Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. Hope is confident expectation, a joyful anticipation. Gale-forced winds can blow and tsunami waves can smash into the hull of your life, but hope quietly tells your heart that all is not lost, even as storms rage. On today's PowerPoint, Dr. Graham brings a message about how Jesus can be your hope for every day.
Now here's Doctor Graham with his message. The hope of Christmas. I like most things about Christmas. I really do. I especially love the lights.
The trees, the decorations. The children Love seeing that at Christmas. I love the opportunity we have each week at this Christmas season to. proclaim the birth of Jesus Christ and why he came. I love Christmas.
One thing I don't like about Christmas in this season though. is waiting. Interminable. Waiting. In line.
Online. At the mall. Trying to find that parking place, and you wait. For that person to pull out, and they're getting things out of their purse or out of their pocket. Lighting up a cigarette.
I don't know what they're doing. They take forever. Calmly put on your blinker and you wait and you wait and you wait. I heard about a lady, a little lady. who had a nice big car, call it a Cadillac, let's say.
She was driving her Cadillac into a mall space and she calmly put on her blinker, waiting on a car to exit. And finally the car exited and as she was getting ready to pull in, a guy in a little red sports car from the other side, a young guy, came pouring right into that parking place right in front of her.
Well She calmly rolled down her window. And said, young man, young man. I was waiting for that space. I was here first. And the smart, elegant young man said, Well, That's what you can do.
When you're young and quick. The lady calmly rolled up her window. Put the car in gear. And proceeded to smash the back end of that red sports car numerous times. As the young man is aghast, he's going crazy.
What are you doing? What are you doing? She calmly rolled out her window and said, That's what you can do when you're old and rich.
So Waiting can put you in a bad mood. The whole world was waiting. Waiting for the day the Savior would come. Israel expecting a Messiah. Waiting for years and years and years, believing the promise and then doubting the promise.
For 400 years. Before the New Testament was written, or rather, the events took place in the New Testament Gospels, 400 years, there was nothing but. Stillness and silence. Oh, yes, there was oppression. and depression.
and darkness. Because it seemed that God had forgotten his people. The Romans ruled. God's people. We're in a dark place.
And yet, after years and years of silence. The dawn broke. And Christ was born. And hope. is now here.
Christmas. Our hope. is a Christmas word. There are lots of words that describe Christmas, Noel. is one of them.
But hope Is the word that I believe, unless you would say love. But hope Is this descriptive and powerful truth that encapsulates Christmas. It's the wonderful gift. that Jesus has brought to the world. Hope, hope for you, hope for me.
It's what Christmas is all about. It's the light of Christ shining into the world. Interesting, isn't it? December the 25th was chosen in the 4th century as the day to celebrate Christ's birth. At least in the Western world, in many parts of the world, that's the darkest time.
of the year. The longest and darkest day of the year, I believe, is December the 20th. We just had it. It's typically around. The Western world a very dark time.
And yet It's perfect in the sense that in the darkness, Of our times, Christ came with the light of the world. People are Burned out and exhausted, and wanting to quit, but hope refuels our souls. When we are broken, in pain, when we're struggling, more than we can bear, it is hope that comforts us. and gets us through. When we have fallen and failed and shamed ourselves and shamed others is hope that Gets us up again and keeps us going.
When we're filled with anxious thoughts, Anxieties. Fears. It is hope that soothes the soul. Because you see, hope is so much more than wishful thinking. This is not a human hope.
That Christ delivers. This is not hype. I like positive thinking and Optimism. I like positive thinking a lot better than I like negative thinking. And it'll do you a lot more good.
But let me tell you, hope is more than just being positive. One of the first messages I ever delivered, it kind of was a theme of my heart in life. I was a college student, and I was asked to bring the message to the student body of my university, and I brought a message, that message to the students on Christian optimism. Because the Christian faith is optimistic and hopeful. But beyond human hope and optimism, And certainly all the hype.
Is what the Bible calls. Hope. Hope which is an anchor. for the soul. In Hebrews chapter 6, verses 18 to 20.
So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. God will never break a promise to you. It is impossible. For God to lie. If it were, if God could lie Chaos would result.
We who have fled for refuge. Might have strong encouragement. That's a word which is akin to hope. Encouragement to hold fast. to the hope Set before us.
We have this as a sure and steadfast promise. Watch this. It's a wonderful promise. It's a Christmas promise. Anchor Of the soul.
A sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. A hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as our forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Hope is an anchor For the soul, Webster defines hope as a desire accompanied by expectation or belief in fulfillment. But hope in the Bible is so much more than this. Hope is strong.
Hope is secure. Hope is steadfast. Hope is. Forever. And this hope, which is an anchor for the soul, becomes a symbol of.
Our future. with Christ. In fact, did you know? That among the early symbols of the Christian faith, you would presume that the cross was an early. Symbol of the Christian faith.
Perhaps you've heard of the fish, the ichthus. Because It rose out of the fishing for men. And the many of the Disciples, the original disciples were fishermen, so a fish and an ichthus. But did you know that one of the early symbols of the Christian faith that remains today? is the anchor.
In fact, in the ancient world, it was often combined with a cross. Is taken from this great promise in the Bible: hope and anchor for. The soul. Because these are stormy. and difficult times for people.
You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: the hope of Christmas. We're excited to share that we have a new way for you to connect with us. It's our texting service designed to keep you connected with everything happening here at PowerPoint. You'll be the first to know about upcoming events, special announcements, and truly enriching content. To join, start a new text conversation by texting CONNECT to 59-789.
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Now let's get back to today's message. The hope of Christmas. Did you know that suicides are up have increased 24% in the last 20 years. And That includes increases. among young people and even children.
Hopeless. is a word you often read. In notes. from people who take their lives. And if the word hopeless isn't there, you can read between the lines.
And it's there. People are in despair and depression. And some decide to call it a life. People are dying. And you know why they're dying?
They're dying. without hope. They're dying because of a lack of hope. Because hope is not an option. It is not A luxury, it is a necessity.
Hope has been described as the oxygen of the soul. The oxygen of the soul. Our very life depends upon hope. To live Without hope is to die.
Now the Bible tells us That without Christ Ephesians chapter 2. That we are without God, and then it adds, and without. Hope. Without God is to be without hope. But the message Of the good news that the angels announced that we proclaim to this day is that hope has arrived.
That hope is alive. Because Christ brought heaven's hope. to earth. Bethlehem's babe. is humanity's hope.
He is the light in the darkest of hours. and therefore Our hope is to live With the confident assurance and affirmation that our future. is with him. Hopefully holds us. Hope is all about the future.
It's about waiting on the promise. It's about trusting. That God Always tells the truth, and when He says, I love you, I will hold you, I will keep you, I will never let you go. When God, who is faithful, keeps His promises to us, we know. That this hope is real.
When George, President George H.W. Bush Yeah. Passed away, there were many stories told of him, and he would often sign his.
Now famous notes. that he would write incessantly to people. C-A-V-U. C A V U And This was an acrostic. that Navy pilots Have used for the through the years.
And President Bush, 41, was a Navy pilot, crashed, landed, in fact, shot down. in the Pacific and survived But he would sign those notes, C-A-V-U. As Naley Navy pilots would pray for this and look for cavout. C-A-V-U. You know what it means?
It means sealing and vision unlimited. That's hope. Our ceiling and vision is unlimited. Because Christ has given us eternal life. The Bible calls him the God of hope.
Romans 15:13, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. And that word abound in hope, it really means that you would be relentless in hoping. That you would keep hoping, that you would keep bouncing back. And we have the Holy Spirit to enable us. to keep hoping on.
Not just to cope. but to hope. And that word Abounding means overflowing. With hope. We are the people of hope.
The scripture says that we have been born again. unto a living hope. Hope is alive. Christ was born so that we could be born again unto this living. Hope.
And life, death, nothing can separate us from this love of God and the hope. that he has promised each one of us. in Christ. Our dearest friends is... Levi Lusko.
He and his wife, Jenny. Our dear friends, he is a pastor. Great preacher. Levi and Jenny Lusko. Lost their five-year-old daughter Lena to a severe asthma attack.
Just a few days before Christmas, can you imagine? Levi wrote about his loss in his book, Through the Eyes of a Lion, Facing Impossible Pain, Finding Incredible Power. Just five days before Christmas. They were for he and Jenny were forced to endure A parent's worst Nightmare. Can you imagine?
He said, How do you walk out of the ER? without Your daughter.
Some of you have experienced. A tragic loss like this. And in his book, he Talks about hope being an anchor for the soul. And the chapter is called There's no such thing as a wireless anchor. And what Levi Gave us right out of a broken heart and yet a hopeful heart.
I share with you, he says, at its most basic level. To have hope is to believe that something good is going to happen. That help is on the way, that it's not over yet, and no matter how dark it seems, there's going to be light at the end of the tunnel. Hope is confident expectation, a joyful anticipation, an active, dynamic, energizing enthusiasm. When you have hope, Gale-force winds can blow, and tsunami waves can smash into the hull of your life, but you are buoyed by the belief that the best is yet to come.
That brighter days are ahead. Hope quietly tells your heart that all is not lost, even as storms rage. Our hope is a living hope because Jesus lives forever. And the thing that anchors The thing about anchors is that to be effective. They must be attached to something.
There's always a connection. A rope. Or a chain. They aren't wireless. and they can't be connected to Bluetooth.
The connection is every bit as vital to the anchor itself. It doesn't matter how securely that big hunk of metal is wedged into the ocean floor if you are not tied to it. It's not the least bit helpful. The chain matters greatly. The wonderful thing about the anchor of the soul is that it too comes equipped with a mighty chain.
Hope is is a rope. Hope is a rope. The Holy Spirit. You could translate that verse: hope an anchor for the soul, hope a lifeline for the soul. Do you have this hope?
Do you have this hope in the Lord Jesus Christ? You may be a believer and you're facing seemingly hopeless situations. And yet the Holy Spirit, via The hope of prayer. can draw you into the very presence of God. That's what Hebrews is telling us here.
That because hope is a sure and steadfast anchor for the soul, that we are drawn in. To the very presence of God, because Jesus came and He led the way there. And we have a hope that is a blessed hope, according to the Bible, that one day Christ is coming again. This is our hope. Our hope is not in ourselves or in our circumstances, even on our best days.
Our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And because this hope lives, Because this hope lives. We live. We live on. We go on.
And if you're struggling this Christmas, If you're hurting. And feeling Less hopeful. or maybe even hopeless. to the one Who will give you hope because it is the miracle of Jesus. The miracle of his cradle.
That's his birth. The miracle of his cross. And that is his cross, his death on the cross for our sins, and then there's the miracle of his crown because on the third day he rose again and conquered sin and death and hell. And He, therefore, is our hope. The one who is the same yesterday.
Today. and forever. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: the hope of Christmas. With just a few days left in 2025, we want to invite you to give a year-end gift to help ensure PowerPoint steps into the next year of ministry in the strongest position possible. The good news is that a generous friend has provided a $250,000 matching grant, which means any year-end gift you give by December 31st will be doubled to take the life-changing message of the gospel to more people around the world.
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Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? Everyone who is born will someday die. But Jesus Christ is the only one who came into this world for the sole purpose of dying. He was born to die. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, we are told that He made him who knew no sin to To become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
That simply means that when Jesus died on the cross, He paid not only the penalty of our sins, but He is also the powerful expression, the most powerful expression of God's great love. There is no greater love. than the love of God in Jesus Christ for you. And because Jesus died and rose again on the third day, you can be forgiven of all your sins. You can be cleansed in your heart and made brand new.
This means that we're made right with God. The Bible word is that we are reconciled to God. We're no longer estranged or enemies with God, but now we are His friends. We are in His family. and the power of the cross and the resurrection is working today.
I believe the Spirit of God is reaching out through this message that you've heard today and inviting you to come to faith in Jesus Christ. If you don't have a personal relationship with Him, I'm not talking about a religion. Too many people have religion without God, religion without life. I'm talking about a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ. If you don't have that, The Bible says in Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
So right now, wherever you are, Confess Jesus as Lord. Ask Him to forgive your sins and to come into your life and make you His child. And then pray this, Lord, that By the power of your spirit may I live for you until until you come. me. As a Christian, as a follower of Jesus Christ, you are God's witness.
You're an ambassador sent out to proclaim His message to those who don't know Him.
So here's my question to you to day. When others see your life, Are they invited to Christ? Do they see Jesus in you? I really hope you can say yes, because one day God will call you home to spend eternity with Him, and only what you've done now for Christ is really going to last into eternity. I want to challenge you to pray that God will make you an effective and faithful witness, that you will be true to Him in your life, in your words, in your deeds, in your action, that you will stay on mission, that you will live a life of purpose and power with the Lord Jesus Christ, your Savior, your Lord, and your King.
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 what Mary teaches you about giving your all, your very best, to Jesus, your Lord. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
