke chapter 12 and verse 3, Therefore, whatever you have spoken in the dark Will be heard in the light, and what you've spoken in the ear in inner rooms. will be proclaimed on the housetops. There is so much unworthy speech. Often in the name of God, sometimes blaspheming. the very precious name.
of our Savior. Christopher Wren, when building St. Paul's Cathedral in London, put up signs of warning to the workmen. The warning sign said, You are building a temple. No profanity.
tolerate it.
Well, God is building a temple in you. The temple of the Holy Spirit. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? God is building the temple of your body, the temple of your life. The Holy Spirit lives within us as believers.
Therefore, let no profane thing live in us or come out of us. And of course it You have a problem with your mouth. It's really a problem of the heart. For Jesus said, out of the heart. proceeds lies and blasphemies.
and so on. But Jesus is saying simply making oaths and calling upon the name of God for some purpose, you don't need to do that because God already sees and knows and hears your speech. We speak in the presence of God. Secondly, he says, we always are to speak, therefore, with integrity. The integrity of our speech is Vital.
That we do not speak lies.
Now let me just be a little more specific. You know, there are different kinds of lies. For example, one kind of lie is slander and gossip. Proverbs 18, verse 8 says, The words of a gossip are like choice morsels. They go down to a man's innermost parts.
Gossip is a kind of tasty, delicious way of lying, is it not? Slander, lies, innuendos, put Jesus, nail Jesus to the cross. He was killed based upon The lies and the gossip and the slander of others.
So, it's very important that we so live our lives in integrity that if someone passes on. Salacious rumor or innuendo or lies about us that the people who hear it won't believe it. That our character and our integrity will back up. The light. that we live.
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message. Keeping your promises. Transform your spiritual life through the power of daily prayer. This September, Jack Graham invites you to deepen your relationship with God through the world. A month-long prayer journey that will strengthen your faith and draw you closer to your Creator.
To get started? Text challenge to 59-789 and deepen your connection with God as Dr. Graham leads you through this transformative 30-day prayer journey. Your spiritual breakthrough could be just one text away. Again, that's challenge to 59789.
Are you feeling tired? frustrated and spiritually dry? Maybe you're wondering if there's more to your walk with Jesus than just trying harder. There is. That's the encouraging truth Pastor Jack Graham shares in his book, Powering Up.
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Now let's get back to today's message. Keeping your promises. Another kind of lie, and I mentioned this, is just carelessness.
So often we're just casual and careless about the truth. You might even call this Chronic Inaccuracies. We're just chronically inaccurate. about things. It's like that old game we used to play at parties.
I think we called it gossip, as a matter of fact. We get 15 or 20 people in a line and start a story and whisper it from one person to the next person. And by the time the story got to the end of the line, the information, remember this, gets to the end of the line, it barely sounds like what started at the front of the line. And that's just lazy listening. It's just assuming the worst rather than expecting the best.
We're often careless about keeping our promises. We tell someone, I'll pray for you. But do we pray? We make promises to our children and So often We don't keep those promises. To our kids and we think well, they're just kids.
They'll get over it But often broken promises, if it becomes a pattern in a series, can do serious damage to a child's life. Another kind of lying is flattery. This is in the category of deceit. Because if I am simply flattering someone, you know, someone described flattery as saying to a person's face what you wouldn't say behind their back. If I am flattering someone, typically it's just somehow to try to build them up for my advantage.
And the Bible forbids that. There's another kind of lying, and that's insinuation. You could lie with an arched eyebrow. A smirk. By simply saying Something like Well, you know, oh, so-and-so, he's treating his wife a lot better these days.
Insinuation. Exaggeration. Exaggerating our skills, our experiences. Our stories. Expressing something on a resume.
or in an interview that is not true. Silence. can express a lie or an untruth. And if someone is passing along an untruth and we know it to be slander and to sit in silence and to not speak up. And to speak the truth is a form of lying.
We often use silence to conceal our own lies. in order to protect ourselves.
Well, I trust I'm making the point. That lying is a big deal. It's a big deal to God because you see, lying defiles character. It destroys Relationships, interject a lie into a relationship, and that relationship may never be the same. It divides churches.
How many churches have been divided, some destroyed by lies, rumors, and so forth? And it condemned the soul. Lying, when it becomes a lifestyle, when it is a pattern. is a damnable sin. Revelation 21, 8 says that there will be no liars.
In heaven.
Now We were born liars from the beginning. We inherited this from our parents and our grandparents all the way back to Adam and Eve. A child goes forth from the mother's womb, the Bible says speaking lies. You don't have to teach a child to lie. You have to teach a child not to lie.
You have to teach a child to tell the truth. Why? Because innately, inherently, we We lie. And we've sinned against God with our lies and our lifestyle that is often a lie. And if every word, if I'm going to give an account of every word, then I better make sure that I have an advocate with the Father because there's sure so many things that I've said that I wouldn't want the Father.
in heaven at the judgment to judge me on. That's why I'm so grateful for a Savior, a sinless Savior, who is the truth, who never told a lie. Who loved me and loved you and died on the cross for every lie that I've ever told. Every sin that I've ever committed. and rose again on the third day.
So that he now lives and forever lives as an advocate with the Father. I belong to Jesus Christ, and so do you. And our sins are forgiven. And now because our sins are forgiven, because we've been forgiven from the pattern of lying, the lifestyle of lying, we need to make sure that we discipline ourselves, hear me now, that we discipline ourselves in the truth. Telling the truth.
is a holy habit. It is a spiritual discipline. Jesus said, let your yes be yes and your no no. And every day we need to get on our faces before God and say, Lord, today let me live and walk in truth. Let me speak truth.
Let me be By the power of your spirit, a man, a woman of integrity, keeping my promises to you, to others, and yes, to myself. Colossians 3.9 says, Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old evil nature and all of its wicked deeds. After all, we're Children of the king. We've been chosen to live as kings. In the kingdom of God.
And when God was looking for a king to reign over Israel, Samuel the prophet found the right king through the leadership of God, and he was a little shepherd boy, young shepherd boy. Who had a heart for God. And he chose David as the king to shepherd the people of Israel. And David shepherded them, this is Psalm 78 verse 72, according to the integrity of his heart. When God chose a king, It chose a man of integrity and character.
And when God called us, to the kingdom. He calls us to integrity. and truthfulness. We're to speak the truth in love. We're to say it up front.
If you're a Christian, state your positions truthfully and clearly and lovingly. What is your view on the Bible? What is your view on abortion? What is your view on the inerrancy of Scripture? What is your view on the exclusivity of the gospel in Jesus and Jesus alone?
State it and state it clearly. You watch some religious leaders get on talk shows and they're spinning like tops. rather than stating clearly. The truth of the gospel. We are to love truth, believe truth, speak truth, teach truth, share truth, and live truth.
Jesus said verse 37, let your yes be yes and your no No. The whole truth. Nothing but the truth. We need truth in the church. We need truth in our marriages.
Keeping our promises, our vows. And then we need truth in our own hearts. Because one of the big problems that so many have is lying to themselves. We become so accustomed to truth as we perceive it or as we. have begun to practice it.
That we no longer know the difference between a truth and a lie. And I suppose that hypocrisy or religious lies. are the worst kinds of lies. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, that on the last day of the judgment, there are going to be many on that day. Who say to me, Lord, Lord.
Did we not do many wonderful things in your name? Did we not cast out demons? Did we not heal the sick? But Jesus is going to say, Depart from me, you cursed into everlasting fire. I never knew you.
It's a frightening verse. It's an alarming prospect that someone could live their whole life and it be a lie, thinking that they're going to heaven when, in fact, they don't know Jesus in a personal way. It's just religion dressed up. And there's so many people who Are deceiving themselves, or Satan has blinded their minds and eyes to spiritual truth and spiritual reality. And so it is so important that we get honest.
with ourselves. Take a long, honest look at your life. Am I living the life that I profess? Because there's so many people who profess Christianity but do not possess Jesus in their lives. It's a religious profession, but it is a religious lie.
It is self-deception.
So we live our our days Perpetuating the lie, improving the lie. Like the golfer, the guy was just coming off the green. He said, why don't you improve your lie there? He said, okay, then I had a six instead of a seven on number eight. And so we improve our lives and we live a lifestyle as a habit.
But let me tell you something. Life is as Jesus intended when we play according to the rules. When we live our lives God's way, be honest with yourself, be honest with God. It may mean drastic changes in your life and in your lifestyle. to begin living truth.
The way to do it is to come to Jesus, who is the truth. He will enable you to live that life. rather than to live a lie. By putting Jesus at the center of your life, you can be certain that his life and his love and His truth will live through you.
So why don't we get honest with ourselves? You know what's going on. You know when your ego and your pride is Too big. You know when you love your money. More than you love God, you know when you're neglecting your family.
You know it if your testimony for Jesus Christ in The office is a joke.
So let's get honest. Let's be truthful with ourselves and truthful with God. And the Bible says if we confess our sins, He will faithfully and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And if you will confess this sin or any sin, he will cleanse you. If you will look at your life honestly.
And come to him. Jesus said, Come to me, and I will put my life, my character. in you. And then your yes will be yes. Your no will be no.
And you will be keeping your promises rather than breaking your promises. And you will be disciplining your life in holiness, and purity, sincerity, and faithfulness. rather than phoniness. and hypocrisy. and deceit.
and lies. You are listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message. Keeping your promises. Through the Holy Spirit, God empowers you to love when it's hard. Forgive when it hurts and persevere when you're worn out.
He equips you to live with joy, peace, and boldness no matter what circumstances you face. in his insightful book Powering Up, Pastor Jack Graham shares how you can live the life God intends for you. We want to send you a copy of Powering Up as a thanks for your gift of $10 or more. To request your copy of Powering Up? Just text Power to 59789.
Transform your spiritual life through the power of daily prayer. This September, Jack Graham invites you to deepen your relationship with God through a month-long prayer journey that will strengthen your faith and draw you closer to your Creator. To get started, text CHALENGE to 59-789. And deepen your connection with God as Dr. Graham leads you through this transformative 30-day prayer journey.
Your spiritual breakthrough could be just one text away. Again, that's challenge to 59789. Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? Jesus is the one who said we should live a life of absolute integrity. We are not to live a lie, and certainly we are not to speak lies, but to speak truth, even when that truth is sometimes difficult to share.
As little children many of us sang that familiar little song, Oh, be careful, little lips, what you say For the Father up above Is looking down with love. Oh, be careful, little lips, what you say Well, yes, we should be cautious and very careful with what we say our words, and especially that our words would be truthful words. The story is told of four high school boys who couldn't resist the temptation to skip class.
Well, after lunch they showed up at school and reported to the teacher that the reason for their lateness was that their car had a flat tire.
Well, the teacher just smiled and said well.
Well, you missed a quiz this morning, so take your seats and get out a pencil and paper. Still smiling, she waited as they settled down and got ready for her questions, and then she said First question. which tire was flat?
Well, sometimes we get caught in our lies and sometimes we don't, but always God hears our speech. God hears our words, and He knows when we're telling the truth or when we're telling a lie. He also knows when we're living the truth or living a lie. Don't live a lie, but live the truth of Jesus Christ. I want to challenge you.
to live a life of integrity. Turn away from dishonesty, dishonesty of any kind, and determine in your heart that you will be a man, a woman of integrity. And here's the good news. Jesus who is the truth, Jesus who never told a lie, lives in you, and he will enable you to be a man, a woman, of truth. 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, Powering Up as Our Thanks. Just text the word POWER to 59-789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about what defines a true follower of Christ.
That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
